Original subtitles

This is the scene of one of the battles

the most mythical of the Roman era.

In Puglia, the plain of Cannes

is the memorial site of a bloody battle

August 2, 216 BC.

50,000 men will perish.

The bodies of the infantrymen and cavalrymen can no longer be distinguished .

Something never before seen in antiquity.

The Carthaginian army comes to challenge the Roman army on its own territory.

Thanks to his military genius,

Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general,

will achieve the incredible feat in the middle of winter

to lead his troops across the Alps on the backs of elephants.

An extraordinary terrestrial odyssey

which will contribute to the myth of the Battle of Cannae.

Heroic music

...

The ghost of Hannibal still haunts the plain of Cannes.

His imprint is such

that this second war between Carthage and Rome, known as the Punic War,

was dubbed "Hannibal's War."

The man who shook Roman power.

Even today, General Hannibal

exerts a form of fascination in the land of the vanquished of Cannes.

Historians, archaeologists,

They are still trying to uncover the secrets of this warrior.

This is the case of Elisabetta Todisco, a professor at the University of Bari

which returns to the site of the Carthaginian triumph.

We know that he inherited his manner of speaking from his father.

his gestures, his gaze...

The first on the battlefield and the last to leave.

Intelligent, strategic, but cruel, treacherous and cunning.

A natural authority emanates from this fictional character.

through historical narratives.

But what seems certain is that, from a very young age,

He is a potential war leader due to his physique.

his temperament and especially his military background.

We know that he was the son of Hamilcar, a very good general,

who gave him a very good education.

He certainly spoke Greek perfectly.

He had read many writings by Greek historians,

tacticians too,

because the Greeks had written about how to fight.

He had charisma,

an ascendant.

He had a strong personality

which allowed him not only

to inspire respect in his men

who came from different cultures,

but also to encourage them to live up to his standards.

Hannibal succeeded his father Hamilcar

at the head of the Carthaginian troops.

The new commander is not yet 30 years old.

He vowed to overthrow Rome.

His father taught him

the hatred of Rome, then there is the myth of the oath

that he had pledged to fight Rome until his death.

It's possible, but it's not a certainty.

This oath may have been invented by the Romans.

to justify and explain Hannibal's relentless pursuit.

Originally, the conflict pitted a maritime empire, Carthage, against

to a land empire, Rome.

An opposition whose stakes are economic supremacy

and the politics of the Mediterranean basin.

The first war between the powers, which lasted 23 years,

between 264 and 241 BC,

turned to Rome's advantage and left Carthage weakened.

Carthage lost the First Punic War.

It's a war fought almost entirely at sea.

Carthage loses Sicily,

then Sardinia and Corsica.

They therefore dream of a war of revenge against Rome.

It's a war of revenge

that Hannibal will undertake against Rome.

This time, he knows, the war will not take place at sea.

He will have to go and confront Rome even on its own soil.

Since the First Punic War,

the most powerful fleet in the western Mediterranean

It is no longer that of Carthage, but that of Rome.

He matters more than anything

on his army.

The first exploit of the new general Hannibal is a foolhardy plan.

An unimaginable journey

which continues to fascinate historians of Antiquity.

This is one of the greatest mysteries in history.

Hannibal's incredible overland odyssey on elephant back

starting from Spain, to cross the Pyrenees and the Alps

and go and confront the Romans on their own land.

The route of this heroic ride

still holds its share of mystery.

How and from where did Hannibal launch his infantry troops?

Horses and elephants?

This question still intrigues people today.

This is the case at the Paris War College

where Colonel Faudais teaches officers

The art of war of the great strategist Hannibal.

Above all, Hannibal was deeply ingrained in him.

this desire to surprise the Romans

and this surprise is carried out by the elephants.

Some Romans had never seen elephants.

And the Romans cannot imagine

that the Carthaginian troops will march,

including at the cost of considerable losses,

50% of the workforce, over such a distance.

He had no choice.

He had to go inland,

and what's more,

crossing the Alps,

It showed that he was an extraordinary person.

No one would have thought of that idea, especially in the wrong season.

He could not go via the coast, through Nice and Genoa.

On the other hand, passing

By crossing the Alps, he was safe from a Roman counter-attack.

Nearly 100,000 men set off from Cartagena in Spain

with about thirty elephants.

The troops cross the Pyrenees and move away from the coast.

They encounter a few skirmishes along the way

as in the crossing of the Rhône.

For a long time, historians have questioned the transition

used by Hannibal to cross the Alps.

It is on the banks of the Durance, a tributary of the Rhône,

at the entrance to the Queyras massif,

that the historian Jean-Pierre Renaud conducted his research

to elucidate this mysterious transalpine route of Hannibal.

