Punic Wars

Template:Short description Template:Pp-vandalism Template:Good article Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox military conflict|main}} The Punic Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginian Empire during the period 264 to 146Template:SpacesBC. Three such wars took place, involving a total of forty-three years of warfare on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region, and a four-year-long revolt against Carthage.

The First Punic War broke out on the Mediterranean island of Sicily in 264Template:SpacesBC as a result of Rome's expansionary attitude combined with Carthage's proprietary approach to the island. At the start of the war Carthage was the dominant power of the western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire (a thalassocracy), while Rome was a rapidly expanding power in Italy, with a strong army but no navy. The fighting took place primarily on Sicily and its surrounding waters, as well as in North Africa, Corsica and Sardinia. It lasted twenty-three years, until 241Template:SpacesBC, when the Carthaginians were defeated. By the terms of the peace treaty Carthage paid large reparations and Sicily was annexed as the first Roman province. The end of the war sparked a major but eventually unsuccessful revolt within Carthaginian territory known as the Mercenary War.

The Second Punic War began in 218Template:SpacesBC and witnessed the Carthaginian general Hannibal's crossing of the Alps and invasion of mainland Italy. This expedition enjoyed considerable early success and campaigned in Italy for fourteen years before the survivors withdrew. There was also extensive fighting in Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal), Sicily, Sardinia and North Africa. The successful Roman invasion of the Carthaginian homeland in Africa in 204Template:SpacesBC led to Hannibal's recall. He was defeated in the battle of Zama in 202 BC and Carthage sued for peace. A treaty was agreed in 201Template:SpacesBC which stripped Carthage of its overseas territories and some of its African ones, imposed a large indemnity, severely restricted the size of its armed forces and prohibited Carthage from waging war without Rome's express permission. This caused Carthage to cease to be a military threat to Rome.

In 151Template:SpacesBC Carthage attempted to defend itself against Numidian encroachments; Rome used this as a justification to declare war in 149Template:SpacesBC, starting the Third Punic War. This conflict was fought entirely on Carthaginian territory in what is now Tunisia and centred on the siege of Carthage. In 146Template:SpacesBC the Romans stormed the city of Carthage, sacked it, slaughtered or enslaved its population and completely demolished the city. The Carthaginian territories were taken over as the Roman province of Africa. The ruins of the city lie east of modern Tunis on the North African coast. Template:TOC limit

Primary sources

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The most reliable source for the Punic Wars<ref group="note">The term Punic comes from the Latin word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), meaning "Carthaginian" and is a reference to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry.Template:Sfn</ref> is the historian Polybius (Template:Circa – Template:Circa), a Greek sent to Rome in 167Template:SpacesBC as a hostage.Template:Sfn He is best known for the Histories, written sometime after 146Template:SpacesBC.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Polybius was an analytical historian and wherever possible interviewed participants from both sides in the events he wrote about.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn He accompanied his patron and friend,Template:Sfn the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus, in North Africa during the Third Punic War;Template:Sfn modern historians consider Polybius to have treated Scipio and his relatives unduly favourably, but the consensus is to accept his account largely at face value.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Craige Champion describes him as "a remarkably well-informed, industrious and insightful historian",Template:Sfn while the classicist Adrian Goldsworthy states that "Polybius' account is usually to be preferred when it differs with any of our other accounts".Template:Sfn Polybius's work is considered broadly objective in spite of his pro-Roman point of view.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The details of the wars in modern sources are largely based on interpretations of Polybius's account.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The account of the Roman historian Livy is commonly used by modern historians, particularly where Polybius's account is not extant. Livy relied heavily on Polybius, but wrote in a more structured way, with more details about Roman politics, as well as being openly pro-Roman.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn His accounts of military encounters are often demonstrably inaccurate; the classicist Adrian Goldsworthy says Livy's "reliability is often suspect",Template:Sfn and the historian Philip Sabin refers to Livy's "military ignorance".Template:Sfn

Other, later ancient histories of the wars also exist, often in fragmentary or summary form.Template:Sfn Modern historians usually take into account the writings of various Roman annalists, some contemporary; the Sicilian Greek Diodorus Siculus; and later writers such asTemplate:Sfn Plutarch, Appian, and Dio Cassius.Template:Sfn<ref group="note">Sources other than Polybius are discussed by Bernard Mineo in "Principal Literary Sources for the Punic Wars (apart from Polybius)".Template:Sfn</ref> Other sources include coins, inscriptions, archaeological evidence and empirical evidence from reconstructions, such as the trireme Olympias.Template:Sfn

Background and origin

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The Roman Republic had been aggressively expanding in the southern Italian mainland for a century before the First Punic War.Template:Sfn By 270 BC, when the last Greek cities of southern Italy (Magna Graecia) submitted after the conclusion of the Pyrrhic War, it had conquered all of peninsular Italy south of the Arno River.Template:Sfn During this period of Roman expansion Carthage, with its capital in what is now Tunisia, had come to dominate southern Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal), much of the coastal regions of North Africa, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia and the western half of Sicily in a maritime empire (a thalassocracy).Template:Sfn

Beginning in 480Template:SpacesBC Carthage fought a series of inconclusive wars against the Greek city-states of Sicily, led by Syracuse.Template:Sfn By 264Template:SpacesBC Carthage was in control of much of the island, especially in the south and the west. Carthage and Rome were the preeminent powers in the western Mediterranean.Template:Sfn Relations were good and the two states had several times declared their mutual friendship in formal alliances: in 509Template:SpacesBC, 348Template:SpacesBC and around 279Template:SpacesBC. There were strong commercial links. During the Pyrrhic War of 280–275Template:SpacesBC, against a king of Epirus who alternately fought Rome in Italy and Carthage on Sicily, Carthage provided materiel to the Romans and on at least one occasion provided its navy to ferry a Roman force.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn As Rome and Carthage came closer to sharing a joint border the chances of misunderstandings and hostilities increased. In the event they stumbled into war more by accident than design, with neither anticipating a prolonged conflict.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Opposing forces

