Rome vs Carthage: Battle of Cannae

While channel surfing the other day, I stumbled upon a documentary about Hannibal on History International. It covered the battle of Lake Trasismene, which I have heard of before in part to my Rome Total war game, where Hannibal pushed the Roman army into Lake Trasismene and the only way for the defeated Romans to fall back was to swim the lake. But, it also introduced a battle that I was not familiar with, Cannae, where more than 50,000 sons of Rome lost their lives fighting Carthage and its allies of Gallic and Iberian mercenaries. Hannibal used a crescent shape formation which drew the Roman army in and let the Carthaginians outflank the Roman legions by the sides and rear, which lead to the utter destruction of the Roman legions that fought there . Rome lost more soldiers in one day than America lost in the entire Vietnam war. This defeat also caused Southern Italy to break away its allegiance with Rome and support Hannibal, as well as provoke the Macedonians, who also sided with Hannibal. Despite this tragic loss, Rome later triumphed defeating all those who sides with Hannibal and eventually razed the Carthaginian capitol. " Revenge is a dish best served cold".