The Brutal History Of Ancient Rome's Punic Wars | History Of Warfare | Odyssey

this channel is part of the history hit Network [Music] this is the story of a fight to the death it would not result just in the death of a man but of a whole city and the culture that went with it this is the story of a hundred years of struggle a struggle in which there could only be one winner [Applause] [Music] the Victor would emerge from the arena with a triumph which was complete and absolutely final [Applause] the loser would disappear for all time [Music] um foreign [Music] the two greatest city-states of the ancient world there was to be no compromise no mercy it was to be a struggle for the domination of the Western Mediterranean that could only end with the complete Extinction of one through the victory of the other in this fight to the death many great men were to fall victim to the Carnage of War among them the brilliant mathematician Archimedes the carthaginian general Hano and most famous of all Hannibal the Great in the Grim annals of History many cities have been taken by Siege and storm the population slaughtered their houses sacked and their gods were spoiled but they Rise Against we rebuild repopulate not so confident look at any modern Atlas you'll search in vain for that name Carthage of course was Maritime City because there is essentially Phoenicians and it lies on the North African Coast it's the furthest point sticking out into the Mediterranean closeness in fact to the the great islands of Sicily and Malta and it stands on the western side of a Great Bay so it's a marvelous place for Traders for safety Roman had taken several years to get complete control over Italy but once that had been established of course it was going to start looking elsewhere and the great problem ahead of them now was of course to be Carthage the greatest naval power of the world at that time and the question was which or the other was going to win in the end a once proud city destroyed so completely it was never rebuilt that chilling fact speaks volumes for the savagery of this conflict and the bitterness of the foe [Music] the Carthage has been a problem for Scholars in Western Europe in the last 100 or 150 years Carthage was seen in the late 19th century as a Mercantile City in contrast to the mainly agrarian states of the rest of the Mediterranean and it was therefore drawn into controversies of 19th century political history between say the landed aristocracy and the new capitalist Merchants people saw Carthage as basically a capitalistic trading City it's economy not based on the exploitation of Agriculture but rather on control of the sources of gold and Tin from the Western Mediterranean for almost a hundred years the conflict fled engulfing land and people as the armies surged back and forth on the insatiable quest for power and land but when the end eventually came it would be terrible in its finality history hit is like Netflix just for history fans with exclusive history documentaries covering some of the most famous people and events in history just for you our extensive catalog of documentaries covers everything from the rise of Hannibal Barker to the illustrious Treasures of King Tut so sign up today for broadcast quality documentaries uncovering the mysteries of the ancient world we're committed to Bringing history fans award-winning documentaries and podcasts that you cannot find anywhere else sign up now for a free trial and odyssey fans get 50 off their first three months just be sure to use the code Odyssey at checkout Rome's obsession with the struggles was reflected in the popular phrase added by Cato Carthage must be destroyed for their part the carthaginians were equally dedicated to the fight their greatest General Hannibal summed up the importance of the conflict we have accomplished nothing till we have stormed the gates of Rome till our carthaginian standard is set in the city's heart foreign [Music] the campaigns against Cottage were the first which the Romans had fought outside of Italy in 264 BC Rome had not yet begun to scale the heights of world domination but they would and it is the Victor who writes history the war between Rome and Carthage has therefore come to be known by the name the Romans called it they named the carthaginians poinai or Phoenicians the long series of wars that these people fought and ultimately lost are therefore known as the Punic War it was a conflict in three distinct stages which began in 264 BC and finished 82 years later with the grand finale annihilation of Carthage an event which was to be a turning point in Western history the birth of the Roman Empire it's the last of the great struggles between the city-states which characterized Warfare in the ancient world through the defeat of Carthage Rome established herself as the Undisputed and unrivaled leader of the Civilized world as always economic factors lay behind the causes of the war Carthage was the dominant trading nation in Africa Rome had just begun her rise to prominence in Europe as long as Carthage remained the principal player