The Punic Wars are three wars between the Romans and the Carthaginians (“Punians,” i.e., Phoenicians), which lasted, with interruptions, from 264 to 146 BC. e. When Rome turned into a great power, uniting Italy under its rule, it could not tolerate the dominance of Carthage in the western half of the Mediterranean - a dominance that was ensured for Carthage by the first treaties with Rome.
The vital interests of Italy, its security and trade, did not allow Sicily, where there had long been a struggle between the Greeks and the Carthaginians, to fall into the hands of the latter. For the development of Italian trade, it was necessary that the Strait of Messa be in the hands of Rome.
An opportunity to take possession of the strait soon presented itself: the Campanian mercenaries, as they were called. "Mamertines" (that is, "People of Mars") took possession of Messana. When Hiero of Syracuse constrained the Mamertines, the latter turned to the Romans, who accepted them into the Italian confederation.
Carthage understood the danger that threatened them from the establishment of the Romans in Sicily. The Carthaginians were able, having reconciled the Mamertines with Hieron, to introduce their garrison into the Messanian fortress, under the command of Hanno. The Romans then captured Hanno and forced the Carthaginians to clear Messana.
The first Punic War began (264 - 241 BC). Both Rome and Carthage were at the full height of their powers at that time, which were approximately the same. On the Roman side, however, there were several advantages: their rule in Italy did not arouse such hatred as the peoples it exploited treated Carthage; The Roman army consisted of citizens and allies and the bulk of it were villagers, while the troops of Carthage were not civil militia, but constituted mixed-tribal armies, where the Carthaginians were usually officers.
A significant part of the Carthaginian troops consisted of mercenaries. These shortcomings were partly offset by the fact that the Carthaginians had more money and a strong navy. The war began in Sicily with a Carthaginian attack on Messana, which was repulsed by Appius Caudius Caudex. Then Valerius Maximus "Messala" won a victory over the combined forces of the Carthaginians and Syracusans, the consequence of which was the acquisition of some cities in Sicily and the conclusion of peace with Hieron.
Later the Romans took Acragas (Agrigentum), so that only some of the coastal fortresses where Hamilcar Barca had established himself remained in Carthaginian hands. Since successful actions against them were possible only if they had a fleet that could cut them off from the sea, the Romans equipped, according to Carthaginian models, a significant fleet (100 penteras and 20 triremes). They invented drawbridges with boarding hooks, which made it possible at sea to take advantage of the superiority of the Roman infantry, which, having linked the drawbridge with the enemy, could engage in hand-to-hand combat.
Having suffered initial setbacks, the Romans soon won a significant victory at sea (at Mila, under the command of Gaius Duilius). In the spring of 256, the Romans decided to land in Africa, which took place (after a naval battle) under the command of Marcus Atilius Regulus and L. Manlius Volson. At first, things went so favorably in Africa that the Senate considered it possible to leave only half of the previous army to Regulus. This weakening of the Roman forces led to disaster: Regulus was defeated by the Carthaginians (under the command of the Greek Xanthippus) and he was captured. Only the pitiful remnants of the Roman army returned to Italy; Regulus himself died in captivity.
The death of the Roman fleet from a storm forced the Romans to equip a new fleet, but it was also destroyed by the storm. Meanwhile, in Sicily the war was going well for Rome: they took Panormus and by 249 the Carthaginians were left with only Lilybaeum and Drepanus. The Romans besieged Lilybaeum. Afterwards, luck changed them for a while: Publius Claudius suffered a severe defeat, near Drepan, from Atarbal. Another Roman fleet was damaged by the storm. Hamilcar established himself on Mount Erkte and Eryx. The Romans once again created a fleet and won a victory in 241, near the island of Aegusa, which cost the Carthaginians 120 ships.
Now that the sea was in the hands of the Romans, Gazdrubal Barka was convinced that it was impossible to remain on the island any longer. This led to the conclusion of a peace under which the Romans acquired all of Carthaginian Sicily and the islands located between Italy and Sicily. Sicily became a Roman province. In addition, Carthage undertook to pay an indemnity of 3,200 talents over 10 years. Immediately after the end of the war with the Romans, Carthage had to endure a difficult struggle with mercenary troops, which lasted almost 3 years and 4 months.
In connection with this uprising was the acquisition of Sardinia by the Romans: Sardinian mercenaries succumbed to Rome, and the Romans were able to capture the Carthaginian part of the island. This again led to war, which the Romans abandoned only after receiving a reward of 1,200 talents.
In the following years, Hamilcar Barca, the head of the patriotic party, which considered war with the Romans inevitable, created compensation in Spain for Carthage for the loss of Sicily and Sardinia. Thanks to him and his son-in-law and successor Hasdrubal, the south and east of Spain became Carthaginian; here they created (mainly from the natives) an excellent army, which was at the complete disposal of its commander-in-chief, and the silver mines provided significant funds.
Rome soon paid attention to the strengthening of its enemy, concluded an alliance in Spain with the Greek cities of Saguntum and Emporia and demanded that the Carthaginians not cross the Ebro River. In 220 (or in 221) Gazdrubal died, and his place was taken by the election of the army by the son of Hamilcar; inherited from his father enmity towards the Romans. Hannibal decided to take advantage of the circumstances that were favorable for the Carthaginians for the war with Rome. Cisalpine Gaul had not yet been pacified by the Romans, and disagreements with Macedonia caused by Illyrian affairs threatened them with war in the East. Hannibal attacked Saguntum, allied with Rome, and took it after an eight-month siege.
