03-23-2006, 05:57 PM
Republican armies were not that large either, the typical repulican army, with 2 legions and socii, was about 20.000 paper strength. Besides, being conscript armies, their real strength would be much lowerafter few months of campaign.
I recall that Delbruck calculated the number of Roman citizens in arms during the high period of the 2nd Punic War at about 60.000
Besides, although Cannae is usually pictured as a huge battle, the numbers usually recorded (around 85.000 Romans vs 50.000 Punics) are not very reliable. Livius himself cites another source according to which the Roman force would be nor larger than 45.000, and to me the large force under Hannibal command is especially suspicious, after all he arrived to Italy with 26.000, and after 3 battles he is supposed to have 50.000, since he received not reinforcement either from Spain or Africa, by far the largest part of this army should be of Gallic allies, however they get little mention in the account of the battle.
Remember, still many authors give numbers over 200.000 for the Roman army at Adrianople
I recall that Delbruck calculated the number of Roman citizens in arms during the high period of the 2nd Punic War at about 60.000
Besides, although Cannae is usually pictured as a huge battle, the numbers usually recorded (around 85.000 Romans vs 50.000 Punics) are not very reliable. Livius himself cites another source according to which the Roman force would be nor larger than 45.000, and to me the large force under Hannibal command is especially suspicious, after all he arrived to Italy with 26.000, and after 3 battles he is supposed to have 50.000, since he received not reinforcement either from Spain or Africa, by far the largest part of this army should be of Gallic allies, however they get little mention in the account of the battle.
Remember, still many authors give numbers over 200.000 for the Roman army at Adrianople
AKA Inaki