in Africa there was an uneasy but peaceful relationship between the two cities once Carthage began to cast her eyes enviously towards Europe the course towards War had been set as a base from which to expand her trading empire Carthage had established an impregnable military base on the island of Sicily town of misana had been controlled for 25 years by a group of Italian mercenaries called the mammatines they were being besieged by King hero of Syracuse the wealthiest and most spectacular of Greek cities on Sicilian soil in order to defend themselves the mamatimes call on the support of a passing Punic Commander well no carthaginian would hesitate to take advantage of such an offer so he moves in and establishes a foothold in masana King hero does back off but now the mamatimes have an even bigger problem because they can't get rid of the Punic Garrison therefore they call on Rome as their allies to come and give them protection the Romans are not keen to get involved they are worried about offending the carthaginians but nonetheless they do send a relief Expedition and thus what amounted to a little local difficulty escalated into what we know as the Punic War the carthaginians realized that the Roman presence in Sicily would upset the delicate balance of power they immediately began A large-scale build-up of troops mercenaries from liguria sisalpine Gore and Spain well Sicily isn't just the biggest island of the Mediterranean it's also slap bang in the middle of the Mediterranean so throughout the last 2500 years or so it has always been a Flashpoint because its North Coast faces towards the Western Mediterranean its South Coast faces towards Africa and the East Coast this is quite important faces towards Greece Sicily was therefore destined to become the site where fighting first broke out between the two Nations these were the first blows in a war which would spread to engulf the known world and lead to the death of a city as the carthaginian base at aggregentum grew in scale Roman reaction was typically Swift and determined the Roman Legions descended on the carthaginians and dealt them a Savage blow but the island was not to be so easily conquered due to her Mastery of the sea Carthage was able to reinforce her troops on Sicily by sea it was obvious that whoever controlled the sea Lanes controlled the course of the war two reasons why Rome had therefore to create a last complete first of all it had already been finding some a certain amount of attacks coming against SLA so for a purely defensive concept they needed a Navy for local help but really their main purpose of course was to create a large and powerful navy which could go across the whole of the sea and therefore take the water to the Carthage the Romans knew that to be successful against Cottage they had to become masters of a new Arena the sea to defeat Carthage a powerful navy was a necessity these ships were to become the best of the great Roman Navy the Sleek craft went a long way to extending the Roman influence to all corners of the known world below decks however conditions were a living hell unlike the fleet of the Greek which were crewed by free men who drew wages the Roman ships were powered by slaves it is almost impossible to comprehend the sheer misery of what life must have been like for a galley slave change and positioned in a dim Ransom claustrophobic environment these poor souls were ordered to row continuously at the whim of their cruel Masters however barbaric and in human this system was as far as the Romans were concerned the end Justified the means and the galleys were the means to achieve the greatest Empire the world had ever seen when we try to find the remains of the cartilage which the Romans sacked and raised the ground we it's the maritime element that we can find because where the galleys lay the ship sheds they have been found and they've been excavated so in fact we can by measuring the foundations the slipways there we can tell exactly how large the carthaginian galleys were which fought against Rome and of course which lost as one might expect the start made by the Romans in the drive for Domination of the sea was inauspicious the first few encounters made the Roman Navy look as green and inexperienced as in reality it was But ultimately this new force would bring to an end the carthaginian command of the Seas that had endured for centuries the years of carthaginian Naval invincibility were about to be shattered the first steps on the road to the destruction of a city had begun after the initial setbacks the Roman Navy began to win the first few small engagements this was enough to fuel the desire to take the battle into the very heart of enemy territory [Music] hit a greater threat for the Romans on land their forces were commanded by the Roman consulate attilius regulars a man whose arrogance was eventually to destroy Roman games in Africa he would allow Victory to be plucked from his grasp by his foolishness he would prolong the life of the doomed City he had come to destroy the Roman armies landed on the inhospitable shores of