We are at the same altitude as Mont Dauphin.

So we are in the Southern Alps.

This is the entrance to the Queyras

which goes all the way to the Italian border.

There aren't many mountain passes,

In the Southern Alps, there is only one, the one in Malaure.

Hundreds of books

have been written

to justify passing through one place or another.

We are obliged to start from the texts

and then try to see what is most likely

for an army that includes infantry,

horsemen and elephants

and which also brings its logistics with it.

I used

what I knew from my work on ancient roads,

that is to say, to go into the field to identify the places, to understand

obligatory passage points, breaks in slope

to conduct my field investigations.

According to Jean-Pierre Renaud,

They would have walked for 18 days between the banks of the Durance

and the arrival in the Po Valley.

For this, the vertiginous corridor of the Gorges du Guil

seems to be an obligatory passage towards the peaks of Queyras.

According to some historians, Hannibal advanced his troops

deep in the gorges.

But perhaps the truth lies elsewhere.

Another possible path,

a small Roman road on the mountainside.

The ancient path

was on that mountain.

It couldn't have gone through the Gorges, that's impossible.

So, as we can see here, is the path that climbs towards the hamlet of Gros

and which will ascend towards the Furfande cirque.

Moreover, it's interesting because this path

passes through places where the first ambush can be located.

Hannibal 's troops' route was costly in terms of men.

To accidents and desertions,

In addition, there are the victims of ambushes,

These are all clues about the advance of Hannibal's army.

These Alpine attackers, identified as "mountain people" and "barbarians"

are said to have wreaked havoc on the magnificent promontory of Château-Queyras,

formerly a bare rock.

Thanks to various historical sources,

Our researcher has traced the chronology

the movements of Hannibal and his men.

They progressed very slowly,

There were 2 ambushes.

So they did 4 km per day, no more.

The people of the Alps laid ambushes,

threw rocks at the soldiers

because the paths were collapsing.

The men were rolling in the depressions below.

The presence of rocks at the bottom of the valleys

would indicate that these places

These are the areas where Carthaginian soldiers were targeted.

A few kilometers further on,

An ancient path, rediscovered by our historian, is emerging.

We are probably on the pre-Roman path.

We are heading up towards the Malaure pass and the Bouchet pass.

Hannibal's troops could have reached the Malaure Pass

to descend towards the Po Valley

in the autumn of 218 BC.

We can't imagine it.

like a kind of very long, very stretched column

which goes up like that in three rows.

No, they go up as best they can , at their own pace, in waves.

The pre-Roman road is on the other side.

This can be seen quite clearly thanks to the remains.

of retaining walls and stones that can be seen in a garland.

The texts state that from a certain point onwards,

The soldiers go up wherever they can, more on the road.

That's interesting.

They were everywhere, all along the side,

They were moving forward in their own way.

Imagine the advance of such an army,

with over 80,000 infantrymen and over 10,000 cavalrymen

and elephants, whose numbers are dwindling

throughout this expedition, which was grueling for everyone.

Winter is coming

and the first snowflakes accompany Hannibal's troop

on the road to the summit.

Here is the famous Malaure pass

at 2,500m altitude.

On arrive

at a high vantage point,

as Tit-Live says , whose name is Crosennetta.

That's important.

This advanced height allowed

Hannibal was instructed to assemble his general staff,

because in the texts,

Polybius reported a speech by Hannibal

speaking of the wall of Rome.

He told them:

"You are going to cross the walls of Rome and these walls,

" It's the bottom of this amphitheater that is very steep."

The Hannibal mission was a success.

But at what price?

Hasn't the Punic leader exhausted his troops?

during this unusual and grueling raid

before challenging the greatest army of the ancient world?

Undoubtedly,

The Roman army was the most organized.

She was supported by the Republic, a state,

an administrative organization.

There is the command structure, and then there is the recruitment.

There are many men in Italy; it is a very densely populated region.

certainly the most populated in the entire Mediterranean,

When we recruit 10 soldiers, we get 100 young people showing up.

We can take the 10 best physically and intellectually.

We have the light infantry, made up of the youngest and poorest.

This is the first line of heavy infantry.

Composed of hastats, equipped with a breastplate.

Here, the heavy infantry, second line.

These are the "principles".

And here, the heavy infantry, 3rd line. These are the "triaries".

There is the weaponry

which is also quite extraordinary.

The Romans modified their weaponry

each time they discover a new room

which seems more effective to them than the previous one

And that was something extraordinary in antiquity.

