The first Punic war started like this...Tradition holds that Phoenician settlers from the Mediterranean port of Tyre founded the city-state of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa, around 814 B.C. By 265 B.C. Carthage was the wealthiest and most advanced city in the region, as well as its leading naval power. Though Carthage had clashed violently with several other powers in the region, its relations with Rome were historically friendly, and the cities had signed several treaties defining trading rights over the year . In 264 B.C., Rome decided to intervene in a dispute on the western coast of the island of Sicily involving an attack by soldiers from the city of Syracuse against the city of Messina. While Carthage supported Syracuse, Rome supported Messina, and the struggle soon exploded into a direct conflict between the two powers, with control of Sicily at stake. Over the course of nearly 20 years, Rome rebuilt its entire fleet in order to confront Carthage's powerful navy, scoring its first sea victory at Mylae in 260 B.C. and a major victory in the Battle of Ecnomus in 256 B.C. Though its invasion of North Africa that same year ended in defeat, Rome refused to give up, and in 241 B.C. the Roman fleet was able to win a decisive victory against the Carthaginians at sea, breaking their legendary naval superiority. At the end of the First Punic War, Sicily became Rome's first overseas province.
The Second punic war...Over the next decades, Rome took over control of both Corsica and Sardinia as well, but Carthage was able to establish a new base of influence in Spain beginning in 237 B.C., under the leadership of the powerful general Hamilcar Barca and, later, his son-in-law Hasdrubal. According to Polybius and Livy in their...
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...two years before a change of Roman command put the young general Scipio in charge of the North Africa campaign in 147 B.C. After tightening the Roman positions around Carthage, Scipio launched a forceful attack on its harbor side in the spring of 146 B.C., pushing into the city and destroying house after house while pushing enemy troops towards their citadel. After seven days of horrific bloodshed, the Carthaginians surrendered, obliterating an ancient city that had survived for some 700 years. The surviving 50,000 citizens of Carthage were sold into slavery. They burned down every building, put chemicals into the farming fields, made them burn down all of their ships except ten; and made them give all of their elephant to them to make sure that nobody ever lived over there again to cause them any troubles and to make sure that they didn’t have to go to war again.
As what happens so often, history is written by the side who wins and in the case of the Punic Wars and Carthage itself most of the information available today comes from Roman sources and authors whose knowledge has been passed down through the ages. According to legend Carthage was initially settled as a Phoenician trading colony (the word “Punic” is Latin for Phoenician) in 813 B.C by the Phoenician Queen Elissa (Mark). From Carthage’s prime location as a trade port its power and prestige grew rather quickly and its expansion brought the city into conflict with another growing ambitious city state called Rome.
In his account of the Punic Wars, Polybius declares “it is my contention that by far the most important part of historical writing lies in the consideration of the consequences of events, their accompanying circumstances, and above all their causes.” Polybius recognized the intricate relationship between circumstances, causes, and their consequences, and in his account of the Punic Wars he seeks to explain the reasons for Rome’s victory over Carthage. For centuries, Rome and Carthage lived at peace with one another, their spheres of influence separate enough to avoid conflict. Rome’s wealth and interests lay in farming and acquiring more land throughout Italy, while Carthage’s economy was naval based, and so keeping trade routes open in the western Mediterranean was most important to them. As late as 279 B.C., Rome and Carthage were allied against Pyrrhus of Epirus, and had signed two other treaties in earlier years. However, as the two powers increased in power and controlled progressively larger geographies, their interests were bound to conflict at some point, and that conflict came in the contest for control of Sicily. The result was a twenty-three year war, the beginning of a series of wars which would last over a century. The end of the first war, and the actions of Rome towards Carthage in the latter’s defeat, laid the foundation for the second war, and it was only after the third and final Punic War that Rome, after coming close to defeat in the second, annihilated Carthage and burned it to the ground, effectively ending the age of Carthaginian power. However, the question must be asked, what were the causes of these wars, and more specifically, which power was more responsible for the conflict? No Punic accounts exist...
