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The Punic Wars
The Romans fought three wars against Carthage, a city on the north coast of Africa. The wars are known as the Punic Wars because Puncia was the Roman name for Carthage. The first war was fought over Sicily, an island controlled by Carthage in the Mediterranean Sea off the southwest coast of the Italian peninsula. In 265BC, Sicily was richer than any other land in the area and a perfect target for the Roman army. The Romans won the war and forced Carthage to give up Sicily. A generation after the first war, Rome attacked Carthage a second time, but a young Carthaginian general named Hannibal nearly captured Rome. The Romans expected Carthage to attack from the sea, but Hannibal commanded an army from land Carthage controlled in modern Spain. Hannibal led his army in a daring and difficult journey over the Alps while riding on elephants. Hannibal’s army might have defeated the Romans, but Hannibal returned home to defend his native land when Roman soldiers invaded Africa in 202BC. The Roman army defeated Hannibal in Africa and won the second Punic War. Carthage was no longer in a position to hurt Rome after the second Punic War, but in 149BC, Roman leaders decided to destroy Carthage. A Roman senator named Cato ended every speech with the cry, “Carthage must be destroyed.” Rome defeated Carthage after almost three years of war. After a siege in 146BC, the Romans went from house to house slaughtering the people of Carthage. They sold the remaining citizens into slavery, burned Carthage’s harbor, and poured salt on the Carthaginian farmland. The salt made it impossible for crops to grow and ensured that Carthage would never again rival the Eternal City. |
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To cite this page: |
The
Romans depended on the plunder of their army. The Roman Senate had to
keep the army busy, or the army might have turned against them. By 265BC,
the army was now big enough to defeat anything it faced. Rome stopped
making citizens of the people it conquered. Newly conquered lands became
provinces of the Roman Republic.