Among these new weapons, which have been improved over time,

the ultimate weapon of the Roman heavy infantry

is the Iberian sword brought back from the Spanish conquests

better known as the sword.

It's a much better quality steel than before.

This blade penetrates through the rings of the chainmail.

That of the Celts of Northern Italy,

but above all, that of the troops accompanying Hannibal

on its descent towards Italy.

Let's say it's heavy, but well-balanced.

It weighs a little over a kilogram,

but it has a very good grip, especially thanks to this knob

which allows you to have a good grip on it.

Like that.

And it can be used with the tip.

and cut equally well from above as from below.

This is important.

The Romans needed space

between the ranks of soldiers to fight.

We will soon see that this lack of space was fundamental in Cannes.

With battle experience,

The shield has also improved.

It is no longer just a wooden defensive weapon,

It is also an offensive weapon.

It is equipped in its center with this 500g metal ball

which allows one to retaliate.

The heavy infantry's structure has been reinforced,

The chainmail is lined with a protective layer of leather.

The Roman army appears invincible.

Hannibal must therefore devise a maneuver

to exploit the slightest weakness in his enemy.

The improbable Alpine crossing

significantly reduced Hannibal's forces

left Cartagena at the head of 100,000 men.

Upon exiting the Alps, his troops were divided into 4

with only 26,000 men, infantry and cavalry combined.

26,000 men is already quite a lot.

Especially since they are already trained, they have combat experience.

He arrives in Italy weakened.

That's for sure, very weakened indeed.

However, as soon as he arrives in Italy, he receives reinforcements.

Transalpine Gauls.

If Hannibal replenishes his ranks

of more than 10,000 men at the start of future battles,

Symbolically, he is practically deprived of the weapon.

which contributed to its mythology, the elephant.

It's a weapon.

It is not a means of transport.

When an elephant is in motion, it is a veritable tank.

He can no longer be stopped.

He shattered the infantry lines.

who are in front of them.

There were about thirty elephants

small in size.

They did not survive because of the cold.

He spent the winter

in a region of Italy called Etruria

and in a marshy area

to be sure that the Romans would not attack him there.

In this marshy area, all the elephants died.

except for one.

He is the only one who survived.

Mythology reminds us of ,

the imaginary world surrounding the figure of Hannibal,

The thing is, here in Cannes, there were no elephants.

There was Hannibal's genius and conquering spirit .

Hannibal's military genius was revealed to the Romans.

through the battles that marked his descent of the peninsula.

After his initial successes in Ticino and Trebia during the winter,

Lake Trasimene is the scene of a tactical demonstration

ten months before the major clash between the two armies at Cannes.

Giovanni Brizzi is the author of the latest theory.

on the course of the Battle of Lake Trasimene.

We are on the Malpasso.

a small path onto which the Romans rush

in the light of day, at dawn.

They're going in that direction.

and are forced to close ranks,

because we must imagine that originally,

They are arranged in a very wide formation.

So the legion marches on, constantly reducing its ranks.

They are following the same path that Hannibal's army took.

the evening before or the afternoon before.

June 21, 217 BC,

It is dawn and the lake is covered in mist.

I saw it myself, the mist

at this time of year, at the beginning of summer.

The Romans walk through the mist

in a somewhat hazy atmosphere .

They think Hannibal is already far away.

Actually,

He is there all around.

The Gauls are there, stationed on these small hills.

that you can see very close up.

They are crouching at the top and waiting for the legionnaires

pass underneath.

Here at Trasimene, it's the perfect ambush.

According to Professor Brizzi's thesis ,

Roman troops are marching along the lake

when they are attacked by Carthaginian infantry

posted on the hills.

To this first offensive wave,

a second assault followed hundreds of meters away

carried by Hannibal's cavalry descending from the hill.

The Roman army is cornered, with no way out.

the lake blocking any escape routes.

The losses are considerable.

The only remaining vestiges of this conflict,

these burial pits dug into the hill,

intended to incinerate the remains of the victims

estimated at over 16,000, on the Roman side.

This massacre sent a clear message throughout the ancient world.

Hannibal found the solution

to thwart the supposed superiority

of the army of the Roman Republic.

Hannibal adopted the model of the great Hellenistic generals

And how do they earn?

They win either by force,

either by trickery. What the French call

"The stratagems of war".

"War tactics".

It tricked the Romans.

because the scheme was contrary to their tradition.

In their tradition, there was a value called fides,

It is translated as faith.

They had a chivalrous conception of war

linked to a basic concept

which was that righteousness was the basis of everything.

That's what loyalty is.

