The Punic Wars took place between the years 264 a. C and 146 BC in which the powers of the moment were confronted during three wars that lasted almost a century.
What are the Punic Wars?
The Punic Wars are a series of three wars that occurred between 264 BC to 146 BC, fought between the Romans and the Carthaginians.
The word Punic derives from the Latin word punicus or poenicus, which was the word used by the Romans to refer to the carthaginians, ascendants of the Phoenicians.
The Punic Wars have been the greatest war conflict that occurred up to that time.
Background of the Punic Wars
The phoenicians they founded the city of Carthage in the mid-19th century BC, in what is now known as Tunis. Already in the third century BC it was a city of great dimensions and with great commercial power, to which no one could compare except Rome.
One of the important differences between the two cities is that Cartago had a great power at sea, something that Rome did not hold even remotely. However, the advantage that Rome had over Carthage was her army, the Romans had a great army permanent and made up of Romans, while Carthage hired indigenous mercenaries for its battles.
It was this difference over the army that made the Romans decide to attack sicily by land.
What was the cause of the Punic Wars?
The main reason why the Punic Wars began was due to a conflict of interests between both colonies, centered on Sicily.
Sicily was partly a territory dominated by the Carthaginians and, as you can already imagine seeing the consequences, a territory coveted by the Romans to achieve their expansion.
First Punic War
At that time Carthage was the most extraordinary power there was, with an extraordinary maritime empire in the Mediterranean while Rome was just emerging in Italy.
The first punic war It took place between the year 264 a. C. and the year 241 a. C., most of the battles that were lived during that time were won by the Romans except on a few occasions.
This situation was resolved with a peace treaty in which Carthage ceded control of Sicily to the Romans.
Even so, the Carthaginians suffered the revolt of their own mercenaries and, although Rome remained neutral, it conquered Sardinia and Corsica in 237 BC. In turn, he requested a review of the peace treaty to increase compensation.
Carthage continued to expand towards Hispania (peninsula of Spain and Portugal) and Rome concentrated on the Illyrian Wars to continue going towards Hispania when it ended.
Second Punic War
This war is also known as the Hannibal War, It happened between the year 218 to the year 201 a. c.
Carthage had stabilized its conquests in Hispania and this was a source of concern for Rome, since the area of trade with eastern Iberia. Thus, they divided the territory by zones of influence for one and the other.
In the end, Aníbal decided to skip the delimitation and besiege the Iberian city of Sagunto in 219 BC, a year later, Rome declared war and the Second Punic War began.
This battle is one of the most famous in history since the Carthaginians had to cross the Pyrenees and the Alps. They tried to make the peoples rise up against Rome and, although they succeeded with the Gauls, it was not so with the Italic peoples. This led to the fact that, despite the great victory at Cannae in 216 BC by the Carthaginians, a war of attrition by the Romans began that would mark the beginning of the end.
The Romans took over Tarraco (Tarragona) that prevented contact and the passage of its troops to the Italian cities. New Carthage It was conquered in 204 BC, which meant that little by little the entire territory fell into the hands of the Romans.
Given the danger that was happening, Hannibal was called to Carthage and fought in the war of 202 BC but the victory went to Rome. It was devastating, both the losses (human, territorial and trade) and the compensation to be paid, which meant the end of this power and the hegemony of Rome.
Third Punic War
Finally Rome manages to conquer the Carthaginian Empire (Sicily, Corsica, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula) and thus becomes the strongest state in the world. Western Mediterranean.
Carthage remained faithful to all the points of the peace treaty that it had agreed with Rome, but found in the farming a way to flourish This caused suspicion among the Roman aristocrats that led to the decision to make Carthage disappear.
After harassment by the Romans and the unacceptable request that leave the city and they went to the interior, they revolted and Rome returned to declare the war to them.
The Carthaginians had everything to lose. Rome had gained allies, it had troops and ships that they could not face. Therefore, the Carthaginians prepared for the siege and locked themselves in the city, resisting as long as they could but knowing that this would mean the end of an entire city and its citizens.
They won some battles, even though everything was against them. They fought, they forced the siege on the Romans, but in the end, they succumbed. The survivors were sold into slavery, the city razed and shattered.
End and consequences of the Punic Wars
The consequences of this war meant that the Carthaginian civilization and its culture were lost.
The territory stopped being called Cartago to be renamed as Africa and the city of Utica was chosen as the capital. Time passed until Tunis was rebuilt and Carthage was lost.
Little has been discovered about its history, although all the documents found from the Greeks and Romans hint at the grandiosity of this town.