In Africa at the battle of Zama, is where Hannibal would meet his match. The same way Hannibal started the second Punic war- by luring the roman army to its allies under attack- is the same way he was lured into Africa by a series of calculated attacks on the Carthaginians homeland, all orchestrated by Publius Scipio. Publius Scipio, like Hannibal was a young and brilliant military commander and at the battle of Zama finally proved superior by defeating Hannibal and his forces, bringing Carthage to its knees. “In this battle Hannibal was defeated, and the Carthaginian army was annihilated.”(Morey, 1901)
During the First Punic War Rome, Rome successfully defeated the Carthage. The conflict was chiefly due to who would control the important trade waterways of the Mediterranean Sea.
The first Punic War started with an offer by the locals in Messana for the Romans to benefit them in defeating the Carthaginians. Rome saw this as a good fighting chance to let off of the stretch of the Carthaginian Empire and to stop the possible attack on Italy. The Carthaginians were told that they must break off their invasion or war would be fulfilled. Carthage didn't listen so they left no choice but for Rome to declared war.
The first Punic War was started when soldiers from the city of Syracuse decided to get involved in a dispute on the island of Sicily which was then controlled by Carthage. Syracuse attacked the city of Messina, before the attack the two cities had no problem with each other and they supported each other. Rome built its fle...
Rome 's action towards Carthage throughout the Punic Wars cannot be considered defensive imperialism, due to the strong military culture, expansionist aims and profit based attitudes of Roman society. Rome demonstrated traditional imperialism by extending their power and influence through means of colonisation and military force. Rome 's objective in the Punic Wars was to strategically subordinate Carthage, to increase their level of influence and improve their position on the world stage. The economic and material gain of war during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC, was a motivating incentive for warfare for the aristocracy. This eagerness was further propelled by the desire
The first Punic War started with a request by the locals in Messana for the Romans to aid them in defeating the Carthaginians. Messana was at the southern tip of Italy and would be a great asset to the already superior naval fleet of Carthage. Rome saw this to be a good opportunity to halt the expansion of the Carthaginian Empire and to stop the possible attack on Italy (which was controlled by Rome). Despite this fact the Roman council debated on whether to attack on these premises or not, but eventually it was decided that they would wage war on the Carthaginians. The Carthaginians were then told that they must halt their invasion or war would be waged. They did not stop and Rome declared war.
Many people believe that the Second Punic War started as a result of Hannibal and the Carthaginians laying siege to the city of Saguntum, and crossing the river of Ebro going against the treaty from the First Punic War. Something that Polybius says, which I agree with, is that these events might be described as the beginnings of the war, but should by no means agree that they constituted its cause.
Even in the century before the official replacement of the Roman republic by the empire, Rome expanded immensely as a result of the Punic wars. Rome fought the Punic Wars between 264 and 146 BCE against the nearby trade empire Carthage over the nearby island of Sicily, a cultural crossroads that greatly benefited Rome’s already rich culture. During these years, Rome also gained control of the nearby islands Corsica and Sardina, also surrounding the Italian peninsula and occupying a prime location for trade in the Mediterranean sea. When the Third Punic war ended in 146 BCE, the city of Carthage was burnt, the citizens enslaved, and the land salted to leave it permanently infertile. This demonstrated the new, brutal Roman attitude toward conquered people, who now seen as threatening after the century of fighting required for victory, which cost many Roman lives and much tax money. Additionally, the power vacuum left by Carthage’s trading empire, the remnants of the ancient Phoenician trade empire, allowed Rome to dominate the Mediterranean, gaining control through commerce between Europe, Asia, and Africa, all of the known world of Greco-Roman civilization. Goods flowing into the empire also enriched the culture, a blend of Hellenistic civilization and Etruscan influenc...
