The First And Second Punic Wars

The ancient history if full of wars and battles. Among the most famous wars and probably the largest ones in the ancient world are the so called Punic Wars (264 to 146 BC). They were a series of three wars between Rome and Carthage. The wars were called Punic since the Latin word for Carthaginian was Punici. Carthage was a large city located on the coast of Tunisia. It was founded be the Phoenicians in the 9th century BC. At that time Carthage’s navy was the largest in the ancient world but it did not have permanent army. For fighting in wars Carthage was hiring mercenaries but the officers were Carthaginian. The Carthaginians were famous for their abilities as sailors.

The First Punic War (264-241 BC) was fought on land in Sicily and Africa and after more than twenty years Rome at last conquered the island of Sicily. Carthage was forced to pay Rome a massive tribute. The war began as a conflict between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines of Messina. The Mamertines betray the Carthaginians by asking the Roman Senate for support against Carthage. Then Romans sent soldiers to Messina. The Carthaginians answered with an aid to Syracuse. The war for the control of Sicily between Carthage and Rome has begun.

Since the Carthaginians believe that they are more powerful as sailors, they tried to avoid battles on land. In the beginning they manage to defeat the Roman navy but very soon Rome expanded its navy and made a fleet of over than a hundred ships provided with “assault bridge” also known as corvus. The bridge was used to latch onto enemy ships bringing them to a standstill. Then the Roman legionaries were able to board the Carthaginian warships and enter into hand-to-hand fighting, a skill that they were most comfortable with. So in 241 BC Carthage signed a peace treaty giving Rome the total control of Sicily. But then Rome had a very powerful navy. In 238 BC Rome took the islands of Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage. From that time on, the Romans took the full control of the Mediterranean.

In 219 BC Hannibal attacked the city of Saguntum (near modern Valencia) which was under the special protection of Rome and started the Second Punic War (218-201 BC). Actually, the Saguntines provoked the attack since they attack tribes who were Carthaginian protectorates and massacre pro-Punic factions in their city. Carthage refused to hand over Hannibal as Rome asked and Rome declared war on Carthage. Then Hannibal crossed the Alps with war elephants and invaded Italy from the north as well as defeated the Roman army in several battles such as the Battle of the Trebia, the Battle of lake Trasimene and the Battle of Canne. But meanwhile Scipio turned to invade Carthage and in 203 BC Hannibal returned to Africa to face him. In the Battle of Zama in 202 BC the Romans defeated Hannibal in open battle. Carthage was made to pay a huge indemnity and was not allowed to have a huge army and navy.