Download Chapter 6:ii Expansion and Crisis

Chapter 6:ii (part one-Punic Wars)
Expansion and Crisis
To protect themselves,
Rome either conquered or
allied with their
neighbors.
(Image source: Gino Galuppini, Warships of the World, An
Illustrated Encyclopedia, Time Books, Random House, 1996.)
Most of Rome’s
success in expansion
was attributed to their
warfare styles. The
backbone of their
army was the Legion,
organized around
smaller groups than
other traditional
armies.
In the army, discipline
was harsh and the men
were well trained. They
treated conquered people
very well, often allowing
them to keep their own
governments.
The First Punic War:
264-241 BC
Carthage, on the
North African coast,
threatened to seize
the Straits of Messina
and cut off Roman
trade. When Rome
sent a force to
secure it, a full
scale war erupted.
Carthage held their own until Rome
developed new naval tactics and
forced Carthage to pay an indemnity
($ cash money) to end the war.
Second Punic War: 221-202 BC
In 221 BC, a young Carthiginian
general named Hannibal captured a
Spanish town that had been allied
with Rome. He then took the new
war into Italy.
Stylin’ and profilin’!
Hannibal lost
half of his
40,000 men
and 39 of his
40 elephants to
cold, attacks,
hunger, and
sickness as he
crossed the
Alps.
For more than 20 years,
Hannibal ravaged the
Italian peninsula,
defeating many Roman
armies. Finally the
Roman General Scipio
Africanus forced Hannibal
to return to Africa by
attacking Carthage.
By forcing
Hannibal to fight
where he was not
prepared to fight,
Scipio defeats
him at Zama,
near Carthage,
ending the 2nd
Punic War.
Third Punic War: 152 BC
50 years later, Rome decided to
force war on Carthage to finally
destroy their mortal enemy.
“Carthago delenda est!!”