Is the Roman army doomed?

to suffer Hannibal's tactical superiority

So, what is the battle of this Second Punic War about to begin?

11 months later,

It is the summer of 216 BC.

500 km south of Trasimene.

Not far from the Adriatic Sea,

Hannibal the strategist will deploy a new, unstoppable tactic.

The first reflex of a good strategist

is the choice of the battlefield.

It will be a plain in Puglia, near Bari and Barletta.

According to Giuliano Volpe, professor of archaeology at the university,

The choice was not insignificant in the advance of Hannibal's troops.

Imagine a plain dominated by cereal fields.

which was the main resource of this territory,

of the Daunia.

Cannes was the grain depot for the entire valley.

of the Ofanto.

That's why Hannibal chose this region.

This descent into the peninsula is a victorious one.

but which weakened Hannibal's army.

Soldiers are dying of hunger , and not just in combat.

Running out of supplies

means exposing oneself to a mercenary rebellion.

Because this army is an army of mercenaries.

For Hannibal, to land his troops on the plain of Ofanto

offers another decisive advantage.

Horse breeding was one of the main activities

of the aristocracy of Daunia.

The horse was the other great attraction for Hannibal.

SO,

What does he find here? A lot of grain

and horses that he could use for his cavalry.

The choice of this combat zone

is not solely driven by logistical needs.

It's also a tactical choice.

Hannibal's cavalry is his sharpest weapon.

and he must choose a field where it will be decisive.

In Hannibal's mindset, it was important,

knowing that he was in a foreign country to use espionage.

Use the sentries sent ahead, 2, 3

or 4 days earlier to explore the region

and submit a report on the location

where he could implement his strategy.

This is the scene of the Battle of Cannae.

From the hill of the archaeological site extends this vast plain

which, 2,000 years later, has not revealed all its secrets.

We are here,

on the hill of Cannes. And in the background,

This is the Ofanto River.

And this is the plain, which was even wider.

because over time, the Ofanto river has changed its appearance.

The battlefield was even more extensive.

The identification of the Ofanto plain as the site of the battle

The story of Cannes is told in many historical accounts.

Tit-Live in his work "Ad urbe condita"

and Polybius in "The Histories"

clearly define the Cannes site.

Today, no trace remains.

archaeological.

These were disastrous events that left few traces.

fleeting traces.

The site of Cannes must be the location of the Roman army's redemption.

Because of the configuration of this vast and flat area

is, in theory, adapted to its strength and volume.

because Rome had never mobilized so many men on a battlefield.

The Romans had this fixed idea,

what you call a pitched battle,

the battle in open country.

The great decisive battle on the field,

as at Austerlitz, as at Wagram,

as in Jena.

They want a battle on the field

and deploy a gigantic army, an oversized army

who must crush Hannibal's army at Cannae.

But here's the thing, the other guy is a tactical genius.

He is a commander

who has no equal in history, as a tactician.

The Roman consul Emilio Paulo, against the advice of his peers,

is convinced he can defeat Hannibal on this ground.

And he has good reason to think so.

It was a very organized army,

much larger than Hannibal's

and which, to the 4 legions that composed it,

had added 4 more.

They increased their power, they multiplied it by 2

and therefore with this larger army,

They are convinced they can defeat Hannibal.

We reach up to 86,000 men.

Hannibal has no other recourse than his famous "war stratagems".

He circumvents his numerical inferiority

thanks to its ability to adapt to the terrain.

Hannibal's strategic and tactical ally at Cannae,

That's Mother Nature.

He also had to harness the sun.

He therefore deployed his troops

with my back to the rising sun on that side

and would blind the enemy.

In addition, the wind had picked up.

Hannibal also uses Aeolus.

At that time, when the harvests had taken place,

The grain has already been harvested.

The landscape is covered in grain dust.

The wind stirs up the disturbing dust.

which creates a kind of cloud.

The Romans are embarrassed,

beyond strategy,

due to visibility problems

which prevent them from understanding the tactics

that Hannibal is currently putting in place.

Hannibal will devise a Machiavellian scheme

which will annihilate the opponent.

This is certainly one of the battles

which is the most studied in our military schools.

Hannibal's problem seems insurmountable.

How to defeat 86,000 legionnaires

with almost 3 times fewer men.

He devises a rather audacious scheme.

He lines up his army along the entire Roman front.

Its central line opposes only 12,000 men

facing 70,000 Roman infantrymen.

That's where his genius comes into play.

He sets up a convex line which the legionnaires collide with

advancing on the tip of the Carthaginian line.

Upon contact, Hannibal ordered his men to retreat.

to deceive the Romans.

Hannibal allowed his infantry to advance.

