In 202 BC, on the plains of North Africa, the Second Punic War came to its end. The Roman general Scipio, later called Africanus, defeated Hannibal himself at Zama. It was the first and last time the two greatest commanders of the age faced each other, and it broke the power of Carthage for good.
Carrying the war to Carthage
For sixteen years Hannibal had ranged across Italy, winning victory after victory yet never taking Rome. Scipio changed the war by refusing to fight him there. He invaded Africa instead, threatening Carthage directly, and the city recalled Hannibal home to defend it.
The elephants pass
Hannibal opened with a charge of war elephants. Scipio had prepared for it: instead of a solid line he left lanes through his ranks, and the beasts thundered harmlessly down them or were turned back into their own side. On the wings, Roman and Numidian cavalry under Masinissa drove the Carthaginian horse from the field.
The lines close
The infantry met in a long and even struggle, Hannibal's veterans against the hardened legions. Then the Roman and Numidian cavalry, having scattered their opponents, returned and struck Hannibal's army in the rear. Caught between the legions and the horsemen, the Carthaginian line collapsed.
What the day decided
Carthage sued for peace and accepted harsh terms, giving up its empire and its fleet. Rome stood unrivalled in the western Mediterranean, and the road to its dominance of the ancient world lay open. Hannibal, undefeated for so long, had lost the one battle that mattered most.