Gregory Aldrete

At Cannae, he's working against the expectations. So the traditional thing you do in the ancient world is the two armies would line up on opposite sides of a field. You'd put your best troops in the middle. You'd put your cavalry on the sides. You'd put your lightly armed skirmishers beyond those.

And then the two sides kind of smack together and the good troops fight the good troops and you see who wins. Now, Hannibal is hugely outnumbered by this giant phalanx of heavy infantry, which is what the Romans specialized in. They're very good at sort of heavily armed foot soldiers. So he knows, I don't want to go up against that. I don't have that many of that troop type.

And then the two sides kind of smack together and the good troops fight the good troops and you see who wins. Now, Hannibal is hugely outnumbered by this giant phalanx of heavy infantry, which is what the Romans specialized in. They're very good at sort of heavily armed foot soldiers. So he knows, I don't want to go up against that. I don't have that many of that troop type.

And then the two sides kind of smack together and the good troops fight the good troops and you see who wins. Now, Hannibal is hugely outnumbered by this giant phalanx of heavy infantry, which is what the Romans specialized in. They're very good at sort of heavily armed foot soldiers. So he knows, I don't want to go up against that. I don't have that many of that troop type.

My guys aren't as good as the Romans anyway. So he lines up some of his less good troops in the center against the big menacing Roman phalanx, and he tells them, okay, when the Romans come – You're not really trying to win. Just hold them up. Just delay them. And even tells them you can give ground. So you can retreat and sort of let the line form a big kind of C-shaped crescents.

My guys aren't as good as the Romans anyway. So he lines up some of his less good troops in the center against the big menacing Roman phalanx, and he tells them, okay, when the Romans come – You're not really trying to win. Just hold them up. Just delay them. And even tells them you can give ground. So you can retreat and sort of let the line form a big kind of C-shaped crescents.

My guys aren't as good as the Romans anyway. So he lines up some of his less good troops in the center against the big menacing Roman phalanx, and he tells them, okay, when the Romans come – You're not really trying to win. Just hold them up. Just delay them. And even tells them you can give ground. So you can retreat and sort of let the line form a big kind of C-shaped crescents.

Let the Romans sort of advance into you, but just hold that line. And meanwhile, he puts his cavalry and his good troops on the side. And so on the sides, those good troops defeat the Romans, and then they kind of circle in behind the Romans and attack that big menacing Roman phalanx from the rear where it's very vulnerable.

Let the Romans sort of advance into you, but just hold that line. And meanwhile, he puts his cavalry and his good troops on the side. And so on the sides, those good troops defeat the Romans, and then they kind of circle in behind the Romans and attack that big menacing Roman phalanx from the rear where it's very vulnerable.

Let the Romans sort of advance into you, but just hold that line. And meanwhile, he puts his cavalry and his good troops on the side. And so on the sides, those good troops defeat the Romans, and then they kind of circle in behind the Romans and attack that big menacing Roman phalanx from the rear where it's very vulnerable.

And so Hannibal catches the Romans in this sort of giant cauldron just with people closing in from both sides. And they get pressed together. They can't fight properly. They panic. And they're all slaughtered. And that strategy of double envelopment, of sort of going around both sides becomes the model for all kinds of military strategies throughout the rest of history.

And so Hannibal catches the Romans in this sort of giant cauldron just with people closing in from both sides. And they get pressed together. They can't fight properly. They panic. And they're all slaughtered. And that strategy of double envelopment, of sort of going around both sides becomes the model for all kinds of military strategies throughout the rest of history.

And so Hannibal catches the Romans in this sort of giant cauldron just with people closing in from both sides. And they get pressed together. They can't fight properly. They panic. And they're all slaughtered. And that strategy of double envelopment, of sort of going around both sides becomes the model for all kinds of military strategies throughout the rest of history.

I mean the Germans used this in their blitzkrieg in World War II. A lot of it was kind of that go around the sides and envelop the enemy. On the eastern front, they had a bunch of these sort of cauldron battles where they would go around and try to encircle huge chunks of the Soviet, the Russian army and do the same thing.

I mean the Germans used this in their blitzkrieg in World War II. A lot of it was kind of that go around the sides and envelop the enemy. On the eastern front, they had a bunch of these sort of cauldron battles where they would go around and try to encircle huge chunks of the Soviet, the Russian army and do the same thing.

I mean the Germans used this in their blitzkrieg in World War II. A lot of it was kind of that go around the sides and envelop the enemy. On the eastern front, they had a bunch of these sort of cauldron battles where they would go around and try to encircle huge chunks of the Soviet, the Russian army and do the same thing.

Supposedly even in the Gulf War, it was part of the US strategy for the invasion of Iraq to do this kind of double envelopment maneuver. So it's something that for the rest of military history has been an inspiration to other armies. Yeah.

Supposedly even in the Gulf War, it was part of the US strategy for the invasion of Iraq to do this kind of double envelopment maneuver. So it's something that for the rest of military history has been an inspiration to other armies. Yeah.

Supposedly even in the Gulf War, it was part of the US strategy for the invasion of Iraq to do this kind of double envelopment maneuver. So it's something that for the rest of military history has been an inspiration to other armies. Yeah.

The ancient world, sort of from the Greeks through the Romans, there's this consistent line of focusing on heavy infantry. So going back to Greece, when they're fighting, let's say, Persia, which at the time was the superpower of the ancient world and vastly richer, vastly larger than ancient Greece, you know, tons more men.