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 Romans' siege tactics included five success factors that enabled the Romans to be victorious. These five success factors were sophisticated artillery weapons, formidable siege towers, the engineering experience of fortification construction, superior logistics, and mastery of the seas. The Roman army copied as well as improved Greek artillery weapons. The Roman machines used animal sinews instead of horse hair, and metal parts replaced wood to increase strength. In a siege, these weapons were used to defend as well as attack. In normal Roman sieges, if the initial attack against the enemy failed to secure complete victory forces were sent to surround the settlement. These forces were set up to prevent anyone from escaping. Ships blockaded the harbor, and armies made up of infantry would build a camp on high ground. The camp observed and picked out key targets, including the enemy's water supply and secret entrances. The siege could progress without any fighting in hope that the
There were three Punic or Carthaginian Wars is Roman history. These were between 264 and 146 BC. These wars were the first great wars of Roman expansion outside Italy. The enemy of Rome had a large empire that stretched along the coast of North America and southern Spain and some parts of Sicily. This empire was known as Carthage. The purpose of these wars was to decide which power would become the dominant force around the Mediterranean Sea.
The first Punic war started as the Romans moved over the sea and marched on Sicily to gain lands there. The war began 264 BCE and finished 241 BCE. There were a lot of battles especially with the Battle of Agrigentum being a massive learning curve for the Carthage army as it was routed by the Romans.
One trait every army must have to be successful is the willingness and drive to dominate. The Roman army took these traits to a whole different level. The Romans were very extreme in battle as well. They often enjoyed humiliating other city-states by burning them to the ground. In 264 B.C.E. a battle between other Greek city-states forced Rome and Carthage, who dominated the western part of the Mediterranean, into conflict. The First Punic War was for the control of Sicily.4 This battle lasted twenty-three years.4 The Romans were losing a lot of men, but they continued to battle on.4 Finally, the persistence paid off.4 The Romans learned how to fight by sea and cut off the Carthaginian supply line into
Yet when Carthage took Sicily, Rome responded by building 330 ships to fight for their land, starting the First Punic War. Carthage was defeated by Rome in 241 BCE, and had to give up Sicily. Carthage went to war with Rome again when the Carthaginian general Hannibal attacked the city of Saguntum, Rome’s ally. This was the start of the Second Punic War. Hannibal was defeated at the Battle of Zama, meaning Carthage lost against Rome once more. The Third Punic War began when Carthage refused Rome’s demands to have Carthage dismantled and rebuilt further inland. The Roman general Scipio Aemilianus surrounded Carthage with armed forces for three years until it fell and the Romans burned it to the ground. Around 122 BCE, Julius Caesar decided to re-build Carthage, and five years after his death, the city rose again. Power and importance shifted back to Carthage, until the fall of the
During the early stages of the Republic Rome was completely surrounded by hostile neighbors called Etruscan's. The Romans were constantly attacked by these people and ironically in defense they conquered these people. This theme of Romans conquering land in defensive wars will continue on even after the Republic. One of the reasons that the Romans defeated the Etruscan's was the Roman army. They improved upon the phalanx that they borrowed from the Greek by adding cavalry to it, and eventually they would replace the spears with swords. However the flexibility and adaptability of the Roman army certainly helped them during their wars.
In 390 B.C, several tribes of Celts that the Romans called Gauls attacked Rome. They defeated the Romans and ransacked the city but they could not defeat the soldiers fortified in the citadel. They finally gave up and left the Rome. The city was in ruins and many people wanted to leave and go to a nearby city. In the end however, the Romans decided to stay. They rebuilt the city and its walls. This defeat was very significant in Roman history because it made them adopt new and more effective military weaponry. They stopped using the spear in favor of a two-foot long sword, adopting helmets, breastplates and a shield with iron edges. They reorganized their army, putting in the front rank of their battle line not the wealthy soldiers as before but the youngest and strongest. The Romans then successfully defended themselves against attacks by Etruscans, Volscians, and
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 war was costly to both sides but Carthage suffered more seriously owing to the corruption and incompetence of her government (which embezzled funds which should have gone to the military and consistently refused to send much needed supplies and reinforcements to generals in the field), the mostly mercenary army (who often simply refused to fight), and an over-reliance on the brilliance of Hamilcar Barca. Further, however, they seriously underestimated their enemy. While Carthage would largely ignore the war, leaving the fighting to Hamilcar and his mercenaries, Rome would be building and equipping more ships and training more men. Even though Rome had never had a navy before the First Punic War, they emerged in 241 BCE as masters of the
The three Punic Wars were a series of wars fought between the two great powers at the time, which were Carthage and Rome. They fought between 264 BCE and 146 BCE. Rome was a small city that led to a great empire. They were the power of the whole Italian peninsula. While on the other hand Carthage started off as a small port and grew to become the richest and most powerful city. They were the great power of the Mediterranean peninsula. They had a powerful navy, a mercenary army. Rome at the time has a bigger army but a not so great navy. The First Punic War started when Rome found out that Carthage was in Sicily. The first Punic war was won by Rome. The Second Punic War was started by a Carthaginian general named Hannibal. He invaded Italy and
The Roman Empire was said to be one of the most powerful and largest empires in all of history. The Roman Empire had a monstrous army and was always on the hunt for new land. Also, the Romans built a strong wall around the border to prevent Barbarian invasions. In order to defend and preserve the empire, the Romans were very militaristic. They used a variety of procedures to preserve the empire. The Romans fought in numerous wars to defend their empire, and they were very successful. An example of the Romans fighting to defend their empire was the Punic Wars. The Punic Wars were fought between Rome and Carthage. The Romans felt that the Carthaginians were an imminent danger to their empire, so they thought quickly to destroy them. Throughout the Punic Wars, the Roman army faced very tough military forces, including
Believe it or not, Carthage and Rome started off as friends. The main reason they started fighting each other was because of a small island territory off the coast of Italy called Sicily. Despite Carthage's constant disputes with its neighboring regions, Carthage and Rome were historically friendly towards one another. Over the years, the two cities formed and signed treaties solidifying trading rights. Ultimately the First Punic war was launched in 264 B.C., when Rome got in the middle of a dispute on the Carthaginian controlled island of Sicily (Punic Wars)
This war between the Romans and their most powerful enemies, the Carthaginians, incurred devastating losses on both sides, with the Romans eventually rising to victory. Following their victory, the Roman Republic was almost geographically unrecognisable and had been moulded by the Second Punic War into the “super-powered Empire of the Mediterranean” (UNRV History, Results of the Second Punic War, 2015).
The Punic Wars were a series of three wars that were fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. Carthage, during the mid- 3rd century, was a large city located on the coast of modern Tunisia. Carthage was a powerful city-state with a vast commercial network. Rome rivalved with Carthage due to Rome having power, wealth, and population. The Romans were highly interested in expansion. The main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflicts of interests between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. By the Roman Empire winning these wars over Carthage, this gave Rome a preeminent status.
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 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