After the Battle of Cannae

Hannibal's great victory at Cannae was followed by continuing success in the south of Italy. After the Battle of Cannae the Roman ally in Syracuse, Sicily switched sides to Carthage, and soon after war broke out with Philip of Macedonia. While things in Italy looked bleak for Rome, a new general, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, began to turn the tide. Through 211 BC, Hannibal secured a port at Tarentum, but desperately needed reinforcements were never to arrive, having been sent to Sicily instead. Despite his continuing battlefield success, the war of attrition was slowly starting to go Rome's way.