Battle of Zama in the Punic Wars

Battle of Zama in the Punic Wars The Battle of Zama was the deciding engagement of the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) between Carthage and Rome and was fought in late October 202 BC. After a string of early Carthaginian victories in Italy, the Second Punic War settled into a stalemate with Hannibals armies in Italy unable to deliver a deathblow again the Romans. Recovering from these setbacks, Roman forces achieved some success in Iberia before launching an invasion of North Africa. Led by Scipio Africanus, this army engaged a Carthaginian force led by Hannibal at Zama in 202 BC. In the resulting battle, Scipio defeated his famous foe and forced Carthage to sue for peace. Fast Facts: Battle of Zama Conflict: Second Punic War (218-201 BC)Dates: 202 BCArmies Commanders:CarthageHannibalapprox. 36,000 infantry4,000 cavalry80 elephantsRomeScipio Africanus29,000 infantry6,100 cavalryCasualties:Carthage: 20-25,000 killed, 8,500-20,000 capturedRome Allies: 4,000-5,000 Background With the beginning of the Second Punic War in 218 BC, the Carthaginian general Hannibal boldly crossed the Alps and attacked into Italy. Achieving victories at Trebia (218 BC) and Lake Trasimene (217 BC), he swept aside armies led by  Tiberius Sempronius Longus and  Gaius Flaminius Nepos. In the wake of these triumphs, he marched south looting the country and attempting to force Romes allies to defect to Carthages side. Stunned and in crisis from these defeats, Rome appointed Fabius Maximus to deal with the Carthaginian threat.   Hannibal. Public Domain Avoiding battle with Hannibals army, Fabius raided the Carthaginian supply lines and practiced the form of attritional warfare that later bore his name. Rome soon proved unhappy with Fabius methods and he was replaced by the more aggressive  Gaius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paullus. Moving to engage Hannibal, they were routed at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC. Following his victory, Hannibal spent the next several years attempting to build an alliance in Italy against Rome. As the war on the peninsula descended into a stalemate, Roman troops, led by Scipio Africanus, began having success in Iberia and captured large swaths of Carthaginian territory in the region. In 204 BC, after fourteen years of war, Roman troops landed in North Africa with the goal of directly attacking Carthage. Led by Scipio, they succeeded in defeating Carthaginian forces led by Hasdrubal Gisco and their Numidian allies commanded by Syphax at Utica and Great Plains (203 BC). With their situation precarious, the Carthaginian leadership sued for peace with Scipio. This offer was accepted by the Romans who offered moderate terms. While the treaty was being debated in Rome, those Carthaginians who favored continuing the war had Hannibal recalled from Italy. Scipio Africanus - detail of painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Scipio Africanus is shown releasing the nephew of the Prince of Nubia after he was captured by Roman soldiers. Walters Art Museum Carthage Resists During this same period, Carthaginian forces captured a Roman supply fleet in the Gulf of Tunes. This success, along with the return of Hannibal and his veterans from Italy, led to change of heart on the part of the Carthaginian senate. Emboldened, they elected to continue the conflict and Hannibal set about enlarging his army. Marching out with a total force of around 40,000 men and 80 elephants, Hannibal encountered Scipio near Zama Regia. Forming his men in three lines, Hannibal placed his mercenaries in first line, his new recruits and levies in the second, and his Italian veterans in the third. These men were supported by the elephants to the front and Numidian and Carthaginian cavalry on the flanks. Scipio's Plan To counter Hannibals army, Scipio deployed his 35,100 men in a similar formation consisting of three lines. The right wing was held by Numidian cavalry, led by Masinissa, while Laelius Roman horsemen were placed on the left flank. Aware that Hannibals elephants could be devastating on the attack, Scipio devised a new way to counter them. Though tough and strong, the elephants could not turn when they charged. Using this knowledge, he formed his infantry in separate units with gaps in between. These were filled with velites (light troops) which could move to allow the elephants to pass through. It was his goal to allow the elephants to charge through these gaps thus minimizing the damage they could inflict. Hannibal Defeated As anticipated, Hannibal opened the battle by ordering his elephants to charge the Roman lines. Moving forward, they were engaged by the Roman velites who drew them through the gaps in the Roman lines and out of the battle. In addition, Scipios cavalry blew large horns to frighten the elephants. With Hannibals elephants neutralized, he reorganized his infantry in a traditional formation and sent forward his cavalry. Attacking on both wings, the Roman and Numidian horsemen overwhelmed their opposition and pursued them from the field. Though displeased by his cavalrys departure, Scipio began advancing his infantry. This was met by an advance from Hannibal. While Hannibals mercenaries defeated the first Roman assaults, his men slowly began to be pushed back by Scipios troops. As the first line gave way, Hannibal would not allow it to pass back through the other lines. Instead, these men moved to the wings of the second line. Pressing forward, Hannibal struck with this force and a bloody fight ensued. Ultimately defeated, the Carthaginians fell back to the flanks of the third line. Extending his line to avoid being outflanked, Scipio pressed the attack against Hannibals best troops. With the battle surging back and forth, the Roman cavalry rallied and returned to the field. Charging the rear of Hannibals position, the cavalry caused his lines to break. Pinned between two forces, the Carthaginians were routed and driven from the field. Aftermath As with many battles in this period, exact casualties are not known. Some sources claim that Hannibals casualties numbered 20,000 killed and 20,000 taken prisoner, while the Romans lost around 2,500 killed and 4,000 wounded. Regardless of casualties, the defeat at Zama led to Carthage renewing its calls for peace. These were accepted by Rome, however the terms were harsher than those offered a year earlier. In addition to losing the majority of its empire, a substantial war indemnity was imposed and Carthage was effectively destroyed as a power.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia †His Life and Death