Armies

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Male Roman citizens who met a property requirement were liable for military service. Most were eligible and would serve as infantry, with a better-off minority providing a cavalry component.Template:Efn Traditionally, when at war the Romans would raise two legions, each of 4,200 infantry<ref group="note">This could be increased to 5,000 in some circumstances,Template:Sfn or, rarely, even more.Template:Sfn</ref> and 300 cavalry. Approximately 1,200 members of the infantryTemplate:Sndpoorer or younger men unable to afford the armour and equipment of a standard legionaryTemplate:Sndserved as javelin-armed skirmishers known as velites; they each carried several javelins, which would be thrown from a distance, as well as a short sword and a large circular shield.Template:Sfn The rest of the soldiers were equipped as heavy infantry, with body armour, a large shield and short thrusting swords. They were divided into three ranks: the front rank also carried two javelins, while the second and third ranks had a thrusting spear instead. Both legionary sub-units and individual legionaries fought in relatively open order. It was the long-standing Roman procedure to elect two men each year as senior magistrates, known as consuls, who in a time of war would each lead an army. An army was usually formed by combining a Roman legion with a similarly sized and equipped legion provided by their Italian allies; allied legions usually had a larger attached complement of cavalry than Roman ones.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Carthaginian citizens only served in their army if there was a direct threat to the city of Carthage.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn When they did they fought as well-armoured heavy infantry armed with long thrusting spears, although they were notoriously ill-trained and ill-disciplined. In most circumstances Carthage recruited foreigners to make up its army.Template:Efn Many were from North Africa and these are usually referred to as Libyans. The region provided several types of fighters, including: close-order infantry equipped with large shields, helmets, short swords and long thrusting spears; javelin-armed light-infantry skirmishers; close-order shock cavalry<ref group="note">"Shock" troops are those trained and used to close rapidly with an opponent, with the intention of breaking them before, or immediately upon, contact.Template:Sfn</ref> (also known as heavy cavalry) carrying spears; and light cavalry, skirmishers who threw javelins from a distance and avoided close combat; the latter were usually Numidians.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The close-order African infantry and the citizen-militia both fought in a tightly-packed formation known as a phalanx.Template:Sfn On occasion some of the infantry would wear captured Roman armour, especially among the troops of the Carthaginian general Hannibal.Template:Sfn In addition both Iberia and Gaul provided many experienced infantry and cavalry. The infantry from these areas were unarmoured troops who would charge ferociously, but had a reputation for breaking off if a combat was protracted.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Gallic cavalry, and possibly some of the Iberians, wore armour and fought as close-order troops; most or all of the mounted Iberians were light cavalry.Template:Sfn Slingers were frequently recruited from the Balearic Islands.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Carthaginians also employed war elephants; North Africa had indigenous African forest elephants at the time.<ref group="note">These elephants were typically about Template:Convert high at the shoulder and should not be confused with the larger African bush elephant.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Garrison duty and land blockades were the most common operations.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn When armies were campaigning, surprise attacks, ambushes and stratagems were common.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn More formal battles were usually preceded by the two armies camping Template:Convert apart for days or weeks; sometimes both forming up in battle order each day. If either commander felt at a disadvantage, he might march off without engaging; in such circumstances it was difficult to force a battle.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Forming up in battle order was a complicated and premeditated affair, which took several hours. Infantry were usually positioned in the centre of the battle line, with light-infantry skirmishers to their front and cavalry on each flank.Template:Sfn Many battles were decided when one side's infantry force was attacked in the flank or rear and it was partially or wholly enveloped.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Navies

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Quinqueremes were large and powerful-for-their-time warshipsTemplate:Sfn which provided the main components of the Roman and Carthaginian fleets throughout the Punic Wars.Template:Sfn So ubiquitous was the type that Polybius uses it as a shorthand for "warship" in general.Template:Sfn A quinquereme carried a crew of 300: 280 oarsmen and 20 deck crew and officers.Template:Sfn It would also normally carry a complement of 40 marines;Template:Sfn if battle was thought to be imminent this would be increased to as many as 120.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 260Template:SpacesBC the Romans set out to construct a fleet and used a shipwrecked Carthaginian quinquereme as a blueprint for their own.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Romans and their allies were unaccustomed to building quinqueremes and their early efforts were heavier than the Carthaginian vessels; thus they were slower and less manoeuvrable.Template:Sfn Getting the oarsmen to row as a unit, let alone to execute more complex battle manoeuvres, required long and arduous training.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn As a result, the Romans were initially at a disadvantage against the more experienced Carthaginians. To counter this, the Romans introduced the corvus, a bridge Template:Convert wide and Template:Convert long, with a heavy spike on the underside, designed to pierce and anchor into an enemy ship's deck.Template:Sfn This allowed Roman legionaries acting as marines to board enemy ships and capture them, rather than employing the previously more common tactic of ramming.Template:Sfn

All warships were equipped with rams, a triple set of Template:Convert bronze blades weighing up to Template:Convert positioned at the waterline. In the century prior to the Punic Wars, boarding had become increasingly common and ramming had declined, as the larger and heavier vessels adopted in this period increasingly lacked the speed and manoeuvrability necessary to ram effectively, while their sturdier construction reduced a ram's effect on them even in case of a successful attack. The Roman adaptation of the corvus was a continuation of this trend and compensated for their initial disadvantage in ship-manoeuvring skills. The added weight in the prow compromised both the ship's manoeuvrability and its seaworthiness, and in rough sea conditions the corvus became useless; part way through the First Punic War the Romans ceased using it.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

