After Cannae, Hannibal was at the zenith of his success. Yet in the years after the battle, he squandered all his opportunities for final victory over Rome. Meanwhile, the Romans recovered from their crushing defeat. More importantly, they formulated a strategy that countered Hannibal’s battlefield genius. At last, in Scipio Africanus, the Romans found a general who could match the Carthaginian warlord. In 202 BCE, Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. Carthage had once again been defeated. This time there would be no recovery. Fifty-six years later, in the Third Punic War, Rome destroyed Carthage.