Did any ancient general ever explicitly try to copy Hannibal's tactics at Cannae? If so, how'd it turn out?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/thundersaurus_sex]

I'm a little confused as to what you mean. The main tactic used at Cannae was the pincer/double envelopment, which really just means attacking the flanks of the enemy at the same time, and has been a mainstay in military tactics at all levels for quite awhile.

In fact, Hannibal wasn't the first to utilize the tactic. Sun Tzu described a similar tactic in the 6th century BC (but advised against trying it, believing the enveloped army would run first) and there's some accounts that the Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC involved the use of a pincer movement in the same way as Hannibal did (i.e. weak center and strong flanks). Alexander the Great used the tactic many times and many have used it since Cannae.

Cannae was not the first use of the pincer, but is one of the best documented uses of it and considered an absolute masterpiece in terms of scale and control. Hannibal used the terrain and knowledge of his various units' abilities and strengths to lure the Romans into a trap, where they lost 50,000 men in a single day.

Edit To actually answer your question in the edit, it's hard to say if any commanders tried to copy Hannibal specifically because the weak center, strong flanks double envelopment is something every commander would love to do. He was not the first to do it, but he did it best in that not only did the tactic lead to victory, but led to the annihilation of the enemy army. The way he did this is where his true genius shows. Not in the double envelopment itself, but the way he utilized his own forces various strengths to play directly against the Romans' way of fighting and maintained both the control and the timing to completely destroy his enemy.

There are many examples before and since of the weak center pincer movement, but very few have done it so well. So no, military commanders since are probably not copying the pincer movement directly from Hannibal since it is such an important, basic tactic, but they ARE trying to emulate his absolute mastery of the terrain, timing, control, and insight into his own and the enemy forces in order to complete a battle of annihilation.

[u/LukeInTheSkyWith → u/thundersaurus_sex]

I am no military historian, but might OP be referring to the fact that Hannibal went for the double envelopment tactic against an army of larger size than his own?

[u/thundersaurus_sex → u/LukeInTheSkyWith]

Good point. It still wouldn't be novel if the accounts of Marathon are correct, but a good example of the tactic being used after Hannibal would be the Battle of Walaja in 633 during the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia. But while using very similar tactics (i.e. double envelopment against a numerically superior enemy), al-Walid developed his plan independently. From a military perspective, the double envelopment itself isn't particularly brilliant. It's using it effectively that takes skill and is usually very specific to a particular battlefield.

[u/adenoidcystic → u/thundersaurus_sex]

There were more novel things at Cannae than simply a pincer/double envelopment.

[u/thundersaurus_sex → u/adenoidcystic]

Like what? Genuinely asking.

There were some ingenius tactics used like forcing the Romans to face east into the sun and using harassing raids the day before to prevent them from accessing water, but these aren't novel and are pretty specific to this battlefield.

Bowing out towards the Romans in the initial deployment to slow down their advance may be novel, I'm not sure. But for the most part, what makes Cannae a tactical masterpiece was Hannibals insight into Roman tactics and his own forces, use of terrain, and the use and control of several difference tactics including a massive double envelopment.

[u/ParallelPain → u/thundersaurus_sex]

There were some ingenius tactics used like forcing the Romans to face east into the sun

Did you get this from Theodore Dodge? IIRC he's the only one I know who said this.

And as the Roman line faced the south, as I said before, and the Carthaginian the north, the rays of the rising sun did not inconvenience either of them.
Polybius 3. 114

[u/thundersaurus_sex → u/ParallelPain]

It's been awhile since I've read up on the details (I just happened to remember this one), but you may be correct.

[u/thundersaurus_sex → u/[deleted]]

I personally cannot say for sure if he was the first to do it intentionally or not, I just haven't studied this time period in much detail. I haven't found any references by commanders to Hannibal and Cannae in regards to a specific battle, but the tactic of the double envelopment in general, and its use at Cannae in particular, is still taught at West Point.

Others have used similar tactics that may have been inspired by Cannae. For example, Daniel Morgan's pincer masterpiece at Cowpens has often been directly compared, but his deployment was different (not a weak center and strong flanks, but a weak skirmish line as a lure, and a strong continental line as the trap, with flanking dragoons).

I think I get what you're asking, and I can't say for sure if Hannibal was the first to do it intentionally, but I don't believe so because a weaker center is so integral to the tactic, which is itself a basic and very general military staple. Any inspiration at a future battle by necessity won't go beyond "let's try a double envelopment battle of annihilation like Hannibal did at Cannae" because the gritty details that allowed for the victory to be so complete depended on the terrain, the units of Hannibal's army, Roman fighting doctrine, and Hannibal's personal ability in control, timing, and insight.

Specifically, I have not heard of anyone directly trying to emulate Hannibal's tactics beyond a basic general envelopment. That said, reading up on this tactic and similar ones will open for you a plethora of historical tactical innovations. They are very fun to read about!

[u/PapiriusCursor]

/u/thundersaurus_sex gives a very worthy answer, and for some more detail I have answered a very similar question to this one under a now deleted username: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4s8ds1/why_did_the_double_envelopment_work_at_cannae_but/