First Punic War, 264–241 BC

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Course

Much of the First Punic War was fought on or in the waters near Sicily.Template:Sfn Away from the coasts its hilly and rugged terrain made manoeuvring large forces difficult, which encouraged defensive strategies. Land operations were largely confined to raids, sieges and interdiction; in twenty-three years of war on Sicily there were only two full-scale pitched battles.Template:Sfn

Sicily, 264–257 BC

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The spark that ignited the First Punic War in 264 BC was the issue of control of the independent Sicilian city-state of Messana (modern Messina),Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn with the Romans gaining control of the city and a foothold on Sicily at the battle of Messana.Template:Sfn They then pressed Syracuse, the only substantial independent power on the island, into allying with themTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and laid siege to Carthage's main base, Agrigentum (modern Agrigento) on the south coast.Template:Sfn A Carthaginian army of 50,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and 60 elephants attempted to lift the siege in 262Template:SpacesBC, but was badly defeated at the battle of Agrigentum. Carthaginian garrison escaped during the night after the battle and the Romans seized the city and its inhabitants, selling 25,000 of them into slavery.Template:Sfn

After this the land war on Sicily reached a stalemate as the Carthaginians focused on defending their well-fortified towns and cities; these were mostly on the coast and so could be supplied and reinforced without the Romans being able to use their superior army to interfere.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The focus of the war shifted to the sea, where the Romans had less experience. On the few occasions they had previously felt the need for a naval presence greater than anti-piracy squadrons they had relied on their Latin or Greek allies for larger warships.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn But the Romans did have extensive commercial maritime experience and access to a large pool of experienced sailors and shipwrights enabling them to rapidly build a navy to challenge Carthage's,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Using this navy and the corvus the Romans won a major victory at the battle of Mylae in 260Template:SpacesBC.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn A Carthaginian base on Corsica was seized, but an attack on Sardinia was repulsed; the base on Corsica was then lost.Template:Sfn In 258Template:SpacesBC a Roman fleet defeated a smaller Carthaginian fleet at the battle of Sulci off the western coast of Sardinia.Template:Sfn

Africa, 256–255 BC

Taking advantage of their naval victories the Romans launched an invasion of North Africa in 256Template:SpacesBC,Template:Sfn which the Carthaginians intercepted at the battle of Cape Ecnomus off the southern coast of Sicily. The Carthaginians' superior seamanship was not as effective as they had hoped, while the Romans' corvuses gave them an edge as the battle degenerated into a shapeless brawl.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Carthaginians were again beatenTemplate:Sfn in what was possibly the largest naval battle in history by the number of combatants involved.Template:EfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The invasion initially went well and in 255Template:SpacesBC the Carthaginians sued for peace; the proposed terms were so harsh they decided to fight on.Template:Sfn At the battle of Tunis in spring 255Template:SpacesBC a combined force of infantry, cavalry and war elephants under the command of the Spartan mercenary Xanthippus crushed the Romans.Template:Sfn The Romans sent a fleet to evacuate their survivors and the Carthaginians opposed it at the battle of Cape Hermaeum (modern Cape Bon); the Carthaginians were again heavily defeated.Template:Sfn The Roman fleet, in turn, was devastated by a storm while returning to Italy, losing most of its ships and more than 100,000 men.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn It is possible that the presence of the corvus, making the Roman ships unusually unseaworthy, contributed to this disaster; there is no record of their being used again.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Sicily, 255–241 BC

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The war continued, with neither side able to gain a decisive advantage.Template:Sfn The Carthaginians attacked and recaptured Akragas in 255Template:SpacesBC, but not believing they could hold the city they razed and abandoned it.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Romans rapidly rebuilt their fleet, adding 220 new ships, and captured Panormus (modern Palermo) in 254Template:SpacesBC.Template:Sfn The next year they lost another 150 ships to a storm.Template:Sfn On Sicily the Romans avoided battle in 252 and 251Template:SpacesBC, according to Polybius because they feared the war elephants which the Carthaginians had shipped to the island.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 250Template:SpacesBC the Carthaginians advanced on Panormus, but in a battle outside the walls the Romans drove off the Carthaginian elephants with javelins. The elephants routed through the Carthaginian infantry, who were then charged by the Roman infantry to complete their defeat.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Slowly the Romans had occupied most of Sicily; in 250Template:SpacesBC they besieged the last two Carthaginian strongholdsTemplate:SndLilybaeum and Drepana in the extreme west.Template:Sfn Repeated attempts to storm Lilybaeum's strong walls failed, as did attempts to block access to its harbour, and the Romans settled down to a siege which was to last nine years.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn They launched a surprise attack on the Carthaginian fleet, but were defeated at the battle of Drepana; Carthage's greatest naval victory of the war.Template:Sfn Carthage turned to the maritime offensive, inflicting another heavy naval defeat at the battle of Phintias and all but swept the Romans from the sea.Template:Sfn It was to be seven years before Rome again attempted to field a substantial fleet, while Carthage put most of its ships into reserve to save money and free up manpower.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Roman victory, 243–241 BC

After more than 20 years of war, both states were financially and demographically exhausted.Template:Sfn Evidence of Carthage's financial situation includes their request for a 2,000-talent loan<ref group="note">Several different "talents" are known from antiquity. The ones referred to in this article are all Euboic (or Euboeic) talents, of approximately Template:Convert.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn 2,000 talents was approximately Template:Convert of silver.Template:Sfn</ref> from Ptolemaic Egypt, which was refused.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Rome was also close to bankruptcy and the number of adult male citizens, who provided the manpower for the navy and the legions, had declined by 17 per cent since the start of the war.Template:Sfn Goldsworthy describes Roman manpower losses as "appalling".Template:Sfn

