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The Battle of Lake Trasimene was fought when a Carthaginian force under Hannibal (bust pictured) ambushed a Roman army on the Italian Peninsula commanded by Gaius Flaminius on 21 June 217 BC, during the Second Punic War. The Romans had an army on each side of the Apennine Mountains, but were surprised when a 50,000-strong Carthaginian army crossed by a difficult but unguarded route. Flaminius, in charge of the nearest Roman army, set off in pursuit. Hannibal sprung his ambush south of Cortona, on Lake Trasimene's north shore. With the Carthaginians attacking unexpectedly from the flank and the rear, possibly in poor visibility, the Romans had no chance to form even a rudimentary fighting line; they were defeated after three hours of hard fighting. The trap failed to close on 6,000 Romans, but they surrendered later in the day and so all 25,000 Romans engaged were killed or captured. This destruction of an entire army due to an ambush by another is widely considered to be a unique occurrence. (Full article...)