PUNIC WARS
 Four Phases of Roman Republic Warfare:
 1. Hand to Hand Combat – Founded by Romulus
 2. 500s B.C. – Greek Phalanx
 3. Samnite Wars (300s B.C. ) – Maniple Legions
 4. 100s B.C. – Removed Property Qualifications
(FULL time professional army)
 The conflict was called the "Punic War"
because Rome's name for Carthaginians was
Punici (older Phoenici, due to their
Phoenician ancestry).
 Greek Phalanx
 What were its
advantages?
Disadvantages?
 HINT….think guerilla
warfare
 MANIPLE SYSTEM: “A
phalanx with joints”
 Much more mobile
 Layered by experience
 Poor in the front,
wealthier in the back
(usually)
 Based on “time-release”
freshness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJPq9sIOsuE
 Almost unlimited manpower
 Ferocity in battle, generous
in defeat
 Plunder and Triumphs
 Controlled individual
ambition
 Displayed wealth of the
conquered city
 Sometimes used as a political
stepping-stone
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGYI1UHK5jM
 Julius Caesar’s “Gallic Triumph” over Vercingetorix and
the Gauls in 45 B.C.
CARTHAGE
 Mediterranean power
 Controlled N. Africa, Spain and other
Mediterranean islands
 At her height, had power over 3-4 million
subjects
 Dominated the sea with their advanced Navy
 Punic Wars Overview
 Begin at :50
 CREATIVE ASSEMBLY VIDEO:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbBHk_zLTmY
 264-241 B.C.
 Rome is dominating Italy
 But, what don’t they have…?
 Accepts a treaty with Carthage
 But, it didn’t last….
 Issue over the straits of
Messana, Mamertines
appealed to Carthage, then
appealed to Rome
 What were some of the
reasons Rome would
choose to go to war?
 “A gang of ex-mercenaries turned brigands seized Messana to exploit
it people and its natural resources for its own enrichment. Faced
under the threat of falling under the domination of Hiero of Syracuse
and losing their privileged status, the Mamertines turned to the
Carthaginians for help. Soon finding their arrangement
unsatisfactory, they invited the Romans to help them instead. The
Romans had recently recovered one of their own cities, Regium from a
similar band of adventurers whom they considered so reprehensible
that they had taken them to Rome for public execution. But in spite of
this, they accepted the Mamertines invitation and occupied Messana.
The temptation to acquire a foothold in Sicily and secure the straits in
the face of Carthaginian unpreparedness clearly overcame all moral
considerations It was an example of blatant opportunism. Though
they greatly underestimated the consequences, the Romans had the
muscle and they used it.”
 Sir Nigel Bagnall, The Punic Wars
 Rome is winning on land, but losing on the sea…
 So, they take a land battle to the sea!
 Rome captures a Carthaginian quinquereme and
copy it
 They make 100 in only 60 days!
 They included the Roman “corvus”
 Rome gained momentum, but disaster struck as
they entered the African coast
 Battle of the Aegadian islands (241 B.C.)
finally destroyed a large Carthaginian fleet
 Carthage ceded Sicily to Rome, Syracuse
remained an independent ally of Rome
 1. What was the name of the man who led the
Carthaginians against Rome in the Second Punic War?
 2. In his offensive, he crossed what geographical landmark?
 3. Who was the most successful Roman military
commander in the Second Punic War? He was awarded the
name “Africanus” following the war.
 275 – 228 B.C.
 Very successful
general of First
Punic War
 Resented
Carthaginian Senate
 HATED Rome
 Father of Hannibal

Rome has transformed to a Mediterranean juggernaut following the conflict

End of the “golden age” of Roman morality

Plundering and debauchery

New military class rules Rome

Hamilcar and the Barca family are building an independent empire in Spain

When confronted, Hamilcar told Rome that he was paying off war debts
from First Punic War

Romans are too busy fighting the Gauls and the Illyrians to both with
Hamilcar
 BIG MISTAKE!!
 228 B.C. Hamilcar drowns
crossing a river in Spain
 Hasdrubal the Fair (son-in-
law) takes over, establishes
New Carthage
 226 B.C. Rome and Carthage
sign Ebro treaty
 Ebro river is border between
the two
 Saguntum (Roman ally) lays
100 miles South of river…..
PHASE 1
 221 B.C. - Hasdrubal the
Fair dies
 Hannibal (Hamilcar’s
eldest) take over
 VERY POPULAR
 Grew up in the military
 219 B.C. - Hannibal sieges
Saguntum, they turn to
Rome for help
 Carthage declares war
 Beginnings of the Second Punic War
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf0-Yki5p40
• 218 B.C.
• Rome’s consuls:
• Cornelius Scipio
• Sempronius Longus
• Hannibal wants a DIRECT invasion of Italy!
• 90,000 infantry
• About 50,000 by the time he
reached the Alps
• 12,000 cavalry
• 67 war elephants
• Exits with about 25,000 men
• Scipio heads back to the Po valley to
defend themselves against the
invasion
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1BKxeKtieM
 18:15 – 29:00
 November 218 B.C.
 Mainly a cavalry engagement
 Victory for Hannibal
 Scipio is wounded in battle and
is saved by his son Scipio
Africanus (then only 18 years
old)
 IMPORTANCE:
 Gauls begin to support Hannibal
 Sempronius Longus travels back
to Italy to support Scipio
 December 218 B.C.
 Sempronius Longus wants to
fight Hannibal
 Why??
 Hannibal sends cavalry out
in the morning to attack the
Roman camp
 Why?
 Romans swim across the Trebia
River
 Romans are routed by Hannibal,
fear an invasion of Rome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQU
KxSb5MxQ
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT_rev5VAQc
 June 217 B.C.
 Marches through the
Ambro marshes
 This takes 4 days!
 Gaius Flaminius is
consul
 Baited into a narrow
pass
 One of the most
successful ambushes in
military history
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGlo6QowOIM
 217 B.C.
 Last official dictator of Rome
 “Fabian tactics”
 What are these? Why did they
frustrate the Romans?
 Romans call on Marcus Minucius
Rufus
 Hannibal spares Fabius’ lands
 Why?

