#PUNIC WARS 3RD WAR SERIES#

Roman legionaries could then board and capture Carthaginian ships. The hinged bridge would swing onto enemy vessels with a sharp spike and stop them. Because they knew that they could not defeat the Carthaginians in the traditional tactics of ramming and sinking enemy ships, the Romans added the corvus, an assault bridge, to Roman ships. Within two months the Romans had a fleet of over one hundred warships. Rome responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. In 260 BC they defeated the fledgling Roman navy at the Battle of the Lipari Islands. Initially the Carthaginian navy prevailed. After a harsh defeat at the Battle of Agrigentum in 262 BC, the Carthaginian leadership resolved to avoid further direct land-based engagements with the powerful Roman legions, and concentrate on the sea where they believed Carthage's large navy had the advantage. With the two powers now embroiled in the conflict, tensions quickly escalated into a full-scale war between Carthage and Rome for the control of Sicily. The Romans sent a garrison to secure Messina, so the outraged Carthaginians then lent aid to Syracuse. The Mamertines enlisted the aid of the Carthaginian navy, and then subsequently betrayed them by entreating the Roman Senate for aid against Carthage. It began as a local conflict in Sicily between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines of Messina. The First Punic War (264вЂ“241 BC) was fought partly on land in Sicily and Africa, but was largely a naval war. On the other hand, at the start of the First Punic War the Romans had no navy, and were thus at a disadvantage until they began to construct their own large fleets during the war. Unlike Carthage, Rome had large disciplined armed forces. In 200 BC the Roman Republic had gained control of the Italian peninsula south of the Po river. The Carthaginians were famed for their abilities as sailors, and unlike their armies, many Carthaginians from the lower classes served in their navy, which provided them with a stable income and career. However, most of the officers who commanded the armies were Carthaginian citizens. Instead, Carthage relied mostly on mercenaries, especially the indigenous Numidians, to fight its wars. While Carthage's navy was the largest in the ancient world at the time, it did not maintain a large, permanent, standing army. Of the great city-states in the western Mediterranean, only Rome rivaled it in power, wealth, and population. Founded by the Phoenicians in the mid-9th century BC, it was a powerful thalassocratic city-state with a vast commercial network. 4.2 Hasdrubal's campaign to reinforce HannibalДepiction of Hannibal and his army crossing the Alps during the Second Punic War.Дuring the mid-3rd century BC, Carthage was a large city located on the coast of modern Tunisia.3 Interval between the First and Second Punic Wars.The Roman victories over Carthage in these wars gave Rome a preeminent status it would retain until the 5th century AD. With the end of the Macedonian wars вЂ“ which ran concurrently with the Punic Wars вЂ“ and the defeat of the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great in the RomanвЂ“Syrian War ( Treaty of Apamea, 188 BC) in the eastern sea, Rome emerged as the dominant Mediterranean power and one of the most powerful cities in classical antiquity. By the end of the third war, after more than a hundred years, and the loss of many hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides, Rome had conquered Carthage's empire and completely destroyed the city, becoming the most powerful state of the Western Mediterranean. At the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire, while Rome was the rapidly ascending power in Italy, but lacked the naval power of Carthage. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily (which at that time was a cultural melting pot), part of which lay under Carthaginian control. The main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflict of interests between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus (or Poenicus), meaning 'Carthaginian', with reference to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry. At the time, they were probably the largest wars that had ever taken place.

#PUNIC WARS 3RD WAR SERIES#

The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC.

Punic wars 3rd war