Which Roman battle in 216 BCE is famous for Hannibal’s double-envelopment victory?

The Battle of Cannae in 216 BCE is famous for Hannibal’s double-envelopment victory.

Fought during the Second Punic War, the battle pitted Hannibal’s Carthaginian army against a much larger Roman force commanded by consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. Hannibal placed his infantry in a deliberately convex formation, then allowed the Roman center to push forward.

As the Roman army advanced, Carthaginian infantry and cavalry attacked both flanks and rear. The encirclement produced one of Rome’s most devastating battlefield defeats. Ancient casualty figures are debated, but Roman losses were unquestionably enormous.

Cannae became a classic example of the double envelopment, sometimes called the pincer movement. It is often confused with Zama, the later battle in 202 BCE where Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal and ended the war.