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia – His Life and Death Although the confrontational style of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Gregory Nino Scalia  was widely regarded as being one of his less appealing qualities, it underscored his clear sense of right and wrong. Motivated by a strong moral compass, Scalia opposed judicial activism in all forms, favoring instead judicial restraint and a constructivist approach to the interpretation of the Constitution. Scalia stated on numerous occasions that the power of the Supreme Court is only as effective as the laws created by Congress. Scalias Early Life and Formative Years Scalia was born March 11, 1936, in Trenton, New Jersey. He was the only son of Eugene and Catherine Scalia. As a second generation American, he grew up with a strong Italian home  life and was raised Roman Catholic.   The family moved to Queens when Scalia was a child. He graduated first in his class from St. Francis Xavier, a military prep school in Manhattan. He also graduated first in his class from Georgetown University with a degree in history. He earned his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he also graduated at the top of his class. His Early Career Scalias first job out of Harvard was working in commercial law for the international firm of Jones Day. He remained there from 1961 until 1967. The lure of academia drew him to become a law professor at the University of Virginia from 1967 to 1971. He was appointed general counsel  of the Office of Telecommunications under the Nixon administration in 1971, then he spent two years as chairman of the U.S. Administration Conference. Scalia joined the Ford administration in 1974, where he worked as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. Academia Scalia left government service upon the election of Jimmy Carter. He returned to academia in 1977 and occupied a number of academic positions until 1982, including resident scholar for the conservative American Enterprise Institute and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Chicago School of Law, and Stanford University. He also briefly served as chairman of the American Bar Associations section on administrative law and the Conference of Section Chairs. Scalias philosophy of judicial restraint began to gather momentum when Ronald Reagan appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1982.   Supreme Court Nomination When Chief Justice Warren Burger retired in 1986, President Reagan appointed Justice William Rehnquist to the top spot. Rehnquists appointment drew all the attention from Congress and the media, and even the Court. Many were pleased, but Democrats strongly opposed his appointment. Scalia was tapped by Reagan to fill the vacancy and he slipped through the confirmation process virtually unnoticed, floating by with a 98-0 vote. Senators Barry Goldwater and Jack Garn didnt cast votes. The vote was surprising because Scalia was far more conservative than any other Justice on the High Court at the time. Originalism Scalia was one of the most well-known Justices and was famous for his combative personality and his judicial philosophy of originalism – the idea that the Constitution should be interpreted in terms of what it meant to its original authors. He told CBS in 2008 that his interpretive philosophy is about determining what the words of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights meant to those who ratified them. Scalia maintained  that he was not a strict constructionist, however. I do not think the Constitution or any text should be interpreted either strictly or sloppily; it should be interpreted reasonably. Controversies Scalias sons, Eugene and John, worked for the firms that represented George W. Bush in the landmark case, Bush v. Gore, which determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. Scalia drew fire from liberals for refusing to recuse himself from the case. He was also asked but declined to recuse himself from the case of Hamden v. Rumsfeld  in 2006 because he had offered an opinion on an issue related to the case while it was still pending. Scalia had remarked that Guantanamo detainees dont have the right to be tried in federal courts.   Personal Life vs. Public Life After graduating from Georgetown University, Scalia spent a year in Europe as a student at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He met Maureen McCarthy, a Radcliffe English student, at Cambridge. In 1960, they married in 1960 and had nine children. Scalia was fiercely protective of his familys privacy throughout his term on the High Court, but he began granting interviews in 2007 after years of refusing to do so. His sudden willingness to engage the media was due primarily to the fact that his children had all become full-grown adults. His Death   Scalia died on February 13, 2016, at a ranch resort in western Texas. He failed to appear for breakfast one morning and an employee of the ranch went to his room to check on him. Scalia was found in bed, deceased. He was known to have heart trouble, to suffer from diabetes, and he was overweight. His death was declared due to natural causes. But even this event was not without controversy when rumors began swirling that he had been murdered, particularly because an autopsy was never performed. This was at his familys behest, however  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it had nothing to do with political intrigue.   His death incited an uproar as to which  president would have the right to appoint a replacement for him. President Obama was nearing the end of his second term in office. He nominated Judge Merrick Garland, but Senate Republicans blocked Garlands appointment. It ultimately fell to President Trump to replace Scalia. He nominated Neil Gorsuch very soon after taking office and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate on April 7, 2017, although Democrats attempted a filibuster to block it.