What is the historical andcultural significance of the Roman destruction of Carthage?

Answer 1

Rome had imposed harsh penalties on Carthage in its bid to neutralise it and gain dominance of the Western Mediterranean. Carthage was such a resilient trader that it bounced back, so Rome created a crisis leading to the destruction of Carthage to eliminate its challenge. It sold the Caarthaginians into slavery and established a Roman military colony on the site to eliminate any chance of resurgence. The Phoenician peoples in the Levant, from which Carthage had sprung, by this time had come under domination of Persia and then the Macedonians, and so had ceased to be the dominant traders in the Mediterranean. Rome began expanding into Eastern Europe, absorbed Macedonia and progressively added the Greek world to its empire, also including the Phoenicians.

Answer 2

After three wars spanning 120 years, over control of the Western Mediterranean, Rome went for the 'final solution' to eliminate its resilient competitor for control of the Western Mediterranean - selling its people into slavery and establishing a colony on the site to settle its retired military veterans.

Answer 3

The cultural significance was that Rome's destruction of Carthage ended Carthaginian culture. The historical significance, besides the end of Carthage, was that Rome got rid of her main rival and gained control over the western basin of the Mediterranean.

Answer 4

Rome and Carthage fought the three Punic Wars against each other. The first war was of fought over the control of Sicily. Rome won, took over Sicily and seized Sardinia and Corsica from Carthage. In the Second war Hannibal invaded Italy from his base in Spain, which had been taken over by his father. The invasion failed. Rome defeated the Carthaginians in southern Spain and took over their territories there. The Numidians, Carthage's next door neighbours in Algeria and traditional allies, defected and became Roman allies. Rome gained control over the western basin of the Mediterranean Sea. Rome fought the third war to destroy Carthage.

With the wars against Carthage Rome became a great power in the whole of the Mediterranean. She already had one of the largest pools of infantry manpower. As the first war quickly became a war fought at sea and against the great (together with the Greeks) naval power in the Mediterranean, Rome, which hardly had a navy, had to build a large fleet. As she became more experienced, she became the greatest naval power in the Mediterranean. Rome's wealth increased as she gained Sicily and Sardinia which were important grain producers and Carthage's homeland (Tunisia), which was the second most important grain producer in the Mediterranean after Egypt. She also took over the rich silver mines of southern Spain. During the second war, Rome also fought against the most powerful kingdom in Mainland Greece because it allied with Hannibal. This was to lead to Rome later annexing mainland Greece and also expanding further into the eastern Mediterranean.

The Second Punic War also saw the beginning of the impoverishment of Italian peasant farmers. Many of them lost their land because their farms were ravaged by Hannibal or because they were neglected due to prolonged military service. The owners of the large landed estates took advantage of this to buy land on the cheap. This trend persisted during the rest of the period of the Roman Republic. The rich landlords also benefited from the large influx of slaves created by the wars of imperial expansion (slaves were war captives). Most of the slaves were bought by these landowners to work their fields. This gave them an abundant supply of labour with which they could expand their estates.