Punic Wars - 3 wars between Ancient Rome and Carthage ("Punami", that is, the Phoenicians), which continued intermittently in 264-146 BC. Rome won the wars, while Carthage was destroyed.
Confrontation between Rome and Carthage
After the Roman Republic became a great power, taking control of the entire Apennine Peninsula, she could no longer calmly look at the rule of Carthage in the Western Mediterranean.
Italy tried to prevent Sicily, where the struggle between the Greeks and the Carthaginians had been going on for a long time, from being ruled by the latter. Otherwise, the Romans could not provide safe trade, as well as have a number of other important privileges.
First of all, the Italians were interested in control over the Messana Strait. The chance to seize the strait presented itself soon: the so-called "Mamertines" captured Messana, and when Hieron II of Syracuse came out against them, the Mamertines turned to Rome for help, which accepted them into its confederation.
These and other reasons led to the outbreak of the First Punic War (264-241 BC). It is worth noting that in terms of their power, Rome and Carthage were in approximately equal conditions.
The weakness of the Carthaginians was that their army was mainly composed of hired soldiers, but this was compensated by the fact that Carthage had more money and they had a stronger fleet.
First Punic War
The war began in Sicily with the Carthaginian attack on Messana, which was suppressed by the Romans. After that, the Italians fought a series of successful battles, capturing most of the local cities.
To continue to gain victories over the Carthaginians, the Romans needed an efficient fleet. To do this, they went for one clever trick. They managed to construct drawbridges on ships with special hooks that made it possible to board an enemy ship.
As a result, through such bridges, the Roman infantry, famous for their combat readiness, quickly got on board the Carthaginian ships and entered hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. And although the Italians initially failed, later this tactic brought them many victories.
In the spring of 256 BC. e. Roman troops under the command of Marcus Regulus and Lucius Long landed in Africa. They so easily took control of a number of strategic objects that the Senate decided to leave only half of the soldiers to Regula.
This decision turned out to be fatal for the Romans. Regulus was completely defeated by the Carthaginians and captured, where he later died. However, in Sicily, the Italians had a huge advantage. Every day they conquered more and more territories, having won an important victory at the Aegat Islands, which cost the Carthaginians 120 warships.
When the Roman Republic took control of all the sea routes, Carthage agreed to an armistice, by which the whole Carthaginian Sicily and some of the islands passed to the Romans. In addition, the defeated side had to pay Rome a large sum of money as an indemnity.
Mercenary uprising in Carthage
Immediately after the conclusion of peace, Carthage had to participate in a difficult struggle with mercenary armies, which lasted more than 3 years. During the uprising, Sardinian mercenaries went over to the side of Rome, thanks to which the Romans annexed Sardinia and Corsica from the Carthaginians.
When Carthage decided to return its own territories, the Italians threatened to start a war. Over time, Hamilcar Barca, the leader of the Carthaginian Patriotic Party, who considered war with Rome inevitable, took possession of the south and east of Spain, trying to make up for the loss of Sicily and Sardinia.
A combat-ready army was formed here, which caused alarm in the Roman Empire. As a result, the Romans demanded that the Carthaginians not cross the Ebro River, and also made an alliance with some Greek cities.
Second Punic War
In 221 BC. Hasdrubal died, as a result of which Hannibal, one of the most implacable enemies of Rome, took his place. Taking advantage of the favorable situation, Hannibal attacked the city of Sagunt, allied with the Italians, and took it after an 8-month siege.
When the Senate was refused to extradite Hannibal, the Second Punic War was declared (218 BC). The Carthaginian leader refused to fight in Spain and Africa, as the Romans hoped for.
Instead, Italy was to become the epicenter of hostilities, according to Hannibal's plan. The commander set himself the goal of reaching Rome and destroying it by all means. For this he counted on support from the Gallic tribes.
