Download second punic war

The Punic Wars
Latium
• During the period of the
first kings around 509 BC
there were actually very
many cities in Italy
– and Rome was just one of
them.
• The Italian Peninsula is
located right in the heart
of the Mediterranean
Sea.
– Rome is located right in the
heart of Italy on a large
plain known as Latium.
After the establishment of the Republic, the
Romans began to conquer southern Italy.
• They used a good idea to help
them.
– They told everybody that if any
city needed help fighting a
war, the Romans would be
happy to help them.
– Soon a city did ask for help,
when its neighbors were
attacking it.
– The Romans sent troops and
fought off the neighbors.
– But when the war was over,
the Romans announced that
they were going to leave
Roman soldiers in this city, to
keep the city safe.
• But when there are Roman
soldiers living in the middle of
your city, you pretty much have
to do whatever the Roman
Senate says!
– In this way the Romans took
over all of southern Italy.
Carthaginian Empire
Former
Phoenician
trading post
Commercial city
Had western
Mediterranean
empire
Felt threatened by
Rome’s rise to
dominance in Italy
The Punic WarsDispute over control
of Sicily and trade
routes in the western
Mediterranean
coupled with Rome’s
expansion to the toe
of Italy brought Rome
into conflict with the
powerful North
African city-state of
Carthage
Carthage
had been
founded as
Phoenician
colony 500
years earlier
Carthage
Result was the three
Punic Wars
264-146 BC
These conflicts, so disastrous
for Carthage, were inevitable.
• Between Carthage and Italy
lay the huge island of Sicily;
– Carthage controlled the
western half of Sicily,
– but the southern tip of the
Italian peninsula put the
Romans within throwing
distance of the island.
• When the city of Messina
revolted against the
Carthaginians,
– the Romans intervened
– Security being in their
National Interests,
– and the first Punic War
erupted.
FIRST PUNIC WAR
•
Primarily a naval war
– Tactics involved
maneuvering your ship
in such a way so that
you could ram and
sink enemy
• Carthage very good
at this because of
long experience as
naval power
• Rome had small navy
and little experience
in naval warfare
– Defeated time and
time again by
larger and more
experienced
Carthaginian
navy
ROME WINS THE FIRST ONE
• Rome would not surrender
– Finally turned the tables on
Carthage by changing rules of
naval warfare
• Equipped ships with
huge hooks and
stationed soldiers on
ships
– Would hook enemy
ship, pull it nearby, and
board it with soldiers
– Converted naval warfare into
mini-land battles
• Something Rome was
very good at
• Won First Punic War as
a result
Mercenary War
• Immediately following the war, Carthage's mercenaries
revolted over a pay dispute and occupied a number of
important Punic cities in North Africa and Sardinia,
beginning the Mercenary War.
– Miraculously, Carthage was able to defeat the mercenaries in
North Africa,
– meanwhile Rome used the Mercenary revolt as an excuse to
invade and conquer the islands of Sardinia and Corsica
– Thus by 238 BC, Carthage had lost all of her islands in the
Central Mediterranean
SECOND PUNIC WAR
• Carthagian general
Hannibal surprises Romans,
leads army from Spain,
through southern France
and the Alps, and invades
Italy from the north
– Defeats Roman armies
sent to stop him several
times but hesitates to
attack Rome itself
• Too well fortified
• Settles instead on war
of attrition in hope
of destroying Roman
economic base
The arrival of Hannibal’s army in
Italy sparked off numerous
rebellions against Roman rule
•
and Hannibal decisively
defeated Rome in a
number of battles,
–
–
•
including the two worst
military defeats of its
history,
the Battle of Lake
Trasimene, and the Battle
of Cannae.
Roman allies in the
south of Italy literally ran
to Hannibal's side;
–
the whole of Sicily allied
itself with the
Carthaginians.
– In addition, Philip V, who
controlled most of the
mainland of Greece,
– began his own war
against Roman
possessions in 215 BC.
Fabian Strategy
• Eventually Rome
appointed a dictator:
– Quintus Fabius
Maximus
• They relied on
employing the
strategy of avoiding
direct conflict with
Hannibal in Italy
– Known as the Fabian
Strategy
• Meanwhile, Hannibal
was thwarted in his
attempts to invade
Rome.
– He tried to incite revolt
among the tribes of
Italy, but most feared
Rome's wrath should
Carthage lose,
– and they remained
with Rome for the
most part.
ROME WINS THIS ONE TOO
•
Unable to defeat Hannibal in
Italy, a Roman army sailed
across the Mediterranean,
landed in North Africa, and
headed for Carthage
– Led by patrician general
Scipio Aemilius Africanus
– Hannibal forced to leave
Italy to protect Carthage
• Defeated at the Battle
of Zama, fought
outside the walls of
Carthage
Hannibal
In 201, a treaty was signed, which was very punitive. Carthage had to
surrender her navy, all territorial claims in Spain, and had to pay
reparations in the amount of 10,000 talents over 50 years.
10,000 talents is worth about 150,000
year's wages
Death and Legacy
• Hannibal survived the Battle of Zama, Helped
rebuild Carthage, but eventually had to run
away. He fled from court to court offering his
services to anyone who would fight Rome.
Finally in 183 B.C. Romans found him in Asia
Minor (modern day Turkey) and forced him to
surrender. As they guarded him, he secretly took
poison and ended his life.
• Hannibal shows the necessity of political goals
being more important than military
accomplishment.
Legacy
–
This was the defining historical experience of the Romans.
•
•
–
They had faced certain defeat with toughness and determination
and had won against overwhelming odds.
For the rest of Roman history, the character of being Roman
would be distilled in the histories of this desperate war
against Carthage.
The Second Punic War turned Rome from a regional power
into an international empire:
–
•
–
it had gained much of northern Africa, Spain, and the major
islands in the western Mediterranean.
Because Philip V of Macedon had allied himself with
Hannibal
•
–
and started his own war of conquest,
the second Punic War forced Rome to turn east
•
•
in wars of conquest against first Philip
and then other Hellenistic kingdoms.
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THIRD PUNIC WAR
•
Carthage finished after Second
Punic War
– Hannibal committed suicide
– Economy shattered
– Lost all territory to Rome
– But some Romans feared it
might revive someday and
challenge Rome again
• Notably Cato the Elder
– Pushed for another
war that would wipe
Carthage off the face
of the map
Cato the Elder
Carthage Returns?
–
Carthage had, through
the first half of the
second century BC,
recovered much of its
prosperity through its
commercial activities,
•
–
although it had not
gained back much
power.
The Romans, deeply
suspicious of a reviving
Carthage, demanded
that the Carthaginians
abandon their city and
move inland into North
Africa.
•
The Carthaginians
refused
•
They were a
commercial
people that
depended on
sea trade,
ROME WINS A THIRD TIME
•
Due to Cato’s persistent
efforts, Rome declares war
against defenseless
Carthage
– Wins easily
– Entire population of
city sold into slavery
– Everything of value
carried back to Rome
– Everything else burned
and dumped into the
sea
– Site sown with salt so
that nothing would
ever grow there again
– Carthage completely
disappeared
The end result of the Second Punic War…
was the domination of
the known world…
by Rome.
SUMMARY
• Roman Republic was strongly rigged to
work only in the interests of the
wealthy classes
– No way a sincere reformer could
“work within the system” to
change things
• Everything was stacked against him
• The only way to effect change within
this rigged system was to either threaten
or use violence against the ruling class
• The rigged structure of government in
republican Rome was therefore the first
factor that contributed to the growth
of political violence in the city-state