Battle of Cannae
Hannibal's encirclement becomes the textbook battle
Hannibal, who had crossed the Alps, encircled and annihilated a larger Roman army under the consuls Paullus and Varro. Cannae became the classic battle of encirclement, yet Rome refused to yield and fought on in the Second Punic War.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 3rd century BC
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Asia
- 221 BC Qin Shi Huang unifies China — 5 years earlier
- c. 214 BC Great Wall of China — 2 years later
- 210 BC Terracotta Army — 6 years later
- 202 BC Founding of the Han dynasty — 14 years later
Alive at the time
- Archimedes (aged 71)
- Qin Shi Huang (aged 43)
- Hannibal (aged 31)
- Eratosthenes (aged 60)
- Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu of Han) (aged 40)
- Scipio Africanus (aged 20)
- Empress Lü (Lü Zhi) (aged 25)
- Cato the Elder (aged 18)
- Modu Chanyu (aged 18)