Battle of Zama

The Battle of Zama was one of the most famous military engagement that ever took place in ancient times. It was fought between the Roman Army, under Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the Elder, and the Carthaginian Army, which was led by Hannibal. They faced off on a plain near the city of Carthage in 202 BC, at the end of the Second Punic Wars, just when it seemed the Carthaginian hordes were about to totally destroy Rome. With his victory over Hannibal, the Great General, Scipio became a hero and the savior of the Roman civilization.

When Hannibal and his powerful elephant-equipped army were carrying out an intense military campaign in Italy, near Rome, Cornelius, who had been sent as a Consul to Hispania (Spain), had managed to raise and organized a powerful and well-disciplined army. In order to force the Carthaginian General to lift the siege of Rome, he sailed straight to northern Africa and had deployed his legions there at Zama, menacing to attack and destroy Carthage.

This is how the Roman and Hannibal’s Army met at Zama. Scipio’s forces were composed of 35,000 men, infantry and cavalry, and they had been reinforced by about 5,000 Numidians and about 10,000 Iberians from Spain, while the Carthaginian Army consisted of 39,000 men, with about 12,000 of them being Greek mercenaries. This time, the Roman commander did not made the mistakes that other Roman Consuls made in Italy. He concentrated all his military and logistical efforts in the infantry, saving one cavalry unit for a surprise and swift attack from one of the flanks.

Below, Publius Cornelius Scipio, Africanus, the Elder, the only Roman General that could defeat the Great Hannibal.