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Carthage was a colony of the Phoenicians and controlled much of the island of Sicily
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Main cause of Punic Wars was competition for
Mediterranean trade
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Control of Sicily

Carthage
Advantages
Rome
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Large Size
Huge navy
Great wealth from trade
Mercenary army
(paid soldiers who might not be loyal to
Carthage)
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Smaller army of loyal citizen soldiers
Warfare their specialty
Recent success controlling the Italian peninsula

st
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Fought for control of Sicily & the
Mediterranean
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Most battles at sea
- Carthage had superior navy
- Rome builds a navy by copying shipwrecked
Carthaginian warship
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Results: Rome defeats Carthage & receives island of Sicily

The Corvus (Latin for “raven” or
“crow”)
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Crane/plank on a Roman ship that turned naval battle into a land battle

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nd
Carthaginian military genius Hannibal
Led 50,000 infantry, 9,000 cavalry, & 60 elephants to invade & conquer Rome
Traveled through
Spain, France, & the Alps – lost half his men, elephants
Strategy was to convince Roman allies to join
Carthage

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nd
For 10 years, battled up and down the Italian peninsula
- Hannibal & his men lived off the land & by stealing
- Never able to capture Rome

nd
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Scipio – Roman general against Hannibal
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- Planned to invade Carthage to force
Hannibal to leave Italy & return to N. Africa
Defeated
Hannibal in 202 BC –
Battle of
Zama

Scipio Africanus
Hannibal
Hannibal and Scipio meet before the battle

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Cato “the Elder” of Rome – “Carthage should be destroyed!”
Rome invades Carthage as revenge for Hannibal’s invasion of Italy
Carthage is seized & burned – 50,000 inhabitants are sold into slavery

Rome dominates Mediterranean by 70 BC
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East – conquered Macedonia, Greece, &
Anatolia
West – as far as Spain
Republic dominates the . . . “known world”