North Africa from here they could easily build a threat to Carthage to show they meant business they swiftly took possession of the town of kluper with 15 000 infantry and 500 Cavalry regulus began the March towards Carthage plundering and laying waste the land as he progressed under Marcus attilius regulus the Romans achieved remarkable success on African soil originally he was only set out there to establish an advanced base and to wait for reinforcements in fact he discovered that the opposition was so weak that he kept moving until he was within a day's March of Carthage itself too late Carthage understood that it was about to face a formidable honor the carthaginian commander hamelkar LED his troops out to meet the Romans who had reached the town of Addis 15 miles south of tuna they were to face an adversary who would one day come to dominate the world a legacy which would derive from a mixture of brute force and cunning the Romans were to show both that day a surprise Dawn attacked by the Roman Legions quickly dispersed the carthaginians the desert sand now ran red with blood for the first time despite a spirited counter-offensive the initiative now lay with the Invaders and hamilkar was forced to retreat to Carthage itself within a short space of time Tunis fell into the hands of the Romans Carthage and carthaginian morale was now effectively at its lowest point all regulars had to do was to maintain an effective seed starve the Defenders into submission and the war would be over Rome would have her first great Victory overseas but at this period of deep despondency for Carthage a Greek mercenary arrived in Africa almost single-handedly he would reverse the military situation his name was zantipus experience General who looks at the organization of carthaginian troops and announces that the only problem the carthaginians have is with their generals who are too inexperienced there's some huffing and puffing the carthaginians argue about it and then they decide to put xanthapas in charge of their own Army they're that desperate that they'll turn to a mercenary General the Roman position in North Africa was in great shape but despite the bright portents of an impending victory over the carthaginians the year 255 BC was to prove one of the blackest in Roman history to save themselves from a long Siege and eventual starvation the carthaginians needed to defeat the Romans in a set-piece battle on the dusty Flames outside their City the Romans had no need to accept battle and had merely to keep the carthaginians bottled up in their city but in his vanity regulus the Roman Commander allowed the carthaginians to come out and fight he was confident his Legions would destroy them utterly with the help of zantipus the carthaginians would prove him wrong tragically wrong the reason a new and terrifying weapon of War the elephant on the advice of zantipus the carthaginian levies were drawn up in the center and on the left wing with heavily armed Greek mercenaries on the right wing in front of each Wing a mixed force of Horsemen and light-armed mercenaries were placed and in front of the entire force was a line of war elephants the Romans unused to the side of elephants in battle were naturally nervous of these terrifying monsters the nervous men deepened their lines making them shorter taking advantage of the uncertainty in the Roman ranks the carthaginian light Cavalry charged forward and routed their Roman counterparts unnerved by the sight of the elephants the Roman Cavalry May well have been glad to flee the field the carthaginians then wheeled in over the legions who were now being trampled by the elephants those who avoided the elephants came face to face with The Unbroken lines of carthaginian levies advancing towards them on that hot day they were butchered on the spot only two thousands of the Romans managed to escape a mere 500 were taken prison including regular the rest perished the disaster on the plains of Carthage was not over for the Romans 350 ships had been sent to transport the Army home they took on board the small number of survivors and with room to spare set sail from the African Coast ill Fortune dogged the steps of even the relief Force the fleet could not rest on the coast of Sicily which was still occupied by the carthaginians and as they sailed southwards they were caught in a tremendous storm the fleet was Destiny only 80 of the ships survived to see Rome again the humiliation which Rome had received at the hands of xanthipus fueled their desire for Revenge robbed of her sea power Rome struck back near to home on the old Killing Fields of Sicily [Music] despite much bitter in protracted fighting neither side was able to turn the situation in Sicily to their attack and for the next eight years until 242 BC the two adversaries pinned one another down on the northeast of the island in a constant but unproductive series of skirmishes rage and seba after 22 years of war the Romans were still no closer to Ultimate Victory and the continuous drain on monuments of men was causing great concern in Rome it was obvious