Battle of Zama
Part of the Second Punic War
Date October 19, 202 BC Location Zama, near Carthage Result Decisive Roman victory; Marks end of Second Punic War
Belligerents
Carthage Gaul [1]	Roman Republic Numidia [2]
Commanders and leaders
Hannibal	Scipio Africanus
Strength
51,000: 45,000 infantry 4,000 cavalry 80 war elephants[3]	40,000: 34,000 infantry 9,000 cavalry[3]
Casualties and losses
20,000 killed 20,000 captured	2,500 killed

The Battle of Zama by Henri-Paul Motte, 1890

The Battle of Zama, fought around October 19, 202 BC, marked the final and decisive end of the Second Punic War. A Roman army led by Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus defeated a Carthaginian force led by the legendary commander Hannibal. Soon after this defeat on their home ground, the Carthaginian senate sued for peace, which was given to them by the Roman Republic on rather humiliating terms, ending the 17-year war.

Prelude[link]

Crossing the Alps, Hannibal reached the Italian peninsula in 218 BC and won several major victories against the Roman armies. Having failed to defeat Hannibal or drive him from Italy, the Romans changed strategy and decided to attack Carthage, forcing the Carthaginians to recall Hannibal. He was still in Italy, although confined to the south of the peninsula, when Scipio landed in Africa in 203 BC.^[4]

Following their decisive victory in Spain at the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC, Iberia was secured by the Romans. In 205 BC, Scipio returned to Rome, where he was elected consul with a unanimous vote. Scipio, now powerful enough, proposed to end the war by directly invading the Carthaginian home land.^[5]

The Senate initially opposed this ambitious design of Scipio, persuaded by Fabius Maximus that the enterprise was far too hazardous. However, Scipio and his supporters eventually convinced the Senate to ratify the plan, and Scipio was given the requisite authority to attempt the invasion.^[6]:270 Initially he received no levy troops, and he sailed to Sicily with a group of 7,000 heterogeneous volunteers.^[7]:96 Later, he obtained the authorization to employ also the regulars stationed in Sicily, which consisted mainly of the remnants of the 5th and 6th Legion, exiled to the island as a punishment for the humiliation they suffered in the Battle of Cannae.^[7]:119

Scipio kept on reinforcing his troops with local defectors.^[6]:271 He landed at Utica, and defeated the Carthaginian army at the Battle of the Great Plains in 203 BC. The panicked Carthaginians felt that they had no other alternative than to offer peace to Scipio, who, having the authority, granted it with modest terms. According to the terms of the treaty signed between Scipio and Carthage, Carthage could keep its African territory, but would lose its overseas empire, by that time a fait-accompli. Masinissa was to be allowed to expand Numidia into parts of Africa. Also, Carthage was to reduce its fleet and pay a war indemnity. The Roman senate ratified the agreement. The Carthaginian senate recalled Hannibal from Italy in 203 BC. Meanwhile, the Carthaginians breached the armistice agreement by capturing a stranded Roman fleet in the Gulf of Tunis and stripping it of supplies. The Carthaginians no longer believed a treaty advantageous, and rebuffed it under much Roman protest.^[8]

Troop deployment[link]

Roman and Carthaginian troop deployment.

Hannibal led an army composed of mercenaries, local citizens and veterans from his Italian campaigns, and Scipio led the already present Roman army of legionaries, along with a body of Numidian cavalry. The battle took place at Zama Regia, near Siliana 130 km south-west of the capital Tunis. Hannibal was first to march and reach the plains of Zama Regia, which were suitable for cavalry maneuvering. This also gave an upper edge in turn to Scipio who relied heavily on his Roman heavy cavalry and Numidian light cavalry. Hannibal deployed his troops facing northwest, while Scipio deployed his troops in front of the Carthaginian army facing southeast.^[9]

Hannibal's army consisted of 45,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 80 war elephants, while Scipio had a total of 34,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry.^[3] Putting his experienced cavalry on the flanks, Hannibal aligned his troops in three straight lines behind his eighty war elephants. The first line consisted of mixed infantry of mercenaries from Gaul, Liguria, and Baleria. In his second line he placed the Carthaginian and Libyan citizen levies, while his veterans from Italy were placed in the third line.^[10] Hannibal intentionally held back his third infantry line, in order to thwart Scipio's tendency to pin the Carthaginian center and envelop his opponent's lines, as he had previously done at the Battle of Ilipa.^[8] Livy states that Hannibal deployed 4000 Macedonians in the second line, which is normally rejected as Roman propaganda, though T Dorey suggested that there might have been a seed of truth in the story if the Carthaginians had recruited a trivial number of mercenaries from Macedonia who had gone without official blessing.^[11]

Scipio deployed his army in three lines: the first line was composed of the hastati, the second line of principes and the third line of the triarii. The stronger right wing was composed of the Numidian cavalry and commanded by Masinissa while the left wing was composed of the Italian cavalry under the command of Laelius. The greatest concern for Scipio was the elephants. He came up with an ingenious plan to take care of them.

