Hannibal's Tactics To Win The Battle Of Cannae

Hannibal was an event making individual because he never followed typical battle plans of fighting with force to win, but used cunning strategies and plans so that the results consistently benefited him. In the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal used his witty tactics to win the battle instead of trying to intimidate his opponents with a larger army. Historian Will Durant states in his lecture (about the Battle of Cannae), “It was a supreme example of generalship, never bettered in history”. Hannibal’s plan to conquer the Romans was to have the Roman's charge at them while his forces encircled them. The Romans fell for this because they had always fought with utter force instead of strategic plans. They were entirely surrounded and practically annihilated.

While Hannibal only lost 6000 soldiers out of 44,000. Hannibal’s plans of trapping the Roman army show how he was an event making individual who did not follow the expected battle plans of forward attacking and fighting to the death but, instead created new strategies to protect his men and win the battle effectively. Similarly, Hannibal was also shown as an event making individual in the Battle of Lake Trasimene. In this battle Hannibal lured the Romans into the perfect trap. Hannibal set his trap along the lake in the night. In the morning, the Roman army which was following Hannibal's troops from before advanced quickly and due to fog did not recognise his traps. Hannibal sent forth a small force to have the Romans break their lines to attack the force. However, when they came close enough, Hannibal’s army ambushed them and the Romans quickly found out that the force was just a small amount compared to Hannibal’s actual army. Hannibal ended up completely destroying the Romans, which is considered the greatest ambush in history. In this ambush Hannibal showed his event making individualism through his outstanding and exemplary