The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and the Phoenician city of Carthage. They are known as the "Punic" Wars because Rome's name for Carthaginians was Punici (older Poenici, due to their Phoenician ancestry).

The primary cause of the Punic Wars was the clash of interests between the expanding Carthaginian and Roman spheres of influence. The Romans were particularly interested in expansion via Sicily, most of which lay under Carthaginian control. At the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the ascendant power of the Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire, while Rome was rapidly rising in prominence as the dominant power in Italy. By the conclusion of the third war, Rome had conquered Carthage's entire empire and razed the city itself to the ground, becoming in the process the most powerful state of the Mediterranean.

First Punic War First

The First Punic War was fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic from 264 to 241 BC. It was the first of three major wars between the two powers for supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea. After 23 years of fighting, Rome emerged the victor and imposed heavy conditions upon Carthage as the price for peace. The conflict was called the "Punic War" because Rome's name for Carthaginians was Punici (older Phoenici, due to their Phoenician ancestry).

In the middle of the 3rd century BC, the power of Rome was growing. Following centuries of internal rebellions and disturbances, the whole of the Italian peninsula was tightly secured under Roman hands. All enemies - such as the Latin league or the Samnites - had been overcome, and the invasion of Pyrrhus of Epirus was repelled.

Romans had an enormous confidence in their political system and military. Across the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Strait of Sicily, Carthage was already an established naval and commercial power, controlling most of the Mediterranean maritime trade routes. Originally a Phoenician colony, the city had become the center of a wide commercial empire reaching along the North African coast to as far as Iberia.

In 288 BC, the Mamertines, a group of Italian mercenaries, occupied the city of Messina in the northeastern tip of Sicily, killing all the men and taking the women as their wives. From this base, they ravaged the countryside and became a problem for the independent city of Syracuse. When Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, came to power in 265 BC, he decided to take definitive action against the Mamertines and besieged Messina.

The Mamertines then appealed for help simultaneously to Rome and Carthage. At first, the Romans did not wish to the aid of soldiers who had unjustly stolen a city from its rightful possessors. Moreover, Rome had recently dealt with an insurrection of mercenaries following the defeat of Pyrrhus of Epirus (Rhegium, 271) and was probably reluctant to help this faction now, so Carthage was the first city to respond to the plea and send troops to the area.

Most likely unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and get too close to Italy, Rome responded by entering into an alliance with the Mamertines.

In 264 BC, Roman troops were deployed to Sicily (the first time a Roman army acted outside the Italian peninsula) and forced a reluctant Syracuse to join their alliance. Soon enough the only parties in the dispute were Rome and Carthage and the conflict evolved into a struggle for the possession of Sicily.

Land warfare

As Sicily was a hilly island, with geographical obstacles and a terrain where lines of communication are difficult to maintain, land warfare played a secondary role in the First Punic War. Land operations were mostly confined to small scale raids and skirmishes between the armies, with hardly any pitched battle. Sieges and land blockades were the most common operations for the regular army. The main targets of blockading were the important naval ports, since neither of the belligerent parties were based in Sicily and both needed a continuous supply of reinforcements and communication with the mainland.

Despite these general considerations, at least two large scale land campaigns were fought during the First Punic War. In 262 BC, Rome besieged the city of Agrigentum, an operation that involved both consular armies - a total of four Roman legions - and took several months to resolve. The garrison of Agrigentum managed to call for reinforcements and a Carthaginian relief force commanded by Hanno came to the rescue. With the supplies from Syracuse cut, the Romans found themselves also besieged and constructed a line of circumvallation. After a few skirmishes, the battle of Agrigentum was fought and won by Rome, and the city fell.Inspired by this victory, Rome attempted (256/255 BC) another large scale land operation, this time with different results.

Following several naval battles, Rome was aiming for a quick end to the war and decided to invade the Carthaginian colonies of Africa, to force the enemy to accept terms. A major fleet was built, both of transports for the army and its equipment and warships for protection. Carthage tried to intervene but was defeated in the battle of Cape Ecnomus.