Meeting of Hannibal and Scipio at Zama (Charlotte Mary Yonge), 1880

Scipio knew that elephants could be ordered to charge forward, but they could only continue their charge in a straight line.^[12] Scipio predicted that intentionally opening gaps in his troops would result in the elephants simply continuing between them, without harming any of his soldiers. Scipio created the lanes between the army regiments across the depth of his troops and hid them with maniples of skirmishers. The plan was that when the elephants charged these lanes would open allowing them to pass through the legionaries' ranks and be dealt with at the rear of the army.

Hannibal and the Carthaginians had relied on cavalry superiority in previous battles (e.g. Battle of Cannae), but Scipio, recognizing the importance, held the cavalry advantage at Zama. This was due in part to his raising of a new cavalry regiment in Sicily and careful courting of Masinissa as an ally.

Hannibal probably hoped that the combination of the war elephants and the depth of the first two lines would weaken and disorganize the Roman advance. This would have allowed him to complete a victory with his reserves in the third line and overlap Scipio's lines. Though this formation was indeed well-conceived, it failed to produce a Carthaginian victory. The two men are said to have met face-to-face before the battle.

The battle[link]

At the outset of the battle, Hannibal unleashed his elephants and skirmishers against the Roman troops in order to break the cohesion of their lines and exploit the breaches that could be opened.^[13] The attack was confronted by the Roman skirmishers. In addition, Scipio ordered the cavalry to blow loud horns to frighten the beasts, which partly succeeded, and several rampaging elephants turned towards the Carthaginian left wing and disordered it completely. Seizing this opportunity, Masinissa led his Numidian cavalry and charged at the Carthaginian left wing, also composed of Numidian cavalry, and was unknowingly lured off the field. Meanwhile, the rest of the elephants were carefully lured through the lanes and taken to the rear of the Roman army, where they were dealt with. Scipio's plan to neutralize the threat of the elephants had worked. Scipio's troops then fell back into traditional Roman battle formation. Laelius, the commander of Roman left wing, charged against the Carthaginian right. The Carthaginian cavalry, acting on the instructions of Hannibal, allowed the Roman cavalry to chase them so as to lure them away from the battlefield so that they wouldn't attack the Carthaginian armies in the rear.^[14]

Scipio now marched with his center towards the Carthaginian center, which was under the direct command of Hannibal. Hannibal moved forward with only two lines and the third line of veterans was kept in reserve. After a close contest, the first line of Hannibal was pushed back by the Roman hastati.^[12] Hannibal ordered his second line not to allow the first line in their ranks. The bulk of them managed to escape and to position themselves on the wings of the second line on Hannibal's instructions.^[4] Hannibal now charged with his second line. A furious struggle ensued and the Roman hastati were pushed back with heavy losses. Scipio reinforced the hastati with the second line principes.^[9]

Hannibal starts the battle with his war elephants charging at Roman front. Scipio orders his cavalry to blow loud horns to terrify the charging elephants. The panicked elephants turn at the Carthaginian left wing and disorder it.   Roman right wing charges and routs the Carthaginian cavalry, followed by the Roman left wing routing the Carthaginian right wing. Remaining elephants are lured through the lanes and killed.   Carthaginian cavalry routed off the field. Scipio attacks Hannibal's first and second line of infantry and routs both lines.   Scipio and Hannibal rearrange their troops in a single line and battle remains stalemate until Roman cavalry returns and attacks Hannibal's infantry at the rear.

With this reinforcement the Roman front renewed their attack and defeated Hannibal's second line. Again, the second line was not allowed to merge with the third line and was forced to the wings along with the first line. Carthaginian cavalry carried out Hannibal's instructions well and there was no sign of Roman cavalry on the battlefield. Once they were far enough away, they turned and attacked the Roman cavalry but were routed in the end. At this point there was a pause in the battle as both sides redeployed their troops. Scipio played for time as he redeployed his troops in a single line with the hastati in the middle and the principes in the inner wings and the triarii on the outer wings. Hannibal waited for Scipio to attack. The resulting clash was fierce and bloody, with neither side achieving local superiority. However, Scipio was able to rally his men.^[12] The battle finally turned into Roman favor as the Roman cavalry returned onto the battlefield and attacked the Carthaginian line from behind. The Carthaginian infantry was encircled and annihilated. Thousands of Carthaginians, including Hannibal, managed to escape the slaughter.^[8] Hannibal experienced a major defeat that put an end to all resistance on the part of Carthage. In total, as many as 20,000 men of Hannibal’s army were killed at Zama, while 20,000 were taken as prisoners. The Romans on the other hand, suffered as few as 2,500 dead.^[15]

