Punic Wars Research Paper

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.

Rome and Carthage shared many aspects when the two first clash. Carthage had two chief magistrates referred to as Suffetes, which compared to the political power of the Roman consuls, a council of elders named the “hundred,” which was similar to the Roman senate, and there was a Carthaginian assembly, the consistency resembled the Roman comitia (Morey, 1901). This is where the similarities end for Carthaginian, ruled by a few wealthy families, the Carthaginians did not integrate their subjects into the state, and they did not have the great loyalty of its citizens that Rome enjoyed. By placing its army under the command of a single permanent leader, Carthage created an overwhelming advantage to Rome, which had its armies controlled by the ever-changing civil magistrates and consuls (Morey, 1901).

The Punic Wars were a series of wars between the two most powerful forces in the Mediterranean at the time, Rome and Carthage. The First Punic war started over a group of Italian pirates conquering Sicily (which was controlled by Carthage), and they turned to Rome to help them get rid of Carthaginian rule. The war lasted 20 years and cost one-fifth of the male population in Rome. In total, there were one million soldiers involved in the war, a feat that wouldn’t happen again for hundreds of years. The war was a back and forth with Carthage slowly losing on land while Rome managed to carry out a series of naval engagements. This was Rome’s first experience with a navy, but once they started winning battles, Carthage surrendered.

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.

Hannibal was born in 247BCE, he was the son of a Carthaginian general named Hamilcar Barcareerred, who rallied his North African nation-state from defeat in the First Punic War (264–241 BC) to conquer much of Iberia. Hannibal grew up in military service, and following the 221 BC assassination of his brother-in-law Hasdrubal, who had replaced Hamilcar, Hannibal took charge of the Carthaginian army. He soon proved a brilliant field commander who applied his intellect and martial skills to the singular end of winning battles. Hannibal, a sworn enemy of all things Roman, declared war against them and this was the start of the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). Victory in Italy was Hannibal’s sole objective. To achieve it, he marched the bulk of his army in Iberia across southern Gaul and over the Alps into the Roman heartland. Hannibal’s strategy was to attack Rome. Although his tactics for battle were superior he had strategic failures which would eventually lead to his campaign in failure.

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

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 Romans and the Carthaginians had been at peace for nearly 50 years, but some members of the Roman Senate were convinced that Carthage was still a threat. The Romans were looking for a reason to start another war with the Carthaginians, and they gave them one on a silver platter. "In 149 B.C., after Carthage technically broke its treaty with Rome by declaring war against the neighboring state of Numidia, the Romans sent an army to North Africa, beginning the Third Punic War." (Punic Wars) Three years later the Romans burned Carthage to the ground, and sold the 50,000 remaining survivors into slavery. Scipio Aemilianus led the destruction, and he ended all of his speeches with "Carthago delenda eat", meaning Carthage must be destroyed. (World History Book page

Facts about The First Punic war: 120 soldiers were awaiting the drawbridge to board the enemy ship and fight. Rome only lost one naval battle in the entire war but lost a serious amount of ships to storms. Carthaginian warships had underwater battering rams. The war took place mainly overseas

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

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 War is a series of the three wars fought between Rome and Carthage. The war lasted from 264 B.C to 146 B.C. During this time, these wars are probably the largest wars that had ever taken placed! The term ´´Punic´´ comes from the Latin word Punicus. The meaning of punicus is ´´Carthaginian´´. Which is also refered to the Carthaginians´ Phoenician ancestry. No wonder how that´s the way the Punic War got its name from (The Carthaginian

Roman republic ascension to hegemony in Mediterranean sea, was basically as a result of war between Carthage and Rome, this was the first Punic war. This war can be likened to Peloponnesian war between Greeks and Athens which was due to rivalry between the two cities. The rivalry between Rome and Carthage had saw the two great cities, fortified with securities and rosy community get destroyed and many souls were lost as the after march of war. The first Punic war saw Rome became a strong naval power which was used in the combat against Carthaginians. Civilization and expansion of her kingdom was one area, where Carthage almost equal the Rome achievement. The Carthaginians were as successful as Romans as well captured a lot of neighboring

The three Punic Wars were between ancient Carthage and Rome and took place over almost a century. The wars began in 264 B.C. and ended in 146 B.C. with the destruction of Carthage (History.com Staff). At the time the war broke out, Carthage was the world’s leading maritime power in the Mediterranean and Rome was the dominant power in the Italian Peninsula (History.com Staff).