The Punic Wars - Research Paper Example

? The Punic Wars The Punic Wars (Background of the conflicting sides) The great rivals of the West in the ancientworld, Rome and Carthage, were “nearly equal in strength and resources”1. Nevertheless, the biggest difference was that “Carthage had greater wealth, but Rome had a better organization”2. Carthage also had “a more powerful navy, more brilliant leaders, wealth and commercial resources”3. On the other hand, Rome had “a more efficient army, a more steadfast body of citizens, a well-organized political system, and a united people”4. In short, Rome and Carthage were almost equal to each other in many respects. However, the two strong rivals in power engaged in war, specifically in the Punic Wars, which was a series of three wars where Carthage was defeated by Rome three times. Carthage was defeated not only because of poor strategy but also because of corruption in its government. On the other hand, Rome won because of its military and political brilliance and sense of unity among its people and military groups. The First Punic War The first Punic War was fought by Rome and Carthage between 264 and 241 BC. It is interesting to note that by 275 BC, Rome had already conquered all of Italy and its goal was to prevent the neighboring countries from getting -------------- 1William C. Morey, The First Punic War, Forum Romanum, 2013. 2Ibid. 3Ibid. 4Ibid. hold of any Roman territory especially Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. The first Punic War broke out in Messina, Sicily when the Mamertines, or the Roman mercenary soldiers who were employed by the Syracusan tyrant Agathocles, and who were in control of Messana or Messina, were attacked by the Syracusan forces under Hiero II, the Greek Sicilian king. Upon the attach of the forces of Hiero II, the Mamertines called in Rome for help while Hiero II appealed to Carthage and joined the forces of Hanno the Punic, who just landed in Sicily5. Since Rome and Carthage both had interests in Sicily, the war began and continued for the next 24 years. The final victory of Rome was in the sea on March 10, 241 BC, specifically in the naval battle off the western coast of Sicily. During this time, Rome gained mastery of the sea. As a consequence of defeat, Carthage gave up Sicily and the other islands to the Roman Empire. The Second Punic War Between the years 241 and 218 BC, before the second Punic Wars broke out in 218 BC, the Carthaginians experienced what is known as “aggressive and unjustified”6 actions against Rome, as stated by the Greek historian Polybius. The treaty that Rome signed with Carthage after the defeat of the latter was actually breached by Rome as the Romans occupied Sardinia. Rome threatened ----------- 5The Punic Wars, Latin Library, 2013. 6Ibid. Carthage with war and even ceded Sardinia and Corsica and forced Carthage to pay an indemnity. The skirmishes between Rome and the Punic forces in Italy weakened the latter, and the latter had no desire of responding to Rome with war7. As a response to this, the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca occupied Spain in 237 with an army for the purpose of opening new markets as well as for creating a new Carthaginian base for its operations. Hamilcar Barca militarized Spain and this militarization was continued by Hasdrubal and Hannibal and Barca’s son-in-law Hasdrubal. When Hannibal conquered Sagunto, Spain, which was a Roman stronghold, Rome declared another war against Carthage8. Hannibal was placed as the head of the army in 221. In 219, Hannibal seized Sagunto or Saguntum. During this time, the Romans in Rome issued an ultimatum demanding the Carthaginian council to surrender Hannibal, but Rome was not obeyed and the council supported Hannibal and accepted the offer of war9. The second Punic War broke out in 218 BC and it is considered as “one of the greatest military conflicts of the ancient world”10. The series of strategies of the Carthaginian general Hannibal until he was defeated are worth mentioning. The first victory of Hannibal was near the Po River in 217 BC, when he ----------- 7The Punic Wars, Latin Library, 2013. 8Ibid. 9Ibid. 10Ibid. defeated 15,000 Roman forces in Italy as the Carthaginian forces marched there from Spain. Quintus Fabius Maximus, the Roman General, followed Hannibal but did not engage him, thus Quintus was able to prevent Hannibal from establishing a stronghold in Italy. The problem with Hannibal was that he “did not follow up his victory”11. The second victory of Hannibal was in 216 BC, when the Roman forces met him at Cannae, but where Hannibal “completely routed”12 the whole Roman army with a rather “simple”13 tactic. During this time, Hannibal allowed the Romans to gather at the center of the battlefield, then Hasdrubal, Hannibal’s brother, let his cavalry surround the Roman troops from all directions, thus nearly annihilating the entire Roman force. After this success, the problem was once again that “Hannibal…did not follow up his victory”14. The recommendation was that Hannibal should have directly attacked Rome. There was no more third success after this. Hasdrubal went back to Spain in 207 and returned to Italy with new Carthaginian forces and Rome faced threat from Hannibal’s side on the south and from Hasdrubal’s on the north. However, the problem was that the forces of Hannibal and Hasdrubal “did not join together”15. The result was inevitable. Hasdrubal was defeated by the Roman forces. Hannibal was then left in southern Italy and in 203 BC he came ------------ 11The Punic Wars, Latin Library, 2013. 12Ibid. 13Ibid. 14Ibid. 15Ibid. back to Africa. Before this, in 210 BC, the rise of the Roman general Scipio Africanus, or Publius Cornelius Scipio, led the Roman forces in Spain and there he ended the power of Carthage in 20616. The second Punic War did not end in Spain and Italy but even extended to Africa as Scipio went there in 204 and battled the Carthaginian forces and won against them in 204 and 203. According to the Roman historian named Appian of Alexandria, who lived from 95-165 AD and who wrote Roman History and the Punic Wars, Scipio Africanus arrived in Africa from Rome with 400 transports, 16,000 infantry and 1,600 cavalry. However, Hasdrubal had 20,000 infantry, 7,000 cavalry and 140 elephants in Utica at the same time17. In 202 then Carthaginian leader Hannibal was put by the Carthaginian council to be put in command of the Carthaginian forces18. Hannibal met Scipio at Zama, and it was there that Hannibal met his end and lost the respect of the whole Carthaginian army. Considering that Scipio Africanus’ armies at Zama were “better trained and better disciplined”19, Hannibal’s forces were no match for Scipio’s. During this time, Hannibal was able to defeat the Roman infantry but Scipio rallied his men, routed the Carthaginian cavalry and attacked Hannibal’s army from the rear, thus causing its collapse20. The result was 20,000 dead Carthaginian forces and 15,000 ----------- 16The Punic Wars, Latin Library, 2013. 