View Full Version : The Battle of Zama
Thought I should share what I wrote for my clan site
The Battle Of Zama
Date:202 B.C.
Prologue
Scipio was at the moment hard pressed by the Carthaginians who were blocking the meeting spot for Scipio and his Numidian allies. Scipio decided to take a gamble and went right past the Hannibalic army southward, pillaging as he went. He then headed southeast to his allies and their powerful cavalry. Hannibal's army had some 45,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry when he decided to follow the Romans on thier pillage of North Africa. Once they were around the location of Zama and Hannibal had finally caught up with the Romans he immediatly dispatched spies to check out the Roman camp. They were easily intercepted by Scipio, who surprisingly let them have an inspection of the camp and go back to their Carthaginian leaders. From what we know, the Numidians had not in fact shown up yet, so it is believed that Scipio had intended to give Hannibal the illusion that he was short on cavalry. The battle was not held actually in Zama but rather 30 miles south in an area called Naraggara or Margaron. The next day the Carthaginians came to Scipio with a peace offer that was favorable to Rome but Scipio declined. This was his moment to shine. This was the time to do what so many generals had failed to achieve, Kill Hannibal
Formation
The year was 202 BC, in a flat and featureless part of the desert called Margaron. Hannibal had wanted to use the tactics he had used at Cannae. Unfortunately he now had a weaker and more inexperienced cavalry than that which his strategy depended upon to work. Also, Scipio's army was better trained than Varro's troops had been at Cannae some 14 years earlier. Hannibal placed all of his elephants at the front in a hope of wreaking havoc along the front lines of the Romans, but Scipio was prepared for such a strategy. Behind the elephants, Hannibal had his infantry in 3 lines. In the first line were Mago's mercenary Ligurians and Gauls. His second line was comprised of newly recruited Carthaginians and Africans. In his third line he had his veterans from the wars in Italy. On the left wing were the Numidian light cavalry and the rest of his cavalry on the right.
Battle
Hannibal set off his elephants but Scipio's specially trained troops widened the gaps in between their army making large alleys that the elephants went down. They would then use their light infantry to peg off the riders and confuse the elephants. Along with that Scipio had his legionaries bang their swords against their sheilds to frighten the elephants. All this confusion put the elephants to flight heading back the way they had come. The Roman Numidian cavalry followed the rampaging elephants all the way to the Carthaginian Numidian cavalry, putting them to flight. Meanwhile the Carthaginian horse on the other side of the army were also being put to flight. Now Hannibal had lost his cavalry but consequently the Romans had also lost theirs as their cavalry gave chase.
Victory in sight?
Now the infantry attacked. Hannibal kept his strategy of keeping his veterans at the back. Scipio's army was in three lines with larger distances between the lines than the norm. His first infantry line drove the skirmishers of the 1'st Carthaginian line back. The second line blocked the escape of the first so they went to the flanks rather than fight the Romans. The first Roman line was savaged by the second Carthaginian line but Hannibal did not release his veterans as he noticed Scipio hadn't commited his second or third line. So the Carthaginian and African levies were left to deal with the highly disiplined legionaries. It was only a matter of time before the second Carthaginian line would fall back, and when it did they too got denied safe passage so they went to the flanks of the army. It was now, as Aryeh Nusbacher would put it, a "meat-grinder battle" in which the last of the Carthaginian army engaged. Hannibal's army fought hard into the night and were starting to get an edge on the Romans when, lo and behold, the Roman cavalry came back and fell upon the rear of the army. At this point panic struck the Carthaginians deep in their guts. Everyone, including the vets, ran for their lives, all thoughts of dignity and honour, lost.
The Carthaginians had taken heavy casualties, 20,000 slain and 15-20,000 captured. Sources are unclear as to what the casualties were on the Roman side but it is geussed to be around 1,500 dead with 4,000 wounded. With his first defeat, Hannibal left to tell the Carthaginians that they should accept the best terms they could squeeze out of the Romans. The best terms they got were;
The immediate territory of Carthage would remain free
Restitution would be made for the goods seized during the truce
All elephants were to given to the Romans who used them for events
Carthage could keep only ten warships
Carthage could not make war without Roman consent
Masinissa would receive all the lands held by his ancestors
Carthage would pay 10,000 talents in 50 yearly
installments.
Gah its been to long since I posted some history to fill your brains with. This is thanks to the people who got me promoted to Senior Member http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-toff.gif
Any imput? I know it lacks pics I have a better looking versian at my clan's site you can find it HERE (http://loreclanhq.topcities.com/lore/zama.html)
Good post(s). It looks as if you're spamming to reach a thousand posts with each paragraph warranting a reply.
And I don't think they had cameras back then so don't worry about pics http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif .
Good article on the Battle of Zama (http://www.roman-empire.net/army/zama.html)
And some pictures I got with my timemachine (google)
http://www.hannibalbarca.org/zama-tapestry.jpg
http://www.military-art.com/images/dhm_513_small.jpg
Yep that is the site that helped me alot with the info for my project and Im pretty sure I have one or two of those pics on my sitethe point is if you wan't to see the good versian of Zama go to my website.
Promote LORE http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif
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