When the Roman ambassadors in Carthage refused to hand over Hannibal, war was declared. Meanwhile, as Rome hoped to wage it in Spain and Africa, Hannibal drew up a plan according to which Italy was to become the main theater of military operations: Hannibal hoped to deliver a decisive blow to the Romans there, making Cisalpine Gaul, which had just been conquered by the Romans, his base of operations. He hoped for active help from the Gauls and even from the Italian allies, who were burdened by submission to the Romans.
Having provided troops to Libya and Spain (where he left about 15,000 to his brother Hasdrubal), Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees with 50,000 infantry and 9,000 cavalry. With considerable difficulties, he was able to cross the Rhone (it was especially difficult to transport war elephants) and, heading northeast, entered the Alpine region. The crossing of the Alps (Little Saint Bernard) was extremely difficult. Hannibal descended into Cisalpine Gaul with only half his army.
The first clashes were unhappy for the Romans. Publius Scipio was defeated on the banks of the Ticino, and Tiberius Simpronius (whose troops were intended to land in Africa) on the banks of the Trebia. Hannibal crossed the Apennines and made a rather difficult campaign through a low-lying area irrigated by the Arno River, which was then in flood. Near Lake Trasimene, in Etruria, he destroyed the Roman army of Gaius Flaminius and, without even trying to approach Rome, which there was very little chance of taking, headed east, then greatly devastated the southern regions.
Despite these devastations and Roman defeats, Hannibal's hopes for the withdrawal of the Italian allies were so far in vain: with few exceptions, the allies remained loyal to Rome. The dictator Fabius Maximus decided to stick to a new war plan: he systematically avoided major battles with Hannibal in the open field and placed all his hope in depriving the enemy army of the opportunity to easily obtain provisions and forage and in the natural disintegration of the Carthaginian army. This system, which gave Fabius the nickname “The Slow Man,” was widely condemned in Rome. By the way, the chief of the cavalry, Marcus Minucius, was also against her.
The people, dissatisfied with Fabius, appointed Minucius as the second dictator. Hannibal spent the winter near the city of Geronia, moved to Apulia, and there, in the early summer of 216, the war took place. At the head of the Roman troops were the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paulus (candidate of the aristocratic party) and Gaius Terentius Varro, who was promoted to consul by the popular party (the rights of the commander-in-chief passed in turn from one consul to another). On the day of his command, Terence Varro began the battle. It ended with the complete defeat of the Roman army; 70,000 Romans were out of action; Among the dead were the consul Aemilius Paulus and 80 senators.
In Carthage they decided to send reinforcements to Hannibal, about whom the oligarchic party hostile to him and the war had cared very little until that time. Even more important, it seemed, should have been assistance to Hannibal from Macedonia. Syracuse also joined the enemies of Rome. Eventually, even many of the southern Italian Roman allies began to defect to the Carthaginians. Thus, the very important city of Capua fell away from the Romans. Rome strained every effort to create a new army and did not stop even before including several thousand slaves in the legions.
Hannibal spent the coming winter in Capua. In light skirmishes, happiness soon began to pass to the Romans, and meanwhile, the necessary reinforcements did not come to Hannibal: Carthage again left Hannibal without active support. Meanwhile, in Spain, the brothers Gnaeus and Publius Scipio acted so successfully (victory at Iberus, 216) that Gazdrubal was not able to bring his troops from there to reinforce his brother. Macedonia also did not send its contingents to Italy: Rome armed enemies in Greece against it - the Aetolians, Sparta, Messene, Elis, etc.
The struggle in Greece diverted the attention of Macedonia for a long time and, after some time, it made peace with Rome. In 212, Marcus Marcellus took Syracuse, then Akragas passed to the Romans, and by 210 all of Sicily was again in their hands. In Italy the position of the Romans in 214 and 213 was very good, but in 212 Hannibal was able to occupy Tarentum; the fortress, however, remained in the hands of the Romans. Metapontus, Thurii and Heraclea also passed to the Carthaginians. The Romans besieged Capua; Hannibal could not push them back because the Romans were well entrenched in front of the city.
To force the Romans to lift the siege of Capua, Hapnibal undertook sabotage: he approached Rome itself, but did not dare to attack the city. And this attempt to save Capua ended in nothing: Rome did not lift the siege, and in 211 the city surrendered, while the Romans severely punished the Capuans and abolished their old urban structure. The capture of Capua was a great success; he made a very strong impression on the Roman allies. 209 - Tarentum was also returned by the Romans (it was taken by Q. Fabius Maximus).
The death of Marcellus, killed in a battle with a powerful enemy (in 208), did not improve the situation of the Carthaginians. Their army was melting away; they needed significant reinforcements. For a long time Hannibal had been waiting for them from Spain, where, after the first successes, things went unfavorably for the Romans. The Carthaginians, with the help of King Gala and his son Masinissa, forced Rome's African ally, King Syphax, to peace, and this enabled Hasdrubal to turn all his forces against Spain.
In addition to him, Gazdrubal, the son of Gisgon, and Mago also acted in Spain. They were able to take advantage of the division of Roman forces and the betrayal of the native detachments that were in Roman service and separately defeat first Publius and then Gnaeus Scipios. Both Scipios fell in battle (212); almost all of Spain was temporarily lost to Rome.
The sending of reinforcements there and the appointment of the young, capable Publius Cornelius Scipio (son of the deceased Publius) as commander-in-chief soon, however, again gave Rome an advantage in Spain. 209 - Scipio captured New Carthage, but, despite the victory at Bacula, he could not prevent Hasdrubal from leaving to help his brother in Italy. A new victory near Becula over the troops of Hasdrubal, Gisgon's son, and Mago, gave all of Spain to the power of Rome: Mago was forced to send the rest of the Carthaginian troops to Italy; the last Carthaginian city, Gades, surrendered to the Romans.