As a result, the Roman army commanded by Marcus Atilius Regulus landed in Africa and started to ravage the Carthaginian countryside. At first Regulus was victorious, winning the battle of Adys and forcing Carthage to sue for peace. The terms were so heavy that negotiations failed and, in response, the Carthaginians hired Xanthippus, a Spartan mercenary, to reorganize the army. Xanthippus managed to cut off the Roman army from its base by re-establishing Carthiginian naval supremacy, then defeated and captured Regulus at the battle of Tunis.

Towards the end of the conflict (249 BC), Carthage sent general Hamilcar Barca (Hannibal's father) to Sicily. Hamilcar managed to gain control of most of inland Sicily; in desperation, the Romans appointed a dictator to resolve the situation. Nevertheless, Carthaginian success in Sicily was secondary to the progress of the war at sea; Hamilcar remaining undefeated in Sicily became irrelevant following the Roman naval victory at the battle of the Aegates Islands in 241 BC.

Naval warfare

Due to the difficulty of operating in Sicily, most warfare of the First Punic War was fought at sea, including the most decisive battles. Moreover, naval warfare permitted an efficient blockade of enemy ports, and consequently of reinforcement and supply for the inland troops. Both sides of the conflict had publicly funded fleets. This fact compromised Carthage and Rome's finances and eventually decided the course of the war.

At the beginning of the First Punic War, Rome had virtually no experience in naval warfare, whereas Carthage had a great deal of experience on the seas thanks to its sea-based trade. Nevertheless, the Republic soon understood the importance of Mediterranean control in the outcome of the conflict.The first large fleet was constructed after the victory of Agrigentum in 261 BC. Since Rome lacked naval technology, the design of the warships was copied in a straightforward manner from captured Carthaginian triremes and quinqueremes.

Perhaps in order to compensate for the lack of experience, and to make use of standard land military tactics on sea, the Romans equipped their new ships with a special boarding device, the corvus. The new weapon's efficiency was first proved in the battle of Mylae, the first Roman naval victory, and continued to prove its value in the following years, especially in the huge Battle of Ecnomus. The addition of the corvus forced Carthage to review its military tactics, and since the city had difficulty in doing so, Rome had the naval advantage. Later, as Roman experience in naval warfare grew, the corvus device was abandoned due to its impact on the navigability of the war vessels.

Despite the Roman victories in sea, the Republic was the side that lost most ships and crews during the war, largely due to the effect of storms. On at least two occasions (255 and 253 BC) whole fleets were destroyed in bad weather. The weight of the corvus on the prows of the ships was largely responsible for the disasters. Towards the end of the war Carthage ruled the seas, as Rome was unwilling to finance the construction of yet another expensive fleet. The Romans did however build another fleet paid for with donations from wealthy citizens.

The First Punic War was decided in the naval battle of the Aegates Islands (March 10, 241 BC), where the new Roman fleet under consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus scored a victory. Carthage lost most of its fleet and was economically incapable of funding another, or to find manpower for the crews. With no fleet, Hamilcar Barca was cut from Carthage and forced to surrender.

Aftermath

Rome won the First Punic War after 23 years of conflict and in the end replaced Carthage as the dominant naval power of the Mediterranean. In the aftermath of the war, both states were financially and demographically exhausted. To determine the final borders of their territories, they drew what they considered a straight line across the Mediterranean. Hispania, Corsica, Sardinia and Africa remained Carthaginian. All that was north of that line was signed over to Rome. Rome's victory was greatly influenced by its persistent refusal to admit defeat and by accepting only total victory. Moreover, the Republic's ability to attract private investments in the war effort by playing on their citizens' patriotism to fund ships and crews, was one of the deciding factors of the war, particularly when contrasted with the Carthaginian nobility's apparent unwillingness to risk their fortunes for the common good. The end of the First Punic War also resulted in the official birth of Roman navy, further enticing the expansion of the Roman Empire.

Second Punic War

The Second Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome from 218 to 202 BC. It was the second of three major wars fought between the Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic, then still confined to the Italian Peninsula. They were called "Punic" Wars because Rome's name for Carthaginians was Punici (older Poenici, due to their Phoenician ancestry).

