Every great conqueror eventually meets the one opponent who has learned all his tricks. For Hannibal, that opponent was Scipio Africanus, the Roman who studied the man who had nearly destroyed Rome, then beat him at his own game.
Scipio came of age in Rome's darkest hour. He survived the slaughter at1 Cannae in 216 BC, where Hannibal annihilated a far larger Roman army, and drew from that catastrophe the lessons that would one day win the war.
To beat Hannibal, Rome finally produced a general who thought like him.
Rather than chase Hannibal endlessly around Italy, Scipio struck at the roots of Carthaginian power, first in Spain, then in Africa itself, until Carthage had no choice but to recall its greatest general to defend his own homeland.
How Scipio beat the master
Scipio's genius was to out-think the man who had humiliated Rome, using Hannibal's own principles against him.
- Learn from the enemy. Having survived Cannae, he absorbed Hannibal's methods of manoeuvre and encirclement and turned them back on Carthage.
- Strike at the source. Instead of fighting Hannibal in Italy, he carried the war to Spain and then Africa, forcing Carthage onto the defensive.
- Master the cavalry. He allied with the Numidian prince Masinissa1, whose horsemen gave him the cavalry advantage that decided Zama.
- Neutralise the elephants. At Zama he opened lanes in his lines2 so Hannibal's war elephants charged through harmlessly instead of shattering his infantry.
- Speed and daring. His lightning capture of New Carthage in 209 BC1 showed a boldness to match Hannibal's own.
The road to Zama
- c. 236 BCBorn into the Cornelii Scipiones1, one of Rome's leading patrician families.
- 216 BCSurvives the catastrophe at Cannae as a young officer, as Hannibal destroys a Roman army.
- 209 BCStorms New Carthage, the Carthaginian base in Spain, in a single daring assault.
- 206 BCWins at Ilipa and drives Carthage out of Spain for good.3
- 204 BCLands an army in Africa, carrying the war to4 Carthage's homeland.
- 202 BCDefeats Hannibal at Zama, ending the Second Punic War and earning the name Africanus.3
- c. 183 BCDies in retirement at Liternum, by tradition in the same year as his great rival Hannibal.
Rome's answer to Hannibal
For years Rome had no reply to Hannibal, who roamed Italy almost unbeaten after Cannae. Scipio changed that not by matching his boldness in Italy, but by taking the fight elsewhere. In Spain he captured New Carthage and broke Carthaginian power on the peninsula, learning all the while how the great general fought.
See how he ranks beside the man he beat, and every other great captain, in our guide to the greatest military commanders in history.
Zama and after
At Zama in 202 BC the two masters finally met. Scipio let Hannibal's elephants pass through gaps in his ranks, then used his superior Numidian cavalry to ride down the Carthaginian rear. It was the only great pitched battle Hannibal lost in the war, and it ended the war. Later, hounded by political rivals at home, Scipio withdrew from public life and died around 183 BC.1
Which commander do you most resemble? Find out in our Which Commander Are You quiz.
Sources and notes
Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.
- World History Encyclopedia (Joshua J. Mark), “Scipio Africanus the Elder” ↩ a b c d e
- Polybius, Histories, Book 15, 5 to 8 (the meeting of Scipio and Hannibal before Zama) and 15.9 to 14 (the battle, including the lanes left for the elephants). Loeb translation online at LacusCurtius: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/15*.html. ↩ a b
- H. H. Scullard, Scipio Africanus: Soldier and Politician (Thames and Hudson, 1970). ↩ a b
- Adrian Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars (Cassell, 2000). ↩
- Wikipedia, “Scipio Africanus”