However, while Scipio was operating so successfully in Spain, Rome itself was in serious danger. 208 - Gazdrubal, having crossed the Pyrenees, passed through Gaul, crossed the Alps and moved to join his brother. The Battle of Metaurus (Gaius Claudius Nero) saved the Romans from the danger of uniting the Carthaginian forces: Gazdrubal's army was destroyed, he himself fell (207). Hannibal's position was becoming quite difficult, especially since the successful end of the war in Sicily, Sardinia and Spain and the conclusion of peace with Macedonia freed the hands of his enemies.
The Senate finally gave Publius Cornelius Scipio permission to land in Africa, but Scipio still had to create the army necessary for this. It included two legions that had been disgraced at the Battle of Cannae, and many volunteers. The year 205 passed in preparations, and in 204 the army sailed from Lilybaeum to Africa, by 400 transport ships and 40 military. Scipio landed near Utica and defeated Syphax, who had betrayed Rome. Supporters of peace in Carthage started negotiations with the Romans, which, however, did not lead to anything.
Then the government of Carthage summoned Hannibal and Mago to Africa. The Battle of Zama (October 19, 202 BC Zama, Africa) destroyed the last hopes of the Carthaginians and led to the conclusion of a peace, according to which Carthage burned its warships, renounced Spain and the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and pledged not to wage wars outside Africa at all, and do not fight in Africa without the permission of Rome. Moreover, the Carthaginians had to pay an indemnity of 200 talents every year for 50 years. Thus, the second war ended in favor of Rome, despite the genius of Hannibal: the Roman state turned out to be more durable than Carthage.
In Africa, as a consequence of the victory of Rome, the kingdom of Syphax was transferred to the friend of the Romans, Masinissa. In Carthage, defeat led to democratic reforms. The Patriots hoped to engage Rome once more when she was in difficulty. Therefore, the Romans demanded the extradition of the head and hope of this party - Hannibal, who had to flee. Power in Carthage again found itself in the hands of the oligarchic party, which tried in every possible way to maintain good relations with Rome in order to retain Carthage, at least, its trade and wealth.
For Rome, the time from 201 to 149 was not in vain: the victories of the Roman army over Antiochus of Syria and in Macedonia, their successes in Greece raised the power of Rome to unprecedented heights. But Rome was still afraid of its age-old enemy, and Italian traders saw the Carthaginian merchants as dangerous competitors. Therefore, in Rome they were very pleased that Masinissa did not give rest to Carthage, which did not have the right to defend itself with weapons from capture by the Numidian king. These seizures became more and more shameless, and the complaints of the Carthaginians in Rome led to nothing: it was not in the interests of Rome to tie Masinissa’s hands.
Eventually, Carthage ran out of patience and went to war with Masinissa. This gave Rome the long-desired reason to put an end to the enemy, whose rapid rise in prosperity was so marveled by Cato, who constantly said. 149 - Rome sent a large army to Africa (consuls Manius Manilius and Lucius Marcius Censorinus). The Carthaginian peace party wanted to avoid war and agreed to give the Romans satisfaction.
The Romans acted vilely: they agreed to peace subject to the fulfillment of their demands, and when Carthage fulfilled them, the consuls set new, more difficult conditions. So, the Romans first achieved the surrender of hostages, after weapons, and then they already presented their last demand - that the Carthaginians move out of Carthage to some area lying no closer than 80 stadia from the sea.
Under such conditions, the new settlement could not be a trading city. The Carthaginians refused to comply with this demand; The siege of Carthage began. The Carthaginians, with all possible efforts, created a new fleet and weapons and decided to defend themselves to the last. Gazdrubal assumed the main command over them. Initially, the Romans failed in their attempts to take the city by storm and were forced to begin a proper siege. 149 and 148 were unsuccessful for the Romans. In 147, the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilian, son of Aemilius Paulus, adopted by the surname Cornelius Scipio, landed in Utica.
Scipio covered the besieging army with two lines of fortifications and completely cut off Carthage from land with them, which made it extremely difficult to transport supplies and led to the flight and surrender of a significant part of the inhabitants of Carthage. The rest locked themselves in the old city and in the fortification of Birse. Having built a dam, Scipio blocked access to the harbor and from the sea, but the Carthaginians dug new entrance to the harbor and built a fleet, which, however, could not provide supplies. 146, spring - the Romans were finally able to penetrate the city, occupy the trading area and moved towards Birsa.
The struggle continued for a long time in the city, part of which was burned down. On the 7th day, the Carthaginians, who had locked themselves in Birsa, also surrendered. A small detachment (mostly Roman defectors) locked themselves in one of the temples, along with Gazdrubal. Gazdrubal himself surrendered, but his wife, children and everyone else died in the fire. The Romans sacked the city and received enormous booty; then they burned Carthage and marched the plow over the place where it stood.
Under pain of a curse, the restoration of the city on this site was prohibited. Most of the prisoners were sold into slavery; The Carthaginian region became a Roman province, the capital of which was Utica. Thus ended the Punic Wars. The consequence of the Punic Wars was the disappearance of the largest power that had previously held Rome back. Only the victory over Carthage made it possible to extend Roman rule to all the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
First Punic War
Starting small, the Romans, through energetic efforts over a number of centuries, gradually subjugated all the peoples of Italy to their power, until finally the sea, which appeared before them in all directions, put a limit to the success of their weapons. In these almost continuous wars they became a powerful warlike people, and therefore it could not be expected that the obstacle that arose would force them to idly fold their arms. They see that only a narrow strait separates their state from beautiful Sicily, which cannot be looked at as a land completely separate from Italy, and which in powerful alien hands can threaten the security of this latter. Meanwhile, the Carthaginians, or Punes, as the Romans usually called them, were already preparing to take possession of all of Sicily - the same Carthaginians who had already discovered their claims to Tarentum, and in whose hands at that time the entire western coast of the Mediterranean was located. If they are allowed to take possession of Sicily, then the Strait of Sicily will also be in their power; then the path to the eastern sea will be closed for the Romans and they will not be complete masters of the shores of their state. Thus, circumstances indicated to the Romans the need, even if they did not want it, to move on, to cross the borders of Italy; and then the Punic Wars began.