Background Information

After Carthage lost its holdings in Sicily to Rome in the First Punic War, Carthage moved to compensate for the loss by extending her territory in Hispania (the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula). This was begun by Hamilcar Barca, and continued by his son-in-law Hasdrubal and then his son Hannibal, meaning "Beloved of Baal". According to Roman tradition, Hannibal had sworn hatred to Rome, and he certainly did not take a conciliatory attitude when the Romans berated him for crossing the river Iberus (Ebro), which Carthage was by treaty, required to stay south of. The truth to fairer historians, however, is that Hannibal swore at the altar to Ba'al "never to be friend to Rome" (according to the more objective Polybius), and feel that "Barcid Rage" is mere post-war Roman opinion. Hannibal did not cross the Ebro River (Saguntum was near modern Valencia - well south of the Ebro River) in arms, and the Saguntines provoked his attack by attacking their neighboring tribes who were Carthaginian protectorates, and by massacring pro-Punic factions in their city. Rome had no legal protection pact with any tribe south of the Ebro River. Nonetheless, when asked to hand Hannibal over, the Carthaginian senate promptly refused and so Rome declared war on Carthage.

The War in Italy

Hannibal anticipated that a consular army would move along the coast towards Hispania, and so took a combined army of 40,000 North Africans and Iberians across southern France by an inland route and crossed the Alps over the winter. His invasion of Italia came as a surprise to the Romans, for he had constructed no fleet, and it was believed his army could not possibly make it through the mountains. Indeed, it sustained very heavy casualties, including all but three of his 37 war elephants. Nevertheless, that spring he came into North Italia with a still-formidable force of 26,000 men.

The Romans tried to attack him while he was still unready, but he defeated them in a skirmish at the river Ticinus, and then again at the Battle of Trebia, where both the Roman consuls were killed along with a quarter of their forces. The Romans then retreated, leaving Hannibal in control of Northern Italia. His support from a few of the Gallic tribes and Italian cities was not what he had hoped for, and many Roman landholders burned their estates to prevent Hannibal's army from plundering them (indirectly later giving rise to the latifundia). Despite this resistance, Hannibal was able to strengthen his army to a force of 50,000 men.

The next year the Romans elected Gaius Flaminius consul in hopes that he could defeat Hannibal. Flaminius set up an ambush at Arretium. However, Hannibal was warned of the attack and so bypassed the Roman army, allowing him a free march on Rome. Flaminius had to pursue him, but the Roman forces were ambushed and utterly defeated at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. However Hannibal, despite the urgings of his generals, did not proceed to besiege Rome, as he lacked siege equipment and he had no supply base in central Italia. Instead he proceeded to the south in hopes of stirring up rebellion amongst the Greek population there.

Meanwhile, the veteran Fabius Maximus had been appointed Roman dictator, and he decided that it would be best to avoid any further field battles. Instead, Fabius tried to cut off Hannibal's supplies by devastating the countryside and harassing his army. Such operations are now called Fabian tactics after him, and earned him the nickname of the Cunctator (delayer). Fabius' tactics were very unpopular in Rome, and the following year he was replaced by two consuls who promised to end the war quickly.

These consuls jointly fielded the largest Roman army ever, which met Hannibal at Cannae (216). The Romans outnumbered the Carthaginians 70,000 (some reports have the Roman forces at 100,000 men, but neither number can be fully proven) to about 50,000, but by allowing his center to retreat and using his numerically superior cavalry to rout the Roman cavalry guarding the Roman flanks, Hannibal was able to encircle their forces, and completely annihilated them.

Only 16,000 Romans survived (this number can also be called into question, seeing as the amount of troops they began with isn't known, and because the number of troops who survived would have included deserters as dead.) As the story goes, Rome declared a national day of mourning as there was not a single person in Rome who was not either related to or knew a person who had died. The Romans became so desperate that they resorted to human sacrifice, the last recorded human sacrifice that the Romans would perform, killing a few slaves and burying them in the forum.

The battle of Cannae led to some of the support Hannibal had hoped for. Over the next three years Capua, Syracuse, and Tarentum went over to his side. Philip V of Macedonia also allied with Hannibal in 217 BC, starting the First Macedonian War against Rome. Philip's fleet, however, was unable to stand up to Rome's, so he was never able to provide any direct help in Italy.

