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QuoteReplyTopic: The Punic Wars Posted: 31-Aug-2006 at 15:12
Roman cavalry in sufficient numbers wasn't so bad, at Cannae despite being defeated, the outnumbered Roman cavalry on the right flank put up some fierce resistance against Hannibals Spanish horse before finally breaking. They were by no means the best, but in sufficient numbers were not useless.
The battle on that flank became completely irregular and unorthodox. It was a tight squeezed battle inwhich most faugt on foot. Even so the struggle lasted a long while.
The Numidians are regarded as some of the finest light horse in the ancient world, Hannibal relied on them heavily alongside his heavier Spanish and Punic cavalrymen.
True. However at Cannae they were not strong enough to break through the Roman cavalry until the Carthagenian returned. They are were a great support force but on their own they were too lightly equiped.
I dont think Rome still had much of a choice since even by the end it had a cavalry force that still paled in comparison to the Hellenistic or the Hellenistic copied Carthage. At best a large number of Numidian auxilla...
Irrelevent, given Scipio's reforms of the Roman infantry he could have formed a body of cavalry equal to Carthago's had he so desired.
Eek. I should; I sort of left this hanging two years ago. Well then, I think the first thing should be to correct the grammar and spelling mistakes, no? Then figure out where I picked up from and then recollect everything I was using to write this. I'll print what I have insofar out. I'll have to re-read Adrian Goldworthy's book - since this I've been far more interested with the Second World War. Ack, I'll see.
I understand the Carthaginians were initially better equipped than the Romans. However, the Romans were more adaptable and copied and improved captured equipment to give them an edge over their enemies
I seem to recall reading the Romans didn't have a navy before the Punic Wars. They copied an abandoned Carthaginian warship and equipped it with a new weapon: a spiked gangplank to facilitate boarding
They did in fact have a navy or did. Twenty triremes plus any ships the Greek Italian cities had. The corvus was a good weapon but as the numerous fleets sunk showed wasn't practical. Rome didn't need a Carthaginian ship for knowlesge of how to build the ship. Her Greek cities would doubtless know how. However try were assembled quicker due to each piece being numbered and prefabricated allowing quicker building and more efficient. Its most likely a myth.
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