Carthage was a Phoenician colony, founded, according to legend, in 888 by Dido, the daughter of the Tyrian king, who fled from the oppression of her selfish brother. The city was located on the Gulf of Tunis, in the fertile region of North Africa, and had an excellent harbor. The fertility of the soil, which the Carthaginians cultivated with great diligence and skill with the help of their slaves in the manner of modern plantations, and even more - brisk industry and extensive trade, favored by the location, soon made Carthage a flourishing city, finally outstripping all the numerous colonies of the Phoenicians on the shores and islands of the western sea. and even metropolitan cities. But the rich trading population, contrary to Phoenician custom, also became a military post. The Phoenicians were not a warlike people who thirsted for political freedom; Their only desire was to trade and profit as much as possible.
For the unhindered implementation of these goals, they voluntarily sacrificed their freedom, paid the most onerous taxes. Only in the most extreme cases did they defend their lives and property with all the fury of despair. They offered little resistance to the Greeks, who were gradually pushing them out of the eastern Mediterranean with their trade. But when the Greeks made their way further and established themselves in Sicily and various points on the African, Gallic, and Spanish coasts, then the Phoenicians faced the prospect of complete displacement from these places, in the absence of any other outcome or shelter; To avoid this fate, all they had to do was take up arms. Thus, Carthage became the vanguard of the Phoenicians in the fight against their national enemy the Greeks. Thanks to this he acquired military force and used it to spread his conquests to subjugate the rest of the Phoenician colonies and the surrounding Libyan tribes, whom he forced to pay him tribute and supply people for military service, Carthage became the capital of a powerful North African state, which held in its hands and western part The Mediterranean Sea with its islands, and also exploited the wealth of its coastal countries, especially Spain. In Sicily, where Phoenician colonies had existed since time immemorial, the Carthaginians retained, despite the opposition of the Greeks, the western and northern coasts and, in the changing wars with Syracuse and other Greek cities, often became masters of almost the entire island. The advantage gradually shifted to the side of Carthage, because the Greek cities, torn apart by the enmity of parties and oppressed by tyrants, increasingly lost their strength and ability to resist. After the removal of Pyrrhus, the Carthaginians remained the dominant people on the island, and it seemed that soon all power over it would be concentrated exclusively in their hands. But then the Roman “Stop!” was heard in front of them. When Pyrrhus was leaving Sicily, he looked from the ship for the last time at the beautiful island and said to his friends; “What a battlefield are we leaving for the Carthaginians and Romans!” Twelve years after the utterance of these prophetic words, the Roman legions crossed the Strait of Sicily to measure their strength with the Carthaginians on a new battlefield.
The strength of both states at the beginning of the war was almost equal. At sea, the Carthaginians were far superior to their opponents in power: they had the most significant fleet of that time and knew how to control ships even better than the Greeks. When the Carthaginian commander Ganion advised the Romans not to start a war, he among other things told them: “Without our consent, you will not wash your hands at sea.” In cash The Romans were also significantly inferior to the Carthaginians, since Carthage, according to Polybius, was the richest city in the world at that time. In Rome, in comparison with Carthage, simply poverty reigned. The Carthaginian envoys who traveled to Rome before the start of the war said with ridicule upon returning to their homeland that the environment of the Roman senators was extremely patriarchal, that the only silver table service was considered sufficient for the entire Senate and that in all the houses where they visited, it was served to them all the same silver service. To the same extent as individual Roman families, the state treasury of Rome was poor in comparison with Carthage; but Rome needed less money to wage war than Carthage. The Romans were a warlike people; from their own citizens they could form an army twice as numerous as the Carthaginian one, and they fought most of their wars with the help of this army; as for their Italian subjects, who formed the reinforcements of their national army, they were for the most part in such a favorable position that they fought for the integrity of the Roman state in order to preserve their own interests. Although the Carthaginians had the opportunity to field 40 thousand citizens, the Carthaginian citizen had an aversion to military service, and the state waged wars mainly through mercenary soldiers, which cost it very dearly. Moreover, in critical moment these mercenaries could not always be assembled and they seemed much less reliable than the Roman soldiers, who could be called to the banner at any time. The Carthaginian subjects lived under heavy oppression, like state slaves, and therefore they should have been used for war with the greatest caution, remembering that they were ready to take advantage of every opportunity to overthrow the yoke. The Roman state was a correctly and firmly organized whole; each individual citizen enjoyed personal freedom and could, with the help of personal merit, achieve the highest honors and positions; the reins of government were generally in the hands of the best and brightest people. On the contrary, the Carthaginian state was an oligarchically governed republic, where noble and wealthy families were at the head and exploited the state power; all other citizens, whom these rulers were suspicious of, enjoyed almost no influence. Such a government could not compare with the Roman one in terms of the reliability of its foundation, and in moments of danger it did not show the presence of mind and the moral vigor that permeated both the Roman Senate and the entire Roman people. "No step back!" - this was the motto of the Romans in misfortune. The Carthaginians often hesitated and retreated at the last critical moment. On whose side, under such conditions, the final victory should have remained is not difficult to decide.
