Transcript Slide 1

Carthage
Result was the three
Punic Wars
264-146 BC
Carthage
had been
founded as
Phoenician
colony 500
years earlier
Dispute over control
of Sicily and trade
routes in the western
Mediterranean
brought Rome into
conflict with the
powerful North
African city-state of
Carthage
FIRST PUNIC WAR
• Primarily a naval
war
• Carthage very
good at this
because of long
experience as
naval power
• Rome had small
navy and little
experience
Defeated by
larger and more
experienced
Carthaginian
navy
SECOND PUNIC WAR
• Carthaginian general Hannibal
surprises Romans, leads army
from Spain, through the Alps,
and invades Italy from the
north
– Defeats Roman armies sent
to stop him several times
but will not attack Rome
itself
• Too well protected
ROME WINS
• Unable to defeat Hannibal in
Italy, a Roman army sailed
across the Mediterranean, and
headed for Carthage
Hannibal forced to leave Italy
to protect Carthage
Hannibal
THIRD PUNIC WAR
• Carthage finished after Second Punic War
– Hannibal committed suicide
– Economy shattered
– Lost all territory to Rome
– But some Romans feared it might revive
someday and challenge Rome again
Cato the Elder
ROME WINS A THIRD TIME
– Wins easily
– Entire population of city
sold into slavery
– Everything of value
carried back to Rome
– Everything else burned
and dumped into the
sea
– Site sown with salt so
that nothing would ever
grow there again
– Carthage completely
disappeared
Took over Greece,
Rome
Rome
Successor
Macedonia,
eventually
always
some of Asia Minor,
responded
became
kingdom
Syria,
weary
inAegean
the
of
Rome
drawn
into
the
and eastern Mediterranean
increasingly
playing
belief
thisthat
endless
called
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affairs
thein
by
achieving
refereeing
on
133
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aid
and
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of their
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inthat
the the
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wascontinued
against
better than
each
independence
having
otheroneof the
successor
successor kingdoms
kingdom
threaten
becomeRoman
too
powerful
interests
and
challenge Rome