Battle of Ager Falernus

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. Fabius Maximus, 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.