There will be

a weak infantry retreat .

Basically, the Romans are saying to themselves, "We have won."

What is meant to happen will happen.

In other words, we are going to crush these poor infantrymen.

who will eventually crack.

The Romans are convinced that the Carthaginians are in retreat.

In reality, they are the ones walking right into Hannibal's trap.

That's overconfidence. It's called hubris.

It was at one point

where I am so sure of myself, of my maneuver

that I forget the essential tactical principles.

He had a hunch

What a brilliant military man, this truly great general.

While his cavalry advances on a flank

of the Roman army, he allowed the Romans to advance.

at the center of his retreating Carthaginian army .

So, this half-moon sinks.

It changes from convex to concave.

At the heart of the battle,

The Roman infantrymen are squeezed into this pincer movement.

Almost simultaneously,

Hannibal's cavalry proceeds with an encirclement maneuver

where the cavalry blocks of each belligerent are positioned .

The Carthaginians, or rather Hannibal, had 10,000 cavalrymen.

and riders who were excellent, in particular

The Numidian horsemen. They were the inhabitants of the region.

which corresponds to the current time

east of Algeria.

They were exceptional riders,

The Numidian horsemen were much more mobile.

The Numidians

have a very old cavalry tradition.

Light cavalry that allows for effectiveness

against heavy infantry like that of Rome.

It is a small horse, but very hardy.

Robust, which made crossing the Alps easier.

The Numidians had a very direct relationship with the animal.

They rode him bareback.

nothing more than a bridle or a rope is needed

that they could even hold between their teeth

and which allowed them to have their hands free to defend themselves

and attack with the javelin.

They moved with great speed and velocity.

Typical characteristics

of this type of light cavalry.

Their role was to circle around the opposing troops.

to harass them until they engage in combat.

And so, to confront them

always using this type of javelin.

This type of weapon has a very dangerous iron point.

It allows you to continuously harass the opponent.

Due to the number 10,000 versus 6,000,

and the quality of his men,

The Carthaginian cavalry crushed the resistance.

The advance of the cavalry on each side

completes the encirclement maneuver,

aided in this by a double lateral front

of the Libyan heavy infantry.

It's as if the Romans were caught in a vise.

Their entire fighting technique is affected.

Here, we have what can be considered

like a traditional Roman fighting disposition .

In a fairly open formation that allows for good swordsmanship,

to create movement by circling around the opponent

then by touching it.

It is impossible to penetrate the legion's lines.

If anyone manages to do it,

He is stopped by the second line, which neutralizes him.

But this fighting organization

In Cannes, she was trapped

because Hannibal knew all of that.

He was very familiar with this Roman fighting style.

which allowed him to beat his father.

Therefore, as far as possible,

He was supposed to prevent the Romans from using their swords.

So, how did he do it?

He did it by deceiving them.

By sending the Gauls to be beaten in the front line

and by making the Romans believe they were winning the battle.

So the Romans, as they advanced, positioned themselves

in the form of a steamroller.

But within this organization, they found themselves trapped.

They thought

that they were going to reach the enemy and crush them.

On the contrary, the enemy launched an encirclement maneuver.

In that position, they were trapped.

They were no longer in a position to fight.

They no longer had space to wield their swords.

One file after another, the Roman army

was swept aside by the Carthaginian opponent.

The Battle of Cannae reportedly lasted 9 hours.

9 hours of a merciless confrontation.

The plain of Cannes became the cemetery of the Roman army

sealing its greatest military defeat.

Tit-Live's description of the end of the battle

remains etched in memory.

A plain filled with corpses, piled one on top of the other.

What happened on that battlefield was so bloody

that the facts as they were reported in detail

are worthy of a horror movie.

Bodies, bodies, bodies piled one on top of the other.

It's no longer possible to distinguish who is an infantryman.

who is a rider.

This image is the symbol of this battle.

50,000 men died on the spot.

This was something that had never been seen before at the time.

For months, Hannibal sowed terror in the peninsula.

After the Cannes massacre, he was believed to be at the gates of Rome.

Legend has it that the great military leader and his troops,

eager for rest and pleasure,

would have been lulled to sleep by the delights of Capua

which they had conquered during the winter of 215 BC.

Rome was protected by a rampart, the Servian Wall.

and Hannibal understood that he would not be able to seize it.

Hannibal's reign would end on the other side of the Mediterranean.

when the Roman general Scipio forced him

to return to fight on his own land, in Carthage.

This time,

Hannibal will meet his match in the fatal battle.

from Zama in 202 BC.

The end of an epic.

And the beginning of a myth.

Subtitles: VDM