Editing Battle of Cannae (section)

=== Effects on Roman military doctrine ===
[[File:Shield of Henry II of France.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A shield of [[Henry II of France]] depicting Hannibal's victory at Cannae, an allusion to France's conflict with the Holy Roman Empire during the 16th century]]
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Cannae played a major role in shaping the [[Roman military structure|military structure]] and [[Roman infantry tactics, strategy and battle formations|tactical organization]] of the [[Military establishment of the Roman Republic|Republican army]]. At Cannae, the Roman infantry assumed a formation similar to the Greek [[phalanx]]. This left them vulnerable to Hannibal's tactic of [[double envelopment]] since their inability to maneuver independently from the mass of the army made it impossible for them to counter the strategic encirclement used by the Carthaginian cavalry. The laws of the Roman state requiring command to alternate between the two consuls restricted strategic consistency.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

In the years following Cannae, striking reforms were introduced to address these deficiencies. First, the Romans "articulated the phalanx, then divided it into columns, and finally split it up into a great number of small tactical bodies that were capable, now of closing together in a compact impenetrable union, now of changing the pattern with consummate flexibility, of separating one from the other and turning in this or that direction."<ref>Peter Paret, Gordon A. Craig, Felix Gilbert, ''Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age'' (Princeton University Press, 1986), p. 337.</ref> For instance, at [[Battle of Ilipa|Ilipa]] and [[Battle of Zama|Zama]], the {{lang|la|[[principes]]}} were formed up well to the rear of the {{lang|la|[[hastati]]}}—a deployment that allowed a greater degree of mobility and maneuverability. The culminating result of this change marked the transition from the traditional [[maniple (military unit)|manipular]] system to the [[cohort (military unit)|cohort]] under [[Gaius Marius]], as the basic infantry unit of the Roman army.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}

In addition, a unified command came to be seen as a necessity. After various political experiments, [[Scipio Africanus]] was made general-in-chief of the Roman armies in Africa, and was assured this role for the duration of the war. This appointment may have violated the constitutional laws of the [[Roman Republic]] but, as Delbrück wrote, it "effected an internal transformation that increased her military potentiality enormously" while foreshadowing the decline of the Republic's political institutions. Furthermore, the battle exposed the limits of a citizen-[[militia]] army. Following Cannae, the Roman army gradually developed into a professional force.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}