Flaminius gets slaughtered.
You have changed History! You have made a superior tactical decision,
but your understanding of human nature may need fine-tuning. Pushing
an army through a narrow pass is just asking for trouble.
In spite of that, we are dealing with an impetuous hot-head here, who is
unlikely to wait for his opponent to move, no matter what the conditions.
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Attack is
the only choice for someone as aggressive, self-confident, and vain
as Flaminius. It also is the completely wrong choice for him
to make in this circumstance. Hannibal may have been many things,
but he was not overrated. He used the geography as well as
any one could, and this occasion would be no exception. He had placed
men on the mountainside above the Lake, allowing him to drop in behind
Flaminius' troops, leaving them no room for escape. (This is why
we never take an army through a narrow pass.) The Roman forces
were slaughtered, including Flaminius. The destruction was total,
and the people of Rome began to despair. The situation had reached
a critical stage, and it was time for serious decisions.
In times of
greatest crisis, the Romans created a special, all-powerful office, called
dictator.
No one in Rome could imagine a time of greater crisis than this, and so
a dictator was chosen. This was a very difficult step for the Roman
Senate to make, because it meant that one man would have complete social
and military power, but they made an excellent choice in Fabius Maximus.
Though the dictator's term was always limited (in this case, 6 months),
Fabius was the sort of man who would have given up the power voluntarily
once his goal was accomplished. Fabius immediately issued some
pretty stringent orders. Citizens of small towns in all of northern
Italy were ordered to take everything they could carry, and move into fortified
cities. As they left, they were to burn all buildings and food stores
that could not be carried, so that Hannibal would lose the use of these
resources. Fabius decided to use a completely
new strategy against Hannibal, a strategy still known as "Fabian Tactics".
Fully aware of Hannibal's restriction by the Food Factor, as well
as his Replacement Factor, denying him the ability to reinforce
his troops, Fabius wanted to stretch Hannibal's food and soldier supply
as thin as possible. The best way to do this was to
outmaneuver Hannibal. Fabius continually moved his troops between
Hannibal an possible food supplies. He refused to actually fight
Hannibal, always remaining just out of reach, and avoiding any of Hannibal's
tricky traps. This strategy made Hannibal crazy, but he continued
to look for a weakness in the Roman plan. Like pieces in a great
chess match, the two armies circled and moved around each other, looking
for some sort of weakness. Eventually, Fabius' strategy paid
off. Knowing the countryside was to his advantage, and, by clever
maneuvering, he eventually moved Hannibal's army into a box canyon among
the mountains. By placing a line of troops all around the rim of
the canyon, he prevented Hannibal from being able to escape up the mountains.
(It is almost impossible to break through any line when attacking uphill.)
The main body of the Roman force was kept at the entrance to the canyon,
acting as the cork in a bottle. There would be no room here for any
of Hannibal's fancy tricks! Unfortunately for Fabius, his tactics
were becoming very unpopular at home. The cost of maintaining a large
army was burdensome enough, but an army that took no action was
simply un-Roman! Fabius was determined to wait until Hannibal surrendered,
since his trapped troops could acquire no new food. It could not
take more than two more weeks for the Carthaginians to starve to the point
of being unable to fight. Fabius was certain that he could hold off
the politicians that much longer. Hannibal, of course, cannot be
expected to take all this without a fight. It is certain that he
will do something here, the only question is what.
If you were Fabius, you'd expect some sort of action from Hannibal, and
it will help you win if you can predict his action correctly. Hannibal
seems to be faced with only two options: attack up the hill, or attack
through the pass. (It is unreasonable to expect that he will surrender
without a fight. This is a man who has already lost the sight in
one eye, due to an infection he did not treat because he was busy leading
his men into battle.) So, what do you think he will do?