217 B.C.

Valley of Campana

Hannibal is heading to Capua, hoping to gain them as allies

8 passes, 5 occupied by Rome

Rome blocked the other three passes

Oxen with torches

Hannibal escapes, Fabius is humiliated

Minucius becomes “co-dictator”…..

August 216 B.C.

Lucius Aemilius Paulus and Gaius
Terentius Varro are consuls
 Varro is VERY aggressive and wants
battle, Paulus is cautious of the
Numidian cavalry

Varro ditches the maniple system condenses his
forces

Hannibal puts his weakest men in the center and
baits the Romans into his trap….

Rome is outflanked and the Numidian cavalry
closes the only escape…..

IMPORTANCE:

Some Roman soldiers could lift
their arms to fight

Some even suffocated themselves
in the sand!!

Eisenhower referred to Cannae as
a “work of art”

Norman Schwarztkopf U.S.
commander in the Persian Gulf
War used Hannibal’s tactics
against the insugents

ROMAN CASULATIES:

Aemilius Paulus
29 military tribunes
80 men of senatorial rank
Former Master of Horse Marcus
Minucius Rufus


High point of the war for Hannibal
 He didn’t march on Rome!!
 Rise of Scipio Africanus


 39:45 – 59:33
 Trebia - Cannae
PHASE 2
 Old Roman elite is replaced by new elite
 How is the new elite different?
 Lower youngest eligible age, raised oldest eligible age for
military service
 Hannibal doesn’t attack Rome!!
 What does he decide to do instead?
 Hannibal told Hasdrubal to continue to fight in Spain
 How would this help the Carthaginian cause?
 211 B.C. Gnaeus and Publius Scipio both lose to Hasdrubal in
Spain and die
 Fortunately, the Romans are gaining ground in Sicily at this
time…
 214-212 B.C.
 Archimedes!!
 Rome laid a 2 year
siege of Syracuse
 Syracuse eventually
CLAW OF
ARCHIMEDES
surrenders,
Archimedes is killed.
 Rome is set loose
on the city and
their savagery was
shameful to Rome
BURNING MIRROR
 “The experience of Capua and Tarentum was repeated
ad-nauseum for the next few years. The Carthaginians
would take a city and move on. The Romans would
follow behind and turn it to the Roman fold. Hannibal
would then be forced to backtrack and fight for land he
had already taken or give up what he had gotten and
hope for better luck the next time around. The two
armies occasionally came into direct contact, sometimes
Hannibal would win, sometimes the Romans. But
victories no longer came in the form of annihilation of
armies, but rather strategic withdrawals and prudent
retreats. And in this way….5 years passed.”
 - Mike Duncan, The History of Rome
 236-183 B.C.
 Son of Publius Scipio
 Volunteered to take over the
legions in Spain
 VERY charismatic
 “out-think” instead of “out-fight”
 206 B.C. – Battle of Ilipia
 Scipio switches his flanks,
destroys the 50,000 strong
Carthaginian army
Creates a “Cult of
Personality” in
Rome!!
 Spring 207 B.C.
 Hasdrubal takes 30,000 men to Italy
 He was hoping to link up with Hannibal
 Hannibal did not have the men, money
or resources to continue to fight in Italy
 20,000 Carthaginians died or captured
 Hannibal is left alone in Italy…
 Scipio then wins successive battles in N. Africa
• Scipio is ecstatic by
this victory
• He convinces the
Senate to allow him
to invade Africa
• Why would he
want to do
this?
 October 202 B.C.
 Rome has gained the Numidian
cavalry
 Carthaginians: 50,000
 Romans: 35,000
 Carthage’s army was full of
raw, untrained recruits
 Scipio uses Hannibal’s own
methods from Cannae to defeat
Hannibal
 HUGE victory for Rome, ends
the Second Punic War
 1:13:39 – END
 Scipio’s victory – end of the Second Punic War