And even once you get to grips with some of the more unusual mechanics, certain … The Barcid Empire was strongly influenced by the Hellenic Empires of the Mediterranean and for example, contrary to Carthage, it minted many coins in its short time of existence.[4]. This eventually plunged relations between the two powers to a new low point. Hamilcar ultimately left Carthage for the Iberian peninsula where he captured rich silver mines and subdued many tribes who fortified his army with levies of native troops. More importantly, Hannibal never successfully received any significant reinforcements from Carthage. The Punic Wars Paul Waring June 6, 2016 Introduction In 264 BC,1 the first of a series of conflicts between two powers in the Mediterranean erupted, which would become known as the Punic Wars. While not many people saw the war between Rome and … The First Macedonian War (215–205) broke out when King Philip V pressed his ambitions in Illyria after he perceived a weakening of Roman power in the wake of Cannae. The main cause of the Punic Wars was the clash of interests between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The Romans had a great army. In 241 B.C.E., Carthage signed a peace treaty ceding to Rome total control of Sicily. Like many Sicilians, they would ultimately rise again in support of Carthage during the Second Punic War. the three wars waged by Rome against Carthage, 264–241, 218–201, and 149–146 b.c., resulting in the destruction of Carthage and the annexation of its territory by Rome. For several years a brutal campaign was fought to quell the insurgent natives. This bridge would latch onto enemy vessels, bring them to a standstill. A Companion to the Punic Wars provides a comprehensive new survey of the three wars fought by Rome and Carthage between 264 and 146 BC. involved an extended siege of Carthage, ending in the city's thorough destruction. With the destruction of this great city the Phoenician culture was scattered among the remaining small settlements that existed around the Mediterranean. At war's end, Rome's navies were powerful enough to prevent the amphibious invasion of Italy, control the important and rich sea trade routes, and invade other shores. By the end of the Punic Wars it was an impotent relic of a vanquished popular control. Fought between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century BC during the height of the Hellenistic Period, the Punic Wars saw the clash between the two superpowers of the western Mediterranean and the deciding of the fate for control over the vitally important trade routes. Second Punic War begins. In 219 B.C.E., Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, attacked Saguntum in Hispania, a city allied to Rome, beginning the Second Punic War. This war was going to be bad. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia: Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. They were probably the largest wars in the ancient world. In the Battle of the Metaurus River in 207 B.C.E., the Roman commander Gaius Claudius Nero had about 700 of his best soldiers distract Hasdrubal while he himself rounded the river to strike the rear flank of Hasdrubal's army. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Lazenby, author of The First Punic War, "To Rome, wars ended when the Republic dictated its terms to a defeated enemy; to Carthage, wars ended with a negotiated settlement." After Carthage's defeat, only Greece remained as a power in the Mediterranean in addition to Rome. The wealth and influence of Carthage was not minded by Rome at first. While Carthage's navy was the largest in the ancient world at the time, it did not maintain a large, permanent, standing army. These wars involved the Romans and Carthaginians. This period of Roman history was later romanticized as a heroic age when "all Romans were virtuous and everything worked" while the figure of Hannibal, the brilliant Carthaginian general, was demonized.[2]. ), bringing Hannibal to the fore. A true giant of military history, Hannibal forged his formidable reputation during the Punic Wars of the second century B.C. Battle of Cannae 216 BC. By the end of the third war, after more than a hundred years and the deaths of many thousands of soldiers from both sides, Rome had conquered Carthage's empire and razed the city, becoming the most powerful state of the Western Mediterranean. In 219 B.C.E. The name Punic comes from the word Phoenician (Phoinix in the Greek, Poenus from Punicus in Latin) as applied to the citizens of … This administrative and political structure was destined to become the foundation not only of most European systems of government but also of that of the United States and of other states outside of the European space, such as Australia and post-World War II Japan. New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article Further, when he and Hamilcar were supreme commanders of Carthage's field armies, the soldiers had supported Hamilcar when his and Hamilcar's personalities clashed. In the end it allowed him to defeat the Romans in the field, but not in the strategically crucial city of Rome itself, thus making him unable to win the war. The Second Punic