The reason for the explosion of the first Punic War, which lasted 23 years (264-241), was the following circumstance. The Campanian mercenary troops of the Syracusan tyrant Agathocles took possession of Messana after his death (289). They killed the men, divided the women, children and property among themselves and, like the aforementioned Campanians in Regium, founded a robber state here. Since these people won the right to life by the sword, they called themselves the sons of Mars, the Mamertines. By conquering other cities, the Mamertines little by little spread their dominance throughout the island, so that after some time they occupied third place in Sicily after the Carthaginians and Syracusans. But these latter saw them as inconvenient and hated neighbors. In Syracuse, the mercenary usurpers placed at the head of the government at this time young man from the family of the tyrant Gelon, Hiero, the son of Hierocles, who had already distinguished himself in many campaigns. Having acquired for himself the favor and trust of the Syracusans and the Sicilian Greeks in general by an intelligent and moderate course of action, he alienated from himself those mercenaries to whom he owed his rise, again gave weapons to the citizens and thus organized a new mercenary army, on which he could rely more accurately than on the previous one. . With this army, Hiero marched against the Mamertines to punish them for the many crimes they had committed against the Sicilian Greeks. The brilliant victory, which gave him the royal title from his fellow citizens, forced the Mamertines to retire beyond the walls of the holy fool. Seeing that they could not cope with Hieron, and fearing his bloody revenge, they began to figure out which of the foreigners they would turn to for help; some advised to hand over the city to the Carthaginians, others to the Romans. The majority decided in favor of Rome, and an embassy was sent there with instructions to invite the Roman government to take possession of Messana.
The Roman Senate was indecisive. He realized that it would be a political mistake to allow the Carthaginians, dangerous for Rome, to take possession of such an important fortress, the third city of Sicily; but, on the other hand, didn’t it seem disgraceful for a venerable state to conclude a friendly alliance with a band of robbers, friends of those very rebels of Regium, whom Rome itself had punished in the bloodiest way not long before? Moreover, the occupation of Messana would inevitably entail a war with Carthage, the outcome of which could not be foreseen. Since the Senate did not know what to decide, the consuls, who wanted war, transferred the matter to the national assembly, and the people, guided by the right political instinct, did not hesitate to decide to provide the requested help and start a war. The necessary measures were immediately taken. The legions moved to Regium, where the ships of the Greek allied cities of southern Italy gathered in order to transport Roman troops.
When the military tribune Appius Claudius arrived in Regium with the vanguard of the Roman militia, news came to him from Messana that the Carthaginians had intervened in Messanian affairs and arranged peace between the Mamertines and Hiero, that the Carthaginian fleet was stationed in the Messanian harbor, and the Carthaginian garrison in the fortress there. Deputies from the party of the Mamertine population that allowed the Carthaginians into the city came to the Roman commander and expressed gratitude for the help that they no longer needed. The tribune, a proud, courageous man who thirsted for glory, did not pay attention to the embassy's statements and prepared to continue his journey. Despite the fact that the strait was blocked by the Carthaginians, he moved by boat to Messana, appeared at the national assembly and there, in the presence of the Carthaginians, announced to the Mamertines that Rome was taking upon itself the role of delivering them from the Carthaginian yoke; The silence that the frightened Mamertines showed at this time was recognized by the tribune as an expression of their consent, that they really wanted Roman help. Then he returned to Regium again and, not paying attention to the headwind, raised the sails. But the wind scattered his ships and drove some of them into the Carthaginian fleet, which was cruising in the strait. The Carthaginians wanted to avoid war with Rome, and their commander Hanno politely released the ships with a request to refrain from going to Messana. Claudius proudly rejected this courtesy and, with the small number of troops remaining with him, arrived at Messana. There he convened a popular assembly and also invited Hanno to it under the pretext that he wanted to end the dispute between Rome and Carthage through a peaceful explanation. After a long and bitter debate between both sides, a Roman soldier suddenly grabbed the Carthaginian general and, amid shouts of approval from the Mamertines, dragged him out of the assembly. Hanno was then imprisoned, but ignominiously bought his freedom by ordering his garrison to cleanse the city, at the request of Claudius. The Carthaginians put him to death for this.
Thus Messana, the cornerstone of Sicily, came under Roman rule (264). But soon a strong Carthaginian fleet appeared in its harbor under the command of another Hanno, the son of Hannibal. While these ships were plying in the strait with the aim of blocking the passage of the Roman army, landing on the shore ground force The Carthaginians besieged Messana from north side. Hiero camped on south side. But in one of dark nights Consul Appius Claudius Caulex crossed the strait with his army and entered the city. Then he defeated first Hiero and then the Carthaginians and freed the city from the siege. Roman courage won, Messana was in the power of the Romans. While the Carthaginians began new preparations for war, Hiero, both this and the next year, was placed in a somewhat awkward position, and found it necessary, in his own interests, to make peace with the Romans. From that time on, during his long reign, he remained their most faithful ally.
The Carthaginians continued the war alone. Their preparations were completed only in 262, and then they brought 50 thousand people under the command of Hannibal, the son of Giscon, into the large, heavily fortified city of Agrigentum (Acragas). Both Roman consuls besieged the city and put it in a desperate situation by famine; They completely defeated the large army under the command of Hanno that came to the rescue, and when after this battle Hannibal, taking advantage of the darkness and fatigue of the enemy, withdrew along with the garrison, the Romans took possession of the city. Agrigentum was subjected to terrible robbery, all the inhabitants were sold into slavery. The Romans subsequently rebuilt the city again.
Most of the island was now in Roman hands; The Carthaginians held out only in their fortified coastal cities. To expel them from these shelters and secure the conquests they had made, as well as the coasts of Italy, the Romans needed a navy. They built it and defeated the Carthaginians at sea. The hero to whom Rome owed its first naval victory deserves us to devote a special chapter to him, although we know very little about his life and other exploits.
