The Punic Wars

• Prior to the Punic Wars, Rome battled with its neighbors to expand. Greece had many colonies in southern Italy which was known as Magna Graecia.

• The Celts invaded from the north, sacking Rome in 390 B.C.E.

• One positive that arose was Rome created a huge system of roads to connect all of its empire. One of the most important roads that was built during the republic was the Via Appia or Appian Way.

• Also, such constant fighting led to dramatic innovations in the Roman military.

• For instance, the Romans developed the corvus on their ships, allowing sailors to connect their ship to that of an enemy by means of a plank and hook.

• The Punic Wars consisted of three separate wars fought by the Romans against Carthage from 264-146 B.C.E.

• Why “Punic” if the wars were against Carthage? In Latin, the people from Carthage were called the “Peoni” and anything related to them was Punic.

• The First Punic Wars were fought from 264-241 B.C.E. Each side lost nearly 100,000 men. In the end, Rome won and added Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica to its territories.

• The Second Punic War was fought from 218-202 B.C.E. This time the Carthaginians were led by Hannibal, the sworn enemy of Rome.

• To give his side greater strength, Hannibal employed a number of war elephants against the Romans.

• In a stroke of genius, Hannibal surprised Rome by crossing over through Spain and attacking from the North.

• To do so, Hannibal and his war elephants had to cross over the Italian Alps.

• For quite some time, Hannibal was very successful. Indeed, in the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C.E., the Romans lost 80,000 soldiers in just one day.

• However, the Romans held out and eventually Hannibal’s supplies were cut off and his army depleted. The Romans were led by a general named Scipio who forced Hannibal back to Carthage to defend his homeland.

• Scipio routed the Carthaginians. Rome demanded that Hannibal be turned over but he escaped and eventually committed suicide.

• About 50 years later in 146 B.C.E., war broke out again between Rome and Carthage in what is now known as The Third Punic War.

• Carthage was throttled again. After 100 years of on again, off again, war with Carthage, the Romans had enough.

• As you will see, you do not want to get the Romans to the point where they have had enough.

• First, Carthage was captured and burned to the ground.

• Anyone still living was sold into slavery.

• Then, the charred ruins of the city were smashed up and the area was ploughed up.

• Finally, to make sure nothing would grow there again, the Romans sowed salt into the ground.

• By the end of the Punic Wars, Rome had established itself as the major power of the western Mediterranean…

• …with a future eye on the world.