The Romans rebuilt their fleet again in 243Template:SpacesBC after the Senate approached Rome's wealthiest citizens for loans to finance the construction of one ship each, repayable from the reparations to be imposed on Carthage once the war was won.Template:Sfn This new fleet effectively blockaded the Carthaginian garrisons.Template:Sfn Carthage assembled a fleet which attempted to relieve them, but it was destroyed at the battle of the Aegates Islands in 241Template:SpacesBC,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn forcing the cut-off Carthaginian troops on Sicily to negotiate for peace.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Treaty of Lutatius was agreed by which Carthage paid 3,200 talents of silver<ref group="note">3,200 talents was approximately Template:Convert of silver.Template:Sfn</ref> in reparations and Sicily was annexed as the first Roman province.Template:Sfn Polybius regarded the war as "the longest, most continuous and most severely contested war known to us in history".Template:Sfn Henceforth Rome considered itself the leading military power in the western Mediterranean and increasingly the Mediterranean region as a whole. Template:Sfn

Interbellum, 241–218 BC

Mercenary War

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The Mercenary, or Truceless, War began in 241Template:SpacesBC as a dispute over the payment of wages owed to 20,000 foreign soldiers who had fought for Carthage on Sicily during the First Punic War. This erupted into full-scale mutiny under the leadership of Spendius and Matho; 70,000 Africans from Carthage's oppressed dependent territories and towns flocked to join the mutineers, bringing supplies and finance.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn War-weary Carthage fared poorly in the initial engagements, especially under the generalship of Hanno.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hamilcar Barca, a veteran of the campaigns in Sicily, was given joint command of the army in 240Template:SpacesBC and supreme command in 239Template:SpacesBC.Template:Sfn He campaigned successfully, initially demonstrating leniency in an attempt to woo the rebels over.Template:Sfn To prevent this, in 240Template:SpacesBC Spendius tortured 700 Carthaginian prisoners to death and henceforth the war was pursued with great brutality.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

By early 237Template:SpacesBC, after numerous setbacks, the rebels were defeated and their towns brought back under Carthaginian rule.Template:Sfn An expedition was prepared to reoccupy Sardinia, where mutinous soldiers had slaughtered all Carthaginians. The Roman Senate stated they considered the preparation of this force an act of war and demanded Carthage cede Sardinia and Corsica and pay an additional 1,200-talent indemnity.<ref group="note">1,200 talents was approximately Template:Convert of silver.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Weakened by 30 years of war, Carthage agreed rather than again enter into conflict with Rome.Template:Sfn Polybius considered this "contrary to all justice" and modern historians have variously described the Romans' behaviour as "unprovoked aggression and treaty-breaking",Template:Sfn "shamelessly opportunistic"Template:Sfn and an "unscrupulous act".Template:Sfn These events fuelled resentment of Rome in Carthage, which was not reconciled to Rome's perception of its situation. This breach of the recently signed treaty was to be one the greatest causes of war with Carthage breaking out again in 218Template:SpacesBC in the Second Punic War.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Carthaginian expansion in Iberia

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{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} With the suppression of the rebellion, Hamilcar understood that Carthage needed to strengthen its economic and military base if it were to again confront Rome.Template:Sfn After the First Punic War, Carthaginian possessions in Iberia were limited to a handful of prosperous coastal cities in the south.Template:Sfn Hamilcar took the army which he had led in the Mercenary War to Iberia in 237Template:SpacesBC and carved out a quasi-monarchicial, autonomous state in its south east.Template:Sfn This gave Carthage the silver mines, agricultural wealth, manpower, military facilities such as shipyards and territorial depth to stand up to future Roman demands with confidence.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hamilcar ruled as a viceroy and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, in the early 220sTemplate:SpacesBC and then his son, Hannibal, in 221Template:SpacesBC.Template:Sfn In 226Template:SpacesBC the Ebro Treaty was agreed with Rome, specifying the Ebro River as the northern boundary of the Carthaginian sphere of influence.Template:Sfn At some time during the next six years Rome made a separate agreement with the city of Saguntum, which was situated well south of the Ebro.Template:Sfn

Second Punic War, 218–201 BC

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:Campaignbox Second Punic War In 219Template:SpacesBC a Carthaginian army under Hannibal besieged, captured and sacked Saguntum<ref group="note">There is scholarly debate as to whether Saguntum was a formal Roman ally, in which case attacking it may have been a breach of the clause in the Treaty of Lutatius prohibiting attacking each other's allies; or whether the city had less formally requested Rome's protection, and possibly been granted it. In either case, the Carthaginians argued that relationships entered into after the signing of the treaty were not covered by it.Template:Sfn</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and in spring 218Template:SpacesBC Rome declared war on Carthage.Template:Sfn There were three main military theatres in the Second Punic War: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly, with occasional subsidiary campaigns in Sicily, Sardinia and Greece; Iberia, where Hasdrubal, a younger brother of Hannibal, defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success before moving into Italy; and Africa, where the war was decided.Template:Sfn

Italy

Hannibal crosses the Alps, 218–217 BC

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In 218Template:SpacesBC there was some naval skirmishing in the waters around Sicily; the Romans defeated a Carthaginian attackTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and captured the island of Malta.Template:Sfn In Cisalpine Gaul (modern northern Italy), the major Gallic tribes attacked the Roman colonies there, causing the Roman settlers to flee to their previously established colony of Mutina (modern Modena), where they were besieged. A Roman relief force broke through the siege, but was then ambushed and itself besieged.Template:Sfn A Roman army had been assembled to campaign in Iberia; one Roman and one allied legion was detached from it and sent to northern Italy. Raising fresh troops to replace these delayed the army's departure for Iberia until September.Template:Sfn