War - This campaign lasts from 218BC-201BC it also uses a 4tpy script. The First Punic war lasted for 20 years. From that point on, the Romans effectively controlled the Mediterranean, referring to it as "Mare Nostrum" ("our sea"). The city of Carthage itself was established in 800 BC or so by Phoenician colonists from Tyre who were expanding throughout the Mediterranean along with the Greeks. The name Punic comes from the word Carthaginian in Latin. Lacking siege engines and sufficient manpower to take the city of Rome itself, he had planned to turn the Italian allies against Rome and starve the city out through a siege. During this war Rome and Syracuse both aided Carthage, although traders from Italy seem to have done business with the insurgents. in the eastern sea, Rome emerged as the dominant Mediterranean power and the most powerful city in the classical world. Founded by the Phoenicians in the middle of the ninth century B.C.E., it was a powerful city-state with a large and lucrative commercial empire. The Romans sent a garrison to secure Messina, and the outraged Carthaginians then lent aid to Syracuse. Carthage was a seafaring, commercial city, while Rome was slowly consolidating into a … The effect of the long war destabilized Carthage so much that Rome was able to seize Sardinia and Corsica a few years later when Carthage was plunged into the Mercenary War. The flash point for the wars was the island of Sicily. The end of the war saw Carthage's control reduced to only the city itself. This move had a double edged effect. By 220 B.C.E., the Romans had annexed the area as Gallia Cisalpina. According to the historian Pedro Barceló, it can be described as a private military-economic hegemony backed by the two independent powers, Carthage and Gades. The war began as a local conflict in Sicily between Hiero II of Syracuse, and the Mamertines of Messina. According to Polybius there had been several trade agreements between Ancient Rome and Carthage; even a mutual alliance against king Pyrrhus of Epirus. They are known as the Punic Wars because the Carthaginians are in origin Phoenician (punicus in Latin).The first war flares up in Sicily, an island disputed between Greek colonies at its eastern end and Carthaginian settlements in the west. The two powers eventually went to war. Subsequent to the Punic Wars, the army played an increasingly important part in the life and politics of the empire. The Punic Wars involved a number of battles between Rome and other cities, and these wars started in 264 B.C, and ended in 146 B.C. The Carthaginians were famed for their abilities as sailors, and unlike their armies, many Carthaginians from the lower classes served in their navy, which provided them with a stable income and career. These three wars took place between 264 and 146 B.C. According to J.F. Soon the Romans became aware of a burgeoning alliance between Carthage and the Celts of the Po river valley in northern Italy. Fought between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century BC during the height of the Hellenistic Period, the Punic Wars saw the clash between the two superpowers of the western Mediterranean and the deciding of the fate for control over the vitally important trade routes. Scipio Africanus Conquers Spain 206 BC. Confrontations took place between a commercial empire (Carthage) and an expanding one (Rome). The name "Punic Wars" comes from the Latin name for the Carthaginians which was Punici which was derived from the Latin word for the Phoenicians, Phoenicis who were the parent culture for Carthage. the First Punic War broke out when Rome, which was an extremely dominant power across Italy, interfered in an argument that was taking place on Sicily. The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts fought between Rome and Carthage between 264 and 146 BC. The Punic Wars were a clash of two growing societies and their aspirations for supremacy of Mediterranean. Carthage had begun colonizing Spain, and Rome responded by declaring war. Appian, The Punic Wars Appian of Alexandria (c.95-c.165): one of the most underestimated of all Greek historians, author of a Roman History in twenty-four books. This conflict was fought between the states of Carthage and Rome, two powerful states in this period. The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage between 264 and 146 BC, and were probably the largest wars yet of the ancient world. Hasdrubal, realizing that he was doomed, threw himself headlong into the Roman forces to be killed rather than captured. Through a minor proxy war involving Italian mercenaries on Sicily, eventually the Punic Wars were set off which resulted in the final collapse of the Carthaginian culture and the decimation of their capital city and attempted erasure from history. Instead, it relied on mercenaries, hired with its considerable wealth, to fight its wars. The Punic Wars by Adrian Goldsworthy, is a fantastic look at the Punic Wars - three wars between the City States turned Empires from the mid 200 BC to the mid 100's BC. in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. Arruntius, who wrote the history of the Punic Wars, painfully laboured to imitate Sallust. Hannibal