According to Illustrated History of the Roman Empire, “The beginnings of Carthage date back to the Phoenicians, who were a people in the Middle East inhabiting Phoenicia, the region known as Lebanon. The Phoenicians established themselves as a sea-faring people early on, dominating much of the sea trade of the Mediterranean (Illustrated History, n.d.).” And speaking of Phoenicians, the name Punic, the term given for the Punic Wars, comes for the Latin word Punicus (aka Poenicus), which means Carthaginian. This was a reference to the Carthaginians’ Phoenician lineage (Sidwell, 1997). The reason why I mention this history is because the only way to describe how Carthage almost became the equal of Rome, one would have to look at the details of the Punic Wars. It should be noted that Carthage was the dominant merchant nation of the Mediterranean at the time. The buying and selling of Carthage made it a wealthy and very powerful nation that no doubt was bound to become rivals with Rome, whom was on the verge of expansion within the
“The Roman Empire is heir to nearly three thousand years of development in the Mediterranean basin”(Smiley, 1). The Romans were guided by the Etruscan, a cultural group in central Italy that taught them the alphabet and even their architecture. After being helped by the Etruscan, the Romans rebelled back and defeated Etruria. They completely obliterated all traces of Etruscan society. After being attack by the Gaul in 387 BCE, the Romans rebuilt their city with even stronger defenses. They reorganized their army and introduced new tactics and iron weapons. By the end of the century, the Romans had a strong army and navy. The Carthaginians, a powerful maritime empire in North Africa, also helped the Romans conquered all of Southern Italy and the Greek colonies. However, the Romans turned against Carthage because it was a major sea power. Rome was expanding and wanted to get bigger, so they fought Carthage for control of Sicily over 120 years until in 146 BCE, Rome won. The Romans destroyed the city of Carthage by killing most of the inhabitants, burning the Carthage navy and salting the earth so no crops well ever grow. The few who survive were slaughtered or sold to slavery. “By the mid second century BCE, Rome was the most powerful empire in the Mediterranean. It had a well-trained army and an excellent navy”(Smiley, 1). The conquest of Carthage and Greek territory help Rome become a great
Romans were a very powerful people, and their influence grew and spread very quickly. Through organized armies and great tactics they pushed themselves up the Italian peninsula, seizing land and territory from the Etruscan League. Rome now owned most of the Italian peninsula except for what was owned by the Gaelic Tribes. (Barker) They grew into quite the power and all of Europe recognized them as a powerful force. Their influence grew and spread across the Mediterranean Sea and it forced the meeting of the two greatest forces of the Mediterranean Sea. It is 264 BC and hostilities between the Carthaginians and the Roman republic are on the rise.
Even before the war started, Hannibal knew what he was going to do. Since Carthage had no navy, there was no hope of going directly from Carthage to Italy over the Mediterranean Sea. Hannibal thought up a dangerous but ingenious plan. In order to get to Italy over land, Hannibal and his army would have to travel from Carthage-controlled Spain across the Alps and into the heart of the enemy. Hannibal left in the cold winter of 218 B.C. with 50,000 infantry, 9,000 cavalry, and 37 war elephants. While crossing the Alps, “Hannibal’s force suffered greatly from the elements and the hostility of the local tribesmen” (Beshara, 3). By the time they reached Italy, after only fourteen days, over 9,000 men had perished along with most of the elephants, but this number was soon replenished after 14,000 northern Gaul rebels joined Hannibal’s army. This group of 60,000 men proved superior to the Roman forces, and after at least three recorded major victories, the Roman senate was exasperated. An army of 80,000 Roman soldiers was sent to stop Hannibal’s army of now 50,000 once and for all. In July of 216 B.C., the Romans engaged the Carthaginians in “the neighborhood of Cannae on the Italian east coast” (Lendering, 2). Greatly outnumbered, Hannibal realized that he would have to win by strategy, and that is exactly what he did. As the two lines met, Hannibal’s cavalry gained the flanks and, moving up the sides, attacked the rear of the Roman line.
The Second Punic war, beginning in 218 BC, was the second major war between the Roman Empire and the Carthage. Around the same time, the Roman Empire deployed troops to the Northeastern peninsula of Spain to keep reinforcements, from the Carthaginian South, from getting to Hannibal’s armies in Italy to assist them. In A Histor...