that sea power was still the key to the conflict so in a last effort to break the stalemate the Romans invested in a fleet of 200 ships and at the beginning of Summer 241 BC sailed for Sicily so it was that the final engagement of the first tunic War took place at sea it ended in a crushing defeat for the carthaginas they were forced into a humiliating peace agreement thank you [Music] during the course of the first Punic War the balance had swung in favor of Rome inevitably the scales were to tip back the other way one man was to play a greater role than any other in the Second Punic War a man Rose to prominence who with his Ingenuity courage and resourcefulness made his place in the history books secure his name was Hannibal as the Fate swung back in favor of Carthage his actions would take him to the very Gates of Rome was Hannibal solely responsible for causing the Punic War was he driven by his hatred of the Romans by desire for Revenge from the first Punic War perhaps but I think that neglects what his father and his brother-in-law were doing in Spain in the intervening period conquering Spanish territories and it also tends to diminish Rome's own responsibility for the Second Punic War for example it doesn't point out that the carthaginians of course were reacting to the way the Romans grabbed Sardinia from them surviving records of the man are naturally few but the Roman poet juvenile immortalized Hannibal in one of his satires put Hannibal in the scales how many pounds will that Peerless General mark up today this is the Man For Whom Africa was too small a continent though it stretched from the surf beaten Ocean Shores of Morocco East to the steamy Nile to tribal Ethiopia and new elephants habitats now Spain swells with his Empire now he surmounts the Pyrenees nature sets in his Path High Alpine passes blizzards of snow but he splits the very rocks asunder moves mountains with vinegar now Italy is his yet still he forces on we have accomplished nothing he cries till we have stormed the gates of Rome till our carthaginian standard is set in the city's heart will the Second Punic War can be seen partly of course as a war between Rome and Carthage but also as a war between one particular group of carthaginian commanders related the family we call the bar kids and Rome and the wars was fought on on two levels on one level the Romans decided that they had to eliminate not just Hannibal but Hannibal's relatives and that's the reason why right from the start of the war they went to the support of one of their allies in Spain and the Spanish war was as fiercely fought as the war in Italy itself and had very interesting long-term consequences the fact that Spain is a country which speaks Latin language today as a result of the Second Punic War Hannibal became commander-in-chief of the carthaginian Army in 221 BC and success was his from the outset he masterminded the storming of a city belonging to the Romans at seguncom in Spain after an eight-month Siege goaded Beyond restraint by this new Young upstart Rome declared war again in 218 BC in a Swift and decisive move Hannibal embarked on his epic March from Spain to Italy the pages of History were about to be altered forever Hannibal had his winter headquarters at Nova carthago a move on Rome meant crossing the Alps traditional military thinking would have said wait for spring then move but Hannibal great General that he was understood the value of surprise he would move in winter come what may Hannibal is another of the greatest he'd been told by his family his greatest enemy was to go and Destroy Rome that was the only thing he was to attempt for and so he conquered great areas in Spain and then which is totally a shook Rome was when he brings his army across over the Alps Hannibal had at his disposal some 90 000 infantry 12 000 Cavalry and 37 elephants some of these troops had to be left to secure territory in Spain so he marched over the Pyrenees and arrived in Gaul Now France with 50 000 infantry and 9 000 horse together with his full complement of elephants arriving at the river Rhone Hannibal organized a successful Crossing despite constant attacks he then slipped away from a Roman contingent led by Scipio who was astonished to find that Hannibal and his entire Army had eluded him by moving in the opposite direction from the one he expected surely he could not be planning to cross the highest mountains in the world the Alps surely the feat was impossible Hannibal knew better who was then the great General Hannibal well Libby presents Hannibal as rather curiously having the outstanding characteristics of a good Roman general he showed Vigor he shows courage he's a superb tactician he shows all the stoic verse shoes for example he'll wear his cloak and sleep on the ground like his centuries he can withstand extremes of hot or cold he's the first to attack he's the last to retreat all these build up the image of a noble opponent an outstanding enemy but he adds to that a Twist because after listing the virtues he lists the vices and he says that Hannibal shows more than the usual