What tactics Romans used to defeat the carthaginians in the first Punic war?

Answer 1

A land power, Rome established a navy to match Carthages'.

The Roman fleet matched that of Carthage in size, but not in quality of shipbuilding and skills of rowers. The Romans built a large fleet for the first time and they were inexperienced. Carthage had long been one of the naval powers in the Mediterranean. What finally tipped the balance was that:

1) when both the Carthaginian and Roman sates were financially exhausted and could not build another fleet to continue the war, the wealthy Roman citizens raised the money to build a fleet. The wealthy in Carthage did not. This fleet won the final naval battle (the battle of the Aegate islands). This gave Rome control of the seas and the Carthaginians had to negotiate peace.

2) the Roman commander in this battle did away with the corvus. This was a bridge which was used to board the enemy ships. It was built to make up for the inability of inexperienced rowers to make the complicated manoeuvre for ramming enemy ships, the standard tactics of the time. It worked at the beginning, but it made the ships top heavy and less manoeuvrable. It is thought that it was because of this that many Roman ships were lost in storms. In this battle, getting rid of the corvus and of sails made the Roman ships as nimble as those of Carthage.

Answer 2

Because of Sicily's rough terrain the war soon fought mainly at sea. Rome did not have a navy to speak of and built her first large navy. What was helpful to the Romans were:

1) The corvus. Her inexperienced Roman sailors were not a match for the highly skilled ones of Carthage. Thus, the Romans equipped their ships with the corvus a boarding bridge with a heavy spike at the bottom to make up for her disadvantage. Instead of the complicated manoeuvre of heading the front of the ship towards the enemy ships to ram it, the Romans could flank it, pin it to the corvus and board it, which was easier. It proved successful. Rome won most of the naval battles.

2) The Roman rich. Rome lost most of its fleet in a storm. The Roman state was broke. Rich Romans financed the building of a new fleet. This fleet won the final battle of the war.

3) Hanno the Great. He was the leader of the anti-war faction in Carthage. He reduced the Carthaginian navy, giving the Romans time to rebuild its navy. When Carthage heard of this undertaking it stopped the demobilisation and built new ships to ensure it would be bigger. However, it was assembled quickly, it was undermanned, its sailors were poorly trained and it was weighed down by reinforcements and supplies for the Carthaginian army in Sicily. It was a bad fighting force.

Answer 3

This fight over Sicily soon reached an impasse because of the rugged terrain of the island and the conlfict became mainly a naval war. The Romans hardly had a navy to speak of. They built a navy which matched in size the mighty navy of the Carthaginians. However, their inexperienced sailors were not a match for the highly skilled ones of Carthage. Therefore, there was a needed to avoid the standard and complex manoeuvre of trying to ram the enemy with the prow of you ship. To make up for this the Romans equipped their ships with the corvus (crow), a boarding bridge with a heavy spike at the bottom which fastened to the enemy ship. The Romans fought by drawing their ships close to those of the enemy and lowering the corvus. The on-board legionaries then boarded the enemy ship. The Romans had usually the upper hand, because their infantry was far superior to the relatively poorly armed crews of their opponents.

The corvus won the Romans most of the naval battles of this war especially because the Carthaginians were unable to adapt their navel tactics to the Roman strategy, leaving the latter with the naval advantage. However, it had a serious disadvantage. Its weight on the prow made the ships unstable, less manoeuvrable and very vulnerable to storms. After a failed expedition to Carthage's territory (Tunisia) a fleet was sent to take the survivors back to Sicily. A storm destroyed it and the Roman casualties may have been in excess of 90,000. A second expedition to Africa was destroyed by a storm. Then the Carthaginians routed the Romans at the Battle of Drepana, sinking almost all the Roman ships because the conditions of the battle favoured the greater manoeuvrability of the Carthaginian ships. This put Carthage in charge of the sea because the Roman state could not afford to build a new fleet

The Carthaginians made the mistake of demobilising their fleet. In Rome rich citizens financed the construction of a new fleet. This fleet was victorious in the Battle of the Aegates Islands, the battle which won the war. Because of an unfavourable wind, the Roman commander decided to strip the ships of their masts, sails and other unnecessary equipment to make them more manoeuvrable in the rough conditions. The Romans ship enjoyed greater manoeuvrability because the Carthaginian ships were laden with equipment and provisions for the Carthaginian troops on Sicilian land. The Roman navy had come of age. It reached the skill level necessary for doing away with the corvus and its disadvantages. The corvus was never used again.