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Punic Wars Research Paper

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The Punic Wars The Punic Wars were three conflicts fought between the Romans and Carthaginians between 264 BC and 146 BC. While Carthage at the time was wealthier, Rome won all three of the wars because of their far superior military strength and strategy. At the end of the Punic Wars, Rome’s victories helped Rome to become a great superpower in the Mediterranean, and eventually helped them to control the Mediterranean world. The First Punic War occurred when Rome sent an army to Sicily. Carthage defended this island because they believed Sicily was rightfully theirs, and the Romans were threatening to overtake it. Carthage’s one advantage on Rome was their great navy. In order for Rome to be on equal footing with the Carthaginian navy, …show more content…

Hannibal, one of the greatest generals of Carthage, decided the Romans had done enough and acted against them. Hannibal advanced his army into Rome. He crossed into Spain, and then he passed over the Alps. His army included forty six thousand men, thousands of horses, and thirty-seven battle elephants. Hannibal’s army did not fare well traversing the Alps, however. The harsh cold and the tribes native to the area killed many men, horses, and most of the elephants on the journey. The remainder of his army posed a serious threat to Rome. Rome, taking notice of the serious threat of the Hannibal led army, met them head on. Hannibal's forces overcame the Roman forces and destroyed them. Rome lost approximately forty thousand men to the weakened Carthaginian army. Rome was forced to cede land in Italy, and retreated back to recover. After recovering, the Romans began to reclaim some of their land that was ceded, and by 206 B.C Rome had forced Hannibal’s forces out of Italy. To get the Carthaginian forces out of there, Rome sent their army to invade Carthage. This forced Carthage’s hand, and made them pull their army from Italy to defend their own country. The forces of both Rome and Carthage met in the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. The Roman army was led by Scipio Africanus, and the Carthaginian army was led still by Hannibal. The Roman army destroyed their opponent and ended the war in 201 B.C. This

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Rome after the Punic Wars Rome after the Punic wars was quite different that Rome before the engagements with Carthage. Polybius once said, “There are only two sources from which any benefit can be derived; our own misfortunes and those that have happened to other men.” Nowhere is this more true that when speaking of Rome after Carthage. Before The Punic Wars Rome was relatively small when compared to the nearby rival of Carthage.

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The Roman soldiers however were successfully able to defend their territory, although new trouble was starting with Germans. Alexander Severus headed North to join his soldiers defending Rome against the Germans. He had multiple ships built to carry his army to fight, but he knew by now that he was not a very good general and hoped the Germans would be to scared to fight. The Germans did agree not to fight, as long as they were paid large sums of money. This angered and embarrassed the Romans.

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This was unacceptable for a great city like Rome, determined to become the greatest power above others. Anyway, initially, the "Urbe" found several difficulties as the Carthaginian navy was more effective, stronger, and powerful. Carthage fought with the "Quinqueremes", special ships with five rows of oars (instead of three as the "Triremes", the ship mostly used until that moment). As stated before, the conquest of Sicilian' coasts signed the beginning of the Roman counterattack leading to the beginning of the First Punic War. Unfortunately, Rome was not able to reclaim Sicily.

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In 264 BC the first Punic War marked the first act Roman involvement outside of Italy. Many of the battles were fought on sea which proved difficult for Rome since their knowledge of naval combat was gossamer. After twenty-three years of fighting the first war ended. The Romans had used their endless amount of supplies to tire the

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Carthage was the first foreign opponent to come in touch with Rome, they fought series of war against Rome. Carthage rose to become a major force to be reckoned with, during the Punic Wars, which made Rome nervous since there existed the unknown possibility of Rome being knocked off its throne of power. Carthage was known for its strong naval army that no other army dared to go to battle against without having a serious battle plan to overtake them. Most of the momentum to power is much to the credit of Alexander the Great during his conquests after 332 BCE. After the fall of the Phoenician city of Tyre most citizens fled and were spared their lives by Alexander; being the efficient traders they were, they were able to quickly re-establish the wealth they had, which greatly helped them build their defenses and forces to rival that of Rome’s.

