The Punic Wars Causes, Summary & Hannibal

by the mid 3rd century BCE the Romans reigned supreme in Italy they'd squashed the say binds vanquished the Volsky trounced the Etruscans slaughtered the samnites unmanned the Umbrian messed up the Misaki uns and even grappled with Greeks they only stopped fighting because they'd run out of land to conquer Italy was now entirely under the control of the Roman Republic yet a threat to Roman supremacy was growing right at their doorstep just off the toe of Italy sits the island of Sicily and that island was being conquered by another ambitious city-state with its own Imperial designs just across the Mediterranean on the shores of Africa stood Carthage Carthage is in many ways a mirror of Rome Carthage was founded as a Phoenician colony around 800 BCE Rome was founded fewer than 50 years later as a result of this slight delay the Carthaginians had a small head start on the Romans and the fact that theirs was a naval empire while Rome was a land Empire gave them a still greater advantage but Carthage's greatest advantage was that it was a Phoenician colony trying to unify other Phoenician colonies with whom they shared a common language and culture by contrast the Romans were invaders forced to fight against dozens of independent peoples who all spoke different languages Carthage's many advantages meant that Carthage was capital of a prosperous coastal Empire that dominated the western Mediterranean they controlled the northern coast of Africa the southern coast of Spain and most of the islands of the western Mediterranean including half of Sicily by contrast Rome was the capital of a mere Peninsula albeit a densely populated one yet relative size was not the only difference between the Carthaginians and the Romans Carthage was a city of traders they were ruled by a Council of merchants princes they were highly civilized literate and scientifically advanced though they also may have engaged in human sacrifice what's important to know now is that the Carthaginians had built their empire through trade and well as much as through force by contrast rome was a nation of soldiers and farmers their republic was run in many respects like an oversized military camp roman culture was relatively primitive compared to the advanced Carthaginians they did not have Carthage's wealth or intercontinental trade routes at their disposal but what the Romans lacked in money and refinement they made up for in manpower strict organization and ferocity combining these attributes the Romans had built their empire through conquest and bloodshed in 264 BCE the ambitious Roman Republic and the wealthy Carthaginian Empire collided on the island of Sicily in the First Punic War this war was very similar to Athens battle with Sparta in the Peloponnesian War in that it pitted a powerful army against a large and maneuverable Navy it was a drawn-out bloody affair with the Carthaginians trying to keep the battle at sea and the Romans trying to force the battle to land after 24 years of continuous warfare that exhausted both cities Carthage was driven from Sicily and forced to pay Rome a huge war indemnity or fine bankrupted by the war and the indemnity and unable to pay its mercenaries the Carthaginian empire was thrown into a mercenary war Rome took advantage of the chaos to add the islands of Corsica and Sardinia to its growing Mediterranean empire after a while the Carthaginians got their house in order and sought to expand their empire again frustrated at sea by growing Roman dominance the Carthaginians instead started colonizing the Iberian Peninsula the native Iberian --zz were nearly so viciously organized as the Romans and the Carthaginians spread easily the Romans were once again nervous about the growing power of Carthage or at least that's what the Roman historians say personally I think that Rome was just looking for a new target for their annual warfare since they just finished conquering Illyria across the Adriatic in 219 BCE whatever the reason in 218 BCE Rome declared war and the second Punic War began the Roman Navy had improved significantly since the beginning of the last Punic War and they were confident they could hold off any Carthaginian invasion yet while the Romans had been beefing up their Navy the Carthaginians had been building up a huge army in Spain Rome was so fixated on rebuffing the Carthaginian Navy that it never occurred to them that someone might be crazy enough to march that big Spanish army over the Alps and invade Italy by land yet that is just what the Carthaginian general did that generals name was Hannibal and his military genius made him one of the most fearful figures in Roman history when Hannibal's army which included dozens of war elephants descended from the Alps he must have felt much like those first Latins had felt looking down on the Italian peninsula a thousand years earlier here was a lush land just begging to be conquered indeed had Hannibal not lost his siege engines during his passage to the Alps he very well might have conquered all of Italy Hannibal smashed every army the Romans put in front of him but without siege equipment he was unable to take Rome itself instead Hannibal laid waste across the countryside and tried to entice other Italian cities to rebel for some reason not one Italian city took up arms against Rome perhaps it was loyalty or perhaps the city's feared Rome more than they feared this invader whatever the reason Hannibal's plan to turn Rome's subjects against it failed nevertheless through his military genius Hannibal ravaged Italy for sixteen years now you may be wondering how did Hannibal catch the mighty Romans with their pants down shouldn't they have been better prepared after all they were the ones who started the war there are two reasons Rome fared so poorly I've already mentioned the first problem no one had expected Hannibal to take his army over the mountains Rome had been expecting another naval war like the First Punic War so Roman troops were scattered across a numerous the second problem was that Rome had overextended itself while Hannibal was ravaging his way across Italy Philip the 5th of Macedon had taken advantage of the chaos to expand his own Kingdom Philips invasion of Greece and Illyria prevented the veteran armies Rome had deployed to the east from returning home to reinforce Italy unable to bring its full strength to bear against Hannibal the Romans had to resort to delaying techniques once Philip had been dealt with some of Rome's best armies were once again available for battle rather than running home to oust the invader the Roman general skippy Oh brought the fight to Carthage skip-bo invaded Africa earning him the name Skippy Oh africanus and more importantly cutting off Hannibal supply lines Hannibal hurried home with his army and was soundly defeated at the Battle of Zama in 202 BCE the following year carthage surrendered the mighty Carthaginian Empire was reduced to little more than the city of Carthage itself and Rome further burden Carthage with an even larger war indemnity than for the First Punic War meanwhile Carthage's holdings in Spain were added to the Roman Empire Rome had also gained territory during their simultaneous war with Philip v of Macedon and gained a foothold in Africa by establishing Numidia as a client state things were looking pretty good for Rome and pretty terrible for Carthage in a single lifetime little more than 60 years Roman carthage had reversed positions rome was now the dominant force in the western mediterranean it had added Carthage's european territory to the empire and extended its reach eastward by contrast carthage is now the underdog allowed only to live because the Romans could get more money out of Carthage through Carthage paying the indemnity than they could through just pillaging the city 50 years later Carthage had finally managed to pay off that huge indemnity meaning that Rome no longer had any interest in keeping them alive in an act of pure tyranny Rome demanded that the Carthaginians and in their city and we settled 10 miles inland for a trading nation this was a death sentence Carthage naturally refused and Rome descended upon its old nemesis with all its might besieging the city for two years before it fell at last in 146 BC II to review from 264 to 146 BCE the Romans fought a series of three wars with the rival state of Carthage these wars are collectively called the Punic Wars the First Punic War was over ownership of Sicily it stretched for 24 years before the Romans were finally victorious Rome gained the island of Sicily and Carthage paid a huge fine the second Punic War was fought over perceived threat to Roman power Carthage had begun colonizing Spain and Rome responded by declaring war the Carthaginian general Hannibal marched his army from Spain to Italy and laid waste to the Italian countryside for 16 years Rome only won by bringing the war to Africa under the leadership of skippy o africanus Rome gained dominance over the western Mediterranean and Carthage lost almost all of its territory and received another even larger fine the third Punic War brought an end to Carthage after a three-year siege Rome burned Carthage to the ground

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Length: 10min 29sec (629 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 24 2017