Fighting Hannibal: A First Hand Account - The Battle of Lake Trasimene

You were part of the legion that fought their way out of the calamity that was the Battle of Trebia and made it to the safety of Piacenza. Now you find yourself in the newly raised army for fighting the foreign invader, the Carthaginian Hannibal. This clever, clever man. Stealing a march, Hannibal has somehow cut the army off from Rome itself, he is attempting to subvert the cities allies and he lays waste to the very soil of Italy herself (1).

Having spent several days camped at Arretium watching the smoke rise from the hills of Italy, your General Gaius Flaminius, unable to take any more and with Rome demanding a victory, has marched against Hannibal (2). So, instead of sending out a cavalry screen to push the Carthaginians off the tilled fields and waiting for reinforcements, once again you find yourself on the road to battle.

In the vanguard of the legionary forces you have seen the fires of the Carthaginian camp far away and have pushed hard all night to catch up with the enemy beyond Lake Trasimene (3). But as you pass the northern edge of the lake a small skirmish force breaks cover in front of you. You and the other members of the vanguard draw your swords and charge on this weakly defended enemy, leaving the rest of the column behind.

Your head snaps up, just over the sound of swords clashing on shields and the screams of men, comes the faint bellow of a horn blowing on the wind. Looking back you see that all of the Roman forces have cleared the pass and are now on the open plain by the lake.

Suddenly howling down from the hills come Carthaginian cavalry and infantry, cutting off the pass to prevent escape and surrounding your brothers on three sides. Standing in the vanguard all you can do is watch as the Roman column, unable to draw up in battle lines, is slowly destroyed. You stand transfixed as far to the west the enemy cavalry pushes Romans backwards into the lake (4), while vile Gauls slowly grind down the centre of the column.

Realising that the day is lost, you and the rest of the vanguard push through the skirmish line. Damn this man Hannibal and his tricks. Damn these incompetent patrician generals. Standing on a wooded hill you watch as the Roman army is systematically wiped out from an enemy surrounding them on three sides and a lake to their backs. In less than four hours you see half of the army either killed or drowned in the lake (5).

Heading into the hills and back towards Rome you wonder what can stop this man now. Rome lays open to him. Hannibal, a man who has now destroyed two armies of Rome with clever and simple strategy. Jupiter Be Praised but how do you stop a man such as this? (6)

1. Part of Hannibal's strategy to lure the Roman forces into battle was to ravage the land of Italy itself "they began to lay waste the country, and the smoke rising from all quarters told its tale of destruction" Polybius Book 3 Chapter 82
2. Livy tells us that Flaminius' advisor's put forward a plan of restraint, waiting for reinforcements and the use of cavalry to drive the Carthaginains off the land, but "enraged at these suggestions he dashed out of the council and ordered the trumpets to give the signal for march and battle" Ab Urbe Condita Book 22 Chapter 3.

Battle of Lake Trasimene

3. Both Polybius and Livy write of the Carthaginian tactics. Hannibal choose the location of the battle very carefully. Having set up a false camp far in the distance to give the Romans a false sense of their position, similar to his previous use of concealed troops at the Battle of Trebia, Hannibal arranged his troops along the edge of the plain. His cavalry was hidden so they could sweep down and block off the entrance through which the Romans would enter the plain. Then he put his heavy infantry and skirmishers in a place where they could fall upon the Roman column when the signal was given, pinning them against the lake.

4. "They were forced into the lake in a mass, some of them quite lost their wits and trying to swim in their armour were drowned" Polybius Book 3 Chapter 84.

Flaminius at Lake Trasimene by Joseph-Noel Sylvestre

5. Livy records in his Ab Urbe Condita Book 22 Chapter 7, that 15,000 Romans were killed in the battle compared to 2,500 Carthaginians, another curshing defeat for the martial Romans.
6. "The general who is his opponent's master in strategy and reasoning may often capture his whole army" Polybius Book 3 Chapter 81.


Thanks for Reading
James