For anyone interested in learning more about Rome's disastrous defeat at The Battle of Cannae, mentioned in yesterday's post, tonight at 10 PM The History Channel is airing "Battles BC: Hannibal the Annihilator."
About 200 years before Christ's birth, Carthaginian general Hannibal stunned the civilized world by moving his force of 38,000 infantry and 8000 cavalry, including 37 elephants, to attack the most powerful government on earth. It's estimated Hannibal lost half his troops in the hazardous crossing, and arrived in northern Italy with just two dozen elephants and 24,000 men.
But that was all Hannibal needed to humiliate the legendary Roman Legions, as he convincingly demonstrated at the Battles ... no, the slaughters ... of Trebia, Cannae and Lake Trasimene. More than 98,000 Roman soldiers died in just those three battles ... and all three occurred within a single year.
Hannibal has been attributed with the famous quotation,
"We will either find a way, or make one."
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