All through history nations have been torn by wars. Some of the most well-known of these wars were the three Punic Wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 B.C. to 146 B.C. Perhaps the most decisive battle during this time was the battle at Zama, which concluded the second Punic War in Rome’s favor.
The battle between the Roman general Scipio and the Carthaginian general Hannibal was fought in the year 202 B.C. near the town of Zama, which is about 80 miles west of Carthage itself. This battle was very important in the history of Rome and the world. Carthage was fighting for her very existence, while Rome was fighting for a world empire. The victor of this battle would not only be in control of Africa and Europe, but would then be poised
Directly behind them he placed the principes, or infantry. Under normal conditions the Roman formation had the principes not directly behind the hastati, but in a checkerboard formation. Scipio rearranged his men in columns this way to allow the enemy’s elephants to pass through the ranks. In the rear rank, Scipio placed the triarii. The triarii are also infantry, but differ from the principes in the type of spear they carry. The gaps between the hastati were filled with velites. Velites were the youngest and the most simply clad infantry. These men were to start the battle. If the elephants were to force them back, they were to escape down the lanes between the formations, or to the sides of the lanes in the spaces between the lines of infantry. On both wings, Scipio had stationed his cavalry.
On the Carthaginian side of the battlefield, Hannibal had his army in formation. In front of his whole army he placed his elephants, of which he had over eighty. Next came the mercenaries. These consisted of Ligurians, Celts, Balearians, and Mauretanians. In the next line he placed the native Libyans and Carthaginians. At a distance of about 200 yards, Hannibal placed his veteran Carthaginian infantry. Hannibal, like Scipio, had his wings protected by cavalry. With their armies organized in this way, the two armies
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...
Soon the second Punic War began because Carthage was infuriated with their treatment and torments from the Empire of Rome. This war was even worse than the first, and it shook Rome to its core. The first World War began with an accumulation of many causes, but one of the more influential problems was land hunger or imperialism. When Germany lost, it had the same treatment from the world that Carthage got from Rome. In the same case, the Second World War began because of the humiliation given to Germany with the peace treaty.
Without the right ecosystem for horses, the ancient Greeks were forced to trade for horses, which were highly expensive. The ancient Greeks were then forced to come up with a way to counter the Persians’ use of cavalry, which they solved with the creation of the phalanx. A phalanx was a group of soldiers armed with 7- to 8-foot-long spears, short swords, and round shields that were able to interlock with other shields. The soldiers wore a helmet, breastplate, and usually greaves. A phalanx is made up of lines of men extending their spears towards the enemy's direction. If a soldier is killed, the soldier from behind is to take his place, and this continues until all of the soldiers are killed. Machiavelli wrote, “The injuries which the first rank suffered, depleted the last, and the first rank always remained complete; and thus the Phalanxes, because of their arrangement, were able rather to become depleted than broken, since the large (size of its) body made it more immobile.” Machiavelli greatly admired the phalanx and considered it to be a useful formation if used correctly. Eventually Phillip the II of Macedonia improved the phalanx by doubling the spear length and reducing the shield size, which greatly increased a phalanx’s mobility. The Greeks would line up their phalanxes, and when the Persian
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.
If the second Punic war is to be discussed, I think it is very important to discuss the first Punic war and its motivations and outcomes, because there is a significant link between the two. Of course, as we know a second of anything is made possible by the first, and in the case of the Punic wars, the first war not only made way for the second, it also gave birth and motivation to one of the greatest and most influential participants of the second Punic war, Hannibal. As we explore the dusk of the first Punic war to the dawn of the second, we can see how Hannibal as a military commander was destined to wreak havoc on the Roman military.