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The Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome ended with the Battle of Zama. The Carthaginian army, led by Hannibal, was defeated during this fateful battle (Morey, 1901b). As a result, Rome's Scipio Africanus imposed the following peace terms on Carthage: Carthage was to release all of Spain and all islands between Africa and Italy to Rome. Masinissa would be recognized as king of Numidia and an ally to Rome. For the next fifty years, Carthage would pay 200 talents to Rome Carthage would be forbidden from engaging in wars without Rome's explicit permission (Morey, 1901b).

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The main goal for both Rome and Carthage was to destroy one another in order to maintain control in the Mediterranean. The first Punic War took place in Sicily and it happened in 264 BCE. The first Punic War lasted for a total of twenty-three years as well. The leader of Carthage, Hamilcar Barca were outnumbered by Rome’s forces, thus giving the victory of the first Punic War to Rome.

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Although this defeat created a huge setback for Carthage, she built up a new trading empire centered on Spain and however remained a powerful state. The Romans were not satisfied with conquering Sicily as they were prepared to embark on another battle to claim total victory. This led to the next war. THE STRENGTH OF CARTHAGEThe next war (Second Punic War) took

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Conclusion The three Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome lasted over a century, beginning in 264 BC and ending with the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC. Rome was the dominant power throughout the Italian peninsula, while Carthage was the leading maritime power in the world. By defeating Carthage in the Punic Wars, Rome turned Africa into a province of its

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561 Words | 3 Pages

Through the trading of valuable products and resources, it created relationships and formed commercial treaties with other prominent countries (Morey, n.d.). This is how Carthage became nearly an equal power to Rome, although their strengths were different. Prior to the commencement of the first Punic War in 264 BCE, both Rome and Carthage had proven themselves as prominent world powers. While Rome controlled Italy, Carthage had rule over the northern coast of Africa as well as a portion of Spain and Sicily. Both nations were strong and had ample supply of resources.

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Had the Roman army effectively employed intelligence and reconnaissance assets, it would have won the Battle of Lake Trasimene, and ended the Second Punic War. The Battle of Lake Trasimene took place in late June of 217 BC along the north side of what is today known as Lago Trasimeno in the Province of Perugia, Italy. This battle consisted of two major armies, the Roman army led by the Roman consul Gaius-Flaminius, and the Punic Carthaginian army and its allies led by Hannibal Barca (Grundy,

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Carthaginian and Roman naval power Firstly, how do I feel toward venerable Rome and mysterious Carthage? To me, Rome was the cradle of western civilization and a treasure house of archaeological relics. Whereas it had never crossed my mind that those former splendours were just one side of the coin, in fact, by 265 BC, Rome already had enormously strong naval force capable of doing significant damage in ancient wartime. In contrast, its arch-rival, Carthage, it was not only a formidable opponent that can stand comparison quite similarly with Roman fleets, but also a constant threat to Roman's hegemony. Predictably, in order to become a dominant power in the region, two cities would inevitably end up competing with each other in their push for established world supremacy, which Punic wars seemed certain,

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From the readings we have seen that, as the end of the second Punic War drew to a close, Rome had seriously re-asserted itself as a Mediterranean power. It had also built up a lot of momentum that it would soon leverage to great effect for its future conquests. Rome was now in control of, or allied with, every population along the western Mediterranean that was not on mainland African soil. Their reach in the west now extended all the way through Spain. To help them get to this point they had battled Carthage on Carthage’s home continent with the help of King Masinissa, whose monarchy was not yet fully recognized by all (Morey, 1901).

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182 Words | 1 Pages

After the war, Rome leveled certain rules of peace they were obligated to follow without question. Namely, Carthage needed to relinquish land it seized in victory back to Rome without hesitation. Carthage was required to pay for the following fifty years, once a year, a tribute of 200 talents (Morey, n.d.). Furthermore, Carthage agreed not to have war unless Rome consented (Morey, n.d.). In addition, to losing their right to declare war they were also forced to relinquish

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996 Words | 4 Pages

The first conflict, known as the First Punic War was over the control of the island of Sicily. The island itself was divided among three nations: Carthage, Syracruse, and the Campanian mercenaries known as the Mamertines (Sons of Mars). Eventually, these extremists would call upon the aid of Rome after the king of Syracruse attacked them (1901). Fearing Carthaginian possession of a greater part of Sicily, Rome decided to help. In their delay, the Mamertines had allowed a Carthaginian garrison into their city (1901).

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