Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian cavalry commander on the left, reorganized his units and proceeded to ride behind the Roman infantry to the far side of the battlefield, where the stalemated cavalry fight continued between the Numidians and Rome's allies. The allied horsemen now were taken by surprise and crushed between the two Carthaginian forces. The allied cavalry fled the field, taking the consul Varro with them. At this point, Aemilius was dead or dying, and Varro, the other commander, no longer was with the Roman army. The Roman and allied cavalrymen had been killed, captured or driven from the field. The Numidians were in pursuit of the allied horsemen, leaving the Celts and Spaniards as the only effective cavalry fore in the area.

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By that time, the Roman infantry had fought its way up the slope and into the enclosed end of the 'V,' the point. As the men became more tightly packed into a confined space, fewer of them could use their weapons effectively. Romans in the rear ranks continued to push forward, but found they had little room to maneuver. The prevailing winds continued to blow dust in the faces of the advancing legionaries, making it difficult for them to appreciate their danger.

At this moment, the African square anchoring the Carthaginian flanks turned inward and advanced to further constrict the Roman infantry. Hasdrubal assaulted the Roman rear with his heavy cavalry, assisted by the Carthaginian light infantry. The encirclement was complete. Many Romans first discovered the danger when they felt the searing pain of being hamstrung by the knives and swords of the Balearic slingers. The courage of the Roman soldier was amply demonstrated–the legions fought on even though all hope was gone.

Gradually, though, the pocket of resistance was reduced in size as thousands of Romans were killed. And when, finally, it was over, the Roman army had been truly annihilated. Of the original force of 86,400, about 50,000 were dead, with about 4,500 others taken prisoner. About 17,000 Romans took refuge in two fortified camps nearby, but after further resistance cost 2,000 more fatalities, the remaining 15,000 surrendered. In all, some 71,500 Romans were dead or captured–83 percent of the entire army. Carthaginian losses were less than 6,000, most of them suffered by the Celts.

It is a measure of the greatness of the Roman people that they did not give up after a disaster of such magnitude, especially after the previous defeats at the Trebia and Lake Trasimene. When the Roman Senate next convened, 177 vacancies had to be filled, due to the casualties suffered at Cannae, but the Romans did not hesitate to continue the war.

Cannae represented the apex of Hannibal's career, although he has been criticized for not attempting to end the war by sacking Rome itself at that point. Hannibal remained in Italy for 13 more years, but the determination of the Romans to fight on, regardless of losses, eventually gave them the opportunity to defeat the great Carthaginian.

The failure of Carthage to build a fleet strong enough to challenge that of the Romans made Hannibal's task enormously difficult. He attempted to reduce Rome's naval advantage by occupying the Italian coastal cities, home for the bulk of Rome's sailors. Could Hannibal have held them, the odds against the Carthaginian fleet would have improved, but his limited manpower made it difficult for him to detach sufficient garrisons to prevent Roman recapture of the port cities. For 15 years in all, from 218 to 203 BC, Hannibal occupied large areas of Italy. He fought and defeated the Romans on numerous occasions but could not break their spirit. After Cannae, the Romans again became cautious about entering into full-scale battle against Hannibal, but their command of the sea and the decision to invade Spain, in spite of Hannibal's continued presence on Italian soil, made reinforcement of Hannibal's army a problem. Gradually, the troops who had crossed the Alps with Hannibal dwindled in number as well as in age, disease and wounds claimed them. Hannibal was able to maintain his army in the field by replacing casualties with men from the Italian Peninsula, first with Celts from the north and, later, when this source was cut off, with Bruttians and Lucanians from the south.

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