Fabius Maximus was this man, and he adopted a strategy of cutting off Hannibal’s supply lines and refusing to engage in traditional battle. Fabius’ tactics were given the name the Fabian Strategy, and because of his lack of battles the senate believed he wasn’t accomplishing his task. His rights as dictator were revoked, and again the senate appointed two new consuls, Gaius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paullus. They marched to meet Hannibal at Cannae, where he had seized the town for its large amount of resources after his supply lines had been cut off by the Fabian Strategy. Livy says of the Roman army: “So thus, by a majority vote, the army marched on its way to Cannae, to make it famous in history as the scene of a catastrophic Roman defeat. Destiny itself was at its heels.” Again, the two Roman consuls had different strategies of how to deal with Hannibal. Varro, after expelling a small skirmish victory, was eager for battle while Paullus was more cautious and unsure of when to engage the enemy. The two armies of the consuls, in total numbering around 87,000 men, had been combined for the march and subsequent battle at Cannae. Because of this Roman law dictated that the two consuls were to alternate days in command. This was to be their …show more content…
In fact, it was due to his defeat of Hannibal that he was awarded with the cognomen of Africanus. Hannibal went on to live the rest of his life despising the Romans, moving from place to place and attempting to finish off what he had started in the Second Punic War. His accomplishments in the Second Punic War were astonishing. He defeated the Romans decisively in every battle he engaged them in during his time in Italy. He spent approximately ten years on the boot of Italy and reached within five miles of the Roman walls. No other general was ever able to accomplish what Hannibal seemed to so easily, defeating the equivalent of eight Roman consular armies in the span of two years (approximately 160,000 men). That is why, for these reasons, Hannibal will live on in history books for the rest of time. His ingenious tactics and superior intellect lead his forces through the European mountains and into the heart of the enemy where they ravaged the country side. The world will never forget such an influential