Gathering a large army, Hannibal set off on his famous military campaign against Rome. He successfully crossed the Pyrenees with 50,000 infantry and 9,000 horsemen at his disposal. In addition, he had many war elephants, which were very difficult to endure all the hardships of the campaign.
Later, Hannibal reached the Alps, through which the passage was extremely difficult. During the transition, he lost about half of the fighters. After that, his army was awaited by an equally difficult march through the Apennines. Nevertheless, the Carthaginians managed to go forward and win battles with the Italians.
And yet, approaching Rome, the commander realized that he would not be able to take the city. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the allies remained loyal to Rome, not wanting to go over to Hannibal's side.
As a consequence, the Carthaginians went east, where they seriously devastated the southern regions. The Romans avoided open battles with Hannibal's army. Instead, they hoped to wear down the enemy, who was increasingly deficient in food every day.
After wintering near Geronia, Hannibal moved to Apulia, where the famous battle of Cannes took place. In this battle, the Romans suffered a serious defeat, losing many soldiers. After that, Syracuse and many of Rome's southern Italian allies promised to join the commander.
Italy lost control of the strategically important city of Capua. And yet, vital reinforcements did not come to Hannibal. This led to the fact that the Romans began to gradually take the initiative into their own hands. In 212, Rome took control of Syracuse, and a couple of years later, all of Sicily was in the hands of the Italians.
Later, after a long siege, Hannibal was forced to leave Capua, which greatly inspired the allies of Rome. And although the Carthaginians periodically won victories over the enemy, their power was fading away every day.
After some time, the Romans captured all of Spain, after which the remnants of the Carthaginian army moved to Italy; the last Carthaginian city, Hades, surrendered to Rome.
Hannibal realized that he could hardly win this war. The supporters of peace in Carthage started negotiations with Rome, which yielded no results. The Carthaginian authorities summoned Hannibal to Africa. The subsequent battle of Zama deprived the Carthaginians of their last hopes of victory and led to the conclusion of peace.
Rome ordered Carthage to destroy warships, he abandoned some islands in the Mediterranean, not to wage wars outside Africa, and in Africa itself not to fight without the permission of Rome. In addition, the losing side was obliged to pay large sums of money to the winner.
Third Punic War
After the end of the Second Punic War, the power of the Roman Empire increased even more. In turn, Carthage developed quite economically, due to foreign trade. Meanwhile, an influential party appeared in Rome, demanding the destruction of Carthage.
It was not difficult to find a reason for the start of the war. Numidian king Masinissa, feeling the support of the Romans, behaved extremely aggressively and sought to seize part of the Carthaginian lands. This led to an armed clash, and although the Carthaginians were defeated, the Roman government regarded their actions as a violation of the terms of the treaty and declared war.
So the Third Punic War began (149-146 years. Carthage did not want war and agreed to please the Romans in every possible way, but they acted extremely dishonestly: they put forward certain requirements, and when the Carthaginians fulfilled them, they set new conditions.
It got to the point that the Italians ordered the Carthaginians to leave their hometown and settle in a different area and far from the sea. This was the last straw of patience for the Carthaginians, who refused to obey such an order.
As a consequence, the Romans began a siege of the city, whose inhabitants began to build a fleet and fortify the walls. Hasdrubal assumed the main command over them. The besieged inhabitants began to experience food shortages, as they were taken into the ring.
Later this led to the flight of residents and the surrender of a significant part of the lands of Carthage. In the spring of 146 BC. Roman troops entered the city, which was taken under full control after 7 days. The Romans sacked Carthage and then set it on fire. An interesting fact is that they sprinkled the ground in the city with salt so that nothing else would grow on it.
Outcome
The destruction of Carthage allowed Rome to extend their dominion over the entire Mediterranean coast. It has become the largest Mediterranean state, which owns the lands of West and North Africa and Spain.
The occupied territories were turned into Roman provinces. The influx of silver from the lands of the destroyed city contributed to the development of the economy and thereby made Rome the strongest power in the ancient world.
Images of the Punic Wars
