Читать книгу Secrets Of The Rubicon. Rome’s Ruby Red Line онлайн

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"And then?"

"Flaminius felt cheated and made the strategic miscalculation of leaving the Rubicon with his troops, and he began to chase Hannibal through the Apennines. It was an immense tactical error because Hannibal, having crossed the Alps, had a tactical superiority on those mountainous trails, while Flaminius's legions were trained and accustomed to garrison a place and to march and maneuver in compact formation on flat, wide planes," Caesar explained.

"And how did it end?" asked Hortensius.

"It ended extremely badly. Flaminius began to pursue Hannibal who drew him into a long and narrow gorge, where there were mountains on one side and Lake Trasimeno on the other, which prevented him from being able to manoeuver.

While Hannibal was pretending to escape, he made his cavalry climb into the mountains to wait for the Roman troops and so, when Flaminius arrived, he was surprised by Hannibal's cavalry, who first tumbled large boulders onto the Roman formation, broke it apart and then fell upon them on horseback, exploiting the strength and speed they could gain down the mountain slopes to subdue and overwhelm them."