Beginning in 264 B.C., the three Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome lasted for almost a century. and culminating in a victory for the Romans with the obliteration of Carthage in 146 B.C. By the time the First Punic War began, Rome had taken control of the whole Italian peninsula, and Carthage, a potent city-state in North Africa, had emerged as the world's foremost naval force.
After his spectacular invasion of Italy, Hannibal was defeated by Roman forces under the command of Scipio Africanus in the Second Punic War. Carthage was destroyed by the Romans during the Third Punic War, transforming North Africa into yet another province of the mighty Roman Empire.
Rome and Carthage
According to tradition, the city-state of Carthage was established on the northern African coast, just north of present-day Tunis, around the year 814 B.C. by Phoenician settlers from the Mediterranean port of Tyre (in what is now Lebanon). (The Latin word for Phoenician was the source of the name "Punic," which eventually came to refer to the conflicts between Carthage and Rome.)
Carthage was the most prosperous, technologically advanced, and powerful naval power in the area by 265 B.C. Carthage and Rome have historically maintained cordial relations, and over the years, the two cities have signed numerous treaties outlining commercial rights, despite the fact that Carthage had violent conflicts with several other regional powers, most notably Greece.
Initial Punic War (264-241 B.C.)
Rome made the decision to get involved in a conflict concerning an assault by soldiers from the city of Syracuse upon the city of Messina on the western coast of the island of Sicily (then a Carthaginian colony) in 264 B.C. Carthage backed Syracuse, while Rome backed Messina. As a result, the fight between the two powers for control of Sicily quickly descended into open conflict.
Rome rebuilt its whole fleet over the period of over 20 years in order to take on Carthage's strong navy, and it achieved its first naval victory at Mylae in 260 B.C. along with a significant triumph in the Battle of Ecnomus in 256 B.C.
Rome refused to give up despite the failure of its invasion of North Africa that same year, and in 241 B.C. The Carthaginian navy was defeated by the Roman fleet in a decisive maritime battle, shattering their fabled naval superiority. Sicily became Rome's first province outside its borders at the conclusion of the First Punic War.
Following Punic War (218-201 B.C.)
Rome conquered Corsica and Sardinia over the following decades, but Carthage was able to create a new center of power in Spain starting in 237 B.C., led by the competent general Hamilcar Barca and later by his son-in-law Hasdrubal.
In their histories of Rome, Polybius and Livy claim that Hamilcar Barca, who passed away in 229 B.C., forced his younger son Hannibal to swear an oath of blood against Rome while he was just a small boy. Hannibal assumed leadership of the Carthaginian armies in Spain after Hasdrubal's passing in 221 B.C.
Hannibal
Two years later, Hannibal effectively declared war on Rome when he led his army across the Ebro River and attacked Saguntum, an Iberian city that was under Roman protection. Hannibal and his army, which may have numbered up to 90,000 soldiers, 12,000 cavalry, and several elephants, marched from Spain across the Alps and into Italy during the Second Punic War. There, they defeated Roman forces at Ticinus, Trebia, and Trasimene.
At the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C., Hannibal's audacious elephantine invasion of Rome reached its zenith when he used his superior cavalry to surround a Roman force twice the size of his own and inflict heavy fatalities.
The African Scipio
Under the leadership of the rising young general Scipio Africanus, the Romans were able to recover from this terrible defeat, and the Carthaginians were forced to relinquish control over Italy.
In order to defend North Africa, Hannibal's forces were compelled to withdraw from the conflict in Italy in 203 B.C. The Carthaginians were decimated at the Battle of Zama the following year by Scipio Africanus and his army.
Carthage's reign in the western Mediterranean came to an end as a result of Hannibal's defeats in the Second Punic War, which gave Rome control of Spain and left Carthage with only its holdings in North Africa. Additionally, Carthage was compelled to surrender its navy and pay Rome a hefty indemnity in silver.
Punic War III (149-146 B.C.)
Cato the Elder and other hawkish Roman Senate members worked to persuade their colleagues that Carthage (even in its debilitated state) posed a continuing threat to Rome's sovereignty, which led to the Third Punic War, by far the most contentious of the three wars between Rome and Carthage.
The rallying cries of Cato, "Carthage must be destroyed!
which some historians have pointed out as an early defense of genocide.
The Third Punic War began in 149 B.C. when the Romans dispatched an army to North Africa following Carthage's formal breach of the peace pact it had signed with Rome by launching war on the neighboring state of Numidia.
Prior to a change in Roman leadership that placed the young general Scipio Aemilianus (later known as Scipio the Younger) in charge of the North Africa campaign in 147 B.C., Carthage survived the Roman siege for two years.
Destruction of Carthage
Aemilianus made a powerful assault on Carthage's harbor side in the spring of 146 B.C. after tightening the Roman defenses surrounding the city. He pushed into the city and destroyed home after house while driving the enemy army towards their citadel. The Carthaginians capitulated on February 5 after seven days of horrifying violence, destroying an old city that had endured for over 700 years.
According Roman mythology, Scipio Aemilianus sobbed as he saw the once-mighty city crumble into total ruin. He responded, "A wonderful moment, Polybius; but I have a fearful sense that some day the same catastrophe will be pronounced on my own country," when asked why by his teacher Polybius.
He then cited a proverb from Homer, "A day will come when sacred Troy shall disappear, and Priam and his people shall be murdered," as he imagined the eventual fall of Rome.
The 50,000 Carthaginians who had survived the Punic Wars were sold into slavery. The Macedonian Wars began in 146 B.C., and Roman forces proceeded east to overthrow King Philip V of Macedonia. By the end of the year, Rome had conquered an empire that stretched from Spain's Atlantic coast to the border between Greece and Asia Minor (now Turkey).