The Battle of Cannae (/ˈkæni/ or /ˈkæneɪ/) is a major battle of the Second Punic War that took place on 2 August 216 BC in Apulia, in southeast Italy. The army of Carthage, under Hannibal, decisively defeated a larger army of the Roman Republic, under the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro.