0
Punic Wars
The Punic Wars were a series of military engagements between the ascendant Roman Republic and the former Phoenician colony of Carthage, in what is now Tunisia. The Wars were notable for the Carthaginian General Hannibal's Crossing over the Alps with elephants in the Second Punic War and for Rome's complete razing of Carthage in the Third Punic War.
591 Questions
How did the Romans change tactics after Cannae?
The Romans returned to their original strategy, rather than changing it. Quintus Fabius Maximus had chosen a strategy of attrition. This consisted in avoiding open battle with Hannibal and instead pursuing his with hit and run guerrilla tactics. The aim was to wear Hannibal down in the long run in recognition of the fact that Hannibal was liable to rout the Roman armies in an open battle. This strategy was unpopular with many Romans who saw it as cowardly and who hoped for a decisive victory that would end the war quickly. The magnitude of the rout at Cannae convinced these dissenters that a quick victory was out of the question and that the strategy of Quintus Fabius was wise.
After Cannae there were no major battles between Rome and Hannibal. Instead, the Romans concentrated on defeating their allies in Southern Italy who switched to supporting Hannibal after the Cannae to deprive him of this support and on repressing revolts in Sicily. They succeeded in this.
Hannibal was dealt a blow when his brother Hasdrubal was intercepted and his army was routed in central Italy. Hasdrubal was bringing reinforcements and siege machines from Spain to Hannibal in southern Italy. Without these reinforcements and machines Hannibal could not sustain his war effort. Moreover, Carthage refused to sent reinforcements with its navy. Hannibal ended up withdrawing to the easily defensible mountains of Calabria (the toe of Italy) and was stuck there for the last three years of his Italian campaign.
It was Hannibal Barca. He did not actually abandon his campaign. He was recalled to Carthage because Rome was attacking Africa. However, his campaign had come to a dead end. He had retreated to Calabria (the toe of Italy) because it was easy to defend it due to its steep mountains and had sent the last four years stuck there.
His campaign reached this dead end because his brother Hasdrubal, who was bringing reinforcements and siege machines to him, was intercepted, routed and killed. Without these siege machines, Hannibal could nor attach Rome (he had lost his when crossing the Alps). Moreover, Hannibal also needed more soldiers, but after Hasdrubal's fate, Carthage refused to support him.
The famous Roman general, Scipius Africanus was conducting a successful campaign in Spain and Carthage was at risk of losing it. The base of Carthage's wealth was Spain, especially her silver mines. The bulk of the Carthaginian infantry was supplied by allies in Spain. Carthage decided that her economic interests in Spain were more important than Hannibal's campaign.
Scipius Africanus won in Spain and Carthage had to cede Spain to Rome. After this, he attacked Africa (where Carthage was) and Hannibal was recalled to help to defend the city.
What were the 3 things Hannibal did during the 2nd Punic war?
He invaded Italy and for over a decade isolated Rome and conquered its armies in Italy.
He returned to Carthage when it was threatened by a Roman Army.
He lost the Battle of Zama there, and surrendered to Rome.
Why did rome and Carthage fight the punic war?
There were three Punic Wars
The First Punic War started because of tension in the city of Messana (Messina), in eastern Sicily, on the straight, 2 miles from the mainland, where some mercenaries had seized the town. Syracuse, also in the east, the most powerful city in the island, attacked them. The mercenaries asked both Carthage and Rome for help. Carthage responded first and established a garrison in Messana. The mercenaries, perhaps unhappy about this, asked Rome for help again. The Roman senate did not want war, but the assembly of the soldiers voted for war. Its motives are not clear. The explanations given by historians are speculations. Rome took the city and then besieged Syracuse, which became a Roman ally. Carthage gathered a mercenary army and prepared for war. The war developed into a fight for control over Sicily.
The Second Punic War has also been called the Hannibalistic War. Hannibal wanted it for revenge. He ruled the newly conquered Carthaginian territories in southern Spain. The cities in the north of the Spanish coast were concerned abut Carthaginian expansion and allied with Rome for protection. Rome and Carthage signed a treaty which set the river Ebro as a boundary between the two territories. Neither side was to cross the river. Hannibal besieged and seized a city just across the river, sparking the war. The Romans did not have a military presence in Spain and did nothing during the seven months of the siege. In the end she had to declare war to save her reputation. Hannibal had already prepared an army and devised a strategy. He decided to take the war to Italy and headed there at an astonishing speed. He also made provisions for the defence of Spain and Carthage. Rome had to neutralise Hannibal in Italy, take Spain from the Carthaginians and attack Tunisia, which is where Carthage was.
In the Third Punic War Rome declared war because she wanted to destroy Carthage. There were concerns about a resurgence in the power of this city.
Why do you think Hannibal chose to invade Rome from the north instead of staging a head attack?