However, Rome had come to understand the wisdom of Fabius' delaying tactics. Fabius Maximus was reelected consul in 215 BC and again in 214 BC. For the rest of the war in Italy, Rome employed Fabian tactics, dividing their army into small forces at vital locations, and avoiding Carthaginian attempts to draw them into field battles.

The war in Hispania

While all this was happening, the Romans had carried the war into Hispania. Over the years Rome had gradually expanded along the coast until in 211 BC it captured Saguntum. This prevented Hasdrubal from sending his brother any aid and also diverted Carthaginian reinforcements away from Italia. That same year Rome recaptured Capua and Syracuse, the second falling after what was now a two-year siege, made famous by the defense engines made by Archimedes, who was killed in the sack of the city.

However, Hasdrubal was able to defeat the Romans in battle and the two Roman commanders, brothers named Publius and Gnaeus Scipio, were killed. Even so Hasdrubal did not feel confident enough to expel the Roman army after his other losses.

The following year the Romans sent out Publius Scipio's son and namesake, Scipio Africanus Major with the authority of a consul even though he had not held any offices. Vowing to avenge his father and uncle, he proceeded directly to what was effectively the capital of Punic Hispania, Carthago Nova. It fell in 209 BC. Hasdrubal, deprived of his main port, decided to focus his efforts on the Italian peninsula, and, abandoning Hispania to some relatively weak garrisons, set out to repeat his brother's crossing of the Alps. His move was a failure.

This time, the Romans anticipated the Carthaginian army's arrival, and had two legions waiting for it to come down from the Alps. Hasdrubal was defeated and killed at the Battle of the Metaurus River (207). The first news Hannibal received that his brother had left Hispania came when Hasdrubal's head was flung into his encampment by a Roman horseman.

The Carthaginian forces that remained in Hispania were defeated a few years later, at Ilipa (206), and Hispania became a Roman province. In that time Rome had recovered Tarentum, and thanks to continual attrition and lack of support Hannibal's army had been confined to the southernmost part of Italia. Macedonia had also withdrawn its support, feeling that the Carthaginian defeat was now only a matter of time.

The attack on Carthage

Scipio returned to Rome a great hero, and, although he was technically ineligible, was elected consul in 205 BC. He resolved to end the war by attacking Carthage itself, and appealed directly to the Centuriate Assembly when he found the senate opposed this. Thus he was given command of the two legions in Sicily, plus 7,000 volunteers he had recruited, and the next year brought the war to North Africa when he landed at Utica, about twenty miles away from Carthage. Here he was counting on support from the Numidians, who resented Carthaginian control and so agreed to provide him with cavalry. Hannibal was recalled from Italia, and had to leave behind the Hispanic and Gallic contingents that made up about two-thirds of his army.

After the loss of Capua he had begun to lose influence, but he was still able to break off peace talks, and Scipio met him at Zama in 202 BC. The two men are said to have met face-to-face before the battle. Hannibal reminded Scipio of fate's role in the war, and how lenient Hannibal was to Rome when it was on the brink of destruction. Scipio replied that chance played a role in every decision every day, and would not give peace without battle. In the ensuing conflict, the infantry were evenly matched, and neither side was able to out-general the other.

The Numidian cavalry chased the Carthaginian horsemen away from the battle. It is possible that Hannibal wanted this to occur in order to have to fight only an infantry battle. However, the Numidians did not give enough chase to completely leave and were able to attack Hannibal's infantry from the rear. For this victory Scipio became known as Scipio Africanus. Carthage immediately sued for peace.

Results

Hispania was lost to Carthage forever, and she was reduced to a client state. A war indemnity of 10,000 talents was imposed, her navy was limited to 10 ships to ward off pirates, and she was forbidden from raising an army without Rome's permission. Numidia took the opportunity to capture and plunder Carthaginian territory. Half a century later, when Carthage raised an army to defend itself from these incursions, it was destroyed by Rome in the Third Punic War. Rome on the other hand, by her victory, had taken a key step towards domination of West Eurasia.

Hannibal survived the battle of Zama and continued to enjoy a leadership role in Carthage even after the end of the war. In 195 BC, after he was denounced to the Romans for plotting an attack with the help of the Seleucid king, Antiochus III, Hannibal fled to Antiochus's court in Syria. When Scipio was sent to meet with Antiochus in Ephesus, he talked to Hannibal, asking him to name the greatest general of all time. Hannibal said, "Alexander the Great."

