Today took place June 24, 21 7 BC::: Battle of Lake trasimene. Hannibal destroys the Roman army led by Consul Gaius Flaminius, the battle of Lake trasimene, one of the most important of the romano-Punic War, was fought in 217 BC, Tuoro sul Trasimeno, at dawn on 24 June (according to the calendar unreformed, corresponding to April than giuliano), between Carthaginian forces, commanded by Hannibal and the Roman legions, commanded by the Consul Gaius Flaminius. Rather than a battle it was a massacre. The Roman forces were caught by surprise during a paging operation. Hannibal abandoned Cisalpine Gaul, had fallen in Etruria and was heading toward Rome. The devastation of the Carthaginian army forced Flaminio to move from bases of Arezzo and head South to try to intercept Hannibal. The other Consul, Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, meanwhile, being left even more distant locations, was marching along the via Flaminia to rejoin his colleague, the same who had built three years earlier. Annibale, of course, would have risked too much trying to fight with the two consular armies gathered and waited for the reunification. In the evening, dismounted his troops encamped in the hills above Lake Trasimeno and hid in a ravine the Numidian Cavalry deadly, which the Romans still had not grasped the importance of tactics. The morning was foggy. The four legions of Flaminio, not being aware of the position of the enemy, proceeded without special defensive actions. On the other hand, their war-fighting methods were still firm to the collision front, well stated, and with the enemy lined up in front. Hannibal deployed his troops not, but triggered treasonably marching column, which was squeezed between the hills and the shores of Lake and surrounded. It was, in fact, a massacre in which 15,000 Romans died, killed in the field, while ten thousand sparsamente, fleeing across the Etruria, came to Rome to different routes (Liv., XXI, 7, 2). To these were added the prisoners, which Polybius (III, 85) estimated number of more than 15,000. The same console Flaminio, who five years earlier had destroyed Milan, was killed by a Knight named Ducario insubre. The latter says Livy- chased the horses belly hearten, jumped strongly in the middle of the thick group of enemies and slaughtered before the Squire who had launched meeting him advancing threateningly, pierced with the spear console» (Rome, 22-6). The next day they were defeated a few Cavalry of Servilius, just arrived, which clashed with the Numidian Cavalry of Maarbale. A few thousand survivors of the legions scattered in Etruria or managed to reach Rome. Contrary to what happened in the battle of Trebbia, this time the disaster was hidden: the Trasimeno was too close. Servilius assumed command of naval forces, Marcus Atilius Regulus replaced Flaminio to the Consulate but as always in the toughest adversity, Rome appointed a dictator: Quinto Fabio Massimo, who will go down in history as the cunctator (Fabian).
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 20:02:29 +0000
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