For sixteen years, Hannibal roamed Italy defeating every Roman army that he faced. But he could not capture Rome and few Italian cities allied with him. The only way to end this dominance was to have a general equal to Hannibal. That general was Scipio. He learned from Hannibal’s tactics, having participated in some of the losses. And he understood that the key to winning the Second Punic War was to deprive Hannibal of reinforcements and supplies. Those reinforcements and supplies came from Spain. So, Scipio went to Spain and captured the capital and defeated the Carthaginian armies twice to end Carthaginian control of Spain. His next goal was to invade North Africa and force Hannibal to come to the rescue of his people. He landed in North Africa in 205 B.C.E. Scipio’s army, which consisted of some of the shamed survivors of the Battle of Cannae, went scorched earth on the Carthaginians to provoke them. He won two battles. In one, he burned Carthaginian and Numidian camps in a daring night action. The Carthaginian government sued for peace, but at the same time begged Hannibal to return. One can imagine the disgust of Hannibal when he received the request considering how little help he had gotten from the government. Hannibal’s return broke the armistice and the stage was set for the meeting of the two greatest figures of the war.
Before the battle the two generals met. We don’t know what they said, but one version had Hannibal advising Scipio that although the Roman was on a roll, luck played a role in battles and he might not win. Scipio would have undoubtedly responded by saying he would take his chances and there would be no avoiding the battle unless Hannibal unconditionally surrendered. No chance of that. The battle took place on Oct. 19, 202 B.C.E.
In the battle, Hannibal had about 36,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry plus 80 elephants (many were ill-trained). Scipio had 29,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. This would be the first battle where Hannibal faced more and better cavalry. Scipio had learned that if you can’t beat them, get them to join. He had convinced the greatest cavalryman in the world (Masinissa) to switch sides with his Numidians. Scipio also knew he had to deal with the elephants. Expecting the battle to open with an elephant charge. Scipio told his legionaries that they would adjust the normal checkerboard to maniples being lined up, creating lanes for the elephants to run through. He also had trumpets blown to scare the elephants. It worked like a charm. The elephants either ran through the lanes while being pelted by pila (javelins) or some of them panicked and charged into Hannibal’s cavalry on the left wing. At this point, Laelius (Scipio’s best friend) led his cavalry in running off the cavalry facing him. Masinissa drove off Hannibal’s on the other side. Now it was just infantry on infantry.
Scipio took the initiative and attacked. Hannibal’s front line consisted of mercenaries. It was a tough fight, but Scipio’s hastati (the Roman first line) won out and the mercenaries retreated. Hannibal had ordered his second line to not let the retreaters through their formation. As the Romans watched agape, some of the retreating soldiers were killed by their own men. Next, it was Hannibal’s second line consisting of hastily trained citizens. They actually put up a good fight causing Scipio to move up his second line of principes to reinforce the hastati. The citizens put up a good fight, but they had to retreat. Incredibly, some of them tried to retreat through the third line and were killed. Hannibal now thought he had Scipio where he wanted him. Scipio’s army had to be exhausted and now they would have to face Hannibal’s veterans. The final confrontation was touch and go, until… Laelius and Masinissa returned to hit Hannibal from behind. The same thing Hannibal had pulled off at Cannae. Hannibal was routed and he fled to Carthage where he told the government the war was over. And Scipio became Scipio Africanus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zama
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/292/the-battle-of-zama—the-beginning-of-roman-conque/
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