Student Essay on The Punic Wars

The Punic Wars

Summary:   The Punic Wars was a series of three wars between Rome and Carthage from around 264 B.C.-146 B.C. The Punic wars mainly take place in west Mesopotamia in Sicily and Italy.

The Punic Wars was a series of three wars between Rome and Carthage from around 264 B.C.-146 B.C. The Punic wars mainly take place in west Mesopotamia in Sicily and Italy. The First Punic war was from 264-241 B.C., and was won by the Romans. The Second Punic war, which was the main one, was from 218-202 B.C. and was again won by the Romans. The third and final Punic war was from 149-146 B.C., and was the final blow from the Romans to Carthage.

The first Punic was started as a result of the crisis at Messana, which took place around 264 B.C. Messana was an important location on the straits separating Sicily and Italy. After the crisis at Messana the Romans and Carthaginians were at each other's throats in many battles on land and sea. Carthage's strategy was to hold their defenses and to let the Romans tire themselves out while the Romans went all out attack. One of the main battles was the battle for Agrigentum, which was in possession of Cartage. However, the Romans took over the city when the Carthaginians were tired and when they cut off their back up, and the Carthaginians fled the city.

After the First Punic war many things happened before the second one began. In the 23-year span in between the First and Second Punic War Hannibal came into the picture, and eventually took over control of the Carthage army. While in command he and the Carthaginians took over and gained much land. Then in 219 B.C. Hannibal and his men attacked Saguntum, which broke the treaty made after the first war, and Rome and the Carthaginians go back to war.

Also, after the First Punic War Carthage was in very large debt and had a hard time paying the Romans their money due. They were made to evacuate Sicily, and they had to let prisoners of war go freely. They also had to give some islands north of Sicily to the Romans and evacuate the islands in between Sicily and Africa. The also had to pay 3200 talents to the Romans over a period of ten years. Finally neither of the sides could attack each other or their allies.

Talent is an ancient unit of mass. In ancient Greece one talent usually equaled 26 kg of silver. A 26 kg of talent = 6500 dollars in American money today. So, Carthage would have ended up paying $20,000,000 if they were using today's money.

The Second Punic War was the biggest and most important of the three Punic wars. It was started when Hannibal broke the treaty and took Saguntum, which is later recaptured by Rome. After Saguntum, Hannibal then crossed Ebro and subdued Spain while he gains allies including the Gauls. After this he went into Gaul Rhone River where he transported his elephants over and went on a rampage of victories. Then he started his well-known fourteen-day journey over the Alps, and afterwards won many little battles. However, he fled when the Romans catapulted a Carthage consul's head into Hannibal's camp. Without Hannibal the Carthaginians were devastated and when Hannibal came back it was too late to help. This brought the Second Punic War to an end and wounded Cartage forever.

After the Second Punic war Carthage had to give up Hispania and pay 10000 talents. Also they weren't supposed to raise an army without the Roman's consent (which they did leading to the third Punic War). Finally they had to provide ten war ships to prevent pirating.

The Third Punic War was just a last attempt in an attempt at a miracle win. This war was started when Carthage attacked Masinissa, allies with the Romans in the second Punic War. This war lasted only three years or so, and no real big battles happened. With the Romans easily winning, Scipio Aemilianus took Carthage and destroyed it, ending the Punic Wars.

Carthaginian's main general in the Punic wars was Hannibal Barca. Hannibal Barca swore eternal enmity to Rome at the age of ten. In 221 B.C. Hannibal's dad's son-in-law died as commander in Spain, and Hannibal was elected to take over the Carthage army. In 219 B.C. he captured Sagunto, provoking the Egunda treaty, which led to the Second Punic war. During the first four years of the Second Punic war Hannibal won many battles; however, his luck ran out in 214 B.C. and went down hill from there. Eventually Hannibal fled to Bruttium where he stayed for four years. After four years Hannibal came back but it was too late and peace was granted in exchange of Carthage handing over Spain. Finally, Hannibal killed himself on 182 B.C. to avoid surrendering to the Romans.

One of the tactics that the Romans used during the Punic Wars was the use of a corvus on ships. A corvus was a large bridge that was lowered onto an enemy's ship and connecting the two ships. Then the Romans, good land fighters, boarded the other ship and slaughtered the crew on board. After slaughtering the crew the Romans took the ship for themselves.

During the first Punic War, since it was in hilly Sicily the two sides used some strange tactics. The land battles were mainly little skirmishes. Sieges and land blocks were also very common. Most of the land barriers were set up near ports, not allowing the army to get reinforcements and new supplies.

One other tactic that helped Rome was the tactic called Fabian tactic. Fabian is a tactic that seeks to try to wear down an enemy and buy time. Thus, when Fabius was sent out to beat Hannibal, knowing he had less money, army, and supplies he used the Fabian tactic. He prevented Hannibal from attacking Rome, thus costing Carthage many troops and money waiting in the fields while no battles was fought. Even though this strategy worked very well Fabius was removed as general because he won no large battles.

In the Punic Wars the Romans used corvus, which I talked about earlier. They also used a sword called a gladius, which was a two-foot stabbing sword. Later into the war they started using slashing swords, which was taken from the barbarians. They also used torsion, which was a catapult like thing, which could send javelins up to 800 yards. The armor was mainly included a bronze helm, bronze greaves, and bronze cuirass. The helms usually also has a thick crest. Some of the wealthier soldiers used mail armor. Also they used thrusting spears, mainly used while riding horses in battle.

During the Punic War many important battles took place. In 218 BC the Battle of the Ticinus and the Battle of the Trebia took place, both won by Hannibal. In 217 BC Hannibal ambushes the Roman army wining yet another victory. In 216 BC the battle of Lucius Aemilius Paullus takes place, which is considered the one of the greatest battle of tactical art. In 212 BC Hannibal's luck runs high and defeats the Romans in three battles including two with Flavius. In 211 Hannibal tries to break a siege of the city of Capua but fails. Hannibal defeats Marcellus, Roman's main general, in 210 BC, and 209 BC. In 207 BC Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal is killed in the Battle of the Metaurus. Finally in 202 BC the Romans win the battle of Zama ending the Second Punic War.