At the time that Carthage and Rome first battled each other in the first Punic War, they may have been seen as worthy adversaries. Each had strengths that threatened the other. Each came from a different culture while developing their empires in tandem. By the end of the first Punic War however, Rome managed to get the upper hand on the Carthaginians. In this essay I will discuss what may have led to Rome developing into the superior opponent when at the outset Carthage was the clearly the stronger naval power.
By rights, Carthage should have held the upper hand when it came to being a naval power. It was a coastal colony first created by the Phoenicians in the middle of the eighth century BC. It was a seafaring empire by the third century
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By the end of the first Punic War, Rome was an emerging sea power to be reckoned with. Clearly it was not due to her shipbuilding skills, nor her experience with sea trade. Until Rome made the land grab for Sicily, she had contented herself with dominating the Italian peninsula. What will be demonstrated is that Rome won by sheer will of its citizens and their identification as a reigning republic, something that Carthage's wealth and skills were not able to conquer.
Before the Punic War in 246 BC, Carthage and Rome had a treaty that prohibited Rome from establishing any commerce at sea. Should Carthage find any Roman trying to conduct trade at sea, Carthage had the right to take the ship and drown its sailors. All this changed when Rome decided it was tired of sharing Sicily with Carthage. Realizing that it had no skills in shipbuilding or seafaring, Rome still came up with 330 naval ships. The only way Rome realized it could stand a chance at fighting on equal ground with the Carthaginians was to actually create a land upon the ships themselves. So the Romans came up with the invention of the corvus, a landing plank devised with hooks that could be slammed onto the enemy's craft so that Roman soldiers carried aboard the Roman ships could bring the fight to that craft ( Mark,J.J. 2011). What the Romans lacked in skills they more than made up in
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...
After the Costly victory of the Civil War, the Union need to reunite. The Union needed to readmit the rebellious southern states back into the country. Some Americans wanted to punish the south because of the war. They wanted to brutally reunify the country. Others, seeking a much more kinder approach, wanted to reunify the nation in a much more generous way. Both sides of the debate, wanted African Americans to have their freedom however. The problem for President Abraham Lincoln was difficult to answer, and had a detrimental impact on the United States that would last an eternity. Should the reconstruction plan be based on punishment or reunification? What are the civil liberties given to the newly emancipated African Americans? What should
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 first battle was fought entirely in Sicily, in 263BCE, and since the Romans were the superior fighters they took the ground battle and continued to prevail until 256BCE. After the victory over Carthage, the Romans began besieging Greek cities that allied with the Carthaginians. The Romans sacked these cities, which caused them to harden their resistance. Rome realized that to beat the Carthaginians they needed to build a fleet and in 261BCE they began building. To counter the Romans inexperience at sea they used a device called a corvus (a large gangplank with a spike on the underside).
Throughout the Ancient Greek world, there have been many wars and standoffs. However, there has been only one which changed the course of Greek history forever; the Peloponnesian War. Caused by the growing tension between Athens and Sparta, it came and left, leaving only destruction in its wake. The defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War caused the downfall of Greece, and the end of the Classical Age.
The Second Punic War, also called the Second Carthaginian War, took place from 218 to 201 B.C between the Roman Republic and Carthaginian Empire. There were three Punic Wars in all, resulting in Roman dominance over the Mediterranean. Rome saw how large Carthage was getting and how much power it was gaining. This, along with the fact that Carthage controlled three islands off the coast of Italy, was an issue for Rome. Rome insisted that Carthage join the Republic, to which Carthage disagreed. The two groups fought for twenty years, ending the wars when Carthage offered Rome the island of Sicily in exchange for peace. Rome took Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia. Carthage, lead by Hamilcar Barca, took off to fight Spain. Hamilcar’s son, Hannibal, was nine years old at the time. Before they left Carthage, Hamilcar made his son promise that when he was older he would fight Rome for revenge. Hannibal agreed, thus beginning the legend of Hannibal, military genius. (Second)
There were several strengths of the Roman Empire which enabled it to survive for more than four hundred years. These strengths included a strong foundation, having been built off of the Roman Republic; the standardization across the empire of many aspects of life, such as language, law, and especially the extension of citizenship, which made the empire more cohesive and easier to rule; and strong leaders, who were able to utilize the manipulation of the upper class and Senate, and the management of the military.
The military might of Rome was second to none in its prime. Victorious battle after battle did nothing but increase Rome’s population of young men suited for combat, increase Rome’s borders, and increase Rome’s influence over its people and the surrounding people. With such great generals as Alexander the Great, Pompey the Great, and Julius Caesar Rome won many decisive battles. At its largest times, Rome controlled most of the Middle East, Asia Minor, present day Europe, and Egypt. It’s is hard to state that conquering and controlling all of the surrounding territory didn’t help aid in Rome’s great success. But would they have been so successful militarily if they didn’t have the trade routes or the technology?
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.
In this essay, I am going to anaylise the Peloponnesian War. I will look at what appears to have caused the war, how it developed, and what the outcome of it was. As Thucydides is virtually the only surviving primary source of this event, I will also discuss the man and his method.
Another sizeable contributing factor to the expansion of the Roman Empire was the sacking of Rome by the Gauls in 390 B.C.. “The Romans were completely dumbfounded by the wild and undisciplined charge of the howling Gauls. The Roman’s tightly packed phalanx, a military formation they had adopted from the Greeks of southern Italy, collapsed, and the Romans fled” (Kidner, 129). The sacking left the Romans determined to prevent and avoid any similar outcomes in the future.
...s the collision on Carthage from which Rome emerged ruler of the western Mediterranean. Then there is the third the subjection of the Hellenistic states that gravitated Romans in close contact with the Greek civilization.
Carthage was founded about 100years earlier than Rome and had very fertile lands and an excellent harbor. It grew economically and politically through trading Gold from Spain, Ivory, Linen, precious stones, and other valuable minerals from different states. They had a very large number of trading vessels to load these products and carry them from pot to pot. They also had a powerful navy of warships. Like the Roman empire the Carthagean empire acquired dominion over the native races of Africa, the Lydians and the Numidians. These two great states had controls over the small states they made their allies, or members of their confederations. They were almost equal in many ways, and even their economies
Although both Roman and Greek civilizations shared similarities in the areas of art and literature, their differences were many and prominent. Their contrasting aspects rest mainly upon political systems and engineering progress, but there are also several small discrepancies that distinguish between these two societies. This essay will examine these differences and explain why, ultimately, Rome was the more advanced civilization of the two.
The empire that the Roman’s built can be argued to have been the greatest in world history. The Roman Empire controlled the largest land area in European history and influenced a huge region, acting as a cultural center for the entire continent of Europe. Their strength derived from their prowess and skill on the battlefield. The Roman Army was extremely effective and became the basis of our military structure today by utilizing technological advances in strategy and weaponry, and simply having more discipline.