Punic perfidy he's given to inhuman cruelty and he shows complete disregard for truth honor and piety simply to reach the mountains Hannibal was constantly passing through the lands of other people he came frequently under attack from hostile tribes along his route as he began to climb up into the mountain already his army was beginning to dwindle as the historian Livy recalled the carthaginians thus found themselves facing two enemies the Hostile tribesmen and the terrible difficulty of their position in the narrow mountain defile it was a case of every man for himself and in their struggles to get clear of danger they were often fighting with each other rather than with the Enemy it was the horses more than anything else which created habitable terrified by the din they were soon out of control into confusion many men and soldiers were flung over the sheer Cliffs and fell to their deaths thousands of feet below when they were planning to go over the Alps Hannibal questioned how will they Supply the troops his friend and close relative Margot says well we'll just have to get them used to the idea of cannibalism as people die we can then eat the dead soldiers and move on so you can see how a reputation may have Arisen of Cruelty by late Autumn the weather in the mountains is already as bad as the worst winter at Selah Hannibal's men spent three days constructing a road through the snow and ice of the Alps but they battled on and the twenty thousand infantry and six thousand calories reached the PO Plains of Northern Italy five months after leaving Nova carthago having showed his skill as a strategist Hannibal was now to prove his Brilliance as a command in doing so he would instill such great fear in the Romans that his name would be forever remembered [Music] in the first of his major battles of the Italian campaign he inevitably emerged as the victim at the River Trivia he skillfully used his knowledge of the topography to enable him to slaughter the Roman legion but Hannibal himself would not emerge unscathed he lost the sight in one eye but it did not restrict his abilities as a command the next year 218 BC he repeated his successful actions further south at Lake tracing once more Libby recalled the event for three long and bloody hours the fight continued and most furiously about the person of the Roman Commander flaminus a mounted Trooper putting Spurs to his horse cut down the armor Bearer who had tried to check his murderous intent and drove his Lance through flaminius's body the consul's death was the beginning of the end consumed men tried blindly to escape by any possible way plunged into the edge of the lake till the water was up to their necks and they were either drowned or struggling back exhausted into the shallow water were butchered wholesale by mounted troops who rode in to meet them the Romans lost 15 000 men two thousand were taken prison the following year the slow progress of the carthaginian army through Italy continued Hannibal moved on again down to apulia on the Adriatic Coast laying waste the land as he passed the Roman defeat at Lake trasmine had several serious consequences in the first place the console of the minius was killed in battle then the other Council attempted to send reinforcements which arrived three days late and also were wiped out by Hannibal the end result of course is that morale at Rome plummeted they weren't used to losing and yet they'd had the news of two major disasters Hannibal seemed to be unstoppable in 216 BC he inflicted another heavy defeat on the Romans in his famous victory at Kanai the largest Roman army ever amassed and commanded by one man was completely destroyed their fighting skills absorbed by a huge Crescent formation of magnificent Celtic and Spanish warriors Livy tells of an encounter between two commanders in the chaos that followed the battle courage said paulus you have little time to escape do not waste it in useless pity get you gone and tell the senate to look to Rome and fortify it with strong defenses before the enemy can come and take a message to Fabius that while I lived I did not forget his counsel and that I remember it still in the hour of death as for me let me die here among my dead soldiers the two men were still talking when a crowd of fugitives went by the new minions were close on their heels paulus fell under a shower of Spears his Killers not even knowing who they'd killed almost the entire Army shared the fate of paulus well we don't really know where the Battle of can I was fought in detail it's um probably it was on the South Bank of the river alfidios in southern Italy but the fact is that the ancient historians who described the battle polybius and Libya in particular weren't really interested in these details what they were interested was again a good literary account of a marvelous battle with a wonderful surprising victory for Hannibal with his much smaller forces over the much larger Roman forces as Dawn Rose over the field of battle the extent of human Butchery was awesome Livy describes the scene all over the field Roman soldiers