Battle of Herdonia (210 BC)

Second Battle of Herdonia
Part of the Second Punic War
Strategic situation in 210 BC
Date 210 BC Location Herdonia (modern Ordona, Foggia), present-day Italy 41°19′00″N 15°38′00″E / 41.3167°N 15.6333°E / 41.3167; 15.6333 Result Carthaginian victory
Belligerents
Carthage	Roman Republic
Commanders and leaders
Hannibal	Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus †
Strength
More than the Romans	Two Roman legions and allies
Casualties and losses
Minimal	7,000–13,000 killed 4,344 survivors

The second battle of Herdonia took place in 210 BC during the Second Punic War. Hannibal, leader of the Carthaginians, who had invaded Italy eight years earlier, encircled and destroyed a Roman army which was operating against his allies in Apulia. The heavy defeat increased the war's burden on Rome and, piled on previous military disasters (such as Lake Trasimene, Cannae, and others), aggravated the relations with her exhausted Italian allies. For Hannibal the battle was a tactical success, but did not halt for long the Roman advance. Within the next three years the Romans reconquered most of the territories and cities lost at the beginning of the war and pushed the Carthaginian general to the southwestern end of the Apennine peninsula. The battle was the last Carthaginian victory of the war; all battles which followed were either inconclusive or Roman victories.