The Punic Wars
Latium
• During the period of the
first kings around 509 BC
there were actually very
many cities in Italy
– and Rome was just one of
them.
• The Italian Peninsula is
located right in the heart
of the Mediterranean
Sea.
– Rome is located right in the
heart of Italy on a large
plain known as Latium.
After the establishment of the Republic, the
Romans began to conquer southern Italy.
• They used a good idea to help
them.
– They told everybody that if any
city needed help fighting a
war, the Romans would be
happy to help them.
– Soon a city did ask for help,
when its neighbors were
attacking it.
– The Romans sent troops and
fought off the neighbors.
– But when the war was over,
the Romans announced that
they were going to leave
Roman soldiers in this city, to
keep the city safe.
• But when there are Roman
soldiers living in the middle of
your city, you pretty much have
to do whatever the Roman
Senate says!
– In this way the Romans took
over all of southern Italy.
Carthaginian Empire
Former
Phoenician
trading post
Commercial city
Had western
Mediterranean
empire
Felt threatened by
Rome’s rise to
dominance in Italy
The Punic Wars
• From the earliest days of the Republic, Rome
had been on friendly terms with Carthage, a citystate in northern Africa.
– Since Rome was largely agricultural and interested
mainly in Italy, it had no reason to bother with
Carthage, which was largely a sea power.
– As late as 279 BC the two cities had signed a treaty
against Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who posed a threat to
both. However, a breakdown in treaties and alliances
led to tensions between the two friends. Eventually
these tensions led to war.
Origins of First Punic War
–
These two mighty empires came into contact in the
middle of the third century BC
•
–
when Rome's power had reached the southern tip of Italy.
The two peoples had been in sporadic contact
before,
•
–
but neither side felt threatened by the others.
The Romans were perfectly aware of the
Carthaginian heritage:
•
they called them by their old name, Phoenicians.
–
–
In Latin, the word is Poeni,
which gives us the name for the wars between the two
states,
»
the Punic Wars.
These conflicts, so disastrous
for Carthage, were inevitable.
• Between Carthage and Italy
lay the huge island of Sicily;
– Carthage controlled the
western half of Sicily,
– but the southern tip of the
Italian peninsula put the
Romans within throwing
distance of the island.
• When the city of Messina
revolted against the
Carthaginians,
– the Romans intervened,
– and the first Punic War
erupted.
The First Punic War: 264-241 BC
– it was concentrated entirely on the island
of Sicily.
– In 264 BC, Rome invaded the island of Sicily
at the behest of the Mamertines,
• group of Italian mercenaries living in Messana,
often fighting like pirates.
• pillaging exploits had recently been put to an end
by Carthage’s growing control of the island.
– Syracuse was traditionally an enemy of
Carthage, but could not tolerate
• continued unruly forays from the Mamertines into
their territory,
• or the possibility of Rome taking over the island,
• so they allied with Carthage.
First Punic War
• To protect their supply lines to the island, Rome
was forced to embark on an ambitious ship
building project.
•Once Roman naval
–
technology matched
that of Carthage the
tables turned,
•as Carthage could
not match production
levels of Rome.
•The First Punic War
ended with Rome as
the victor and new
master of the island
of Sicily.
Mercenary War
• Immediately following the war, Carthage's mercenaries
revolted over a pay dispute and occupied a number of
important Punic cities in North Africa and Sardinia,
beginning the Mercenary War.
– Miraculously, Carthage was able to defeat the mercenaries in
North Africa,
– meanwhile Rome used the Mercenary revolt as an excuse to
invade and conquer the islands of Sardinia and Corsica
– Thus by 238 BC, Carthage had lost all of her islands in the
Central Mediterranean
Security Paranoia
– The Romans greatly feared the Carthaginians
and wanted build as large a buffer zone as
possible between them and the Carthaginians.
– The Carthaginians were furious over
Rome taking the islands
» even Roman historians believed it
was a rash and unethical act.
– The Carthaginians began to shore up
their presence in Europe.
» They sent first the general Hamilcar
and then his son-in-law, Hasdrubal,
» to Spain to build colonies and an
army that would match the Roman
legions.
» Both Hamilcar and Hasdrubal made
allies among the native Iberians,
» and their armies, recruited from
Iberians, grew ominous as
Carthaginian power and influence
crept up the Iberian peninsula.
Second Punic War
• After the death of Hamilcar Barca, his son
Hannibal became leader of the Carthaginian
army in Spain. It is an understatement to say he
was a military genius not seen since Alexander
– The Second Punic War began when Carthage
destroyed the Iberian City of Saguntum, a nominal
ally of Rome.
