<P> The Battle of Zama--fought in 202 BC near Zama (Tunisia)--marked the end of the Second Punic War . A Roman army led by Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (Scipio), with crucial support from Numidian leader Masinissa, defeated the Carthaginian army led by Hannibal . His force was greater in numbers than Scipio's, and he had 80 war elephants . However, many in Hannibal's army were recent conscripts and the Romans had superior cavalry, as most of the vaunted Numidian cavalry that Hannibal had employed with great success in Italy had by then switched sides to the Romans . </P> <P> Scipio's troops did not mass together to oppose the elephants, but instead blew their horns loudly, opened their ranks to let the elephants charge through and pelted them with missiles, arrows and spears, confusing them, killing many and forcing the survivors to flee, trampling many Carthaginian troops underfoot . Scipio's main force then routed the Carthaginian infantry, assisted by the cavalry which had pursued the Carthaginian cavalry off the field and returned to attack the infantry force . Defeated on their home ground, the Carthaginian ruling elite sued for peace and accepted humiliating terms, ending the 17 - year war . </P> <P> Crossing the Alps, Hannibal reached the Italian peninsula in 218 BC and won several major victories against the Roman armies . The Romans failed to defeat him or drive him from Italy, but following Scipio's decisive victory at the Battle of Ilipa in Spain in 206 BC, Iberia had been secured by the Romans . In 205 BC Scipio returned to Rome, where he was elected consul by unanimous vote . Scipio, now powerful enough, proposed to end the war by directly invading the Carthaginian homeland . The Senate initially opposed this ambitious design of Scipio, persuaded by Quintus Fabius Maximus that the enterprise was far too hazardous . However, Scipio and his supporters eventually convinced the Senate to ratify the plan, and Scipio was given the requisite authority to attempt the invasion . </P> <P> Initially Scipio received no levy troops, and he sailed to Sicily with a group of 7,000 heterogeneous volunteers . He was later authorized to employ the regular forces stationed in Sicily, which consisted mainly of the remnants of the 5th and 6th Legion, exiled to the island as a punishment for the humiliation they suffered at the Battle of Cannae . </P>

What was the cause of the battle of zama
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