Aftermath[link]

Soon after Scipio's victory at Zama, the war ended, with the Carthaginian senate suing for peace. Unlike the treaty that ended the First Punic War, the terms Carthage acceded to were so punishing that it was never able to challenge Rome for supremacy of the Mediterranean again. Terms of the treaty bankrupted Carthage of any chance at military might in the future, although their economic recovery was quick because they did not have to pay an army of mercenaries to fight for them. One provision was that the Carthaginians were not allowed to make war without Roman consent. This allowed the Romans to establish a casus belli for the Third Punic War when the Carthaginians defended themselves from Numidian encroachments which the Romans would not stop.

The Battle of Zama by Cornelis Cort, 1567

When Rome waged a Third Punic War on Carthage 70 years later, the Carthaginians had little power, and could not even defeat the by-then very aged Masinissa in Africa. They could, however, organize a defense of their home city, which, after an extended siege, was captured and completely destroyed. Only 55,000 survived.^[9]

See also[link]

• Second Punic War
• Roman Republic
• Conquests of Hannibal

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Hans Delbrück; Warfare in Antiquity; 1920; ISBN 0-8032-9199-X
• Robert F. Pennel; Ancient Rome from the earliest times down to 476 A.D; 1890
• Theodore Ayrault Dodge; Hannibal: A History of the Art of War among the Carthaginians and Romans down to the Battle of Pydna, 168 B.C., with a Detailed Account of the Second Punic War; 1891; ISBN 0-306-81362-9
• Polybius; The general history of Polybius, Volume 2; W. Baxter for J. Parker, 1823
• Basil Liddell Hart; Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon: ; Greenhil Books, 1992, ISBN 1-85367-132-0
• Paul K. Davis: 100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present. Oxford University Press 2001, ISBN 0-19-514366-3, pp. 47-51 (online copy at Google Books)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Battle of Zama

• http://www.roman-empire.net/army/zama.html
• Battle of Zama from UNRV History
• Battle of Zama animated battle map by Jonathan Webb

v t e Punic Wars First Punic War Messana Agrigentum Lipari Islands Mylae Sulci Tyndaris Cape Ecnomus Aspis Adys Tunis Panormus Drepana 1st Lilybaeum Siege of Drepana Mount Ercte 1st Mt. Eryx 2nd Mt. Eryx Aegates Islands Mercenary War Utica Bagradas River Carthage "The Saw" Tunis Second Punic War Saguntum Lilybaeum Rhone Ticinus Trebia Cissa Lake Trasimene Ebro River Ager Falernus Geronium Cannae 1st Nola Battle of Dertosa 2nd Nola Battle of Cornus 3rd Nola 1st Beneventum Syracuse 1st Tarentum 1st Capua 2nd Beneventum Silarus 1st Herdonia Upper Baetis 2nd Capua 2nd Herdonia Numistro Asculum 2nd Tarentum Baecula Grumentum Metaurus New Carthage Ilipa Crotona Utica Great Plains Cirta Po Valley Zama Third Punic War Carthage Military history

Vin Diesel
Diesel at a premiere for Fast & Furious in March 2009
Born	Mark Sinclair Vincent (1967-07-18) July 18, 1967 (age 44) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1990–present
Partner	Paloma Jimenez
Website
VinDiesel.com

Vin Diesel (born Mark Sinclair Vincent; July 18, 1967) is an American actor, writer, director and producer. He became known in the early 2000s, appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including The Fast and the Furious and xXx. He founded the production companies One Race Films, Tigon Studios and Racetrack Records.

Early life[link]

Vin Diesel was born in New York City, the son of Delora, a psychiatrist and astrologer.^[1][2] Diesel has white and black ancestry.^[3][4] He has described himself as "definitely a person of color"^[5] and stated that he is "of ambiguous ethnicity – Italian and a lot of other stuff."^[6] Diesel has never met his biological father, and was raised by his African-American stepfather, Irving, an acting instructor and theatre manager.^[1][5] He made his stage debut at age seven when he appeared in the children's play Dinosaur Door, written by Barbara Garson. The play was produced at Theater for the New City in New York's Greenwich Village. His involvement in the play came about when he, his brother, and some friends had broken into Theater for the New City's space on Jane Street with the intent to vandalize it. They were confronted by the theater's artistic director, Crystal Field, who, instead of calling the police, handed them scripts and offered them parts in the upcoming show.^[7] He remained involved with the theatre throughout adolescence, going on to attend the city's Hunter College, where his creative writing studies led him to begin screenwriting. Diesel became an active film-maker in the early 1990s, first earning notice for the short film Multi-Facial, which was selected for screening at the 1995 Cannes Festival. Diesel has identified himself as a "multi-faceted" actor^[8] as a result of early difficulties finding roles due to his mixed heritage.^[8][9]