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ThreePunic Warslasted intermittently from 264 to 146 BC. e. Wars were fought betweenRomeand North African public education - Carthage. In the middle - endIII century BC e. Carthage and Rome sought to extend their power to the Mediterranean peoples and states. At the same time, the Second Punic War takes important place in the history of military art and diplomacy.
Every war is like the Patriotic War
Let's say a few words about the First Punic War, which lasted 23 years (264-241 BC). Its punes (a distorted name for the Phoenicians - the ancestors of the Carthaginians, who inherited this name) lost and paid huge indemnities to Rome, which, unlike the then already powerful Carthage, was only gaining strength in those days.
The cause of the war was the following circumstances. In the middle of the 3rd century BC. e. the possessions of the Roman Republic reached the south of the Apennine Peninsula. Then Rome turned its attention to a tasty piece of land in the Mediterranean Sea - the island of Sicily. The same island lay in the area of interest of Carthage. The latter had a powerful fleet, while the Roman fleet at that time was very meager. In record time, the Romans built a fairly serious fleet (by 260 BC). In addition, the Romans, known for their engineering, decided to use the fighting qualities of their infantry at sea. They came up with the so-called corvus(“raven”) - a transfer boarding bridge that could be rotated around an axis, hooked to the side of an enemy ship and turned naval battle to "land". Soon almost all enemy ships were captured. And during the remaining time of the First Punic War, the Carthaginians won only one naval battle. As a result, in addition to indemnities, Rome received Sicily.
A caveat is worth making here. In history, Rome fought each of its wars ideologically as a Patriotic War. Carthage perceived the wars with Rome as colonial, distant ones that could be won or lost, which, of course, was a shame, but the world would not have collapsed because of it.
Second Punic War
The first reason for the start of the Second Punic War (218-201 BC) was diplomatic. Soon after the first war, an agreement was concluded on the division of spheres of influence between Carthage and Rome. In the southwest, the dividing line ran through Spain. One of the Spanish cities entered into an alliance with Rome, thereby breaking the agreement between Rome and Carthage. Carthage sent troops led by Hannibal, who besieged and took the city. Residents were killed. After unsuccessful negotiations, Rome declared war on Carthage. But in the meantime, Hannibal was already marching from Spain through the Alps towards Italy.
Hannibal made a big mistake - he did not explore the road through the Alps. As a result, out of a 60,000-strong army, only 26,000 soldiers survived the transition, and almost all of the war elephants were lost. Hannibal had to spend several weeks restoring the army and attracting the Gauls (aka the Celts, the old enemies of Rome) to his side.
Transition of the Carthaginians through the Alps. Drawing by Heinrich Leutemann
In the first period of the war, Hannibal was completely successful. In heavy, devastating battles, the Romans became convinced that they were fighting an excellent commander. Then the Senate appointed the aristocrat Quintus Fabius Maximus as dictator for six months. He began to use scorched earth tactics and wage guerrilla warfare against Hannibal's troops. But this only made it possible to prolong the war to restore the strength lost in the first period of the Second Punic War.
In 216 BC. e. The fight against Hannibal was led by new consuls, Gaius Terence Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paulus. A new army was assembled. But at the Battle of Cannae that same year, the outnumbered Romans were utterly defeated thanks to Hannibal's cunning and leadership talents. After this, many Italian cities began to switch to the side of the Carthaginian commander, and Carthage decided to send support to Hannibal. However, Hannibal did not dare to march on the Eternal City, making a fatal mistake. He invited Rome to make peace, but Rome refused and new army, mobilizing all his resources, because for him it was a patriotic war.
Meanwhile, evidence came from Spain that the Romans were defeated there too. The Senate sent Publius Scipio, the future Scipio Africanus, there. He quickly proved himself to be a commander worthy of his ancestors, as well as a noble man, by taking New Carthage. In Scipio, the Romans finally had a charismatic figure in this war. In 205 BC. e. he was elected consul.
F. Goya. Hannibal gazes at Italy from the heights of the Alps
Scipio proposed leaving Hannibal and his army in Italy, and throwing the Roman army against Carthage. The Roman authorities did not support Scipio financially, allowing him to wage war in Africa at his own peril and risk. Scipio landed in Africa and inflicted a number of serious defeats on Carthage. Hannibal was urgently recalled to Africa. At the Battle of Zama, his troops were defeated by the forces of Scipio. As a result, Carthage lost the war and was forced to pay huge sums of money to the Roman Republic and hand over hostages. Carthage was broken, but continued to live richer than the victors. Hannibal, in turn, became the first man in Carthage, was engaged in political affairs in other countries, and the Romans were hunting for him, which ultimately led to the fact that Hannibal, wanting to avoid captivity, poisoned himself.
Carthage must be destroyed
On long years Carthage forgot about its great-power politics and switched to economics, and Rome temporarily forgot about the existence of its sworn rival, until one day a Senate commission, which included a veteran of the war with Hannibal, Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder, went to Carthage. He saw with pain that Carthage was prospering, as he announced in the Senate.
The years between the Second and Third Punic Wars were complicated for Carthage by relations with Numidia. King Massinissa, taking advantage of the ban on Carthage having an army, regularly made campaigns against it, plundered it, and Rome did not interfere with this. Things got to the point that Carthage could not stand it, gathered an army, but lost to Massinissa. For Rome, this became a signal: this situation was promoted and presented by the Roman authorities as if Carthage had actually raised an army not against the Numidians, but against the Romans. Cato constantly added fuel to the fire, ending each of his speeches in the Senate with the words: “And yet I believe that Carthage should be destroyed.” Although Cato had many opponents on this issue, including Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilian Africanus the Younger (the adopted grandson of the winner Hannibal), in 149 BC. e. war was declared.