The Roman fleet was dominant so Hannibal had to go overland. That route was through southern Gaul and Italy.
Did Rome become the most powerful force in the Mediterranean sea after the Punic wars?
Rome was probably already the most powerful force on land. During Rome's wars of expansion in central and southern Italy, eight of the peoples who lived in this part of Italy became allies of Rome. They had to provide Rome with soldiers who fought in auxiliary forces which supported the Roman legions in exchange for a share of the war loot and protection. The allies provided 60% of the forces Rome could mobilise. This gave Rome the largest pool of military manpower in the Mediterranean. However, prior to the First Punic War, Rome hardly had a navy to speak of.
The First Punic War quickly developed from a war on land to a war at sea. The Carthaginians had one of the most powerful fleets in the Mediterranean and very experienced sailors. Rome built a fleet which matched that of Carthage in size and modelled their ships of the Carthaginians. However, her sailors were inexperienced and could not carry out the complex manoeuvre of turn the bow of a ship towards the side of an enemy ship to ram it. Therefore, they developed the corvus, a boarding bridge. The Roman ships carried marines and flanked the enemy ship, lowered the corvus and boarded it. This was a simple manoeuvre and proved successful. However, it made the ships top heavy and unstable and many ships were lost in storms. At the end of this war, the crews had become experienced enough to allow the ditching of the corvus and make the ships nimble. During the Second Punic War, the Roman fleets consistently defeated the Carthaginian ones and proved that they were superior. Rome had become the masters of the sea in the Mediterranean.
The Punic Wars and the destruction of Carthage also made Rome the undisputed master of the western basin of the Mediterranean.
Who might have viewed the punic wars and thought of it negatively and why?
The Carthaginians are likely to have opposed the Punic Wars. This is because the Roman army forced them into slavery and burned their city of Carthage.
A Ham roll
i need to do an essay and i waited for the last minute help
How was Hannibal's attack on Rome more difficult?
Hannibal lost his siege machines when he crossed the Alps to get into Italy. Without these machines we could not hope to take a city the size of Rome, which would have had to be starved into submission with a long siege. After travelling from northern to central Italy and winning a battle there, Hannibal headed to the south instead attacking Rome for this reason.
Where do the punic war get their name from?
Punicus was originally the Latin name for the Phoenicians. Later it came to mean Carthaginian (the Carthaginians were Phoenicians). The Punic Wars (there were three of them) were fought between Rome and Carthage.
Etruscans control Rome, Roman Republic established, Battle of Zama won by Romans, Romans destroy Carthage.
A+
How many soldiers did Rome have in the Punic war against Carthage?
While later in the empire after the Marian reforms the roman empire maintained an army of ~500,000 soldiers. Half of these were Roman Segmentum Legions (those armored men you usually see) the other half were composed of provincial soldiers called Auxillaries
During the Punic Wars, rome was comparatively small, and limited to Italia and surrounding islands. According to 1 source (Brian Montgomery) rome had fielded around 90,000 total soldiers at the start of the 1st Punic War
* However it is important to note that its allies in Greece and Dacia, a combined force of 200,000 could have been fielded (does not include navy)
During the 2nd Punic Wars, Rome had controll of Sicily which provided them with 5 legions (18th, 19th 14th and 2 republic altasterai legions). Combined with its allies, the total amount of soldiers Rome and its allies could have been fielded is around 350,000 at the start of 2nd Punic War
It is also important to note that Rome had heavy military losses from Hannibal, during the siege of Segmentum and Emporiae, and estimated 5000 men died from the siege.
* Battle of Trebia, Rome lost 4 of its 6 legions (20,000 men killed)
* Battle of Lake Tresimene, Rome lost 6 of its 7 legions (32,000 men killed)
* Battle of Cannae, Rome deployed 10 Republican Legions as well as 8 allied legions to a total force of 90,000. As you would know, it was annhilated and around 75,000 soldiers were killed
Rome lost over 100,000 soldiers during the 2nd Punic Wars. Hannibal lost around 80,000 (Started with 100,000 in Baikor, and left with 18,000 at Tarentum)
After the second Punic wars, several of its allies in Greece as well as Northern Sicily left the alliance. Rome was now at dire military reform. However, before the third Punic wars it was able to retrain and reform its army back to its numbers. 10 years later, it was again able to well over field 100,000 soldiers. Also, Sicily became a Roman province, as civilians were granted citizenship. The city of Capua was a huge recruitment ground for Roman soldiers at that time
To invade the Meditarrean Sea but Rome won the 3 punic wars and burnt Carthage.
Rome's victory in the Punic Wars led to the diffusion of what?
Rome's victory in the Punic wars led to the diffusion of Roman culture, influence, laws and customs throughout the Mediterranean area.
What river did Hannibal lose most of his elephants in the second punic war?
It was mountains - The Alps.
