The Punic Wars are often considered among the world’s greatest conflicts, with the likes of the World Wars, and the Trojan War. The three separate Punic Wars took place over a time period from 264 B.C to 164 B.C. The wars were between Rome and Carthage, the two dominant Mediterranean powers at the time. The Second Punic War is the most memorable of the three, made famous by the tale of Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps. Historians dispute the causes of the Punic Wars, but the war can be explained using the famous historian, Thucydides, and the principles laid out in his book, the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides said that human conflict results from three primary motives, fear, honor, and interest. The Punic War is no exception. Rome and Carthage’s …show more content…
50 years earlier, Carthage had been the dominant force in the Mediterranean. They possessed the entire eastern portion of North Africa, as well as Sicily, Sardinia, parts of Spain and various other islands scattered throughout the Mediterranean. The Romans were the new kids on the block; they controlled only the Italian peninsula and had no over sea territories. The Romans almost no navy to speak of, and were easily outmatched by the Carthaginians. The first Punic War arose when Carthage backed Syracuse and Rome backed Messina in a conflict. This led to a full out war between the two powers, new and old. Rome had better land troops, but, as Syracuse was an island, the also needed a navy to be able to compete with Carthage. They quickly amassed a fleet and were able to beat the Carthaginians. The Carthaginians were forced to pay over a thousand talents of silver and cede Sicily to Rome. This alone would have created massive tensions between the nations. But during the ensuing 50-year peace, Carthage was later forced to give Sardinia to Rome as well. Carthage was left with only its African territories and a burning hatred towards Rome. Carthage decided to conquer Spain, in order that they might one day have revenge against Rome. This is the time period in which the Second Punic War …show more content…
Finally, Carthage, sick of pestering, attempted to put down the rebellion. Rome immediately intervened and took over Sardinia and forced Carthage to pay and additional 1200 talents of silver. This brewed intense resentment towards the Romans in most Carthaginians. The Carthaginians confidence given by the successful Spanish campaign was just pride, new honor gained by their power.
The Second Punic War started by an attack of Hannibal, the commander of Carthage at the time, against one of Roman allies in Spain. At that time the Roman government was already worried about the recent expansion of Carthage territory in Europe, mostly in Spain. The Second Punic War almost led Rome to ruins, but in the end they managed to win the war and defeat Carthage. The result was an expanded empire and the defeat of the former great power Carthage. Winning the Second Punic War was decisive to enable Rome to further expand its territory. It made them the hegemonic power in Mediterranean and neutralized Carthage to the point that they were not even a threat to Rome anymore. The Third Punic War was short and consisted of the conquest of the remaining lands of Carthage and the enslavement of the entire Carthaginian population.
The Punic wars were a combination of several conflicts between the Roman and Carthaginian empires. The first of the three campaigns began in the 3rd century B.C., and the final encounter occurred about a hundred years later. The Roman and Carthaginian militaries were the largest in the region, but their differences showed clear advantages, and weaknesses. When the final war ended, Rome emerged victorious, but the men and resources lost dealt a heavy blow to the empire.
Hostilities eventually broke out between these two powers, but Rome had one problem. They were not good seafarers and did not have a navy that could match that of the Carthaginians. However based on some Greek triremes that the Romans some how had they built replicas with bridges on them so that Romans could more easily board other ships. The Romans quickly built a navy that could rival that of Carthage within a few years based on this model. This once again showcases Roman innovation, because not only could they quickly borrow technology from their neighbors, but they could also improve upon it. This allowed them to win the First Punic War. The rivalry between these two powers would not end until the destruction of Carthage during the Third Punic
The end of the second Punic war, carthage were forced to cede spain and the islands of the mediterranean still in their control, give up their navy, and pay taxes to Rome.
The Third Punic War was the result of a few Roman Senators attempting to convince other members of the Roman government that Carthage was still a threat to the Roman empire. The unofficial leader of the movement was Cato the Elder.