attacked the town of Saguntum, which stood under the special protection of Rome. Meanwhile in Hispania, Scipio captured the local Carthaginian cities and made alliances with local rulers. The Punic Wars were a series of wars between the Carthaginians and the Roman Republic that would catalyze the growth of the Roman territorial holdings as well as shape the ancient world for centuries to come. The Third Punic War was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between Carthage and Rome, and lasted from 149 to 146 BC. Rome's attention was mostly concentrated on the Illyrian Wars. The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage, and the Struggle for the Mediterranean (Hardcover) Punic Wars were three major military confrontations between the two great empires of the Ancient World, Rome and Carthage. Of the great city-states in the western Mediterranean, only Rome rivaled it in power, wealth, and population. A dispute between the cities of Syracuse and … After Carthage emerged victorious from the Mercenary War there were two opposing factions, the reformist party was led by Hamilcar Barca while the other more conservative faction was represented by Hanno the Great and the old Carthaginian aristocracy. Hannibal defeated the Roman legions in several major engagements, including the Battle of the Trebia, the Battle of Lake Trasimene and most famously at the Battle of Cannae, but his long-term strategy failed. Hannibal did not cross the Ebro River (Saguntum was near modern Valencia—well south of the river) in arms, and the Saguntines provoked his attack by attacking their neighboring tribes who were Carthaginian protectorates and by massacring pro-Punic factions in their city. The wars between Rome and Carthage are called the Punic Wars. Save for the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Tunis in Africa, and two naval engagements, the First Punic War was nearly an unbroken string of Roman victories. When the Carthaginians refused this last demand, Rome declared the Third Punic War. The loss of this war spelled the end for the Punic and Carthaginian culture as they were unable to acquire enough resources in the Second Punic War to really finish the fight. Punic Wars is made less accessible by its flagrant lack of polish. They are known as the Punic Wars because the Latin term for Carthaginian was Punici (older Poenici, from their Phoenician ancestry). After a vicious defeat at the Battle of Agrigentum in 261 B.C.E., the Carthaginian leadership resolved to avoid further direct land-based engagements with the powerful Roman legions, and concentrated on the sea, where they believed they had an advantage. The Roman army under Quintus Fabius Maximus intentionally deprived Hannibal of open battle, while making it difficult for Hannibal to forage for supplies. This innovative Roman tactic reduced the Carthaginian navy's advantage in ship-to-ship engagements, and allowed Rome's superior infantry to be brought to bear in naval conflicts. Having previously relied on mercenaries to fight their wars for them, the Carthaginians were now forced into a more active role in the defense of their city. The First Punic War - This campaign lasts from 264BC-241BC and has a map foccusing on Italian Pinensula and it uses a 4tpy scipt. Within two months the Romans had a fleet of over 100 warships. The lower class, or plebians, usually served as the foot-soldiers in Roman legions, while the upper class, or patricians, served as the commanding officers. The Punic Wars were some of the biggest wars of the Hellenistic period. They saw wide scales battles on land, huge clashes of fleets, sieges and treacheries. Despite his many pleas, Carthage only ever sent reinforcements successfully to Hispania. With the end of the Macedonian wars—which ran concurrently with the Punic wars — and the defeat of the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great in the Roman-Syrian War (Treaty of Apamea, 188 B.C.E.) Then shipboard Roman legionaries were able to board and capture Carthaginian ships through hand-to-hand fighting, a skill that the Romans were more comfortable with. The structure that developed to rule the emerging empire gave it stability, so that Romans could begin to regard their imperial project as one of bringing law, order and security to the known world. The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. The Punic Wars not only quickened but they deepened and purified Roman patriotism. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily, part of which lay under Carthaginian control. At the final Battle of Zama in 202 B.C.E. Eventually, Rome annexed Corsica and Sardinia by revisiting the terms of the treaty that ended the first Punic War. The First Punic War (264 B.C.E.