The Significance of Zama

Today’s anniversary of the Battle of Zama marked an important turning point in the Ancient World.  Roman General Scipio Africanus defeated the legendary Carthaginian General Hannibal Barca earning Rome permanent dominance of the central Mediterranean region.  With its base secured, Rome began a historic expansion around the Mediterranean, Europe and the Middle East.  In short, the victory at Zama fundamentally altered the course of world history.

Founded on April 21, 753 BC, Rome began as a small kingdom ruled by a series of seven kings. The Romans were one of many groups in Italy and were far from the most powerful.  Their relationship with the mysterious Etruscans to the north is unclear.  The last three kings were Etruscan, though it is unknown whether they were invited by or were forced upon the Romans.  In any event, in 509 BC a group of Romans led by Lucius Junius Brutus* chased the seventh and last king, Etruscan Tarqunius Supurbus into exile.

Creating the world’s first republic, the Romans established themselves as an independent polity and spent the next 200 years conquering other rivals in central Italy.  Rome still faced two powerful rivals though.  The Greeks controlled southern Italy and Sicily while Carthage held North Africa, the Spanish Mediterranean coast, Western Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia.  Carthage and Greece dominated trade on the Mediterranean making both far more powerful than Rome.

Since its founding, Rome had developed great ambition and persistence, a singular drive and a willingness to endure great hardships and reversals to become powerful and prosperous.  In 280 BC, the Romans initiated the Pyrrhic War defeating the Greeks cementing rule over central and southern Italy.  Carthage remained but defeating them presented difficult obstacles.  The Carthaginians possessed a powerful navy while the Romans had no never fielded a naval force.  When the Carthaginians intervened in a local conflict in Syracusa in 264 BC, the Romans had an excuse to declare war.

The Romans won the land engagements but lost the fleet they built, isolating their armies in Sicily.  Instead of admitting defeat, the Romans built a new fleet equipped with an innovative bridge that could be dropped from one ship (the corvus) allowing infantry to board an enemy vessel.  The corvus negated Carthaginian advantages in seamanship and the Romans won several naval battles culminating in the destruction of the Carthaginian navy at the Battle of the Aegates Islands.  Forced to come to unfavorable terms, the Carthaginians bided their time.

Rome did not remain idle, soon interfering with Carthaginian hegemony in Hispania. Carthage turned to one of the great generals of history, Hannibal Barca.  The son of the Carthaginian general who lost to the Romans in the first conflict with Rome, Hannibal had sworn revenge.  He made good on his promise, bringing a 100,000 man army with 37 war elephants through the Alps in 218 BC.  Hannibal humiliated the Romans at the Battles of Trebia and Lake Trasimene.  Undeterred, the Romans sallied forth again meeting the Carthaginians at Cannae where Hannibal destroyed the Roman army killing many Roman patricians in the process.

Even in the face of total defeat, the Romans displayed their tenacity refusing Hannibal’s generous surrender terms.  Instead the Romans re-built their army marching back into the field but refusing to engage Hannibal in a pitched battle,  A twelve year stalemate ensued crippling Roman ambitions.  They could do nothing with a large hostile force in their midst until they found their own military genius, Publius Cornelius Scipio.

One of the few survivors of Cannae, Scipio tried a new strategy.  Instead of attacking Hannibal directly, Scipio marched to Hispania and capturing Carthaginian possessions on the Iberian Peninsula.  Scipio then sailed his army to North Africa, directly threatening Carthage.  Finally, the Romans had found a way to remove Hannibal from Italy.  Forced to sail home, Hannibal prepared to defend Carthage at Zama.

Drawing Hannibal out of Italy was a great achievement but now Scipio had to do what no Roman had previously been able to accomplish, defeat Hannibal in battle.  Scipio proved equally innovative on the battlefield.  The Carthaginians had 80 war elephants they planned to use to charge the Roman lines to create a gap though which cavalry could split the Roman force.  When the elephants charged though, trumpeters came forward issuing loud blasts that panicked many elephants into turning back on Carthaginian troops.  Scipio’s men allowed the remaining elephants through their lines and then quickly closed ranks.  Reserve troops attacked the elephants from the side and from behind.  Having neutralized the elephants. Scipio’s veterans routed the remaining Carthaginians forcing Carthage to surrender.

The Battle of Zama removed a previously immovable threat from Italy, ending Carthaginian influence in the Mediterranean in the process.  With a secure land base and newly established trade routes, Scipio’s victory** allowed the Romans to initiate an unprecedented expansion beginning with the conquest of Gaul and Greece in the next 150 years.

Though harder to quantify, the victory at Zama rewarded Roman persistence creating a sense of destiny and invincibility that permeated the Republic and its leaders for years to come.  Julius Caesar, driven to match the accomplishments of Alexander the Great, transformed the Republic into an empire to achieve his ambitions.  At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain to Mesopotamia and controlled more than 25% of the world’s population — all made possible by Zama.  We can now look back on the Battle of Zama and recognize how it made the world’s foremost empire possible.

 

* Lucius was an ancestor of Marcus Junius Brutus who assassinated Julius Caesar in 44 BC.

** Scipio earned the honorary title Scipio Africanus and enjoys a reputation as one of Rome’s and the world’s greatest commanders.