Battle of Nola in 216 B.C.

Definition:

Battles of the 2nd Punic War | Battle of Nola

During the Second Punic War, the Carthaginian leader Hannibal lost 3 battles in as many years at Nola. Nola was a city in Campania that the Romans had recently taken over. In 216, the Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Hannibal's forces met in skirmishes before the city walls. Hannibal withdrew, marched to Nuceria, and burned down the city.

The next year, Hannibal's allies recalled him to Campania to help them against the Romans. Marcellus was at Nola, whose residents were not anxious to ally themselves with Hannibal. Hannibal decided to attack Marcellus, and was helped this time by his general Hanno and war elephants from Bruttium. A thunderstorm cut short the initial engagement between Marcellus and Hannibal, but two days later, Marcellus again defeated Hannibal. Not only was Hannibal seriously beaten, but some of his allies deserted him. Hanno was sent back to Bruttium and Hannibal withdrew for the winter, to Apulia. Livy reports a third almost identical battle at Nola in which Hannibal's forces might have been annihilated had Marcellus' cavalry acted in a timely manner, according to John Francis Lazenby in Hannibal's War: A Military History of the Second Punic War.