Carthage, Modern day Tunisia/Northern Africa.
Carthage owns Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily.
Rome owns all of Italy
Rome wants Sicily because it is in the middle of the Red Sea. Trading will have to go through Sicily so
whoever owns Sicily will be very rich. Sicily is a big cash cow, if Rome owns more land, they receive
more tax money from those who live there.
1st Punic War, 264-241 BCE
Carthage has a powerful navy so Rome builds its own navy to compete.
This war takes place mostly in Sicily.
Hamilcar Barca lead’s Carthage’s forces.
Rome wins in 241 BCE.
Carthage signs a treaty because they lost:
+ Sicily is now a Roman province.
+ Carthage pays tribute to Rome for 10 years.
+ Rome additionally gains control of Corsica and Sardinia.
Hamilcar Barca wants to strengthen Carthage again so he expands into modern day Spain.
Spain is useful because it has a lot of silver.
Hamilcar Barca hates Rome.
When Hamilcar Barca dies in 228 BCE, his son Hannibal Barca takes over in 221 BCE.
2nd Punic War, 218-201 BCE
Hannibal Barca attacks a Roman socius or ally. Rome comes to their aid so they declare war on
Carthage.
Hannibal knows that the Romans believe they will come from the water, so to surprise them,
Hannibal crosses the Alps mountains with elephants to get into Italy.
Romans are caught off guard.
Battle of Lake Trasimene, 217 BCE
Hannibal tricks Roman soldiers into thinking that they are sitting around a campfire.
When the romans go to attack, Carthage soldiers appear behind them and the Romans are trapped.
They either have to fight head on or try to swim the lake to get away, many drowned. Hannibal wins.
Battle of Cannae, 216 BCE
Carthagians surround Roman forces. Hannibal wins
Scipio Africanus lands in Spain in 211 BCE and he takes over in 207 BCE.
He attacks Carthage’s land in Northern Africa so now Spain is a Roman territory.
In 203 BCE, Carthage calls Hannibal back from attacking the Romans to help defend Carthage.
Battle of Zama, 202 BCE
Scipio defeats Hannibal. Rome wins.
Carthage signs another treaty:
+ Carthage must give up their navy.
+ Carthage must pay tributes.
+ Spain is given to Rome.
+ Carthage cannot wage war without Rome’s consent.
3rd Punic War, 149-146 BCE
150 BCE, Numidia, a Roman ally, attacks Carthage. In self defense, Carthage declare war on them.
Since Rome did not consent to this, this breaks the treaty and Rome declares war on Carthage.
Marcus Porcius, a Roman Senator, also known as Cato the Elder is famously known for his statement;
“Carthago delenda est” or “Carthage must be destroyed”. No matter the topic, he’d bring it up.
He was very xenophobic and was afraid of anyone outside of Rome.
Scipio Ameilianus, the adopted grandson of Scipio Africanus, leads the attack on Carthage.
Rome wins. Carthage is destroyed in 146 BCE.
Rome salts Carthage’s ground so nothing could grow there again.
Italics represents Latin words.
Bolded words are the main ideas or important things to know.