Isabella Capuyan
Dr. Joshua Madden
Ancient History & Literature
6 March 2023
Week 23, Paper (The Punic Wars)
During the years 264 B.C. to 246 B.C., there were three wars between Carthage and Rome. These wars are called the Punic Wars. The result of the Punic Wars heavily affected the way the world is now.
The first Punic War started in 264 B.C. After Rome had conquered Italy, they were hoping to then conquer Sicily. Carthage had a very prominent merchandise system and was successful in being able to trade with people all over the world. To Carthage, Sicily was a factor in their trading and merchandise empire. When Rome threatened Sicily, Carthage became worried and fought Rome. After not much progress, they took their battle to sea.
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to 201 B.C. The second Punic War started with Hannibal taking charge of the Carthaginian Army. Hannibal hated Rome. At this time, the Carthage army was in Spain. Carthage did not have a navy at this time, as a result of the last Punic war. Carthage was very cautious and did not initiate battle at sea with the Romans. If the Carthaginians wanted to fight Rome in Italy, without arriving through the sea, they would have had to cross the Alps. Hannibal crossed the alps with his massive army which seemed to be impossible during this time. Hannibal and his army arrived in Italy and started winning many battles against Rome. A commander named Quintus Fabius Maximus was in charge of the Roman army and had a different strategy that had been working. His effective strategy involved smaller attacks, slowly wearing down the Hannibal army. The Romans got bored of this strategy and elected two new consuls who suggested they fight the Carthaginians head-on. This was the battle of Cannae. The overconfident Romans pushed too far and then were cornered by the Carthaginians and then killed. This was Rome’s biggest defeat resulting in the death of tens of thousands of men. After this massive defeat, many of Rome’s allies abandoned Rome out of fear. At this point, Rome had practically nothing. Rome’s strategy was to attack Carthage in Spain, while Hannibal was in Italy. Hannibal came back and they battled at Zama. The Roman army had beaten Carthage and Carthage surrendered. One of Rome’s terms for Carthage was that Carthage was not allowed to defend itself without Rome’s permission. Therefore many of Rome’s allies were open to attacking Carthage with no repercussions. Carthage was then attacked and defended itself without permission from Rome. This caused the third Punic