Download Punic Wars

Question: What Does Punic Mean?
Answer: Basically, Punic refers to the Punic people, i.e., the Phoenicians. It is an ethnic
label. The English term 'Punic' comes from the Latin Poenus.
First Punic War
264 - 241 B.C.:
By the time of the first
Punic War, Rome had
expanded through Italy and
was eager to control Magna
Graecia. Carthage's
involvement in the Greek
area of southern Italy
provided an opportunity
and launched the first of 3
wars between rival
Mediterranean powers.
Second Punic War
218 - 201 B.C.:
Although Rome eventually
won the second Punic War,
there were some tense
moments as Carthage's
skilled military leader,
Hannibal, conquered
Roman territory. As a side
effect, Hannibal taught the
Romans military tactics that
they later used against him.
Third Punic War
149 - 146 B.C.:
By the time of the Third
Punic War, Rome was more
powerful than Carthage,
but Carthage still
represented an annoying
threat, so Rome made sure
Carthage wouldn't rise
again. It is said that Rome
salted the earth just to
make sure.
Punic Wars Overview
The Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage spanned the years from 264 - 146 B.C.
With both sides well-matched, the first two wars dragged on and on; eventual
victory going not to the winner of a decisive battle, but to the side with the greatest
stamina. The Third Punic War was something else entirely.
Background to the Punic Wars
In 509 B.C. Carthage and Rome signed a friendship treaty. In 306, by which time the
Romans had conquered almost the entire Italian peninsula, the two powers
reciprocally recognized a Roman sphere of influence over Italy and a Carthaginian
one over Sicily. But Italy was determined to secure dominance over all of Magna
Graecia (the areas settled by Greeks in and around Italy), even if it meant interfering
with the dominance of Carthage in Sicily.
Events Triggering the First Punic War
Turmoil in Messana, Sicily, provided the opportunity the Romans were looking for.
Mamertine mercenaries controlled Messana, so when Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse,
attacked the Mamertines, the Mamertines asked the Phoenicians for help. They
obliged and sent in a Carthaginian garrison. Then, having second thoughts about the
Carthaginian military presence, the Mamertines turned to the Romans for help. The
Romans sent in an expeditionary force, small, but sufficient to send the Phoenician
garrison back to Carthage.
Carthage and Rome Both Send Troops
Carthage responded by sending in a larger force, to which the Romans responded
with a full consular army. In 262 B.C. Rome won many small victories, giving it
control over almost the entire island. But the Romans needed control of the sea for
final victory and Carthage was a naval power.
Conclusion to the First Punic War
With both sides balanced, the war between Rome and Carthage continued for 20
more years until the war-weary Phoenicians just gave up in 241.
According to J.F. 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." At the end of the First Punic War, Rome won a new
province, Sicily, and began to look further. (This made the Romans empire builders.)
Carthage, on the other hand, had to compensate Rome for its heavy losses.
Although the tribute was steep, it didn't keep Carthage from continuing as a worldclass trading power.
Second Punic War Timeline
At the end of the first Punic War, in 241 B.C., Carthage agreed to
pay a steep tribute to Rome, but it wasn't enough to devastate
the nation of traders and merchants: Rome and Carthage would
soon fight again.
In the interim between Punic Wars I and II, the Phoenician hero
and military leader Hamilcar Barca conquered much of Spain,
while Rome took Corsica. Hamilcar longed to get revenge against
the Romans for the defeat in Punic War I, but realizing that wasn't
to be, he taught hatred of Rome to his son, Hannibal.
Hannibal
Scipio Publius
Cornelius Africanus
Major
The Second Punic War broke out in 218 when Hannibal took control of the Greek
city and Roman ally, Saguntum (in Spain). Rome thought it would be easy to defeat
Hannibal, but Hannibal was full of surprises, including his manner of entering the
Italic peninsula from Spain. Leaving 20,000 troops with his brother Hasdrubal,
Hannibal went further north on the Rhone River than the Romans expected and
crossed the river with his elephants on flotation devices. He didn't have as much
manpower as the Romans, but he counted on the support and alliance of Italian
tribes unhappy with Rome.
Hannibal reached the Po Valley with less than half his men. He had also encountered
unexpected resistance from local tribes, although he did manage to recruit Gauls.
This meant he had 30,000 troops by the time he met the Romans in battle.
Hannibal's Greatest Victory: The Battle of Cannae (216 B.C.)
Hannibal won battles in Trebia and at Lake Trasimene, and then continued through
the Apennine Mountains that run down through much of Italy like a spine. With
troops from Gaul and Spain on his side, Hannibal won another battle, at Cannae,
against Lucius Aemilius. At the Battle of Cannae, the Romans lost thousands of
troops, including their leader. The historian Polybius describes both sides as gallant.
He writes about the substantial losses:
"Of the infantry ten thousand were taken prisoners in fair fight, but were not
actually engaged in the battle: of those who were actually engaged only about three
thousand perhaps escaped to the towns of the surrounding district; all the rest died
nobly, to the number of seventy thousand, the Carthaginians being on this occasion,
as on previous ones, mainly indebted for their victory to their superiority in cavalry: a
lesson to posterity that in actual war it is better to have half the number of infantry,
and the superiority in cavalry, than to engage your enemy with an equality in both.
On the side of Hannibal there fell four thousand Celts, fifteen hundred Iberians and
Libyans, and about two hundred horse."
Besides trashing the countryside (which both sides did in an effort to starve the
enemy), Hannibal terrorized the towns of southern Italy in an effort to gain allies.
The next general to confront Hannibal was more successful; that is, there was no
decisive victory. However, the senate in Carthage refused to send in enough troops
to enable Hannibal to win. So Hannibal turned to his brother Hasdrubal for help.
Unfortunately for Hannibal, Hasdrubal was killed en route to join him, marking the
first decisive Roman victory. More than 10,000 Carthaginians died at the Battle of
Metaurus in 207 B.C.
Scipio
Meanwhile, Scipio invaded North Africa. The Carthaginian Senate responded by
recalling Hannibal.
The Romans under Scipio fought the Phoenicians under Hannibal at Zama. Hannibal,
who no longer had an adequate cavalry, was unable to follow his preferred tactics.
Instead, Scipio routed the Carthaginians using the same strategy Hannibal had used
at Cannae.
Hannibal put an end to the Second Punic War. Scipio's stringent terms of surrender
were to:

