HANNIBAL THE BATTLE OF CANNAE
After defeating the Romans at the Battle of Lake Trasimene, Hannibal now moved his forces down south. There was panic In Rome and Quintus Favius Maximus was appointed dictator to deal with Hannival. Fabius, however, refused to meet Hannival in the open field andd this strategy became highly unpopulat in Rome. Romans were used to attacking, not hiding. The Romans were forced to go on the offensive afted Hannivle positioned his forces between Tome and it's vital grain supply. This setup the epic Battle of Cannae. Here Hannival defeated the Romans inflicting the worst single day defeat in Rome's history.
AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE OF CANNAE
After the horrific defeat at the Battle of Cannae, the Romans reinstituted Fabius' avoidance strategy. The Romans no longer refused to meet Hannibal in head on collisions. Rather the Roman army kept a watchful eye on Hannibal, but always at a close distance.
The acoidance strategy worked but it took forever. It took almost two long decades to drive Hannibal out of Italy. And even then Hannibal was never defeated in Italy. The Romans adopting a tactic out of Hannibal's playbook, launched an attack against carthage itself. This forced Hannival to rravel back to Africa to defen the city. Here he was defeated at the Battle of Zama.