Punic Wars

The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and (by the Romans) The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 202 BC

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus learned the art of war in the hardest and bloodiest of all forums-on the battlefield against Hannibal. As a 17-year-old, he followed his father, Roman consul Publius Cornelius Scipio, into Northern Italy on Rome's first engagement against the Carthaginian military genius at the Ticinus River. Though it would be the first of Rome's many defeats at Hannibal's hands, Scipio personally distinguished himself by charging a superior force of the Carthaginian cavalry to save his father's life. Over the next three years Scipio probably fought at both the Battles of Trebia and Lake Trasimene, where Hannibal annihilated two more Roman armies, and was certainly present to witness Rome's greatest defeat at Cannae, where some 60,000 Romans perished in a single day's fighting .

rome defeated carthage in the punic wars

Zama was located near Carthage, in what the Romans called Africa. It was in present day Tunisia

Hannibal son of Hamilcar Barca was an African in the sense that he was born in Africa, but he was relative light-skinned, the same way that Tunisians are today. If he had lived in the United States, for example, people would have considered him White, not Black.

It established Rome as the dominant power in the Western Mediterranean, and their move to punish Macedonia for supporting Carthage led them to the Greek east, where they eventually became dominant also.

Hannibal and Scipio struggled with each other during the Second Punic War .

Hannibal began the Second Punic War with a successful siege against the Roman city of Saguntum which barred his way to the Alps. He lost three quarters of his army crossing the Alps, and he had no siege equipment with which to take the city of Rome. As long as Rome was secure behind the Servian Wall and refused to surrender, Hannibal was not able to win. He had twenty thousand of the finest soldiers from the Mediterranean area, but their expertise was in mobilitity on the battlefield, and not in siege warfare. For fifteen years they defeated a succession of Roman commanders, and only Fabius Maximus had some measure of success against Hannibal. A Carthaginian relief army led by Hasdrubal (Hannibal's brother-in-law) and equipped with a siege train crossed the Alps and almost managed to link up with Hannibal's army, but it was intercepted and destroyed by a Roman army. Hasdrubal's head was cut off and launched into Hannibal's encampment. At the moment he saw the severed head of Hasdrubal, it is believed that Hannibal saw the fate of Carthage. The Roman warning of "Hannibal is at the gates" inspired more terror than it indicated actual danger. Without siege engines Hannibal could not take Rome, despite all of his spectacular victories in the field.

Another reason Carthage lost the second punic war was its inability to control the seas. The ability to land troops on the Italian peninsula would have been a tactic to reduce food & supplies to Roman cities.

When the Roman General Scipio invaded northern africa, Hannibal was forced to withdraw from Italy to defend Carthage. In 202 BC Scipio met Hannibal at ZAMA and desivily defeated Hannibal's army.

With the war concluded Carthage was forced to pay a huge indemnity, cede Spain and her African territories and drastically reduce its fleet.

Scipio Africanus.

The punic wars took place in the Central Mediterranean areas around modern day turkey

There were three wars spanning 120 years, with obviously many leaders, successful and unsuccessful. One of the most prominent was Scipio Africanus.

Rome fought in the Punic Wars, which began late in the 3rd century B.C.E. and ended in the middle of the 2nd, as a result of several factors. The first was economic, as control of the central Mediterranean was of critical importance for successful Roman trade. The second was more strictly military and political: as an aggressive, expansion-minded civilization, Rome sought to become dominant among its neighbors, especially Carthage, its primary opponent in the Punic Wars.

The Roman general who won the battle of Zama was Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory he was awarded the honorific name Africanus by the senate. History refers to him as Scipio Africanus.

The Roman general who won the battle of Zama was Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory he was awarded the honorific name Africanus by the senate. History refers to him as Scipio Africanus.

The Roman general who won the battle of Zama was Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory he was awarded the honorific name Africanus by the senate. History refers to him as Scipio Africanus.

The Roman general who won the battle of Zama was Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory he was awarded the honorific name Africanus by the senate. History refers to him as Scipio Africanus.

The Roman general who won the battle of Zama was Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory he was awarded the honorific name Africanus by the senate. History refers to him as Scipio Africanus.

The Roman general who won the battle of Zama was Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory he was awarded the honorific name Africanus by the senate. History refers to him as Scipio Africanus.

The Roman general who won the battle of Zama was Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory he was awarded the honorific name Africanus by the senate. History refers to him as Scipio Africanus.

The Roman general who won the battle of Zama was Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory he was awarded the honorific name Africanus by the senate. History refers to him as Scipio Africanus.

The Roman general who won the battle of Zama was Publius Cornelius Scipio. For this victory he was awarded the honorific name Africanus by the senate. History refers to him as Scipio Africanus.

The Roman army was led by two annually elected consuls who were the heads of the city and the army. Therefore, the Romans had many general in this war.

The Carthaginian generals in Sicily were Hanno, Hamilcar, and Hamilcar Barca.

During the Roman attack in Africa (Tunisia) the Carthaginian commanders were Bustar Hasdrubal in the battle of Adys, and Xanthippus, a Spartan mercenary, in the battle of Tunis.

The Carthaginians defending their city against Roman attack.

The Carthaginians did not have an overall leader in the first Punic War, except for towards the end.

The Carthaginian army was led by Gisco, his son Hannibal Gisco, Hanno Gisco (son of Hannibal Gisco), two commanders both called Hamilcar, Hanno the Great, Hasbrubal the Fair and Buspar Xanthippus (a Greek). Hamilcar Barca became the overall leader in the final year of the war.

Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama near Carthage in 202 BC.

Yeah they amazingly (not that amazing really) won all three Punic wars and they got one part of land each time they won which is a HUGE bonus for Rome because they started of rather small then they got as big as it is right now. Another reason why it was such a big bonus for them is because the partials of land they got each time were fairly large, so that's how they got the power over everything for quite a long time.

Hope this helps! :)

In Carthage and its territories in Spain.

Rome won the second Punic War partly because she had firm allies, especially in Italy, who would not join Hannibal, and partly because Scipio was a better general and strategist than Hannibal.

After the 50 years of peace between Carthaginians and Romans came to an end, the Romans knew that attacking Carthage would be an easy war with lots of financial benefits so they raised an army and attacked Carthage.

Punic was the Latin term for Phoenicia from which the Carthaginians were descended : "from the Phoenicians" .

First Punic War: Carthage was pushing its control in Sicily and ran up against some rebellious mercenary soldiers. Rome chose to support them as a means of having an excuse to move into Sicily to expand its territory beyond Italy.

Second Punic War: Carthage attacked Sargentum in Spain, in breach of the Ebro River line agreed with Rome as dividing their areas of interest in Spain.

Rome captured Carthage and sold its people into slavery.

At the conclusion of the Third Punic War , 149 to 146 BC , Carthage is defeated , its citizens sold into slavery, Carthage is eliminated as a future threat to Rome and Rome achieves hegemony over the entire Mediterranean area and expands its Empire .