Hat 8051 Punic War Roman Command

During the Punic Wars (264-146 BC), each legion was headed by six military tribunes (Latin tribunus militum), who, together with their centurions, led the legion into battle. On the other hand, the command over the entire Roman armies in the field was exercised by consuls and praetors elected for a given year. Thus, the civil and military power at that time in the Roman state were closely related. In the course of the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), due to the significant increase in the number of Roman troops, former consuls and praetors, who had already proven themselves on the battlefield, were also appointed to high command positions. In the early days of the Second Punic War, Roman commanders very often aimed at fighting the Carthaginian armies, but the defeat at Trebia (218 BC), Lake Trasimeno (217 BC), and especially the Cannae catastrophe (216 BC) , made the Roman leaders much more conservative and tried to avoid a fighting battle with Hannibal. It is worth adding that waging a guerrilla war and thus exhausting the forces of the Carthaginian leader was already carried out by the dictator of 217 BC, i.e. Quintus Fabiusz Maksimus, nicknamed the Kunktator. Only the outstanding commander, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, returned to extreme offensive operations, who crossed with his troops to Tunisia and in 202 BC fought the victorious battle of Zama with Hannibal.