Lessons from Cannae

what we do see in the story of Cannae are three aspects of strategy in bold relief, presented in their purest and most essential forms

The concept of strategy has many faces, and there are some we do not see in the story of Cannae.  The history of this battle tells us little about longer-range considerations and little about how the strategy was created.   The full design for the battle at least in the available histories, seems to have been created by Hannibal and it's implementation was by his personal command.   We know nothing of his personal abilities or methods.  In particular, one wonders at how he persuaded the the Gauls and Spaniards in his central arc to stage a mock retreat, an action that these men would have viewed as expensive in both blood and honor.  We do not know.

However, what we do see in the story of Cannae are three aspects of strategy in bold relief, presented in their purest and most essential forms--premeditation, the anticipation of others' behavior, and the purposeful design of coordinated actions.

ACTION POINT: Think, anticipate and coordinate action.

The Battle of Cannae

The ruthless genius of Hannibal's strategy was then revealed.

The classic example of design in battle strategy, one that is still studied today, is Hannibal's victory over the Roman army at Cannae in 216 B.C.  At that time the Roman Republic controlled a series of territories and city-states in Italy.  Carthage was a city-state of Phoenicians located in what is today Tunisia.  Fifty years earlier, Carthage had lost a war with Rome over control of the southern Mediterranean.  Hannibal sought to restore Carthage's power and honor by raiding towns up and down the Italian peninsula, seeking favorable terms with Rome.

Rome tired of trying to avoid these battles and the senate approved an unprecedented eight legions to defeat  Hannibal.   The location of the battle was an open field, near the ruins of a fortress called Cannae, on the Adriatic Sea.  As the morning of August 2 dawned, eighty-five thousand or more Roman soldiers faced about fifty-five thousand of Hannibal's troops.  Each army's front was about a mile long, and the two armies were about one-half mile apart.  Hannibal had arranged his troops in a broad arc, bulging out in the center toward the Romans.  In the center bulge, Hannibal placed troops from Spain and Gaul, soldiers who had been liberated from Roman rule or hired during his march from Spain to Italy.  On the flanks, or sides, of this central bulge he placed his Carthaginian heavy infantry.

When the advancing Romans met Hannibal's army, the outward-arced center of Hannibal's front line was the first point of contact.  There, the Gauls and Spaniards slowly fell back, not holding the line, just as Hannibal had ordered.   Encouraged, the Roman army moved forward with shouts of victory, rushing to exploit this apparent weakness.  Simultaneously, Hannibal's horse cavalry, placed on the sides of his mile-wide army, began its preplanned gallop in wide two-mile arcs around the sides of the roman army, engaging and defeating the smaller Roman cavalry.

As the Rome legions pushed into the Carthaginian center, the original outward arc was reversed, and it began to bow inward under the pressure.  As the center line bowed inward, Hannibal's heavy infantry units, positioned on either end of the central arc, maintained their positions but did not engage.  Then, at Hannibal's signal, reinforcements moved to bolster the Carthaginian bowed-in center.  The troops in the center stopped their retreat and held.  Their aspect changed from that of panicky barbarians to that of hard, disciplined troops.  Hannibal's heavy infantry flanks then moved to engage the sides of the Roman army, which was now surrounded on three sides.  Then Hannibal's cavalry rode in from behind and closed the Romans rear as well.

The ruthless genius of Hannibal's strategy was then revealed.  Not only was the Roman army surrounded, but as their superior numbers pressed into the arc of Hannibal's bowed-in center, the Roman ranks were squeezed together.  Many could not move and compressed together, their numerical superiority had been nullified.   The Romans did not surrender or ask for mercy.  At least fifty thousand Roman soldiers were killed that day, more soldiers than have died in any single day of battle before or since.  One tenth that number of Hannibal's troops died.  The Roman dead included counsel Paulus, several former counsels, forty-eight tribunes, and eighty senators.  In a few hour, one-fourth of the Republic's elected leadership was slaughtered at Cannae.  Rome's defeat was so great that most southern city-states in Italy declared allegiance to Hannibal.

ACTION POINT: The right strategy can surround and overcome superior forces. 

Management and Theology

Management always deals with the nature of Man, and with Good and Evil.

Management always lives, works and practices in and for an institution, which is a human community held together by a bond: the work bond.  And precisely because the object of management is a human community held together by the work bond for a common purpose, management always deals with the nature of Man and (as all of us with any practical experience have learned) Good AND Evil as well.  I have learned more theology as a practicing management consultant than when I taught religion.

ACTION POINT: Understand the nature of man and the fact that you will be confronted with good and evil.

The Father of Strategy

...they also found that organizing and coordinating the actions of fighters greatly magnified their effect.

To begin at the beginning, armies, together with the authority structures supporting them, first arose in the Bronze Age in parallel with complex urban societies.

Just as humans discovered that organized agriculture paid great dividends, they also found that organizing and coordinating the actions of fighters greatly magnified their effect.  Properly organized and led, ordinary men could defeat skilled warriors who fought as individuals or as small bands.

ACTION POINT: Organize and lead ordinary men and women properly to defeat skilled opponents.

Using Design

...you can take certain fundamental lessons from military history and be the wiser for doing so.

The word "strategy" comes to us from military affairs.  Unfortunately, humans have put more effort, over more time, into thinking about war than any other subject.  Much of this knowledge has very little to tell us about strategy in non-military situations.  In particular, the primary way business firms compete is by placing their offers in front of buyers, each trying to offer a more attractive deal.

This is a process more like a dance contest than a military battle.  Businesses do not bomb one another's factories or kill one another's employees.  While business employees can quit on a moment's notice, soldiers are indentured.  Employees are not expected to stand an drive up their lives to protect the company.  And the impact of size is radically different.  Other things being equal, the larger army has the advantage whereas the winning business tends to be the one whose offerings are most preferred by customers, its size being more the consequence than the cause of its success.  Despite all these cautions, if you are careful about the level of abstraction, you can take certain fundamental lessons from military history and be the wiser for doing so.

ACTION POINT: Stay tuned for examples from military history that will enlighten you on the power of strategy.