– The famous general Hannibal was determined to
annihilate Rome. Lacking naval power, Hannibal took
a large army including elephants through France and
over the Alps into Italy.
The arrival of Hannibal’s army in
Italy sparked off numerous
rebellions against Roman rule
•
and Hannibal decisively
defeated Rome in a
number of battles,
–
–
•
including the two worst
military defeats of its
history,
the Battle of Lake
Trasimene, and the Battle
of Cannae.
Roman allies in the
south of Italy literally ran
to Hannibal's side;
–
the whole of Sicily allied
itself with the
Carthaginians.
– In addition, Philip V, who
controlled most of the
mainland of Greece,
– began his own war
against Roman
possessions in 215 BC.
Fabian Strategy
• Eventually Rome
appointed a dictator:
– Quintus Fabius
Maximus
• They relied on
employing the
strategy of avoiding
direct conflict with
Hannibal in Italy
– Known as the Fabian
Strategy
• Meanwhile, Hannibal
was thwarted in his
attempts to invade
Rome.
– He tried to incite revolt
among the tribes of
Italy, but most feared
Rome's wrath should
Carthage lose,
– and they remained
with Rome for the
most part.
Fabian Strategy
Publius Cornelius
Scipio
• Rome eventually sent
an army to Spain, and
defeated the
Carthiginian army
there; that, coupled
with a naval victories
over Carthage in 211,
cut off Hannibal's
supply lines.
• In 206, after Scipio drove the Carthaginians out of Spain, his troops
invaded Africa. His sweep through northern Africa forced Hannibal
to go home and defend Carthage.
• In 202, Scipio finally defeated Hannibal, at the Battle of Zama.
In 201, a treaty was signed, which was very punitive. Carthage had to
surrender her navy, all territorial claims in Spain, and had to pay
reparations in the amount of 10,000 talents over 50 years.
10,000 talents is worth about 150,000
year's wages
Death and Legacy
• Hannibal survived the Battle of Zama, Helped
rebuild Carthage, but eventually had to run
away. He fled from court to court offering his
services to anyone who would fight Rome.
Finally in 183 B.C. Romans found him in Asia
Minor (modern day Turkey) and forced him to
surrender. As they guarded him, he secretly took
poison and ended his life.
• Hannibal shows the necessity of political goals
being more important than military
accomplishment.
Legacy
–
This was the defining historical experience of the Romans.
•
•
–
They had faced certain defeat with toughness and determination
and had won against overwhelming odds.
For the rest of Roman history, the character of being Roman
would be distilled in the histories of this desperate war
against Carthage.
The Second Punic War turned Rome from a regional power
into an international empire:
–
•
–
it had gained much of northern Africa, Spain, and the major
islands in the western Mediterranean.
Because Philip V of Macedon had allied himself with
Hannibal
•
–
and started his own war of conquest,
the second Punic War forced Rome to turn east
•
•
in wars of conquest against first Philip
and then other Hellenistic kingdoms.
The Third Punic War: 149-146 BC
•
In the years intervening, Rome undertook the
conquest of the Hellenistic empires to the
east.
–
In the west, Rome brutally subjugated the Iberian
people who had been so vital to Roman success in
the second Punic War.
However, they were especially angry at the
Carthaginians
–
•
–
who had almost destroyed them.
The great statesman of Rome, Cato, is reported
by the historians as ending all his speeches, no
matter what their subject, with the statement, "I
also think that Carthage should be destroyed."
Carthage Returns?
–
Carthage had, through
the first half of the
second century BC,
recovered much of its
prosperity through its
commercial activities,
•
–
although it had not
gained back much
power.
The Romans, deeply
suspicious of a reviving
Carthage, demanded
that the Carthaginians
abandon their city and
move inland into North
Africa.
•
The Carthaginians
refused
•
They were a
commercial
people that
depended on
sea trade,
Rome Attacks
–
The Roman Senate declared war,
•
–
and Rome attacked the city itself.
After a siege, the Romans stormed the town and the army
went from house to house
•
•
–
slaughtering the inhabitants in what is perhaps the greatest systematic
execution of non-combatants before World War II.
Carthaginians who weren't killed were sold into slavery.
The harbor and the city was demolished,
•
and all the surrounding countryside was sown with salt in order to render
it uninhabitable.
Byofthe
Was
of
theWars…
known world…
The the
end domination
result
the Romans
Punic