The war started because of conflicting interests between the two, especially the expanding Roman Republic. At the end of the war, thousands of lives were lost, Rome ascended into power, conquering Carthage and becoming the most powerful state in the Mediterranean. During one point of the Second War, or the Hannibalic War, Carthage nearly brought Rome to her knees. With reinforcement from their Gallic allies, Carthage defeated the Roman army in the Battles of Trebia, Trasimene, and Cannae. Had Rome not defeated Carthage, the history Western civilization would be drastically altered, shaping a very different world than the one we live in today. It is said “All roads lead to Rome”. There is a lot of truth to this quote because Rome, with all its power and glory, paved the road for our modern society; it allowed Christianity to spread and flourish, the basis for democracy, and served as melting pot of cultures and customs.Rome can be considered one of the greatest influences on Western civilization, leaving us with priceless gifts that we will always
Question : Who were the spectators at Roman games? Discuss the relationship between them and the performers they watched.
Since the beginning of time, man has waged war on his neighbors, his friends and his enemies. In many cases these wars were caused by power-hungry nations that were in the process of expanding their empire and ended up stepping on the toes of another superpower or ally of a superpower. In the case of the first Punic War between Rome and Carthage, Carthage was extending its empire and they stepped on Rome’s toes. During the course of this war the winner was unclear but at times victory seemed eminent for both sides until Rome finally won. The Romans had control in the first part of the war but this would not last. After the Romans first win they decided that they needed a victory over the city of Carthage but this would turn the tides in favor of the Carthaginians. For some 15 years after this defeat of Rome the tides went back and forth between the two but would eventually lead to the Romans victory. After the victory, Rome made some very harsh demands and Carthage filled those demands even though some of them were very extreme.
Simkin, John. “ Military Tactics of the Roman Army.” spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk. Spartacus Educational, Sept. 1997- June 2013. Web. 9 Nov. 2013.
...normous indemnity that was imposed, ten thousand talents spread over fifty years, made the Carthaginians practically tributaries to their Roman conquerors. Hannibal would later be exiled and Carthage would never regain its former power. Hopelessly, the Carthaginians tried to stand up to Rome one last time in 151. The city was destroyed and its entire population sold as slaves.
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.
To a soldier, war was not romantic nor an intellectual adventure: It was a job of work to which he brought a steady, stubborn, adaptable schooled application (Adcock 6). A grouping of men called Legions were the main force in the Roman Empire. In the Republican times the legions were given a serial number (I, II, III, etc.) each year they were recruited. The smallest unit in the legion was the century, made up of one hundred men. Legionaries used javelins to begin the battle at long range and disrupt enemy battle lines before charging forward to engage the enemy at close range with swords and shields. The normal strength of a Legion was four thousand infantry and two hundred calvary, which could be expanded to five thousand in an em...
Hannibal's first battle took place when he was only nine. He went on an expedition with his father, Hamilcar Barca, to conquer Spain. From the beginning Carthage’s push into Spain, Hannibal vowed eternal hatred for Rome; Hannibal became Commander in Chief of Carthage’s army when he was 26 after his father was assassinated. His conquest of the Roman town of Sagunto in Spain led to a new declaration of war by Rome; which started the second Punic War and Hannibal’s promise to visit Roman injustice back on Rome a hundred fold. For Carthage to take the town of Sagunto was completely within the rights of the Carthage and the treaty but Rome at the time was getting too big and becoming very imperialistic. All Rome could see was that they had to have all of the Mediterranean and the only thing that stood in their way was a single General and his men. The way in which the Romans were unconsciously straying from "mos maiorum" to manipulate the course of events was disturbing. Though these actions were not entirely the "evil" work of Rome. Hannibal from his earliest memories could recall nothing but hatred for Rome. Hannibal’s Father had instilled a horrifically self-destructive desire within Hannibal to see the fall of Rome.
The main difference between Greek and Roman warfare was the formations that they fought in. The Grecian armies all used the phalanx as a fighting formation while the Romans used the maniple. The phalanx was one mass formation that consisted of infantry eight deep. The maniple formation was actually a group of formations in a checkerboard pattern. Each maniple consisted of about 120 men and when employed in Italy, the Romans used thirty maniples. The maniple proved to be a better formation, because the phalanx left no room for maneuvering after engagement.
...lexander the Great fought over the division of his vast conquests, the Romans conquered the Greeks of southern Italy. Around 270 B.C., Romans controlled all of Italy.