-241 B.C.E.) was fought partly on land in Sicily and Africa, but was also a naval war to a large extent. The Third Punic War saw the complete and utter decimation of the city of Carthage, much like that of Tyre before. His account of the Punic Wars is fortunately among these better preserved parts. Thus, Hannibal took the Romans by surprise a scant two years later (218 B.C.E.) Hanno had lost many elephants and soldiers when he became complacent after a victory in the Mercenary War. Rome responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. At the end of the First Punic War, Rome won a new province, Sicily, and began to look further. Although Hannibal surprised the Romans and thoroughly beat them on the battlefields of Italy, he lost his only siege engines and most of his elephants to the cold temperatures and icy mountain paths. Under the terms of the treaty with Rome, such disputes were arbitrated by the Roman Senate. Unlike Carthage, Rome had large standing armies made up almost entirely of Roman citizens. According to Roman tradition, Hannibal had been made to swear by his father never to be a friend of Rome, and he certainly did not take a conciliatory attitude when the Romans berated him for crossing the river Iberus (Ebro) which Carthage was bound by treaty not to cross. In 149 B.C.E., in an attempt to draw Carthage into open conflict, Rome made a series of escalating demands, one being the surrender of three hundred children of the nobility as hostages, and finally ending with the near-impossible demand that the city be demolished and rebuilt away from the coast, deeper into Africa. It was also a major naval power and it profited from trade in the Mediterranean sea. He therefore enlisted superior cavalry into his armies, with devastating effect on the Roman legions. Rome also exhibited an impressive ability to draft army after army of conscripts after each crushing defeat by Hannibal, allowing them to recover from the defeats at Cannae and elsewhere and keep Hannibal cut off from aid. The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage between 264 and 146 B.C.E. At first the Rome and Carthage were at peace through a series of trading and treaties. It immediately lost the war with Numidia, placing itself in debt yet again, this time to Numidia. The struggle was costly to both powers, but after more than 20 years of war, Rome emerged victorious, at last conquering the island of Sicily and forcing the defeated Carthage to pay a massive tribute. Rome had no legal protection pact with any tribe south of the Ebro River. The three Punic wars took place in Italy, Spain, Greece, Sicily, Sardinia and Africa. Victory over Carthage in these wars gave Rome a preeminent status it would retain until the division of the Roman Empire into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire by Diocletian in 286 C.E. In his survey of the Punic Wars between the rival city states of Rome, and Carthage he bestows upon the reader notable erudition of the subject paired with the employment of his vast practical experience as a soldier in the British Army. This forced Carthage to begin paying a series of debts to Rome that would drain the coffers of Carthage while also allowing Rome to acquire more territories and strength. [1] They are known as the Punic Wars because the Latin term for Carthaginian was Punici (older Poenici, from their Phoenician ancestry). by merely reviving and adapting the original Gaulo-Carthaginian invasion plan of his brother-in-law Hasdrubal. The way in which the Punic wars ended represents a major turning point in human history. In Hispania, a young Roman commander, Publius Cornelius Scipio (later to be given the agnomen Africanus because of his feats during this war), eventually defeated the Carthaginian forces under Hasdrubal. Because Numidia was a favored client state of Rome, Roman rulings were slanted heavily to favor the Numidians. There were three military theaters in this war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly; Hispania, where Hasdrubal, a younger brother of Hannibal, defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success until eventually retreating into Italy; and Sicily where the Romans held military supremacy. The loss of the First Punic War led directly to the general Hannibal Barca invading Roman territory during the Second Punic War. After securing aid from Rome, the exiled mercenaries then regained authority on the island. The latter were amassing forces to invade Italy, presumably with Carthaginian backing. However, most of the officers who commanded the armies were Carthaginian citizens. On the other hand, at the start of the First Punic War the Romans had no standing navy, and were thus at a disadvantage until they began to construct their own large fleets during the war. However, with the exception of a few of the southern city-states, the majority of the Roman allies remained loyal and continued to fight alongside Rome, despite Hannibal's near-invincible army devastating the Italian countryside. Hannibal's army, made up of about 46,000 men, and included 37 battle elephants . Hasdrubal again brought a Carthaginian army across the Alps into Italy, as his brother did before him, making his way into the Po valley. Not only were they contending with Hannibal in Italy, and his brother Hasdrubal in Hispania, but Rome had embroiled itself in yet another foreign war, the first of its Macedonian wars against Carthage's ally Philip V, at the same time. The mines also served as a tool for political influence, creating a faction in Carthage's magistrate that was called the Barcino. Nevertheless, Rome was also incapable