Punic Wars Essay

The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage lasting from 264 BC to 146 BC. At the time, it was one of the biggest wars to take place. Rome’s empire had been expanding for years. This did not sit well with Romans, resulting in them attacking Carthage in 264 BC (“First Punic War”). The first Punic War took place at the island at Sicily. Carthage had reign over all of this land except the city state, Syracuse. Rome had a powerful army, but no navy forces. In contrast, Carthage had a very strong navy. To Rome’s surprise, a Carthaginian ship washed up onto shore which made it extremely easy for the Roman’s to use it as a model for their own ships. Just having ships, however, did not make them battle ready; they needed a plan. The Romans added a bridge type structure to the front of their ships that would allow them to run onto the enemy ship and attack. Rome had turned a sea battle into a land battle. In Sicily, no one could seem to get the victory, so attacking Africa was Rome’s next move. The Romans gained control of Cape Ecnomus in 256 BC. Rome won the first Punic War in 241 BC, giving Rome all the Carthaginian land on Sicily (“First

Most of these soldiers were farmers who returned home to find that their farmland had been sold to wealthy Romans. With no source of income, the soldiers fled to the city of Rome, in search of a job. The only solution was to send them back into war. This time, to Greece to fight against Philip V of Macedonia. This battle took place at the two hills called Cynoscephalae. Rome used an attacking formation called a legion. This formation was made up of smaller units that could maneuver themselves around easily during battle. In contrast, Macedonia used the phalanx formation. It consisted of large groups of men, designed to work together as one single unit. Rome emerged victorious yet again and conquered Greece (“The Third Punic