lay dead in their thousands here and there wounded men coveted blood who had been roused to Consciousness by the morning cold were dispatched with quick blows as they struggled to rise from amongst the corpses others were found still alive with the sinews in their thighs and behind their knees sliced through burying their throats and necks and begging who would to spill what little blood they had left some had their head buried in the ground and having apparently dug themselves holes and by smothering their faces with Earth had choked themselves to death most strange of all was a numidian still alive and lying with nose and ears horribly lacerated underneath the body of a Roman who when his useless hands had no longer been able to grasp his sword had died in the act of tearing his enemy in Vestal Fury with his teeth he had won an unbroken series of savage victories but now Hannibal's touch began to Desert him now he had his enemy at his Mercy inexplicably he did not capitalize on his successes at Kanai by marching on Rome instead he allowed his men to spend time in the devastation of the rich Italian farmland as they did so the lazy progress of Hannibal's Army through Italy continued he made a rapid march on Rome which of course was meant to shock the Romans which indeed it did it cause great panic but there was never any question of him being able to march on Rome and taking it by force anyway town after town fell to Hannibal and his Celtic warriors but the Roman armies facing him on the field could not pin him down to another major battle crucially he did not make the lightning strike on Rome which would surely have one victory for Carthage instead he besieged tarent this was to prove the largest city to fall them its capture further reduced the waning Roman influence in the heel of Italy but it was not wrong by 211 BC the moment arrived that all Rome had been dreading Hannibal was finally marching on Rome and this was to be a turning point in the war [Music] [Music] it is said that he who hesitates is lost Hannibal was now to suffer the consequences of that Sage advice his hesitation was to have grave consequences for him and his City The Wheel of Fortune was about to turn against him he had missed his chance [Music] Rome was once again Gathering her military strength instead of assaulting Rome Hannibal turned aside from its Great Walls it is a moment in history historians will debate forever once more he felt a plunder and devastated the surrounding Countryside Hannibal it seemed had lost the masterful touch that was the Hallmark of the initial years of the campaign he was never to regain the momentum of the early successes little by little the Romans began to gain the upper hand recapturing territory they had lost to Hannibal inexorably the tide was turning the Romans now had the initiative and Hannibal's responses were like those of a tired boxer in the last round of a world title bout Hannibal was pushed back and back until he was hemmed into the port of Brute from there he quietly slipped out and set sail for Africa hardly A fitting end for an expedition that had begun so triumphantly and made the world tremble one of the amazing things about Rome as a military power is that Rome was able to draw onto such massive resources of Manpower and indeed Financial Resources as well that Rome was able to sustain these wars on several fronts and in the end Solutions were found all of which favored the Romans peace with Philip V the destruction of cyracuse by Marcellus Marcellus is a rather interesting man because about 10 years before this in a battle against the Gauls he had personally himself killed the gallic chieftain in hand-to-hand fighting so he knew what it was to actually destroy an opponent and he used the excuse of a massacre of Romans by the regime in order to sack Syracuse destroy it Syracuse this is a well-known fact because one of the people who lost their lives in that sack was the mathematician of Archimedes onto the stage now steps the great New Roman general Scipio he was determined to carry the war to the heartland of his enemy Scipio set sail for Africa in 204 BC for what was to prove the decisive expedition in the Second Punic War it was he who masterminded the encounter that was to bring ultimate Victory to Rome the great battle at Zama fought in 202 BC Hannibal and Scipio met before The Fighting began to try and negotiate peace terms no longer the triumphant general of old it was Hannibal who spoke first he spoke from experience and he spoke from the heart [Music] the greater a man's success the less it must be trusted to endure this is your hour of Triumph while for us all is dark to you peace if you granted will be a splendid thing and fair to look upon certain peace is better than the uncertain Hope of Victory the one is in your hands the other in the hands of God do not stake the success of so many years upon the decision of a single hour the luck of a single hour can tumble to the ground the honors we have won I was the aggressor in this war and just as I did what I could till the gods envied My Success