Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk strategy

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• PugJesus@piefed.social ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Explanation: The conflict between the Carthaginian ("Punic") commander Hannibal Barca and the Roman commander Scipio Africanus in the Second Punic War is often remembered for the (indirect) clash of the two great military minds in sieges and pitched battles.

  … but Scipio could not have won without the Roman commander Fabius preventing the fall of the Republic long before his grand offensives - and Hannibal could not win precisely because of Fabius! Fabius Maximus Verrocosus (’Warty’, for a wart on his upper lip) was a Roman politician and military commander of the Second Punic War who, after Rome suffered several devastating defeats by Hannibal, was appointed dictator to stem the losses.

  He did so by restraining the stubborn Roman people from feeding a fucking military genius an endless buffet of Roman soldiers.

  Instead, Fabius took up careful defensive positions, and would only offer battle on his terms, no matter what Hannibal threatened. Fabius went so far as to evacuate much of the indefensible countryside near Rome, accepting that Hannibal would be able to move freely in the area - an immense blow to Roman pride, which called for FOREIGN INVADERS to be THROWN OUT of the SACRED TERRITORY OF THE RES PUBLICA!

  At first, the Romans scorned Fabius’s strategy, calling him ‘Cunctator’ (’Delayer’) instead of ‘Dictator’ (’Speaker’). But as Fabius hemmed in Hannibal, and starved Carthage of victories, the Roman people began to understand the wisdom of Fabius, and reversed the mocking title of ‘Cunctator’ to a title of honor. Hannibal was far from home and resupply - the Romans were not. Every loss Hannibal took, even just by the attrition of disease or a hostile populace, was irrecoverable; Rome would only grow stronger in comparison, so long as it refused to throw away its soldiers in expensive gambles.

  In the modern day, this method remains known as Fabian Strategy.

  It was said by the end of the war of Fabius that “One man, by delaying, has saved the Republic.” Fabius would not survive to see the war’s end, but he would live long enough to see the tide of the war - once seemingly in Carthage’s favor - turn decisively back in favor of Rome.

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  • First_Thunder@lemmy.zip ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Not sure where I saw this, but I heard that Hannibal, understanding Fabian’s strategy decided to pillage the countryside everywhere except for Fabian related stuff to try and create divisions

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    • PugJesus@piefed.social ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      That’s correct! In the hopes of making Fabius seem like he was colluding with Hannibal - collusion with enemies not uncommon for elites in the Classical world.

      However, the strategy ran into three problems:

      1. Rome was unusually civic minded. Romans might backstab one-another for selfish and domestic political reasons, but to do so in favor of a barbarian? Who ever heard of such a thing!?

      2. Fabius had a reputation for virtue, even by his detractors, unlike many of his fellow high-ranking leaders during the Second Punic War, making such suspicions appear unlikely. Fabius had even previously sold off some of his estates to redistribute funds to the suffering Roman people.

      3. He donated the income from his un-devastated estates that Hannibal left untouched directly to the Republic to fund the war effort, making Hannibal sparing them ultimately counterproductive, lmao.

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