Facts On The Punic Wars
In the 3rd century, Rome and Carthage were two of the biggest empires that were expanding. Rome and Carthage battled in the sea. The series of these conflicts were called the Punic wars. Carthage fought Rome very fiercely with military generals like Hannibal, but still lost the war. |
By the time the third war ended, Rome had managed to completely destroy Carthage. People of Carthage were sold as slaves, their buildings were destroyed and the harbor was smashed. Because of the Punic wars, Rome became the most powerful city in the Mediterranean. Rome started controlling the entire Mediterranean region, the most important trade routes and they even had their presence on some of the foreign shores. Rome controlled everything in that region without allowing anybody else to enter.
Some of the facts of the Punic war are as follows:
The Punic war gets its name from the Latin word called Punici as the ancient Phoenicians were responsible for founding Carthage. Punici was the Latin term for Carthaginians.
The Punic war started in the year 264 BC because Rome was feeling threatened by Carthaginian expansion. Their very presence on the island of Sicily threatened Rome. At the start of the war, Rome did not have a navy. But they raised a naval army in a very short period of time by capturing a Carthage ship and copying it. All the ships of Carthage were destroyed. Carthage did not have the funds to build ships again, so they signed a peace treaty with Rome. They had to leave Sicily.
The second Punic war took place between 218 and 201 BC. General Hannibal Barca fought in these wars. He walked with a huge army including elephants and marched over the Italian Alps from Spain. However, in the war, they lost several army men and elephants. Hannibal attacked Italy from the northern side and managed to win many battles against Rome.
Rome could never overcome the fact that Hannibal almost defeated them in 149 BC. Rome was restless and in order to stop the Punic wars, it asked the Carthaginians to leave Carthage, a demand that Carthaginians refused. Carthage repeatedly refused to leave the city and finally Rome lost patience and attacked, and then destroyed the city completely.
Fourteen years later, after the second Punic war, Rome asked Carthage to give up Hannibal to them. Carthage refused to do that and as a result Hannibal went on an exile, self declared by him. He was constantly chased by the Romans. However, finally in the year 183 BC, Hannibal consumed poison and killed himself. He was 64 years old at that time.
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The Punic Wars of Rome determines the three wars of Rome and Carthage that spread over a span of over three centuries. It lasted from 264 until 146 BC. They are called the Punic Wars, as the Carthaginians were called Punicus in Latin. 