Meanwhile, Hannibal assembled a Carthaginian army in New Carthage (modern Cartagena) in Iberia and led it northwards along the coast in May or June. It entered Gaul and took an inland route, to avoid the Roman allies to the south.Template:Sfn At the battle of the Rhône crossing Hannibal defeated a force of local Gauls which sought to bar his way.Template:Sfn A Roman fleet carrying the Iberian-bound army landed at Rome's ally Massalia (modern Marseille) at the mouth of the Rhône,Template:Sfn but Hannibal evaded the Romans and they continued to Iberia.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Carthaginians reached the foot of the Alps by late autumn and crossed them in 24 days, surmounting the difficulties of climate, terrainTemplate:Sfn and the guerrilla tactics of the native tribes. The Carthaginians arrived in what is now Piedmont, northern Italy, in early November. They comprised 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and an unknown number of elephantsTemplate:Sndthe survivors of the 37 with which they left Iberia. The Romans were still in their winter quarters. The Carthaginians' surprise entry into the Italian peninsula led to the cancellation of Rome's planned campaign for the following year: an invasion of Africa.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Roman defeats, 217–216 BC

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The Carthaginians captured the chief settlement of the hostile Taurini Gauls (in the area of modern Turin) and seized its food stocks.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In late November the Carthaginian cavalry routed a Roman force of cavalry and light infantry at the battle of Ticinus.Template:Sfn As a result, most of the Gallic tribes declared for the Carthaginian cause and Hannibal's army grew to 37,000 men.Template:Sfn A large Roman army was lured into combat by Hannibal at the battle of the Trebia, encircled and destroyed.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Some 10,000 Romans out of 42,000 were able to fight their way to safety; most of their comrades were killed or captured. Gauls now joined Hannibal's army in large numbers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Romans stationed an army at Arretium and one on the Adriatic coast to block Hannibal's advance into central Italy.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In early spring 217Template:SpacesBC the Carthaginians crossed the Apennines unopposed, taking a difficult but unguarded route.Template:Sfn Hannibal attempted to draw the westernmost of the two Roman armies into a pitched battle by devastating the area it had been sent to protect.Template:Sfn This provoked its commander into ordering a hasty pursuit without proper reconnaissance. Hannibal set an ambush and in the battle of Lake Trasimene completely defeated this Roman army, killing 15,000 Romans, including their commander, and taking 15,000 prisoners. A cavalry force of 4,000 from the Roman army based at Arretium was also engaged and wiped out.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The prisoners were badly treated if they were Romans, but released if they were from one of Rome's allies. Hannibal wished to stir up disaffection in the states which made up many of Rome's allies in Italy.Template:Sfn These allied states provided more than half of Rome's military manpower.Template:Sfn The Carthaginians marched deeper into Italy, hoping that the ethnic Greek and Italic states of southern Italy in particular could be persuaded to defect.Template:Sfn

The Romans, panicked by these heavy defeats, appointed Fabius Maximus as dictator, with sole charge of the war effort.Template:Sfn Fabius introduced the Fabian strategy of avoiding open battle with his opponent, but constantly skirmishing with small detachments of the enemy. This was not popular with parts of the Roman army, public and Senate, since he avoided battle while Italy was being devastated by the enemy.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hannibal marched through the richest and most fertile parts of Italy, hoping the devastation would draw Fabius into battle, but Fabius refused.Template:Sfn

In the 216Template:SpacesBC elections Terentius Varro and Aemilius Paullus were elected as consuls; both were more aggressively minded than Fabius.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Roman Senate authorised the raising of a force of 86,000 men, the largest in Roman history to that point.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Paullus and Varro marched southward to confront Hannibal, who accepted battle on the open plain near Cannae in south-east Italy. In the battle of Cannae the Roman legions forced their way through Hannibal's deliberately weak centre, but Libyan heavy infantry on the wings swung around their advance, menacing their flanks. Another Carthaginian commander named HasdrubalTemplate:Sndnot the same man as Hasdrubal Barca, one of Hannibal's younger brothersTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sndled the Carthaginian cavalry on the left wing which routed the Roman cavalry opposite. It then swept around the rear of the Romans to attack the cavalry on the other wing, before charging into the legions from behind. As a result, the Roman infantry was surrounded with no means of escape.Template:Sfn At least 67,500 Romans were killed or captured.Template:Sfn

The historian Richard Miles describes Cannae as "Rome's greatest military disaster".Template:Sfn Toni Ñaco del Hoyo considers the Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae to be the three "great military calamities" suffered by the Romans in the first three years of the war.Template:Sfn Brian Carey writes that these three defeats brought Rome to the brink of collapse.Template:Sfn Within a few weeks of Cannae a Roman army of 25,000 was ambushed by Boii Gauls at the battle of Silva Litana and annihilated.Template:Sfn Fabius was elected consul in 215 BC and re-elected in 214 BC.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Roman allies defect, 216–207 BC

Little survives of Polybius's account of Hannibal's army in Italy after Cannae and Livy is the best surviving source for this part of the war.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Several of the city-states in southern Italy allied with Hannibal or were captured when pro-Carthaginian factions betrayed their defences. These included the large city of Capua and the major port city of Tarentum (modern Taranto). Two of the major Samnite tribes also joined the Carthaginian cause. By 214 BC the bulk of southern Italy had turned against Rome, although there were many exceptions. The majority of Rome's allies in central Italy remained loyal. All except the smallest towns were too well fortified for Hannibal to take by assault and blockade could be a long-drawn-out affair, or, if the target was a port, impossible. Carthage's new allies felt little sense of community with Carthage, or even with each other. The new allies increased the number of places that Hannibal's army was expected to defend from Roman retribution, but provided relatively few fresh troops to assist him in doing so. Such Italian forces as were raised resisted operating away from their home cities and performed poorly when they did.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

