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How Did Carthage Replace The Phoenicians?

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Carthage became almost equal to Rome in military might and it was only because Carthage’s lack of desire to take over Rome were they ultimately destroyed in the end.

The civilization that Carthage belonged to was called the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians were not a war loving people. They expanded their territories with negotiations and gifts, unlike the Romans, who expanded their territories with soldiers and war. This strategy worked out well for the Phoenicians for many years (Holst, 2007).

They became a trading civilization that did business with far away lands. In order to facilitate this trade, they figured out how to build ships. Their sea-faring capabilities were far superior to the Romans. They gained massive wealth without the need …show more content…

The only land left to conquer was from other side. If Rome wanted to expand, they would have to take land from the Phoenicians, and if the Phoenicians wanted to expand, they would have to take land from the Romans (Holst, 2007).

Initially, whenever the Phoenicians came across a military threat, they would either concede, or give gifts to maintain the peace. But the ambitions of the Romans caused the Phoenicians to shift their stance. This situation forced the Phoenicians to take up arms and build a land based army (Holst, 2007).

The first major loss was the loss of Sicily to Rome in the first Punic War. In preparation for this attack, the Romans copied the designs of Phoenician ships and made their own. This was the beginning of the Roman’s naval ambition. This was a humiliating embarrassment that the Phoenicians did not forget. Hamilcar, a Phoenician leader who was involved in the the first Punic war with the Romans, made his son, Hannibal swear to never give in to the Romans (Perseus, …show more content…

When he grew up, he became one of the great military commanders of all time. By this time, Carthage had control of Spain and was able to recruit an army there. He started his revenge by first taking the Roman controlled city of Saguntum, which was technically located south of the agreed upon river that divided Roman and Carthaginian influence. This prompted the Romans to demand Hannibal be turned over to Rome or face war. The Phoenicians did not choose to negotiate this time and war was chosen. Rome declared war and sent a large army to go after Hannibal. Hannibal’s army was inferior to the Romans in numbers and skill, but he outsmarted the Roman army by going directly towards Rome instead of waiting for the Roman army to come to him. He is famous for commandeering an army through the mountains of the Alps with elephants trained to fight a war. His 20 year military campaign was successful, as each time he gained ground, he turned the locals against Rome. His mistake, however, was that he did not attempt to take Rome, but tried to make deals with the surrounding towns. This gave time for Roman to recruit a larger army (Encyclopœdia Britannica,

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