of bringing the conflict in the Italian theater to a decisive close. And they have left to the world the legacy of one of the legendary war heroes. Between the Punic Wars. Scipio Africanus Goes to North Africa 204 BC. However, the corvus was also cumbersome and dangerous, and was eventually phased out as the Roman navy became more experienced and tactically proficient. In addition to transforming Rome's role in the classical age, it also meant that the civilization of the ancient Mediterranean passed to the modern world via Europe instead of Africa. The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage between 264 and 146 B.C.E. Hasdrubal's head was thrown by the triumphant Romans into Hannibal's camp, whereupon Hannibal and his army retreated into the mountains for a short time. With Hispania essentially pacified, Scipio then turned to invade Carthage itself. However, the Numidian king of the relevant area was now a son-in-law of Hamilcar and had supported Carthage during a crucial moment in the Mercenary War. During the uprising in the Punic mainland, the mercenary troops in Corsica and Sardinia toppled Punic rule and briefly established their own, but were expelled by a native uprising. by directly invading Italy. In 264 B.C. They made thousands of makeshift weapons in a short amount of time, even using women's hair for catapult strings, and were able to hold off an initial Roman attack. While Hamilcar was able to obtain the resources for his aim, the Numidians in the Atlas Mountains were not conquered, like Hanno suggested, but became vassals of Carthage. A first issue for dispute was that the initial treaty, agreed upon by Hamilcar Barca and the Roman commander in Sicily, had a clause stipulating that the Roman popular assembly had to accept the treaty in order for it to be valid. is most remembered for the Carthaginian Hannibal's crossing of the Alps. With the two powers now embroiled in a local conflict, tensions quickly escalated into a full-scale war between Carthage and Rome for the control of Sicily. Some of them were caught and punished by Carthage, aggravating the political climate which had started to improve in recognition of the old alliance and treaties. Posted on August 14, 2020 by MSW. Punic Wars, also called Carthaginian Wars, (264–146 bce), a series of three wars between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginian (Punic) empire, resulting in the destruction of Carthage, the enslavement of its population, and Roman hegemony over the western Mediterranean… The Barcid Empire consisted of the Punic territories in Iberia. A second offensive under the command of Scipio Aemilianus resulted in a three-year siege before he breached the walls, sacked the city, and systematically burned Carthage to the ground in 146 B.C.E. Before long, its government would be plunged into a bloody and shameful debacle when Carthage’s war-weary and … Hannibal returned to Africa to face Scipio. Through Hannibal's inability to take strategically important Italian cities, the general loyalty Italian allies showed to Rome, and Rome's own inability to counter Hannibal as a master general, Hannibal's campaign continued in Italy inconclusively for sixteen years. It is true that in the interval between these two Punic Wars the misery of Rome was somewhat less. Initially, the experienced Carthaginian navy prevailed against the fledgling Roman Navy in the Battle of the Lipari Islands in 260 B.C.E. He and his army invaded Italy from the north and resoundingly defeated the Roman army in several battles, but never achieved the ultimate goal of causing a political break between Rome and its allies. Carthage had evacuated Sicily, after some 500 years on parts of it, and was now forced to pay Rome a considerable war indemnity. He led a large army of mercenaries composed mainly of Hispanics, three dozen African through the Alps. The popular story that the ground was seeded with salt was invented in the nineteenth century as there is no evidence of it in any ancient sources. However, Carthage refused to deliver to Rome the Roman deserters serving among their troops. This new-found Punic militarism alarmed many Romans, including Cato the Elder who after a voyage to Carthage, ended all his speeches, no matter what the topic, by saying: "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam"—"Furthermore, I think that Carthage must be destroyed.". The First Punic War was fought from 264-241 BCE. Alarmed by this, the armies surrounding Capua go to Rome, where they are slaughtered by Hannibal. After some fifty years of this condition, Carthage had managed to discharge its war indemnity to Rome, and considered itself no longer bound by the restrictions of the treaty, although Rome believed otherwise. The Third Punic War (149 B.C.E.