Surprising Factoid of the Day

From a NY Times book review of a history of the battle of Cannae:

"The battle is unparalleled for its carnage, with more men from a single army killed on that one day, Aug. 2, 216 B.C., than on any other day on any other European battlefield: something like 50,000 Romans died, two and a half times the number of British soldiers who fell on the first day of the Somme."

 There's the observation that each of these man had to be stabbed, hacked or beaten to death.  Makes one think.