The Italian War And The Punic Wars

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 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.

His mercenaries took the front, the second was formed with carthaginian territories and the last line were hannibal's most reliable troops. In the very front of the army were hannibal's elephant corps. Then the elephants charged. The elephants were meant to confuse and terrify the enemy. Scipio knew this plan and order his trumpeters of the army to blow the horn which caused startling noises to terrify the elephants. After this tactic the roman cavalry charge the infantry, which also caused

Romans were brutal towards people they did not like and tortured or destroyed them. No I don’t agree that Rome spared the people they conquered. When Rome conquered Carthage at the end of the Punic War they completely destroyed it. Rome decided to launch a forceful attack in 146 BC that destroyed people’s houses and killed many people. After seven days of violence the Carthaginians finally surrendered. The surviving 50,000 citizens of Carthage were sold into slavery. Most slaves were not treated well and were abused and were not taken care of. They were normally overworked, given little food, no extra cloths and no freedom. Slaves had to obey their masters and the masters normally did not care about their slaves and the conditions they were

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.

At its height in 117 A.D., the Roman Empire was the largest political organization in the western world, extending across Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East (Mark, 2011). What is uncanny about this accomplishment are the numerous peoples and cultures that Rome gathered together under her banner. In my discussion post for this unit I will discuss the importance of the aftermath of the Latin Wars (340-338 B.C) specifically regarding Rome's treatment of the Latium cities and how this set the precedence for her treatment of future subjugations and laid the foundation for maintaining her vast empire (Toll, 2009).

Roman politics became increasingly more violent in the years following the Punic Wars, largely due to Rome’s increase in strength and continued acquisition of provinces following their victory. An increase in provinces to govern led to unscrupulous governors using their positions for financial profit. In addition, Senators increased their wealth by removing landowners from small family farms in turn amassing large estates for themselves. As the rich became richer, they bought more slaves which led to free Romans finding it exceedingly difficult to obtain work, especially in rural areas. This resulted in a growing mass of unemployed free Romans who flocked to the city, unable to feed themselves and their family. Welfare programs were created by the government to meet this need. A group, led by Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus believed that the wealth, specifically the land wealth, should be

The Punic Wars, a century-long conflict between Rome and Carthage started in 264 B.C. and continued until 146 B.C. when Carthage gets destroyed. Carthage, a Phoenician colony, came to be a superpower of the Mediterranean and posed a threat to the Romans. The First Punic War focuses on gaining control over the islands of Sicily and Corsica. The two powerful countries entered into a dispute between the Sicilian cities of Messana and Syracuse and established their presence on the island. Neither superpower would quickly hand over Sicily, so this local conflict transformed into a 23-year war that concluded with Rome gaining the advantage at sea forcing Carthage to admit defeat. Rome did not quit after gaining control over Sicily; they eventually forced the Carthaginians to surrender Sardinia. After their defeat in the First Punic War, Carthage started to harvest hatred for the Romans and this hostility for Rome would lead to General Hannibal, the leader of the Punic forces, to begin a campaign of vengeance. Hannibal marched his troops across the Alps in the most treacherous conditions in order to conduct a surprise attack on the Romans and invade Italy, which would be a starting factor of the Second Punic War in 218 B.C. The Carthaginians swept through the Romans in Ticinus, Trebia, and Lake Trasimene and Hannibal’s reputation grew as did his army. At this point in the war, he dictated the rules. This chain of events led to the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C. (History.com, 2009).

The Third Punic War was not a defensive war like the Second Punic war, but a war to end all Punic wars. The Third Punic War began in 149 B.C, but the destruction of Carthage was on the mind of the Romans before the declaration was ever declared (Baronowski 19). Cata was a consul member in Rome and he ended all his speeches in "Carthago delenda est, (Carthage must be destroyed)," in order to show his view was firm that Carthage is an enemy of Rome even though Carthage has not taken military action. In 152 the Roman Senate have decided that the destruction of Carthage was necessary, but they “sought an attractive pretext” in order to justify the war. The Romans found a pretext in the Carthaginian-Numidian War which was Numidia attacking a weakened

These Campanian mercenaries, who called themselves Mamertines, or Sons of Mars, murdered the inhabitants and ravaged the surrounding country. The king of Syracuse attacked them, laid siege to their city, and reduced them to such an extremity that they felt obliged to look for help. The choice lay between Rome and Carthage. They finally decided to call upon Rome for help. The Roman senate hesitated to help these robbers against Syracuse, which was a friendly power. But when the question was left to the assembly, the people fearing that Carthage would be called upon if they refused, it was decided to help the Mamertines, and thus prevent the Carthaginians from getting possession of this part of Sicily. In this way began the first Punic war.

From Rome's perspective the outcome of the Second Punic war can only be described as bittersweet. On the one hand Rome became master of the Mediterranean, with secure lands encircling the entire sea and new resource rich territory in Hispania (Morey, 1901). On the other hand, much of the fertile areas of the Italian homeland were destroyed completely (Morey, 1901). From the perspective of Carthage the outcome of the Second Punic war was less uncertain.

During the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C., three wars were fought between Rome and Carthage. The name given to describe the wars Punic, is a divided word from the Latin and Greek words for Phoenician. The city of Carthage, situated in what is now Tunisia in North Africa, was founded in 814 B.C. by the Phoenicians. The first two wars were the longest 23 years and 17 years, separated by an interval of 23 years. The last and third war lasted only three years. It started 52 years after the end of the second Punic War. All three wars were won by Rome, which automatically emerged as the greatest military power in the Mediterranean Sea. The hostility of Carthage impelled Rome to build up its large army and create a strong navy just like the one Carthage had. Strong military leaders of the war for Carthage and his sons Hasdrubal and Hannibal. Rome’s outstanding leaders were Scipio Africanus. Belief holds that Phoenician settlers from the Mediterranean port of Tyre discovered the city-state of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa. By 265 B.C., Carthage was the richest and the most advanced city in the region, as well as its prominent naval power. Through Carthage had clashed forcefully with several other powers in the region, notably Greece, its relations with Rome were historically friendly, and its cities had signed several treaties defining trading rights over the years.

At some point, Carthage and Rome became almost equal by all ramifications. Below are the reasons to support this line of thought. Introduction:When the Punic Wars started in 264 BCE, Rome and Carthage were the pioneer cities in terms of wealth and militarily in the western Mediterranean. Rome was a land of power which built her strength on the activities of the mighty legions after having assimilated the other Italian city-states under her control. Carthage was a maritime power, expanding power through trade and commerce.

There were several outcomes of the second Punic war, which was fought between 218 and 201 B.C.E (Cartwright, 2016). First, we have to establish how the first Punic War ended to appreciate the outcomes of the second Punic War.

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).