-146 B.C.E.) Rome and Carthage were vying for control of the Mediterranean Sea. This resulted in delay of payments owed to the mercenary troops that had served Carthage in Sicily, leading to a climate of mutual mistrust and, finally, a revolt supported by the Lybian natives, known as the Mercenary War (240-238 B.C.E.). Scipio defeated the remaining Carthaginian forces in Spain, which placed Spain under Roman control. The Third Punic War - This campaign lasts from 149BC-146BC and has a map foccusing on Sicily and Africa, it also uses a 4tpy script . The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the forces of ancient Carthage and Rome between 264 BCE and 146 BCE. The Punic Wars were not just a battle of two significant powers, but two very different civilizations. (This made the Romans empire builders.) These shared the profits with the Barcid family and were responsible according to the Mediterranean diplomatic customs. There were three Punic Wars that spanned from 264 to 146 B.C. With no military, Carthage suffered raids from its neighbor Numidia. The wealth and influence of Carthage was not minded by Rome at first. A cursory manual, a poor tutorial, terrible animations, weak voiceovers and an unsightly interface immediately count against it. Hannibal destroys the Roman army at Cannae in the most severe defeat ever suffered by Rome. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Punic_Wars&oldid=1020834, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. The war was fought entirely within Carthaginian territory, in … The output of the Iberian silver mines allowed for the financing of a standing army and the payment of the war indemnity to Rome. This series of events was set into motion when Rome annexed some of the Phoenician colonies on Sicily and the mercenaries of Carthage responded. The two polities was the growing Roman republic and the African commercial city of Carthage. It seems that, having apparently dealt with the threat of a Gaulo-Carthaginian invasion of Italy (and perhaps with the original Carthaginian commander killed), the Romans lulled themselves into a false sense of security. Hasdrubal was assassinated around the same time (221 B.C.E. In 264 B.C.E. the Romans at last defeated Hannibal in open battle. At the beginning of the war, Hannibal had a lot of success defeating the armies of Rome, including in a battle where Rome lost 40,000 soldiers. The outcome of these wars determined the nation to dominate the Mediterranean for years to come, and the largest of the wars was the Second Punic War. The Punic Wars: Results of the Second Punic War. The Mid-Republic and the Punic Wars Before the Punic Wars, in the third century BC, Rome had control of all the Italian peninsula. In 241 BC the first epic struggle between Rome and Carthage came to an end. The assembly not only rejected the treaty but increased the indemnity Carthage had to pay. T They are known as the Punic Wars because the Latin term for Carthaginian was Punici (older Poenici, from their Phoenician ancestry). This lack of reinforcements prevented Hannibal from decisively ending the conflict by conquering Rome through force of arms. Arguably, the Punic Wars transformed Rome from a regional to an international power. Carthage sued for peace, and Rome agreed, but only after imposing harsh terms, stripping Carthage of its foreign colonies, forcing it to pay a huge indemnity, and forbidding it to own either an impressive army or a significant navy again. Interval between the First and Second Punic Wars, Hasdrubal's campaign to reinforce Hannibal, Art, Music, Literature, Sports and leisure. Gades played a minor role in this field, but Hannibal visited the local temple to conduct ceremonies before launching his campaign against Rome. Around this time, Hasdrubal became Carthaginian commander in Iberia (229 B.C.E.). After Hamilcar's [sic—Hasdrubal's] assassination his young sons took over, with Hannibal becoming the strategus of Iberia, although this decision was not undisputed in Carthage. the Roman Republic had gained control of the Italian peninsula south of the Po river. There was however another major power in the Mediterranean: Carthage. The first Punic War started in 264 BC. However, as time went on and both expanded in territory and influence the two started to come into conflict. At the time, they were some of the largest wars that had ever taken place. Nonetheless, they asked Carthage to hand Hannibal over, and when the Carthaginian oligarchy refused, Rome declared war on Carthage. The Romans were themselves convinced that divine intervention lay behind their defeat of Carthage, and that it was their destiny to rule the world. As Carthage was under siege and engaged in a difficult civil war, they begrudgingly accepted the loss of these islands and the subsequent Roman conditions for ongoing peace, which also increased the war indemnity levied against Carthage after the first Punic War. The 2nd Punic War began with the Carthaginian General Hannibal lauching a surprise attack on Roman from the north, by taking his army north through Spain. On the other hand he was responsible for the greatest territorial expansion of Carthage's hinterland during his rule as strategus and wanted to continue such expansion. The term "Punic" comes from the Latin word Punicus (or Poenicus).This was the word the Romans used for the Carthaginians, due to their Phoenician ancestry.. The First Punic War: 264-241 BC: The three wars between Rome and Carthage span more than a century (264-146 BC). when Carthage was captured and destroyed. Eventually, the war was taken to Africa, where Carthage was defeated at the Battle of Zama by Scipio Africanus. Carthage seems to have had a liquidity problem and an attempt to gain financial help from Egypt, a mutual ally of Rome and Carthage, failed. After assaulting Saguntum, Hannibal surprised the Romans in 218 B.C.E. The Start of the Second Punic War 218 BC. When Rome and Carthage made peace in 241 B.C.E., Rome secured the release of all 8,000 prisoners of war without ransom and, furthermore, received a considerable amount of silver as a war indemnity. eval(ez_write_tag([[336,280],'newworldencyclopedia_org-medrectangle-4','ezslot_2',162,'0','0'])); In 264 B.C.E., Carthage was a large port city located on the coast of modern Tunisia. