The Battle of Cannae was the third victory of the Carthaginians against the Romans, during the Second Punic War [ca. 216 BCE]. The Battle of Cannae would prove to be the one that made Hannibal famous and almost brought the entire Roman Empire to its knees. For the Carthaginians, the battle brought a great victory and support for their interracial army. For the Romans, this brought symbolic importance and lessons learned as well as the need for military strategic adaptation. Hannibal, a great general aged 26, swore in his youth to view the Romans with utter contempt and destroy them at their highest ranks. The Romans, on the other hand, repeatedly taunted Hannibal by sending their little soldiers. By the time the Battle of Cannae broke out, Hannibal knew he was facing his long-awaited encounter with the highest legions of the Roman army. Hannibal's success in the Battle of Cannae can only be attributed to his strategic war tactics. The Battle of Cannae took a long time to unfold, with each side gathering for two or three days before the Romans finally made the first move. As soon as he saw the Romans beginning to move on that scorching day, Hannibal sent his light armed troops - the slingers and pikemen - across the river. He knew who commanded the Roman army and he knew, even before the bulk of the opposing troops began to debouch towards the river, that he had finally brought the bulk of the Roman arms into battle. From Lake Trasimene [June 24, 217 BCE], he waited for this moment... [Leonard Cottrell 1960p. 112] As is clearly visible, the first thing Hannibal did was let the opposing army make the first move, then he crossed the river with his light armored troops. This ena...... middle of paper ......s of Hannibal led his army to ultimate victory even to the point that they were outnumbered two to one. There is no exact number of men who died that day, but it was one of the bloodiest battles of all time, losing more men than those killed in the Royal Air Force all together. throughout the First and Second World Wars. Later, on Varro, a Roman general admitted that,... It would be strange, if not impossible, that after having faced your enemies on equal terms in so many separate skirmishes and having been victorious in most cases, now, when you face them with your united army, and outnumber them more than two to one, you should be beaten. As previously noted, although some attribute Carthaginian success to weather and geography, it is evident that it was Hannibal's strategic maneuvers and tactics that led to the Romans' defeat in battle. from Cannes.