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When the port city of Locri defected to Carthage in the summer of 215Template:SpacesBC it was immediately used to reinforce the Carthaginian forces in Italy with soldiers, supplies and war elephants.Template:Sfn It was the only time during the war that Hannibal received reinforcements from Carthage.Template:Sfn A second force, under Hannibal's youngest brother Mago, was meant to land in Italy in 215Template:SpacesBC but was diverted to Iberia after the Carthaginian defeat there at the battle of Dertosa.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Meanwhile, the Romans took drastic steps to raise new legions: enrolling slaves, criminals and those who did not meet the usual property qualification.Template:Sfn By early 215Template:SpacesBC they were fielding at least 12 legions; two years later they had 18; and a year after that, 22. By 212Template:SpacesBC the full complement of the legions deployed would have been in excess of 100,000 men, plus, as always, a similar number of allied troops. The majority were deployed in southern Italy in field armies of approximately 20,000 men each. This was insufficient to challenge Hannibal's army in open battle, but sufficient to force him to concentrate his forces and to hamper his movements.Template:Sfn

The war surged around southern Italy as cities went over to the Carthaginians or were taken by subterfuge and the Romans recaptured them by siege or by the support of pro-Roman factions.Template:Sfn Hannibal repeatedly defeated Roman armies; in 208Template:SpacesBC both consuls were killed in a cavalry skirmish. But wherever his main army was not active the Romans threatened Carthaginian-supporting towns or sought battle with Carthaginian or Carthaginian-allied detachments; frequently with success.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn By 207Template:SpacesBC Hannibal had been confined to the extreme south of Italy and many of the cities and territories which had joined the Carthaginian cause had returned to their Roman allegiance.Template:Sfn

Greece, Sardinia and Sicily

During 216Template:SpacesBC the Macedonian king, Philip V, pledged his support to Hannibal,Template:Sfn initiating the First Macedonian War against Rome in 215Template:SpacesBC. In 211Template:SpacesBC Rome contained this threat by allying with the Aetolian League, a coalition of Greek city-states which was hostile towards Macedonia, and persuading them to participate in the war. In 205Template:SpacesBC this war ended with a negotiated peace.Template:Sfn

A rebellion in support of the Carthaginians broke out on Sardinia in 213Template:SpacesBC, but it was quickly put down by the Romans.Template:Sfn

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Up to 215Template:SpacesBC Sicily remained firmly in Roman hands, preventing the easy seaborne reinforcement and resupply of Hannibal from Carthage. Hiero II, the tyrant of Syracuse for the previous sixty years and a staunch Roman ally since 263 BC, died in 215 BC and his successor Hieronymus was discontented with his situation. Hannibal negotiated a treaty whereby Syracuse defected to Carthage, in exchange for a Carthaginian pledge to allow the whole of Sicily to become a Syracusan possession. The Syracusan army proved no match for a Roman army led by Claudius Marcellus and by spring 213Template:SpacesBC Syracuse was besieged.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The siege was marked by the ingenuity of Archimedes in inventing war machines to counteract the traditional siege warfare methods of the Romans.Template:Sfn

A large Carthaginian army led by Himilco was sent to relieve the city in 213Template:SpacesBC.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It captured several Roman-garrisoned towns on Sicily; many Roman garrisons were either expelled or massacred by Carthaginian partisans. In spring 212Template:SpacesBC the Romans stormed Syracuse in a surprise night assault and captured several districts of the city. Meanwhile, the Carthaginian army was crippled by plague. After the Carthaginians failed to resupply the city, Syracuse fell that autumn; Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier.Template:Sfn

Carthage sent more reinforcements to Sicily in 211Template:SpacesBC and went on the offensive. A fresh Roman army attacked the main Carthaginian stronghold on the island, Agrigentum, in 210Template:SpacesBC and the city was betrayed to the Romans by a discontented Carthaginian officer. The remaining Carthaginian-controlled towns then surrendered or were taken through force or treacheryTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and the Sicilian grain supply to Rome and its armies was secured.Template:Sfn

Italy, 207–203 BC

In the spring of 207Template:SpacesBC Hasdrubal Barca repeated the feat of his elder brother by marching an army of 35,000 men across the Alps and invading Italy. His aim was to join his forces with those of Hannibal, but Hannibal was unaware of his presence. The Romans facing Hannibal in southern Italy tricked him into believing the whole Roman army was still in camp, while a large portion marched north under the consul Claudius Nero and reinforced the Romans facing Hasdrubal, who were commanded by the other consul, Marcus Salinator. The combined Roman force attacked Hasdrubal at the battle of the Metaurus and destroyed his army, killing Hasdrubal. This battle confirmed Roman dominance in Italy and marked the end of their Fabian strategy.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 205Template:SpacesBC Mago landed in Genua (modern Genoa) in north-west Italy with the remnants of his Spanish army where it received Gallic and Ligurian reinforcements. Mago's arrival in the north of the Italian peninsula was followed by Hannibal's inconclusive battle of Crotona in 204Template:SpacesBC in the far south of the peninsula. Mago marched his reinforced army towards the lands of Carthage's main Gallic allies in the Po Valley, but was checked by a large Roman army and defeated at the battle of Insubria in 203Template:SpacesBC.Template:Sfn

After a Roman army invaded the Carthaginian homeland in 204Template:SpacesBC, defeated the Carthaginians in two major battles and won the allegiance of the Numidian kingdoms of North Africa, Hannibal and the remnants of his army were recalled.Template:Sfn They sailed from Croton (modern Crotone)Template:Sfn and landed at Carthage with 15,000–20,000 experienced veterans. Mago was also recalled; he died of wounds on the voyage and some of his ships were intercepted by the Romans,Template:Sfn but 12,000 of his troops reached Carthage.Template:Sfn

Iberia

Iberia, 218–209 BC

The Roman fleet continued on from Massala in the autumn of 218Template:SpacesBC, landing the army it was transporting in north-east Iberia, where it won support among the local tribes.Template:Sfn A rushed Carthaginian attack in late 218Template:SpacesBC was beaten back at the battle of Cissa.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 217Template:SpacesBC 40 Carthaginian warships were defeated by 55 Roman and Massalian vessels at the battle of the Ebro River, with 29 Carthaginian ships lost. The Romans' lodgement between the Ebro and the Pyrenees blocked the route from Iberia to Italy and greatly hindered the despatch of reinforcements from Iberia to Hannibal.Template:Sfn The Carthaginian commander in Iberia, Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal, marched into this area in 215Template:SpacesBC, offered battle and was defeated at Dertosa, although both sides suffered heavy casualties.Template:Sfn