to ensure that none of my people should regret it so shall I strive that none may regret the peace obtained through my endeavors in the sincere humility of Hannibal's speech failed to convince Scipio to accept the terms offered and at dawn the next day he led his men into a ferocious and for Hannibal calamitous battle from Hannibal's point of view the Battle went wrong from the outset when his Cavalry was routed in the old days they had been the Baldwin for the success but in war it seems that when your luck runs out it sometimes disappears altogether so it was for Hannah although both armies were fairly evenly matched as the two vast masses of opposing infantries slowly rolled into one another screaming their war cries and beating their Shields almost inevitably it was the Romans who remorselessly drove back the carthaginian front line these men finally broke and attacked their own second line in a frenzied attempt to escape they in turn were caught between the Romans and the third line of carthaginians with their level Spears the Romans regrouped and advanced across the ground that was now slippery with blood and choked with bodies Veterans of the Kanai Slaughter came face to face with Hannibal's veterans and the fighting was bitter and pitiless it ended only when scipio's Cavalry returned to charge from the rear and cut the carthaginian lines to pieces the two generals met amidst the Carnage of the field for Hannibal it was a tragic end to an illustrious career reluctantly he advised his political Masters to sue for peace the Second Punic War was over like Germany after World War One the Roman peace terms applied to Carthage were harsh and humiliating like the Treaty of Versailles rather than lay their seeds of peace they actually sowed the seeds of the next War Carthage was stripped of her military machine and had to pay large War reparations to the Romans times were hard in Carthage Livy tells us of an incident that occurred when its citizens were trying to raise money to pay their first Indemnity to the Romans While others bemoaned there a lot Hannibal ostensibly was laughing when rebuked for this lack of solemnity he replied if eyes could see the Mind within as they do the expression of the face it would soon be apparent to you that this laughter Springs from a heart that is almost beside itself with its misfortunes and yet laughter is far less untimely than your irrational and misplaced tears the time to weep was when our arms were taken from us our ships were burnt and we were forbidden Foreign Wars that was when we received our death blow when The Spoils of War were being stripped from vanquished Carthage and you saw her left naked and unarmed no one raised a moan all too soon I fear you will realize that it is the least of your troubles which call forth these tears today the sad lonely figure of the once great Hannibal was later to die by his own hand a forlorn Refugee in a foreign court at the age of 64 a sad demise for a man who had served his country so well certainly after the battle of Zama at the end of the Second Punic War Carthage was in no sense a power to rival Rome so the question really is why did the Romans not leave Carthage in peace and one of the important factors is that the Roman Alliance functioned and functioned successfully because Rome was prepared to intervene everywhere and without asking too many questions on behalf of any state or city or King that had become an ally of the Roman people the Romans knew that if they did not back their allies in any matter at all then that effectively would signal to allies throughout the Mediterranean that Rome was not to be relied on so throughout the first half of the second century the Romans were prepared to allow their client King and Ally of Rome massinisa in New Media that's modern Algeria to be extremely horrid to the carthaginians and that meant that there came a point where the carthaginians just couldn't put up with this any longer for a proud Nation like Carthage for whom War had been a way of life for so long an unjust peace did not come easy the humiliating terms of Peace reached at the end of the Second Punic War cut to the very soul of her people the re-emergence of the fighting Spirit of Carthage was to Signal the beginning of the third Punic War but it was the end for the once great city-state the reality was that war was inevitable anyway Rome now sought the death of Carthage the only way she could see to end the Rivalry forever the carthaginians finally gave Rome the excuse she needed when she went to war with one of her neighbors despite doing all in their power to try to comply with Rome's Wishes the carthaginians could not meet the unreasonable demands of the Romans a carthaginian delegation to the Senate began to understand the danger from Rome the moment they heard the chilling address bear with fortitude the final commands of the Senate surrender Carthage to us and retire anywhere you liked within your territory provided that it is at least 10 miles from the sea we have decided to raise your City to the ground faced with the prospect of