hand over all warships and elephants

not make war without permission of Rome

pay Rome 10,000 talents over the next 50 years.
The terms included an additional, difficult proviso:

should armed Carthaginians cross a border the Romans drew in the dirt, it
automatically meant war with Rome.
This meant that the Carthaginians could be put in a position where they might not
be able to defend their own interests.
Third Punic War 149 - 146 B.C.
By the end of the Second Punic War, the Romans so hated the Carthaginians that
they wanted to destroy it. The story is told that when they finally had their revenge
winning the Third Punic War, the Romans salted the fields so the Carthaginians
could no longer live there.
By 201 B.C., the end of the Second Punic War (the war where Hannibal and his
elephants crossed the Alps), Carthage no longer had her empire, but she was still a
shrewd trading nation. By the middle of the second century Carthage was thriving
and it was hurting the trade of those Romans who had investments in North Africa.
Marcus Cato, a respected senator, began to clamor "Carthago delenda est!"
"Carthage must be destroyed!"
Meanwhile, tribes neighbouring Carthage knew that according to the treaty
between Carthage and Rome, if Carthage overstepped the line drawn in the sand, it
would be interpreted as an act of aggression against Rome. These neighbours took
advantage of this reason to feel secure and made hasty raids into Carthaginian
territory, knowing their victims couldn't pursue them.
Eventually, Carthage could stand these incursions no longer. In 149 they armed
themselves and went after the Numidians.
Rome declared war on the basis of the broken treaty.
Although Carthage didn't stand a chance, the war was drawn out for three years.
Eventually a descendant of Scipio Africanus, Scipio Aemilianus, defeated the starved
citizens of the besieged city of Carthage. After killing or selling all the inhabitants
into slavery, the Romans razed (possibly salting the land) and burned the city. No
one was allowed to live there.* Cato's motto had been carried out.