Alexander at Cannae?!
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Alexander at Cannae?!
I watched a documentary on Hannibal vs Rome at Cannae. An absolute perfect victory there. What tactics would Alexander use if we timeswapped him? If memory serves me right (I could be deadwrong here) Hannibal knew a lot of his forces were not on par with the roman legionnaires, thus he had to device a clever plan? Also, he knew he had to destroy the roman army once and for all. So how would Alexander fare? Perhaps unfair to compare two armies a century apart? The problem as I see it is that Alexander would totally view his forces as on par with the roman army, and he would have total confidence in them. So, my issue here is that I think that Alex would take them on head to head, a real clash in other words, a total bloodbath. I have trouble viewing him devising ambushes on the flanks like Hannibal did at Cannae. However, he could have been worried too by legions and subsequently devised different tactics. Just my opinion here, what do you think?
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Re: Alexander at Cannae?!
Hi, sorry I know very little about Cannae, but it is my understanding that half the Roman infantry were poorly trained, and some of the commanders, at best, amateurs.
I don't think Alexander would have been lured into a position where his troops couldn't be effectively deployed and enveloped by the Carthaginians. He would have spotted the potential danger and made contingency plans, maybe holding back troops for a second wave to break the Carthaginian centre, or making a counter-move on the flanks maybe. He might even have seen the trap and refused to engage. I really don't know enough to say!
I don't think Alexander would have been lured into a position where his troops couldn't be effectively deployed and enveloped by the Carthaginians. He would have spotted the potential danger and made contingency plans, maybe holding back troops for a second wave to break the Carthaginian centre, or making a counter-move on the flanks maybe. He might even have seen the trap and refused to engage. I really don't know enough to say!
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Re: Alexander at Cannae?!
As about Alexander and Rome ... Javier Negrete, Alejandro Magno y las 'aquilas de Roma







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Re: Alexander at Cannae?!
Thank you, Alexias. But I was wondering how Alex would fare against the roman army at Cannae?
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Re: Alexander at Cannae?!
I really think it's an impossible question to answer, as the Roman army was a very different beast by that time than it had been before Hannibal began his campaign. At the end of the day, Alexander never had to face the Roman army in any form, so we cannot say how he would have fared against the pre-Hannibal army, let alone the army that faced Hannibal at Cannae. The Romans were certainly very different from the Persians, Sogdians, Bactrians, Indians, etc. ... but were they demonstrably 'better' or 'worse'?
If I were pushed to answer, I would suggest that Alexander *would* have prevailed, simply because Hannibal did - Alexander's ability to read a battlefield, and choose and adapt his tactics, suggests that he would have had the same level of success that Hannibal did, because the Roman war machine was not adaptable enough - and, as already pointed out, the system of recruitment and leadership appointment was too rigid (and not meritocratic). However, I'd rather not be pushed to answer ...
If I were pushed to answer, I would suggest that Alexander *would* have prevailed, simply because Hannibal did - Alexander's ability to read a battlefield, and choose and adapt his tactics, suggests that he would have had the same level of success that Hannibal did, because the Roman war machine was not adaptable enough - and, as already pointed out, the system of recruitment and leadership appointment was too rigid (and not meritocratic). However, I'd rather not be pushed to answer ...

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Re: Alexander at Cannae?!
Unfortunately I can't find an English translation of this! There only seems to be French and Greek from the original Spanish.system1988 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2025 8:43 pm As about Alexander and Rome ... Javier Negrete, Alejandro Magno y las 'aquilas de Roma
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Re: Alexander at Cannae?!
Would the Macedonian sarissas have been able to penetrate the heavy, overlapping, body shields of the Romans? I am really not sure - and it has undoubtedly been argued to death elsewhere, but the Romans struggled against the phalanx at Pydna (168 BC) and it was the uneven ground that broke the cohesion of the phalanx at that battle. Did the Romans have the heavy shields at Cannae, or were they later? At Cannae they may not have had the discipline to withstand the sarissa phalanx. As for the cavalry, I think the Companions would have beaten the Roman cavalry hands down - until the Romans started using stirrups, but that was several centuries away. Doubtless someone will say that that this is all rubbish, but at their peak, the experience, discipline and overwhelming confidence, as well as their confidence in their commanders and in Alexander, would have made Alexander's army very difficult for anyone to beat.
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Re: Alexander at Cannae?!
There is also an Italian translation of Negrete's book :'Alessandro e l'aquila di Roma'. I read it, but it's useless for a strategic comparison between Alexander and the Romans. I found it definitely boring.
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Re: Alexander at Cannae?!
About the novel ' Alejandro Magno y las aguilas de Roma'
Opinions are of course always subjective...I am of the opinion that the novel is not only not boring (!!!) but provides high quality scientific knowledge on topic such as astronomy ,martial arts, ways of life , religion customs, and a myriad of things of Macedonian , Romans and of other populations that lived in Italy during the 3 cent.BC The book would be a sort of achievement only for that matter ... The reader anxiously wants to know how Alexander will defeat the Romans , something which Alexander certainly achieves thanks to his superior intelligence.The plot is exciting and all the characters are developed wonderfully in many sub-stories .In the 575 pages (Greek edition) we find the brilliant Alexander again , but also we feel his psycological decline after the death of his lover , and his physical decline after so many cruel battles.
Dear Marco since you can read in Spanish ,Greek , French or Italian try to read at least one page of this novel in a bookstore ... (why pay after all ?)
Opinions are of course always subjective...I am of the opinion that the novel is not only not boring (!!!) but provides high quality scientific knowledge on topic such as astronomy ,martial arts, ways of life , religion customs, and a myriad of things of Macedonian , Romans and of other populations that lived in Italy during the 3 cent.BC The book would be a sort of achievement only for that matter ... The reader anxiously wants to know how Alexander will defeat the Romans , something which Alexander certainly achieves thanks to his superior intelligence.The plot is exciting and all the characters are developed wonderfully in many sub-stories .In the 575 pages (Greek edition) we find the brilliant Alexander again , but also we feel his psycological decline after the death of his lover , and his physical decline after so many cruel battles.
Dear Marco since you can read in Spanish ,Greek , French or Italian try to read at least one page of this novel in a bookstore ... (why pay after all ?)
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