17Appian, Punic Wars, Tufts University, 2013. 18The Punic Wars, Latin Library, 2013. 19Ibid. 20Nigel Bagnall, (The Punic Wars, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2002), 77. wounded with the Romans suffering only from 1,500 casualties21. As the outcome of the war, Carthage was forced to hand over to Rome – Spain and all the Mediterranean Islands that it once controlled. Moreover, Cartage had to pay a large indemnity to Rome and had to relinquish all independence in any foreign policy. This concluded the second Punic War and definitely ended Carthage as a military power22. After the second Punic War, Scipio allowed Carthage to keep her colonies in Africa but the Carthaginian navy has to be surrendered to Rome. There was also an indemnity of 200 talents, or $250,000 during those times23 every year for 50 years that Carthage must pay Rome. During the time between the end of the second Punic War and the third, Carthage flourished again because of its trading ships and ten warships which were retained by Scipio Africanus. Nevertheless, the government of Carthage was still “corrupt and selfish”24 and heavily taxed the people to pay the war debts. This was the same government that betrayed Hannibal to the Romans, and thus he fled Carthage and killed himself with his own hands through poison25. The Third Punic War The Third Punic War, which was fought for 4 years between 149 and 146 -------------- 21Nigel Bagnall, 77. 22The Punic Wars, Latin Library, 2013. 23William C. Morey, The Second Punic War, Forum Romanum, 2013. 24The Punic Wars, Ancient Encyclopedia of History, 2013. 25Ibid. BC, was triggered by the envy of Rome’s merchant class and the Roman senate over the commercial fortunes of Carthage. An ally of Rome known as Numidia threatened Carthage with aggression in 150. However, as Carthage resisted it for two years, Rome seized the chance for war. In 147, it was Scipio Aemilianus who led the Roman forces and attached Carthage from the harbor and used the tactic of “house-by-house battle”26. This tore down Carthage, seized its territories like Mauritania, and the whole territory became a Roman province27. The conflict between Carthage and Numidia was supposed to be arbitrated by Rome. However, Numidia was a favored state and so there was bias in Roman law in favor of the Numidians. Instead of being an arbiter between the two warring states, Rome in fact triggered more fighting between both sides especially from Carthage through the escalating demands from the Roman government. Rome made impossible demands such as the surrender of 300 children of the Carthaginian nobles and the demolition of the city. These were the events before the destruction of Carthage by Scipio Aemilianus. After more than a century of destruction, Carthage was rebuilt after the death of Julius Caesar28. Conclusion The Punic Wars established Rome as a superior military power in the ------------- 26The Punic Wars, Latin Library, 2013. 27Ibid. 28Nigel Bagnall, 84. West during the ancient times. With the defeat of Carthage three times in a row, Rome was not only able to prove its military strength and excellent strategies but had also proved to the world during that time that they were unbeatable and that they had the finest generals and military leaders under them. As Carthage was a wealthy nation, its defeat by Rome proved that superior wealth and commercial power was no match for the unity and military tactics of Rome. Nevertheless, the defeat of Carthage was not entirely due to the strength of the Roman military forces and to the efficiency of Roman battle tactics. The Carthaginian forces were defeated because of poor thinking on the part of Hannibal and Hasdrubal. During the second Punic Wars, Hannibal had two victories which obviously almost decimated the Roman army that attacked the Carthaginian forces. The only problem was that he did not do any follow-up attacks and more importantly Hannibal did not launch any attack on Rome. Thus, he gathered the Roman troops to his side until he was defeated. In the same way, Hasdrubal did not join forces with Hannibal in Rome during the second Punic Wars in Rome. In Africa, Hasdrubal’s forces were also separate from those of Hannibal. Thus, they were rather easily defeated by Scipio Africanus. Had the Carthaginian military leaders only had follow-up battles to their victories and had they only united in arms in Italy and Africa, they would have certainly defeated Rome. Perhaps, another factor that led to the defeat of Carthage was the corruption not only in the government but also among its nobility. Carthage was a rich state and it was highly commercialized, thus there was not much unity and need for war. The truly successful soldiers in war are only the excellent tacticians and those who have unity among them. Bibliography Appian. (2013). Punic Wars. Tufts University. Accessed Dec. 8, 2013. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0230%3Atext%3DPun.%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D4. Bagnall, Nigel. The Punic Wars. Great Britain: Osprey Publishing. 2002. 77-84. Morey, William C. (2013). “The First Punic War.” Forum Romanum. Accessed Dec. 8, 2013. http://www.forumromanum.org/history/morey14.html Morey, William C. (2013). “The Second Punic War.” Forum Romanum. Accessed Dec. 8, 2013. http://www.forumromanum.org/history/morey15.html “The Punic Wars.” (2013). Ancient Encyclopedia of History. Accessed Dec. 9, 2013. http://www.ancient.eu.com/article/345/ “The Punic Wars.” (2013). The Latin Library. Accessed Dec. 8, 2013. http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/punicwars1.html Read More