complete Annihilation the proud carthaginians would not yield without a struggle they declared war on Rome and set about A hurried re-armoring in an eerie parallel with the events in Germany before World War II soon they were mass-producing Shields swords missiles for catapults Spears and javelins and as many catapults as they could the Romans still believe Carthage to the almost defenseless they believed that a simple assault could be sufficient to take the city taking their Leisure the Roman army arrived and camped in front of the defenses but it was not to be as simple as they imagined three attempts to take the city were repulsed using a huge battering ram the Romans smashed their way through the outer defenses but a determined counter-attack by the carthaginians threw them back these attacks and counter-attacks dictated the course of a protracted War which would drag on for the next three years finally in 146 BC Scipio was in a position to deliver the final blow to the city and when it came it brought with it the most brutal and bloody street fighting recorded in ancient history one of the reasons why the Romans decided that Carthage had to be destroyed and taken over by Rome was not necessarily that the Romans were afraid of Carthage though there was one Roman who constantly said that they should be afraid of Carthage that was Cato the sensor it was rather perhaps that the Romans were afraid of their allies the new midians what the Romans didn't want was for Carthage to be totally part of the numidian controlled territory so in a sense the Romans may have intervened in the third Punic War not because they were afraid of Carthage though they obviously used carthaginian resistance to New Media as an excuse but because in a war between Carthage and numidia they didn't want Carthage to fall to New Media the final and Grimace task for the Romans was to attack the Citadel there were three steep streets leading up to it each lined with houses every one of which had to be stormed to eradicate The Vicious resistance from within bodies fell from roofs and windows to be impaled on spikes or swords below Roman assault troops flooded in wave upon wave of them replacing exhausted or wounded comrade Scipio ordered that all houses should be burned and this brought new Horrors the old sick and infirm perished in the Flames while the living and the dead were piled into holes to make the roads passable after seven gruesome days the carthaginian commander hezdrubal surrendered with the fiery Spirit which had made the carthaginians worthy adversaries his wife in disgust cursed her husband as a coward and traded rather than enter upon a life of slavery she killed her two children and threw herself into the Flames of her burning City Cottage was destroyed by the Romans because Rome could not have a contestant in the trade War Rome the little city founded originally on Seven Hills on the timer was flexing its muscles the Phoenicians coming from the Levant the area of Lebanon Syria have been the great traders of antiquity one of their great or their greatest trading city was Carthage and the carthaginians wanted to expand they had moved into Sicily and so you have these two great opposing Nations one already big trading Rich Maritime the other one Rome flexing your muscles if you like moving down through Italy looking towards Sicily in the carthaginians were there and this is why we had this series of Punic Wars they're essentially trade Wars and a war of Supremacy as indeed we know eventually Rome was Master of the known world for 10 days the fires raged when The Inferno subsided Carthage had been wiped from the political map of the world when we go back to tarfish nowadays what we see are the remains of Imperial Rome outside of modern Carthage a it's an area called Bursa this is where we find the great Amphitheater the bars built by the Roman Emperor antoninus Pius in the 2nd Century A.D so really Carthage of the carthaginians you cannot see it except in the museum in the material relics which have been found by excavation virtually nothing stands above ground laughs it was also to be excised from the geographical map too yipio is said to have spoken to the historian polybius as they watched the destruction glowing in front of them [Music] it's not a splendid sight oblivious a splendid sight indeed polybius replied the Roman and yet I am in fear I know not why that someday the same order will be given to destroy my own country although it was yet some centuries off the day would come when Rome 2 would feel the wrath of the Invaders like Hannibal before him and the people of Carthage Scipio knew only too well just how fleeting the favors of the goddess of war can be

Channel: Odyssey - Ancient History Documentaries

Views: 92,156

Keywords: ancient history, classical history, ancient civilisations, classical antiquity, history documentary, classical documentary, Ancient Rome, Carthage, Hannibal, Scipio, Punic Wars, Roman Holocaust, Odyssey, odyssey

Id: 4WPhPbKRjKE

Length: 53min 34sec (3214 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 19 2023