In an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, he said that he changed his name to "Vin Diesel" while working as a bouncer at the New York City nightclub Tunnel, because in that business one's real name is not usually given out. The name "Vin" is simply a shortened version of "Vincent". He received the nickname "Diesel" from his friends who said he ran off diesel fuel, referring to his non-stop energy.

He has a twin brother, Paul, a younger brother, Tim, and a sister, Samantha.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2011)

Diesel in Munich, April 2005

Diesel's first film role was a brief uncredited appearance in the 1990 film Awakenings. He then produced, directed, and starred in the 1994 short film Multi-Facial, a short semi-autobiographical film which follows a struggling actor stuck in the audition process, because he is regarded as either "too black" or "too white", or not black or white enough. He made his first feature-length film, 1997's Strays, an urban drama in which he was self-cast as a gang boss whose love for a woman inspires him to try to change his ways. Written, directed and produced by Diesel, the film was selected for competition at the 1997 Sundance Festival, leading to an MTV deal to turn it into a series.

He was then cast in Steven Spielberg's 1998 Oscar-winning film Saving Private Ryan on the poignancy of his performance in Multi-Facial. In 1999 he earned critical acclaim for his voice work as the title character in the animation film The Iron Giant. He followed it up with a major role in the business drama Boiler Room (2000) and then got his breakthrough role as the anti-hero Riddick in the science-fiction film Pitch Black (2000). He attained action hero super stardom with the box office hits, the street racing action film The Fast and the Furious (2001), starring opposite Paul Walker, and the action thriller xXx (2002).

In 2004, he reprised his role as Pitch Black's Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick which was a box office failure considering the large budget. In 2005 he played a lighthearted role in the comedy film The Pacifier, which became a box office success. In 2006 he chose a dramatic role playing real-life mobster Jack DiNorscio in Find Me Guilty. Although he received critical acclaim for his performance, the film did poorly at the box office. Later that year he made a cameo appearance in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, reprising his role from The Fast and The Furious. Diesel was originally offered the lead in 2 Fast 2 Furious but turned it down. He was also offered the chance to reprise his role from xXx in xXx: State of the Union but turned it down as well.

In 2007, he was set to produce and star as Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the video game Hitman, but eventually pulled back and served as executive producer on the film instead. In 2008 he starred in the science-fiction action thriller Babylon A.D..

He returned to the The Fast and The Furious series, alongside all the actors from the original 2001 film, in Fast & Furious, which released in April 2009. In 2011, he once again returned, for the fifth film in the series, titled Fast Five. He is is currently filming the third installment in the Riddick series titled The Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking which is in post-production as of April 2012 and set for release in 2013.

Personal life[link]

Diesel is noted for his recognizable deep voice; he has said that his voice broke at around age 15, giving him a mature sounding voice on the telephone.^[10]

Around 2001, Diesel dated his The Fast and the Furious co-star, Michelle Rodriguez.^[11]

Diesel has expressed his love for the Dominican Republic, and how he relates to its multicultural facets.^[12] He is also acquainted with President Leonel Fernandez, and has since appeared in one of his earlier campaign ads. Los Bandoleros, a short film directed by Diesel, was also filmed in the Dominican Republic.^[13]

Diesel claims that he prefers dating in Europe, where he is less likely to be recognized and where celebrities are not romantically linked to each other. He prefers to maintain his privacy regarding his personal life:^[14]

Diesel has played Dungeons & Dragons for over twenty years^[15] and wrote the foreword for the commemorative book 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. In the 30th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons issue of Dragon Magazine, they examine the fact that Diesel played Dungeons & Dragons, and reveal that he had a fake tattoo of his character's name, "Melkor," on his stomach while filming xXx.

Diesel has a daughter, Hania Riley, born April 2, 2008, with his girlfriend, model Paloma Jimenez.^[16][17] Speaking to An tEolas, an Irish newspaper, Diesel stated he has been seen as a hard man, but is in touch with his soft side as a father.^[18]

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

Producer[link]

Director and writer[link]

Games[link]

1. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004)
2. The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (2009)
3. Wheelman (2009)

Video game roles[link]

• Need for Speed: Most Wanted (Black Edition) - Rog

References[link]

External links[link]

• Vin Diesel at the Internet Movie Database
• Vin Diesel at the Open Directory Project