The Carthaginians suffered a wave of defections of local Celtiberian tribes to Rome.Template:Sfn The Roman commanders captured Saguntum in 212Template:SpacesBC and in 211Template:SpacesBC hired 20,000 Celtiberian mercenaries to reinforce their army. Observing that the three Carthaginian armies were deployed apart from each other, the Romans split their forces.Template:Sfn This strategy resulted in two separate battles in 211Template:SpacesBC, usually referred to jointly as the battle of the Upper Baetis. Both battles ended in complete defeat for the Romans, as Hasdrubal had bribed the Romans' mercenaries to desert. The Romans pulled back to their coastal stronghold north of the Ebro, from which the Carthaginians again failed to expel them.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Reinforcements arrived in 210Template:SpacesBC and stabilised the situation.Template:Sfn

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In 210Template:SpacesBC Publius Cornelius Scipio arrived in Iberia with further Roman reinforcements.Template:Sfn In a carefully planned assault in 209Template:SpacesBC he captured New Carthage, the lightly-defended centre of Carthaginian power in Iberia.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Scipio seized a vast booty of gold, silver and siege artillery, but released the captured population. He also liberated the Iberian hostages, who had been held there by the Carthaginians to ensure the loyalty of their tribes.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Even so, many of them later fought against the Romans.Template:Sfn

Roman victory in Iberia, 208–205 BC

In the spring of 208Template:SpacesBC Hasdrubal moved to engage Scipio at the battle of Baecula.Template:Sfn The Carthaginians were defeated, but Hasdrubal was able to withdraw the majority of his army and prevent any Roman pursuit; most of his losses were among his Iberian allies. Scipio was not able to prevent Hasdrubal from leading his depleted army through the western passes of the Pyrenees into Gaul. In 207Template:SpacesBC, after recruiting heavily in Gaul, Hasdrubal crossed the Alps into Italy in an attempt to join his brother, Hannibal, but was defeated before he could.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 206Template:SpacesBC at the battle of Ilipa, Scipio with 48,000 men, half Italian and half Iberian, defeated a Carthaginian army of 54,500 men and 32 elephants. This sealed the fate of the Carthaginians in Iberia.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The last Carthaginian-held city in Iberia, Gades (modern Cadiz), defected to the Romans.Template:Sfn Later the same year a mutiny broke out among Roman troops, which attracted support from Iberian leaders, disappointed that Roman forces had remained in the peninsula after the expulsion of the Carthaginians, but it was effectively put down by Scipio. In 205Template:SpacesBC a last attempt was made by Mago to recapture New Carthage when the Roman occupiers were shaken by another mutiny and an Iberian uprising, but he was repulsed. Mago left Iberia for Cisalpine Gaul with his remaining forces.Template:Sfn In 203Template:SpacesBC Carthage succeeded in recruiting at least 4,000 mercenaries from Iberia, despite Rome's nominal control.Template:Sfn

Africa

In 213Template:SpacesBC Syphax, a powerful Numidian king in North Africa, declared for Rome. In response, Roman advisers were sent to train his soldiers and he waged war against the Carthaginian ally Gala.Template:Sfn In 206Template:SpacesBC the Carthaginians ended this drain on their resources by dividing several Numidian kingdoms with him. One of those disinherited was the Numidian prince Masinissa, who was thus driven into the arms of Rome.Template:Sfn

Scipio's invasion of Africa, 204–201 BC

[[File:Publius Scipio's Invasion of Africa, 204–201 BC.png|upright=1.65|thumb|alt=a terrain map of northern Tunisia, with the manoeuvres of Scipio's army in 204–203 BC superimposed on it|

Scipio's [[Roman invasion of Africa (205–201 BC)|military campaign in Africa 204–203Template:SpacesBC]]

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In 205Template:SpacesBC Publius Scipio was given command of the legions in Sicily and allowed to enrol volunteers for his plan to end the war by an invasion of Africa.Template:Sfn After landing in Africa in 204Template:SpacesBC he was joined by Masinissa and a force of Numidian cavalry.Template:Sfn Scipio gave battle to two large Carthaginian armies and destroyed both.Template:Sfn After the second of these, Syphax was pursued and taken prisoner by Masinissa at the battle of Cirta; Masinissa then seized most of Syphax's kingdom with Roman help.Template:Sfn

Rome and Carthage entered into peace negotiations and Carthage recalled Hannibal from Italy.Template:Sfn The Roman Senate ratified a draft treaty, but because of mistrust and a surge in confidence when Hannibal arrived from Italy Carthage repudiated it.Template:Sfn Hannibal was placed in command of an army formed from his and Mago's veterans from Italy and newly raised troops from Africa, but with few cavalry.Template:Sfn The decisive battle of Zama followed in October 202Template:SpacesBC.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Unlike most battles of the Second Punic War, the Romans had superiority in cavalry and the Carthaginians in infantry.Template:Sfn Hannibal attempted to use 80 elephants to break into the Roman infantry formation, but the Romans countered them effectively and they routed back through the Carthaginian ranks.Template:Sfn The Roman and allied Numidian cavalry then pressed their attacks and drove the Carthaginian cavalry from the field. The two sides' infantry fought inconclusively until the Roman cavalry returned and attacked the Carthaginian rear. The Carthaginian formation collapsed; Hannibal was one of the few to escape the field.Template:Sfn

