   the battle of zama, fought around october 19, 202 bc, marked the end of the second punic war. a roman army led by publius cornelius scipio africanus (scipio) defeated a carthaginian force led by the commander hannibal. despite hannibal possessing numerical superiority, scipio conceived a strategy to confuse and defeat his war elephants. scipio's troops then routed the carthaginian infantry, thanks in part to superior roman cavalry. soon after this defeat on their home ground, the carthaginian senate sued for peace, which was given to them by the roman republic on rather humiliating terms, ending the 17-year war. ==prelude== crossing the alps, hannibal reached the italian peninsula in 218 bc and won several major victories against the roman armies. having failed to defeat hannibal or drive him from italy, the romans changed strategy and decided to attack carthage, forcing the carthaginians to recall hannibal. he was still in italy, although confined to the south of the peninsula, when scipio landed in africa in 203 bc. following scipio's decisive victory at the battle of ilipa in spain in 206 bc, iberia had been secured by the romans. in 205 bc, scipio returned to rome, where he was elected consul with a unanimous vote. scipio, now powerful enough, proposed to end the war by directly invading the carthaginian home land.livy, 28.40 the senate initially opposed this ambitious design of scipio, persuaded by fabius maximus that the enterprise was far too hazardous. however, scipio and his supporters eventually convinced the senate to ratify the plan, and scipio was given the requisite autho
200s_BC_conflicts 202_BC Battles_of_the_Second_Punic_War History_of_Numidia Military_history_of_Tunisia