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus (or Poenicus), meaning "Carthaginian", with reference to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry. With Carthage now directly threatened, in 203 B.C.E. eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'newworldencyclopedia_org-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_6',169,'0','0'])); While fighting Hannibal in Italy, Hispania and Sicily, Rome also simultaneously fought in Greece against Macedon in the First Macedonian War. The resurgence of the struggle can be explained by growing anti-Roman agitations in Hispania and Greece, and the visible improvement of Carthaginian wealth and martial power in the fifty years since the Second War. Abandoning Hispania, Hasdrubal moved to bring his mercenary army into Italy to reinforce Hannibal. At the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire, while Rome was the rapidly ascending power in Italy. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'newworldencyclopedia_org-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_3',167,'0','0']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'newworldencyclopedia_org-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_4',167,'0','1']));eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'newworldencyclopedia_org-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_5',167,'0','2'])); Hannibal was a master strategist who knew that the Roman cavalry was, as a rule, weak and vulnerable. the mercenary troops of Carthage revolted (see Mercenary War) and Rome took the opportunity to take the islands of Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage as well. The specter of another huge Carthaginian army in Italy was terrifying, and the Romans knew they needed to cut off Hasdrubal's reinforcements at all costs. The … The Iberian conquest was begun by Hamilcar Barca and his other son-in-law, Hasdrubal the Fair, who ruled the relatively independent of Carthage and signed the Ebro-treaty with Rome. There is no known Carthaginian name for this war as all their books were given to the Numidians save a treatise on agriculture and ultimately lost to history. Campaigns in Sicily and Spain Concurrently with the great struggle in Italy the Second Punic War was fought out on several other fields. Because they knew that they could not outmaneuver the Carthaginians in the traditional tactics of ramming and sinking enemy ships, the Romans added an "assault bridge" to Roman ships, known as a corvus. The Mamertines had the bad judgment to enlist the aid of the Carthaginian navy, and then betray the Carthaginians by entreating the Roman Senate for aid against Carthage. At the time Sicily was controlled by Carthage. Victory over Carthage added considerable territory to the Roman Empire, which in turn resulted in the expansion of both the imperial civil service in order to govern new provinces and of the army to police them. Carthage spent the years following the First Punic War improving its finances and expanding its colonial empire in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, modern Spain and Portugal), under the Barcid family. When Rome interfered in a dispute on the Carthaginian-controlled island of Sicily, war broke out between the two powers. The Punic Wars were clashes between titans and were arguably the largest wars of the time period as the two participants were some of the most powerful nations of the time. They lost in what became known as the First Punic War. Carthage mustered an army to repel Numidian forces. 1 The End of the Second Punic War 2 Aftermath of the Second Punic War 2.1 Hannibal in Iberia 2.2 Hasdrubal in Italy 2.3 Hanno and Mago in Sicily 2.4 Carthaginian Revolution 3 The Egyptian War Hannibal, after receiving siege weapons from Carthage, lays siege to Rome. In 238 B.C.E. Rome's legal system continues to form the basis of law in the modern world. The Punic Wars were fought between 264 BCE and 146 BCE. The Second Punic War (218 B.C.E.–201 B.C.E.) He maintained this post for some eight years until 221 B.C.E. Hamilcar had led the initial Carthaginian peace negotiations and was blamed for the clause that allowed the Roman popular assembly to increase the war indemnity and annex Corsica and Sardinia, but his superlative generalship was instrumental in enabling Carthage to ultimately quell the mercenary uprising, ironically fought against many of the same mercenary troops he had trained. 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