Battle of the Great Plains

Significance

The Battle of the Great Plains, fought in 203 BCE in what is now Tunisia, delivered a heavy defeat to the combined Carthaginian and Numidian forces under Hasdrubal Gisco and Syphax at the hands of a Roman army commanded by Publius Cornelius Scipio, supported by Masinissa and Gaius Laelius. The engagement was a significant reversal for Carthage within the African theater of the Second Punic War, where Scipio had carried the war from Iberia to North Africa in order to threaten Carthage directly and force the recall of Hannibal's forces from Italy. The defeat of an allied force that outnumbered the Romans by some ten thousand men weakened Carthage's ability to defend its home territory and contributed to the strategic pressure that ultimately brought the Second Punic War to its conclusion.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (5)