Battle of Ager Falernus

Date	Summer 217 BC
Location	Mount Callicula, Campania, present-day Italy
Result	Carthaginian victory

Belligerents

Carthage

Roman Republic

Commanders and leaders

Hannibal Barca

Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus

Strength

2,000 infantry,
2,000 Oxen,
2,000 Camp Followers

4,000 infantry, plus reserves

Casualties and losses

Light

1,000+

The Battle of Ager Falernus (or the Battle of the Falernian Territory) was a skirmish during the Second Punic War between the armies of Rome and Carthage. After winning the Battle of Lake Trasimene in Italy in 217 BC, the army commanded by Hannibal Barca marched south and reached Campania. The Carthaginians ultimately moved into the district of Falernum, a very fertile river valley surrounded by mountains. Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who had been elected dictator and commander of the Roman field forces after the disastrous defeat at Trasimene, had dogged Hannibal and stuck to a strategy to fight only under favourable conditions (Fabian Strategy). He now occupied all the river crossings and mountain passes leading out of the valley, thus blocking the Carthaginians inside. After stripping the area of grain, cattle and other supplies, Hannibal displayed brilliant tactics to provoke the Roman guard to leave one of the passes. Despite the protests of his staff officers Fabius, who was camped near the pass with his main forces, refused to attack the Carthaginian army and it escaped the trap unscathed.

The Carthaginian victory in the Battle of Lake Trasimene had removed the Roman consular army which had prevented the Carthaginians from marching on Rome. The second Roman consular army in Northern Italy, under Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, was on the other side of the Apennine mountains, near Ariminum, and it was in no position to hinder Hannibal from marching south. This force also had lost most of its reconnaissance capabilities as its cavalry of 4,000 men had been destroyed in an ambush by Hannibal's lieutenant Maharbal possibly near Assisi, immediately after the battle of Lake Trasimene. The Roman army retreated back to Ariminum after this debacle, and was busy checking the Gallic raids taking place near the Po valley. The initiative now rested with Hannibal, and the Romans had temporarily lost the ability to defend their Italian allies until a new army could be raised.

...
Wikipedia