Transcript The Punic Wars

The Punic Wars
Background
• Carthage and Rome had never liked each
other, but they had, for the most part, left
each other alone in the past. Both cities were
busy building empires of their own. Carthage
had grown into a huge empire. Carthage had
a strong army, a strong navy, and a strong
government.
• By 264 B.C. Rome had
conquered some Greek
city-states in southern
Italy.
• This brought them in
contact with the
Phoenician city of
Carthage.
• Carthage controlled most
of North and West Africa,
most of what is now
Spain, and some islands
off the coast of Italy.
• Romans felt threatened
by Carthage being that
close-and they wanted
Sicily’s granaries.
The Cause……
The First Punic
War
• 246 B.C. the first war broke
out that would last for 23
years.
• To assemble a navy Rome
modeled it ships after a
Carthaginian warship they
found abandoned on a
beach.
• They added a corvus, or
kind of moveable ladder, to
the front of each ship.
• The corvus allowed the
Romans to board enemy
ships and find hand to
hand. (essentially changing
a sea war into a land war)
• After 20 years of fighting, all
they had accomplished was
to kill a lot of people and to
cause a lot of hatred.
The First Punic
War
• To end the fighting, Carthage offered
Rome a deal.
• Carthage said: “If you’ll go away and
leave us alone, we’ll give you the
island of Sicily.”
• Rome took the deal. They also took
Sardinia and Corsica, the other two
islands off the coast of Italy.
• Carthage was furious. But they were
tired of fighting Rome.
• Carthage decided to fight Spain
instead, and make up the land they
had lost there.
• The general took his army and his
nine-year-old son, Hannibal, and left
for Spain.
• Before he left home, he made his son
swear that as soon as he was old
enough, Hannibal would fight the
Romans and make them pay for all
the lives they had cost. Hannibal
promised.
• That was the beginning of the legend
of Hannibal, military genius.
The Second Punic War
• In 218 B.C. General
Hannibal Barca attacked
the Roman army by land
from the north.
• Hannibal surprised the
Roman army by marchig
from Spain through
southern Gaul, and the
crossing the Alps into
Italy.
• They brought elephants
to help break through
the Roman lines.
The Second Punic
War
• Winning victory after
victory Hannibal’s army
fought its way to the gates
of Rome.
• However, they did not have
the heavy equipment
needed to batter the city’s
walls.
• They couldn’t get more
supplies because Rome
controlled the seas.
• Unable to capture Rome
Hannibal and his troops
roamed the countryside for
15 years.
• Instead of marching on
Rome, he drove Rome crazy
by attacking smaller
outposts and stealing food
and weapons, food
intended for Rome.
The Second Punic
War
• In 203 BCE, Rome had
had it with Hannibal.
They couldn’t catch him,
so they attacked
Carthage instead.
• Carthage, in a panic,
called Hannibal home.
Before Hannibal could
arrive, Carthage had
agreed to peace terms
with Rome. Terms:
• Carthage would leave
Spain, Gaul, and Italy
• Carthage would reduce
their navy to 20 warships
• Carthage had to pay 5000
talents (the money of the
time) in war damages
The Third Punic
War
• Following the second war
there was peace for 50
years.
• Then Carthage began to
show signs of regaining
power.
• To prevent this Rome
attacked in 149 B.C.
• They burned Carthage
and plowed salt into its
fields so nothing would
grow.
Rome Victorious
• That same year, the
Greek city-state of
Corinth and some of its
allies refused to obey a
Roman order.
• The Romans attacked
Corinth and burned it to
the ground. Rome
already controlled
Macedonia and Syria.
• Now it added Greece to
the areas under its rule.
• Rome became the
leading power in the
Mediterranean world.
Hannibal?
• Hannibal spent the rest of
his life fighting the growing
power of ancient Rome.
• The Romans never stopped
looking for him. In spite of
all their best efforts, the
Romans did not catch up
with Hannibal until he was
64 years old!
• Even then, they didn’t get
him. He chose to die by
swallowing the poison he
kept in his ring.
• Hannibal still ranks as one
of the most magnificent
military minds in history
and one of the world’s
greatest generals.