The three Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage went on for over a century. The wars started in 264 B.C. and ended with the Romans destroying Carthage in 146 B.C. The conflict between the countries came from the clash of economic interests. The wars were the first big wars of Roman expansion outside Italy. Carthage had a big empire along the coast of North America, southern Spain, and a few parts of Sicily. The purpose of these wars was to decide which power would become the dominant force around the Mediterranean Sea. The first war was the beginning of the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean sea, and lasted more than twenty years. The second was
Fought between Carthage and Rome, the punic wars may have been the worst wars in Roman history. The first punic war probably would have been lost by Rome but they had an adaptive Navy. The Carthaginian Navy was very dangerous and have strong ships. The Roman navy invented devices to attach their ships to the Carthaginian ships and steal their ships with Rome's strong army. This advantage helped Rome to win the first punic war. The second punic war was fought in the western and eastern mediterranean. Hannibal's army defeated Rome multiple times but the Roman general Scipio finally assinates Hannibal and Rome crushes their most hated enemy. The third punic war was the last of the punic. In the third punic war the Roman army made it inside Carthage City and raided their valuables killed their people and salted their land to prevent agriculture. The Third Punic war ended wars for a while in Rome and made the imperial era possible. After the punic wars Rome's power economy and morals were higher than ever and their amount of conquered land was higher than ever as
This small Italian island caused a twenty year battle between Carthage and Rome. After the first victory of Rome came the Second Punic War. When Hannibal invaded Rome, Scipio attacked Carthage with a volunteer army. Hannibal, the general from Carthage, was forced to return hi,r and save his civilization. This resulted in a win for Rome.
From 264 BC to 146 BC, a series of wars broke out between Carthage and Rome. These wars were probably the largest that had ever taken place in this time period, and were called The Punic Wars. The reason for the conflict was the existing Carthaginian Empire and expanding Roman Republic came into contact with one another. During this time new strategic weapons and plans were being used. The Romans successfully defeated the Carthaginians with a wide use of tactics and sophisticated weapons.
The Punic Wars consisted of three major wars. It involved a conflict that was fought between ancient Carthage and Rome. All three Punic Wars that were fought were between the same two forces, which were Carthage and Rome. It took place almost over nearly a century ago. The Punic War began in 264 BC and it ended in 146 BC with some destruction of Carthage. The word Punic came from the word Phoenician, and the reason the Punic War broke out was because Rome interfered in a dispute on the island of Sicily that was controlled by the Carthaginians. Sicily is an island that is located in the Mediterranean.
The first Punic War lasted from 264-241 BC. It was fought mainly at sea, off the coast of Sicily. This was the first time Rome had built a navy. Rome besieged many of the Carthaginian cities on Sicily, and when Carthage attempted to raise the siege with its navy, the Romans utterly destroyed them.
The two biggest powers of the Mediterranean where always destined to come head to head once again after the First Punic War (264 to 241 BC). There was no clear victor and the terms set by the Romans were extremely harsh. Even though the main cause of the second war was the war on Saguntum you must go back all the way to the ending of the First War. The war on Saguntum was seen by Polybius to be just the first incident in the war. In this essay I will look into the causes of the Second Punic War with the intention of backing up Polybius argument that the war on Saguntum was just the first incident and not a cause as Livy views it. I will be doing this with close analysis of our ancient sources. Three main causes will be
This began the Punic wars. There were three Punic wars. Rome and Carthage were the two strongest contenders of the central Mediterranean Sea of that time. In each of these wars Carthage lost. These wars lasted off and on from 246 BC to 149 BC, with Carthage eventually being destroyed.
The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts between Rome and Carthage for control of the Mediterranean. They are called the Punic Wars because the word “Punic” is derived from the Roman word for Phoenician, in reference to the Carthaginians’ ancestry. Carthage was founded by settlers from Phoenicia on the fertile land of North Africa. The Phoenicians were known as brave and skillful sailors and merchants. By the third century BC, Carthage became a substantially strong power of the Western Mediterranean. It was considered the richest city in the world. All maritime trade between East and West Mediterranean went through it. Hundreds of ships transported goods from all over the world. The city, built up with tall buildings, had 700 thousand inhabitants. The Greek colonies in Sicily and Southern Italy were the only serious competition to Carthage. There was a continuous struggle between them for the possession of the island for 100 years, since the end of the fifth century BC. Four times the Carthaginians conquered the island. However, they could not take the city of Syracuse.
With the introduction of the hoplite phalanx to the Roman army, came a multitude of wars and long drawn out campaigns that the Romans were involved in throughout the republic period. One such campaign or campaigns that set the Roman republic as the uncontested superpower in the Mediterranean was the Punic Wars. Rome fought three wars against Carthage between 264 and 146 BCE. These wars constituted major events in the history of Rome and the Mediterranean basin (Marcel Le Glay 2009) p. 73. Though these wars were fought for reasons such as competing economics, revenge (most notably the Carthaginian general Hannibal), and a fear that could be related in today’s terms of opposing forces such as (the United States and Soviet Union feared each other during the Cold War) the fact is in the end Rome defeated the Carthaginians, not only were the Carthaginians defeated, but the city of Carthage was demolished and the people massacred or sold into slavery so as not to threaten the Romans ever again. In the fall of the city, in obedience to the Senate’s orders the inhabitants were reduced to slavery or forced to emigrate, the town was burnt and soil was