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Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus,surnamed Cunctator,was a Roman statesman and general of the third century BC. He was consul five times and was appointed dictator in 221 and 217 BC. He was censor in 230 BC. His agnomen,Cunctator,usually translated as "the delayer",refers to the strategy that he employed against Hannibal's forces during the Second Punic War. Facing an outstanding commander with superior numbers,he pursued a then-novel strategy of targeting the enemy's supply lines,and accepting only smaller engagements on favourable ground,rather than risking his entire army on direct confrontation with Hannibal himself. As a result,he is regarded as the originator of many tactics used in guerrilla warfare.
Hannibal was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War.
The Second Punic War was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome,the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy,primarily in Italy and Iberia,but also on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and,towards the end of the war,in North Africa. After immense materiel and human losses on both sides,the Carthaginians were once again defeated. Macedonia,Syracuse and several Numidian kingdoms were drawn into the fighting,and Iberian and Gallic forces fought on both sides. There were three main military theatres during the war:Italy,where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly,with occasional subsidiary campaigns in Sicily,Sardinia and Greece;Iberia,where Hasdrubal,a younger brother of Hannibal,defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success before moving into Italy;and Africa,where Rome finally won the war.
This article concerns the period 219 BC –210 BC.
Year 216 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Varro and Paullus. The denomination 216 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period,when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
The Battle of Cannae was a key engagement of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage,fought on 2 August 216 BC near the ancient village of Cannae in Apulia,southeast Italy. The Carthaginians and their allies,led by Hannibal,surrounded and practically annihilated a larger Roman and Italian army under the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. It is regarded as one of the greatest tactical feats in military history and one of the worst defeats in Roman history,and it cemented Hannibal Barca's reputation as one of antiquity's greatest tacticians.
Lucius Aemilius Paullus,also spelled Paulus,was a consul of the Roman Republic twice,in 219 and 216 BC. He is primarily remembered for being one of the commanders of the Roman army at the Battle of Cannae,and for his death in the same battle.
The Battle of Lake Trasimene was fought when a Carthaginian force under Hannibal ambushed a Roman army commanded by Gaius Flaminius on 21 June 217 BC,during the Second Punic War. The battle took place on the north shore of Lake Trasimene,to the south of Cortona,and resulted in a heavy defeat for the Romans.
Quintus Baebius Tamphilus was a praetor of the Roman Republic who participated in negotiations with Hannibal attempting to forestall the Second Punic War.
Maharbal was a Numidian army commander in charge of the cavalry under Hannibal and his second-in-command during the Second Punic War. Maharbal was a very close friend to Hannibal and admired him greatly. He was often critical to the battlefield success of Carthage over Rome. Throughout his Italian campaign Hannibal maintained numerical superiority in cavalry,and thus relied upon them and Maharbal to give his army an advantage.
Marcus Junius Pera was a Roman politician before and during the Second Punic War.
Hanno,distinguished as the son of the suffet Bomilcar,was a Carthaginian officer in the Second Punic War.
The Battle of Ager Falernus was a skirmish during the Second Punic War between the armies of Rome and Carthage. After winning the Battle of Lake Trasimene in Italy in 217 BC,the army commanded by Hannibal marched south and reached Campania. The Carthaginians ultimately moved into the district of Falernum,a fertile river valley surrounded by mountains.
The Battle of Geronium was a full-scale battle in the summer and autumn months of 217 BC,respectively. This battle happened during the Second Punic War. The event has been regarded as a pivotal moment in the war,as it involved the armies of the incredibly influential civilizations,Rome and Carthage. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Carthaginian forces led by the legendary general Hannibal Barca.
Publius Sempronius C.f. Tuditanus was a Roman Republican consul and censor,best known for leading about 600 men to safety at Cannae in August,216 BC and for the Treaty of Phoenice which ended the First Macedonian War,in 205 BC.
The Battle of Canusium also known as the Battle of Asculum was a three-day engagement between the forces of Rome and Carthage. It took place in Apulia during the spring of 209 BC,the tenth year of the Second Punic War. A larger Roman offensive,of which it was a part,aimed to subjugate and to punish cities and tribes that had abandoned the alliance with Rome after the Battle of Cannae,and to narrow the base of the Carthaginian leader,Hannibal,in southern Italy.
Quintus Fabius Maximus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 213 BC. He was the son of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus,the famous dictator who invented Fabian strategy,and served with his father during the Second Punic War.
The Terentii Varrones were a branch of the gens Terentia in ancient Rome.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Asina was a Roman politician and general who served as consul in 221 BC,and as such campaigned against the Histri,a people in the northern Adriatic. Asina belonged to the Scipionic-Aemilian faction which dominated Roman politics at the beginning of the Second Punic War,and advocated for an aggressive policy against Hannibal. This stance led him to oppose the more prudent strategy of Fabius Maximus. He was notably appointed Interrex in 216 BC,probably in order to manipulate the elections.
The Battle of Silva Litana was an ambush that took place in a forest 75 miles northwest of the Roman city of Ariminum during the Second Punic War in 216 BC. The Gallic Boii surprised and destroyed a Roman army of 25,000 men under the consul-elect Lucius Postumius Albinus and destroyed the Roman army,with only ten men surviving the ambush,a few prisoners were taken by the Gauls and Postumius was killed,his corpse was decapitated and his skull was covered with gold and used as a ceremonial cup by the Boii. News of this military disaster,reaching Rome probably after the election of consuls for 215 BC in spring 215 BC or after the defeat at Cannae in the fall of 216 BC,triggered a renewed panic in Rome and forced the Romans to postpone military operations against the Gauls until the conclusion of the Second Punic War. Rome decided to focus on defeating Hannibal and sent only two legions to guard against any possible Gallic attack. However,the Boii and Insubres did not attack the Romans to exploit their victory. Cisalpine Gaul remained in relative peace until 207 BC,when Hasdrubal Barca arrived there with his army from Spain.
References
- ↑ Jerome S. Arkenberg, "Licinii Murenae, Terentii Varrones, and Varrones Murenae: I. A Prosopographical Study of Three Roman Families", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte , 42 (1993), pp. 326-351
- ↑ Livy. 22.25.18
- 1 2 Livy. 22.26.1.
- ↑ Maurus Servius Honoratus, Commentary on the Aeneid of Virgil, 11.743..
- ↑ T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, (American Philological Association, 1952). vol. I, p. 240.
- ↑ Polybius. 3.110.
- ↑ Oliver L. Spaulding Jr. The Classical Element in the German War Plan of 1914, The Classical Weekly, Vol. 18, No. 18 (Mar. 16, 1925), p143.
- ↑ Hanson, Victor Davis (2007-12-18). Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-42518-8.
- ↑ Livy. 22.54.1
- ↑ Polybius. 3.116.
- ↑ Livy. 22.54.6.
- ↑ Livy. 22.61.
- ↑ Livy. 22.61.14.
- ↑ Livy. 23.22.10
- ↑ Livy. 23.23.11
- ↑ Livy. 23..32.19.
- ↑ Livy. 24.10.3
- ↑ Livy. 24.10.3.
- ↑ Livy.24.44.5.
- ↑ T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952). vol. I. p256.
- ↑ Livy. 27.24.9.
- ↑ Livy. 27.36.12.
- ↑ Livy. 31.11.6-7.
- ↑ Livy. 31.49.6.
- ↑ Jerome S. Arkenberg. Licinii Murenae, Terentii Varrones, and Varrones Murenae: I. A Prosopographical Study of Three Roman Families, Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte Bd. 42, H. 3 (3rd Qtr., 1993), pp. 326-351