A consular army of 80 thousand soldiers landed in North Africa. Carthage was presented with demands: to liquidate the army, pay indemnities, hand over 300 hostages from among the noblest Carthaginians and release all prisoners. This was the usual behavior for the Romans: first “undress” the enemy, then put the finishing touches. Carthage obeyed. After all this, there was another requirement: to move to other places where it would be impossible to conduct maritime trade. Carthage decided to respond to this with armed (!) resistance, but first asked for a month to think about the resettlement. The Roman consuls, deciding that Carthage had nothing to defend itself with, agreed to provide this time for preparations for the resettlement. This oversight allowed the Carthaginians to prepare: women cut their hair to weave ropes for throwing weapons; workshops worked around the clock preparing weapons; the population was training. Doomed and desperate, Carthage will remain in a state of siege for three long years.
Until 147 BC. e. The Romans were unable to get things moving. Everything changed when Scipio Aemilian Africanus the Younger was elected consul. He managed to restore order and establish discipline in the army; embankments and siege structures were erected. Famine reigned in Carthage. In the spring of 146 BC. e. the assault began. Street fighting lasted for a week, the Carthaginians fought for every house, but their fate was sealed. The city was razed to the ground, the territory was plowed up, filled with sea water, so that nothing would ever grow here again and no one would settle. Rome rejoiced limitlessly, having become the master of the entire Mediterranean.
First Punic War (264-241 BC)
But the second concentric circle was not yet completely closed: in sight of the Italian coast, separated from it by a narrow strait, stretched Sicily, with its rich cities and fertile fields, for the possession of which they fought Ancient Greece and the Carthaginians. The Romans, as the rulers of Italy, could not remain indifferent spectators of this struggle. They landed in Sicily and entered the era of the Punic Wars, that is, they entered the third concentric circle, formed from the regions that made up the Mediterranean coast. The struggle between the Sicilian colonies of the Greeks and Carthage was a struggle between two civilizations, European and Asian, as in the Middle Ages, when the Byzantines and Saracens fought for Sicily.
The Romans had previously been on friendly terms with the Carthaginians, as evidenced by numerous trade treaties. Now antagonism was bound to emerge between the interests of both peoples. The assistance provided by Rome to the Roman party in Messana caused the First Punic War, which lasted 24 years. Powerful Syracuse sided with the Romans; The Roman peasant militia, disciplined in the legions, repeatedly defeated detachments of skilled Greek mercenaries under the command of Carthaginian leaders. But Carthage, as a sea power, could only be defeated at sea - and the Romans soon learned this, turning a sea battle into a land battle with the help of boarding bridges invented by Duilius. Not content with victories in Sicily, the Romans already in the first war equipped an expedition to Africa, threatening Carthage itself. The experiment was unsuccessful, but the result of the war was for the Romans the possession of Sicily - the first Roman province, which was soon followed by the occupation of the coasts of Sardinia and Corsica.
There was a brief lull: in 235 BC. e. The temple of Janus in the Forum was even closed, a rare sign of complete peace. The Romans began to pacify the sea robbery of the Illyrians on the Adriatic Sea and colonize the region bordering the Gauls; This alarmed the Gauls and caused a war, during which the Romans, in 222 BC. e., they took Milan, strengthened themselves on the Po River and marked the beginning of the transformation of Cisalpine Gaul into northern Italy.
Second Punic War (218-202 BC)
The First Punic War was actually a delimitation of the spheres of influence of both rivals. After the war, each of them tried to strengthen and expand in the sphere provided to him: the Romans - on the islands and in Italy, the Carthaginians - in Spain, on the shores of which Phoenician colonies had long existed. Relying on these cities, the famous family of commanders and politicians, the Barcids - Hamilcar, his son-in-law Hasdrubal and sons Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago - conquered the country south of the Ebro, united the Iberian tribes into a strong military state, with a fighting army and a full treasury, representing a more reliable stronghold for Carthage than armies of mercenaries, always prone to mutiny.
In 221 BC. e. power over Spain passed to the 26-year-old Hannibal, who embodied the enmity against Rome with African passion. He began to complete in Spain the work that the Romans were completing in Italy - the unification of the country - and moved to Saguntum to take possession of northern Spain. Saguntum turned to Rome for help. The Romans first stood up for their new client diplomatically and demanded that Carthage hand over Hannibal, but Saguntum fell - and war became inevitable.
The Second Punic War is undoubtedly the most dramatic episode ancient history. It attracted the attention of Greek historians, of whom Polybius came to us partly in the original, partly in Livy’s retelling; it also gave rise to the first Roman historian, just as the first Punic War gave rise to the first Roman epic (Nevia). Its drama is determined not only by the fact that, like the Persian wars, it was a fatal struggle of two races for existence, but, mainly, by the personality and fate of the main character. The bold military plan of the young commander, his transition with cavalry and elephants through two snowy ridges - the Pyrenees and the Alps, brilliant victories at Trebia, at Lake Trasimene and at Cannes; Hannibal's 16-year endurance amidst the most difficult circumstances, tragic fate Hasdrubal and Mago, who came to his aid, the forced return to Africa to defend Carthage, the defeat at Zama, exile and wandering in a foreign land as victims of Roman hatred - all this attracts attention so much that it obscures the real background of the war.