The new peace treaty dictated by Rome stripped Carthage of all of its overseas territories and some of its African ones; an indemnity of 10,000 silver talents<ref group="note">10,000 talents was approximately Template:Convert of silver.Template:Sfn</ref> was to be paid over 50 years; hostages were to be taken; Carthage was forbidden to possess war elephants and its fleet was restricted to 10 warships; it was prohibited from waging war outside Africa and in Africa only with Rome's express permission. Many senior Carthaginians wanted to reject it, but Hannibal spoke strongly in its favour and it was accepted in spring 201Template:SpacesBC.Template:Sfn Henceforth it was clear that Carthage was politically subordinate to Rome.Template:Sfn Scipio was awarded a triumph and received the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "Africanus".Template:Sfn

Under the pressure of the war, the Romans developed an increasingly effective system of logistics to equip and feed the unprecedented numbers of soldiers they fielded. During the last three years of the war this was extended to the transporting by sea from Sicily to Africa of almost all the requirements of Scipio's large army. These developments made possible the subsequent Roman overseas wars of conquest.Template:Sfn

Interbellum, 201–149 BC

At the end of the war, Masinissa emerged as by far the most powerful ruler among the Numidians.Template:Sfn Over the following 48 years he repeatedly took advantage of Carthage's inability to protect its possessions. Whenever Carthage petitioned Rome for redress, or permission to take military action, Rome backed its ally, Masinissa, and refused.Template:Sfn Masinissa's seizures of and raids into Carthaginian territory became increasingly flagrant. In 151Template:SpacesBC Carthage raised an army, the treaty notwithstanding, and counterattacked the Numidians. The campaign ended in disaster for the Carthaginians at the battle of Oroscopa when their army surrendered.Template:Sfn Carthage had paid off its indemnity and was prospering economically, but was no military threat to Rome.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, elements in the Roman Senate had long wished to destroy Carthage and with the breach of the treaty as a casus belli, war was declared in 149Template:SpacesBC.Template:Sfn

Third Punic War, 149–146 BC

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Template:Campaignbox Third Punic War In 149Template:SpacesBC a Roman army of approximately 50,000 men, jointly commanded by both consuls, landed near Utica, Template:Convert north of Carthage.Template:Sfn Rome demanded that if war were to be avoided, the Carthaginians must hand over all of their armaments. Vast amounts of materiel were delivered, including 200,000 sets of armour, 2,000 catapults and a large number of warships.Template:Sfn This done, the Romans demanded the Carthaginians burn their city and relocate at least Template:Convert from the sea; the Carthaginians broke off negotiations and set to recreating their armoury.Template:Sfn

Siege of Carthage

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As well as manning the walls of Carthage, the Carthaginians formed a field army under Hasdrubal the Boetharch, which was based Template:Convert to the south.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Roman army moved to lay siege to Carthage, but its walls were so strong and its citizen militia so determined it was unable to make any impact, while the Carthaginians struck back effectively. Their army raided the Roman lines of communication,Template:Sfn and in 148Template:SpacesBC Carthaginian fire ships destroyed many Roman vessels. The main Roman camp was in a swamp, which caused an outbreak of disease during the summer.Template:Sfn The Romans moved their camp, and their ships, further awayTemplate:Sndso they were now more blockading than closely besieging the city.Template:Sfn The war dragged on into 147Template:SpacesBC.Template:Sfn

In early 147Template:SpacesBC Scipio Aemilianus, an adopted grandson of Scipio Africanus who had distinguished himself during the previous two years' fighting, was elected consul and took control of the war.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Carthaginians continued to resist vigorously: they constructed warships and, during the summer, twice gave battle to the Roman fleet, losing both times.Template:Sfn The Romans launched an assault on the walls; after confused fighting they broke into the city, but, becoming disoriented in the dark, withdrew. Hasdrubal and his army retreated into the city to reinforce the garrison.Template:Sfn Hasdrubal had Roman prisoners tortured to death on the walls, in view of the Roman army. He was reinforcing the will to resist in the Carthaginian citizens; from this point there could be no possibility of negotiations. Some members of the city council denounced his actions and Hasdrubal had them put to death and took control of the city.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn With no Carthaginian army in the field, those cities which had remained loyal went over to the Romans or were captured.Template:Sfn

Scipio moved back to a close blockade of the city and built a mole which cut off supply from the sea.Template:Sfn In the spring of 146Template:SpacesBC the Roman army managed to secure a foothold on the fortifications near the harbour.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Scipio launched a major assault which quickly captured the city's main square, where the legions camped overnight.Template:Sfn The next morning, the Romans started systematically working their way through the residential part of the city, killing everyone they encountered and burning the buildings behind them.Template:Sfn At times, the Romans progressed from rooftop to rooftop, to prevent missiles being hurled down on them.Template:Sfn It took six days to clear the city of resistance; only on the last day did Scipio take prisoners. The last holdouts, including Roman deserters in Carthaginian service, fought on from the Temple of Eshmoun and burnt it down around themselves when all hope was gone.Template:Sfn There were 50,000 Carthaginian prisoners, a small proportion of the pre-war population, who were sold into slavery.Template:Sfn There is a tradition that Roman forces then sowed the city with salt, but this has been shown to have been a 19th-century invention.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Aftermath

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The remaining Carthaginian territories were annexed by Rome and reconstituted to become the Roman province of Africa with Utica as its capital.Template:Sfn The province became a major source of grain and other foodstuffs for Rome.Template:Sfn Numerous large Punic cities, such as those in Mauretania, were taken over by the Romans,Template:Sfn although they were permitted to retain their Punic system of government.Template:Sfn A century later, the site of Carthage was rebuilt as a Roman city by Julius Caesar; it became one of the main cities of Roman Africa by the time of the Empire.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Rome still exists as the capital of Italy;Template:Sfn the ruins of Carthage lie Template:Convert east of Tunis on the North African coast.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Notes, citations and sources

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