the punic wars. the punic wars were fought between rome and carthage

The Punic Wars

The Punic Wars were fought between Rome and Carthage.

The 1st Punic War was fought over the control of the island of Sicily.

Carthage’s navy was utterly destroyed in the war. In 241 B.C., a

peace treaty was signed.

Why was the Roman victory at Sicily so important?

• The Romans now had a buffer zone separating them from the Carthaginians.

In 221 B.C. Hannibal, a Carthage general, conquers a Roman ally in

Spain.

• The Romans demand Carthage dismiss Hannibal and send him to Rome. Carthage refuses and the 2nd Punic War begins.

Hannibal took his large army and planned an invasion of Italy.

In 218 B.C., he crossed the Alps and entered Italy.

Hannibal and his army annihilate the forces in Northern Italy and gain

alliances along the way.

• 50,000 Gauls join Hannibal.

Quintus Fabius Maximus became a military dictator of Rome and

decided to wait out Hannibal rather than engaging him in direct contact.

“The Delayer” was removed. Two inexperienced hastily send 80,000 troops to stop Hannibal, they fail.

• It is said not one Roman returned alive.

The Second Punic War ended at the battle of Zama in 202 BC, when Cornelious

Scipio borrowed a move from Hannibal's play book and invaded Carthage. Carthage

surrendered under Scipio's terms.

Zama was located just south of Carthage in North Africa.

The terms of surrender:• 1. Carthage had to hand over all their war elephants and war ships (except

for ten), plus prisoners of war and one hundred hostages.

• 2. Carthage also had to pay a huge war indemnity of 10,000 talents in fifty yearly installments of two hundred talents.

• 3. They also had to confine their reign to Africa (no more vacations in Spain).

• 4. The Cathagians had to return some of the surrounding land to the neighboring Numidian king Masinissa, who was an ally to Rome. This would help the Romans because Masinissa could keep an eye on Carthage for them.

• 5. Finally, Carthage couldn't go to war with anybody outside Africa at all. All their wars inside Africa had to be approved by none other than Rome.

Carthage had no hope after the battle. With almost no war ships, Carthage couldn't protect

their merchant navy. Ten thousand talents was a huge sum to pay. The loss of their elephants was a great strength lost, not to mention losing land!

Carthage saw this as a record low for Rome.For the victory over Carthage at Zama, Scipio

demanded that he receive the title Scipio Africanus - Conqueror of Africa.

Carthage begins rebuilding its army. Thus the 3rd Punic War

begins.

The Romans invaded Carthage destroying the city, going door to door, and killing the inhabitants.

The city burned for 17 days.

The great city of Carthage was destroyed.

To assure people do not rebuild Carthage, salt was sown in its

fields. Carthage was dead.

The End…