The First Punic War did not break the power of Carthage, and a new clash was inevitable. In 238 BC. e., taking advantage of the unrest in Carthage, the Romans took Sardinia from him and annexed Corsica. In 237 BC. e. The Carthaginians sent Hamilcar Barca to Iberia (Spain), who, having collected a strong army and taking advantage of Rome’s wars with the Gauls and Illyrians, conquered the eastern coast of the Iberian (Iberian) Peninsula. After the death of Hamilcar in 228 BC. e. his work was continued by his son-in-law Hasdrubal (killed in 220 BC), and then by his son Hannibal. In an effort to limit the expansion of the Carthaginians, the Romans extracted from them in 226 BC. e. obligations not to extend their possessions north of the Iber River (modern Ebro).
In 219 BC. e. Hannibal captured the Iberian city of Saguntum, allied with Rome. In response, the Roman Senate declared war on Carthage. In 218 BC. e. unexpectedly for the Romans, Hannibal made the most difficult transition from Northern Iberia through the Alps to Italy and defeated two Roman armies on the Ticinus River (modern Ticino) and on the Trebia River; he was supported by the Ligurian and Gallic tribes. Having established control over Northern Italy, Hannibal in 217 BC. e. invaded central Italy; in the spring of 217 BC. e. he severely defeated the consul Gaius Flaminius at Lake Trasimene, but then moved not to Rome, but to Apulia, hoping to win over the Italian communities. However, the majority of the Italians remained loyal to Rome.
Hannibal's position became more complicated when the Romans elected Fabius Maximus as dictator, who used new tactics - he avoided a general battle and wore down the enemy in small skirmishes. But in 216 BC. e. The Romans abandoned this tactic. In June 216 BC. e. consul Terence Varro gave the Carthaginians a decisive battle at Cannae and suffered a terrible defeat; many cities in Bruttium, Lucania, Picenum and Samnium, as well as the second largest city in Italy, Capua, went over to Hannibal; The Macedonian kingdom of Syracuse entered into an alliance with Carthage.
In such difficult conditions, Rome mobilized all its forces; he managed to prevent the fall of a significant part of the Italian allies and assemble a new army. In an effort to lure the Carthaginians away from Italy, the Romans opened new fronts in Spain and Sicily. Nevertheless, until the end of the 210s BC. e. they were unable to achieve significant success. In Italy, Hannibal in 213 BC. e. thwarted the Romans' attempt to take Capua, and in 212 BC. e. won several victories in Lucania and Apulia and captured the largest southern Italian port of Tarentum. In Spain, the Roman army, although it won in 214-213 BC. e. a series of victories, in 212 BC. e. was completely destroyed by Hasdrubal, Hannibal's brother, in the battle on the river. Ebro. The Romans were more successful in Sicily, where consul Claudius Marcellus in 212 BC. e. took Syracuse.
The turning point in favor of the Romans occurred in 211 BC. e., when they captured Capua; this was not prevented by Hannibal’s demonstrative campaign against Rome (“Hannibal is at the gates!”). In 210 BC. e. Cornelius Scipio the Elder was sent to Spain, who in 209 BC. e. took New Carthage, the center of the Carthaginian possessions on the Iberian Peninsula. In the same year, in Italy, Fabius Maximus returned Torent to Roman rule. In 207 BC. e. The Romans defeated the army at the Gallic Seine, which Hasdrubal brought from Spain to help Hannibal. In 206 BC. e. The Carthaginians were forced to finally cleanse Spain.
In the spring of 204 BC. e. Scipio landed in North Africa, and in 203 BC. e. defeated the Carthaginians on the Great Plains, which forced the Carthaginian authorities to recall Hannibal from Italy. In 202 BC. e. With the support of the Numidian king Masinissa, Scipio won a decisive victory over Hannibal at Zama. In 201 BC. e. Carthage had to accept difficult peace conditions: he ceded Spain and all of his island possessions in the Mediterranean to the Romans, transferred almost the entire fleet to them, pledged to pay a huge indemnity for fifty years and not wage war without the consent of the Roman Senate. As a result of the Second Punic War, Rome became the hegemon of the Western Mediterranean, and Carthage lost its importance as a great power.
Third Punic War (149-146 BC)
In 146 BC. e. Carthage was destroyed. How great was the hatred of Carthage in Rome among the generation that remembered the devastation of Italy and the fear of Hannibal - this is evidenced by the notorious phrase that Cato always repeated: “however, I believe that Carthage must be destroyed.” Carthage conscientiously fulfilled the treaty with Rome for half a century, but, finally driven out of patience by the incessant seizures of Carthaginian land by Massinissa and not finding protection and justice from Rome, it sent an army against the Numidian. The Romans saw this as a violation of the treaty that forbade the Carthaginians to wage war without the permission of Rome, and under this pretext they demanded the complete disarmament of Carthage, and when this was accomplished, they destroyed the city and resettled the inhabitants to another place, far from the sea. Then followed a three-year heroic defense of the city, ending in its complete destruction. This is how the Roman province of Africa was formed.
Punic Wars- bloody wars waged by the Roman Republic in the 3rd - 2nd centuries BC. with Carthage. The Romans won brilliant victories and heavy defeats.
Second Punic War
Third Punic War
Consequences of the Punic Wars
The great conquests of the Roman Republic during the Punic Wars created great problems. It immediately became clear that embezzlement was flourishing in the provinces. Population discontent grew. Without the help of all of Italy, Rome could not have won the wars. But the allies received nothing from the conquests because they were not Roman citizens. They demanded equal rights for themselves.
The division of Roman citizens into the super-rich and the impoverished people was rapidly progressing. Even among the Roman nobility there was no longer unity. Some understood that changes were needed, others wanted to keep everything the same. Began civil wars , that is, the struggle between the Romans themselves, citizens of one state. The Roman Republic as a form of government perished in the fire of these wars. A different, dictatorial power was established.
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