Scipio then asked him who was the second. "Pyrrhus of Epirus," said Hannibal. Perhaps annoyed that Hannibal had not mentioned Scipio's name yet, Scipio pressed on and asked Hannibal who was the third. Hannibal said, "Myself." Scipio finally asked what would have happened if Hannibal had beaten him at the battle of Zama, and Hannibal said, "Then I would be the greatest general of all time." Rome feared Hannibal until the day he died, and even long after. Mothers would tell their children, "Hannibal ad portas," meaning "Hannibal to the gates[of Rome]" in order to scare them into being good. However, together with Philip of Macedon's attack on Italia, Hannibal's presence in the East contributed to Roman suspicion of the Hellenistic kingdoms.

Third Punic War

The Third Punic War was fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic from 149 BC to 146 BC. This was the last in a series of three wars.

In the years between the Second and Third Punic Wars, Rome was engaged in the conquest of the Hellenistic empires to the east and ruthlessly suppressing the Iberian people in the west, although they had been essential to the Roman success in the Second Punic War.

Carthage, stripped of allies and territory (Sicily, Hispania), was suffering under a yearly indemnity of 200 silver talents to be paid every year for 50 years, an enormous sum.

The Romans still harboured a bitter hatred for Carthage, which had nearly destroyed them in the Second Punic War. Sentiments ran so strong that the powerful statesman Cato stated during a discussion of Carthage's fate, ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse. (Besides which, I think that Carthage must be destroyed).

Meanwhile, Carthage had regained much of its prosperity through trade, further alarming Rome that a revived Carthage could again threaten them with war. The peace treaty at the end of the Second Punic War required that all border disputes involving Carthage be arbitrated by the Roman Senate and required Carthage to get explicit Roman approval before arming its citizens, or hiring a mercenary force.

As a result, in the fifty intervening years between the Second and Third wars Carthage had to take all border disputes with Rome's ally Numidia to the Senate, where they were decided almost exclusively in Numidian favour.

In 151 B.C., however, when the Carthaginian debt to Rome was fully repaid (meaning that, in Hellenic eyes, the treaty was now expired, though not so according to the Romans, who instead viewed the treaty as a permanent declaration of Carthaginian subordinance to Rome akin to the Roman treaties with her Italian allies) Numidia launched another border raid on Carthaginian soil, and in response Carthage launched a military expedition to repel the Numidian invaders.

As a result, Carthage suffered a humiliating military defeat and was charged with another fifty year debt to Numidia. Immediately thereafter, however, Rome showed displeasure with Carthage's decision to wage war against her neighbour without Roman consent, and told her that in order to avoid a war she had to "satisfy the Roman People." The Roman Senate then began gathering an army.

After Utica defected to Rome in 149 B.C., Rome declared war against Carthage. The Carthaginians made a series of attempts to negotiate with Rome, and received a promise that if three hundred children of well-born Carthaginians were sent as hostages to Rome the Carthaginians would keep the rights to their land and self-governance.

Even after this was done, however, the Romans landed an army at Utica where the Consuls demanded that Carthage hand over all weapons and armour. After those had been handed over, Rome additionally demanded that the Carthaginians move at least ten miles inland, while Carthage itself was burned. When the Carthaginians learned of this they abandoned negotiations and the city was immediately besieged, beginning the Third Punic War.

The Carthaginians endured the siege from 149 BC to 146 BC, when Scipio Aemilianus took the city by storm. Many Carthaginians died from starvation during the latter part of the siege, while many others died in the final six days of fighting. When the war ended, the remaining 50,000 Carthaginians (perhaps a tenth of the original pre-war population) were sold into slavery.

The city was systematically burned for somewhere between 10 and 17 days. Then the city walls, its buildings and its harbour were utterly destroyed and the surrounding territory was supposedly sown with salt to ensure that nothing would grow there again. The sowing may have been merely a symbolic curse against Rome's defeated enemy, or the account may be entirely invented; it does not appear in the records of the war, and historians today dispute whether it actually happened.

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