Download Causes: Carthage was a port city in North Africa that had been

Causes:
Carthage was a port city in North Africa that had been founded by the
Phoenicians. The Phoenicians were from what is known today as Israel, but they were
not Jewish. The Phoenicians- far before the Greek Athenians had controlled the trade in
the Mediterranean Sea- but were conquered by the Persians and Alexander the Great.
While Israel changed hands, Carthage was able to become more and more powerfulbecause it was so far west. While the Athenian Empire fell after the Peloponnesian War,
and then Alexander the Great’s Empire began to fall apart in the 200’s BC, Carthage took
control of the Mediterranean. Like the Athenians, the Carthaginians were a city state that
focused on navy power and controlling port cities. This made them so rich that they did
not have to have an army. Whenever they needed an army to conquer places, they paid
mercenaries from other places. Mercenaries are soldiers that will fight for places they
are not from for money.
While Carthage grew powerful and rich from controlling trade and having a navy,
the city-state of Rome had quickly become powerful because of its army. The Roman
Legions had conquered all of Italy and were quickly able take much of western Europe.
Many historians believed that the reason Rome was so successful was because they had a
Republic. A Republic is a type of government where anyone who is a citizen may vote
for the people who will lead the government. In every place that Rome took over, no
matter who the people were (Italian, French, Spanish, etc.) they became citizens and had
a say in the government. This was a very powerful tool because whenever the Romans
needed more soldiers for the Roman Legions, many many citizens from all over would
join to defend the Republic. But also, whenever anyone became a citizen they had to pay
taxes and work for the government; sooooo- Bigger Rome equals Mo’ money fo’ the
Roman government!!
First Punic War 264 BC- 241 BC:
The island of Sicily is just to the west of the Italian Peninsula (It looks like the
rock that the boot is kicking). Some cities in Sicily did not like being controlled by the
Carthaginians, so they asked Rome for help. These cities thought that if the Romans
showed up and kicked out the Carthaginians, that they would be able to kick out Rome
and rule themselves… The Romans took this opportunity to invade Sicily, even though
their navy was not very good. The Carthaginians then sent their navy to defend it.
For a while the Romans held the Island with their army while the Carthaginians
surrounded it. The Romans took this opportunity to build a bigger navy. The Roman
boast and sailors were not as good as the Carthaginians – so the Romans invented a way
to use their army (Roman Legions) at sea. This invention was called the corvus. It was a
bridge put onto Roman ships that would allow soldiers to run onto Carthaginian ships.
Corvus
The only way for the corvus to work was to get up close to a Carthaginian ship,
and since the Carthaginians had such a good navy, many of these ships were sunk. The
war went on and on. The Carthaginians thought that they would win because their navy
was so good, but the Romans just kept sending out more and more ships--- the Romans
controlled so much land and so many soldiers that they would never run out! Eventually
they defeated the Carthaginian navy and began marching towards the city-state of
Carthage.
The Carthaginians knew that they did not have a good enough army to hold off
the Romans so they paid mercenaries to fight for them. They promised the mercenaries
tons of money if they could hold off the Romans. Even though the mercenaries were not
Carthaginian, their leader was, his name was Hamilcar Barca. Hamilcar was able to
defeat the Romans- but he knew that Carthage could not hold the Romans off for much
longer . The Romans did not want to fight anymore either. In the end, the Carthaginians
had to pay the Romans a lot of money and give up much of their territory to the Romans.
Hamilcar Barca
Aftermath of the First Punic War:
When the mercenaries that held off the Roman Legions asked for their money, the
Carthaginians did not have it. Some of the mercenaries tried to conquer Carthage but
Hamilcar Barca was able build an army to defeat them. Hamilcar Barca then became the
most powerful man in Carthage. He had several sons, one was named Hannibal. Once
Hannibal was old enough to talk, Hamilcar Barca would wake him up every morning, and
take him to a blazing fire and make him say, “I swear to you father and to the people of
Carthage, that when I am old enough, I will do anything to destroy Rome.”
1.) In the paragraphs subheaded “Causes”, what made Rome so powerful?
2.) The Roman city-state had a great army and the Carthaginian city-state had a great
navy- what allowed Rome to win?
3.) After reading the paragraph subtitled “Aftermath of the First Punic War”, what do
you think is going to happen?