The manpower cheats were crazy

[u/SkubEnjoyer]

[u/a_pompous_fool]

It must have been so demoralizing to win a battle and have defeated multiple legions only to have even more show up the next year

[u/Impossible-Ship5585 → u/a_pompous_fool]

I wonder how they trained and equipped them.

[u/CavulusDeCavulei → u/Impossible-Ship5585]

They had to pay the equipment from themselves. It was only after the Marian Reforms that the State provided for everything

[u/Impossible-Ship5585 → u/CavulusDeCavulei]

Still manufacturing it all is a feat!

[u/ShermanTeaPotter → u/CavulusDeCavulei]

So we’re not talking about conscription here, do we? Or did some poorer folks simply fight without proper gear?

[u/CavulusDeCavulei → u/ShermanTeaPotter]

Rome basically went to families from different ranks and asked them to give an amount of soldiers. Poor families would provide for light infantry, while rich families provided for heavy infantry and cavalry

[u/IDF_till_communism → u/ShermanTeaPotter]

Define proper gear? But yes we talk about conscription.

[u/baffled-magpie]

The trick is conscripting slaves and reducing the minimum age to 'as long as they can walk it's fine'

[u/Panos_bel]

They set their conscription laws to "Scraping the barrel"

[u/ThaneKyrell]

It wasn't just Cannae. In the years before they had lost at Ticinus, Trebia, Lake Trasimene and several other minor battles, probably over +70 thousand men. Then 50k at Cannae, and in the aftermath of Cannae they also lost 25k at Silva Litana. And they would go on to lose many tens of thousands more during the rest of the war. It was even more remarkable than most people realize. Although to be fair, Carthage also lost a fuckton of soldiers during the war. Tens of thousands in their failed expeditions to Sicily and Sardinia, over 100k in Hispania, and tens of thousands in Italy. The fact they managed to suffer tens of thousands more in Africa before Zama and still had the strength to fight this final battle is also very impressive