User:Doug Coldwell/Sandboxes/Sandbox 34

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[edit] Second Punic War

My understanding is that there were 3 main Hannibal victories in Italy

  • Battle of the Trebia
  • Battle of Lake Trasimene
  • Battle of Cannae

Counting forces on both sides during these 3 major battles, what was the total amount (rounded to nearest thousand) that were in the same boat fighting each other (Hannibal vs Roman Republic)? Where does this statistical information come from (i.e. Livy, Polybus)? Is there more than one source for this information? --Doug talk 15:11, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Looking for the total number of soldiers involved in these 3 major battles of the Second Punic War. --Doug talk 23:24, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
The pages on the Battle of the Trebia, the Battle of Lake Trasimene and the Battle of Cannae all give figures for the numbers involved on each side. The main sources you need to consult are Livy's History, books 21 to 39, the World History of Polybius, and Appian's Roman History. However, I think it important to understand that the total number of people involved in these battles is based on 'best guesses'. While it would be possible to give reasonably accurate figures for Roman legions as such-assuming they were all up to strength-, Hannibal's own armies, dependant as he was on local allies and auxiliaries, were subject to wide fluctuations. Clio the Muse 23:49, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for those additional sources. I will follow up on Livy and Polybius, etc. This is then the way I see the numbers as per Wikiarticles
(assuming someone already did some of this research - probably from some of these sources perhaps):

  • Battle of the Trebia = Hannibal (31K) -- Roman Republic (45K)
  • Battle of Lake Trasimene = Hannibal (30K) -- Roman Republic (30K - using this estimate)
  • Battle of Cannae Hannibal = Hannibal (54K) -- Roman Republic (86K)
  • Hannibal total then is 115K
  • Roman Republic total then is 161K
  • Grand Total (all in the same boat) then were 276K.
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