Essay on the Punic Wars

The Romans won the Second Punic war for a variety of reasons. These included the role and strategy of the Roman Senate and the failure of the Carthaginian government to support Hannibal. Rome’s strong control of the sea as well as Carthage's failure to rebuild their navy contributed greatly. The actions of Fabius Maximus and Scipio Africanus brought about the decline of Hannibal's momentum in Italy and his final defeat. Thus, there was no single reason as to why Rome were victorious against Carthage.

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.

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.

In 149 BC, Rome finally declared war on Carthage after the treaty was broken. Rome sent soldiers by the tens of thousands. This included an army of 80,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. When the Romans arrived with their army to Carthage the Carthaginians panicked and followed any order the Romans gave in an attempt to prevent war.

During the early republic, the Roman state grew exponentially in both size and power. Though the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in 390 B.C., the Romans rebounded under the leadership of the military hero Camillus, eventually gaining control of the entire Italian peninsula by 264 B.C. Rome then fought a series of wars known as the Punic Wars with Carthage, a powerful city-state in northern Africa. The first two Punic Wars ended with Rome in full control of Sicily, the western Mediterranean and much of Spain. In the Third Punic War (149–146 B.C.), the Romans captured and destroyed the city of Carthage and sold its surviving inhabitants into slavery, making a section of northern Africa a Roman province. At the same time, Rome also spread its influence

The Punic Wars was a series of three wars fought between Romans and the Carthage, this war was important because it was probably the largest war that had ever taken place. The Carthage traveled with elephants all the way from North Africa to Rome in an attempt to wipe them out, it resulted in hundreds dying on both sides. It was also called the Punic wars because the Romans called the Carthaginians: Punici, or Poenici. The First Punic War was 264-241 BC, which happened as the effect of the Battle of Messana.

The first war started the feud between the Roman Republic and the Punic Empire trying to seize control of the two islands of Corsica and Sicily. The Carthage Empire was forced out of Corsica by the Romans who seized control of the towns of Messana and Syracuse. Carthage returned to the island of Sicily only to be expelled again by the Roman forces. After being defeated twice, Carthage was prepared to surrender but since the Roman terms for the surrender were too severe, Carthage built a small army around cavalry and retaliated, pushing the Romans to sea. The war halted for a year after Carthage regained control of Sicily and resumed when the Romans sent out a fleet of 200 warships which attacked the Carthage stronghold, forcing them to surrender (First Punic

At the beginning, Carthage was the dominant sea-power in the Mediterranean and the largest Empire west of Egypt. “Before the wars, the two cities had been generally friendly as they had few points of conflict and common enemies (the Greek cities in southern Italy)”(MacMaster). Rome’s military was based on its citizens. Carthage’s was mainly mercenaries or drawn from allied African peoples, Carthaginian citizens supplied officers and sailors. The first Punic war was between the times of 264-241 it started as a conflict between groups in Sicily.

The Punic Wars lasted 118 years! The war began in 264 BC and it ended in 146 BC. The Punic Wars were a series of wars fought between Carthage, which is now modern-day North Africa, and Rome.

This very fact resulted in another outcome: that Rome was now a major dominating empire in Europe. Before long, the Romans took over all of Italy, Africa, Spain and Greece. “The defeat of Carthage transformed the Roman Republic from a growing regional power into the super-powered Empire of the Mediterranean” (“Results of the Second Punic War”, 2017). The Second Punic War was what started this series of conquests.

Rome became a powerful empire engulfing much of Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia and what seemed like this great entity called the Romans were always in the search of more territory and land to conquer and assimilate into their ever growing vast empire. However, this was not always the case, before Rome became one of the greatest empires in all of history, Rome was a republic. They were government consisted of a Senate who much like our country today represented certain classes of the citizens of the Republic. During the growth and rise of the Roman republic conquering neighboring territories and competing for land grabs was not Romans primary objectives. Romans

     The First Punic War started in 264 BC and lasted to 241 BC. In the first half of the 3rd century BC Carthage held many territories that made it easy to control and dominate the western Mediterranean Sea. However, when they

The Second Punic wars lasted for 17 years, from 218 – 201 BC. Rome declared war on Carthage when Carthage refused to recall the General, Hannibal after his capture of Saguntum, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC (Morey, 1901).

Eventually, Rome reasserted her dominance and defeated the Carthage Army, ending the Second Punic war. The leader of the Roman army Scipio imposed the following terms of peace:

The second Púnic war (herein after referred to as, “the War”) came to a close in 201 BCE, following Scípio’s victory over Hánnibal at the battle of Záma. After seventeen years of warfare, and at a great loss of life on both sides, Rome defeated Cárthage and came out on top as the new superpower in the Mediterránean region. The outcome of this war brought consequences to Cárthage and created opportunities for Rome (Morey, 1901).