![]() ![]() In 551 AUC, Hannibal’s forces were forced to abandon the struggle in Italy in order to defend North Africa, and the following year Scipio’s army routed the Carthaginians at Zama. Hannibal’s daring invasion of Rome reached its height at Cannae in 538 AUC, where he used his superior tactics to surround a Roman army twice the size of his own and inflict massive casualties.Īfter this disastrous defeat, however, the Romans managed to rebound, and the Carthaginians lost their hold over Italy as Rome won victories in Spain and North Africa under the rising young general Publius Cornelius Scipio (later known as Scipio Africanus). The Second Punic War saw Hannibal and his troops-which included orcs from North Africa, hobgoblins from Spain, and giants recruited from the the Alps-cross into Italy, where they scored numerous victories over Roman troops. ![]() Two years later, he marched his army across the Ebro River into Saguntum, an Iberian city under Roman protection, effectively declaring war on Rome. Upon Hasdrubal’s death in 533 AUC, Hannibal took command of Carthaginian forces in Spain. Hamilcar Barca, who died in 525 AUC, made his younger son Hannibal swear a blood oath against Rome when he was just a young boy. Over the next decades, Rome took over control of both Corsica and Sardinia as well, but Carthage was able to establish a new base of influence in Spain beginning in 517 AUC, under the leadership of the powerful general Hamilcar Barca and, later, his son-in-law Hasdrubal. At the end of the First Punic War, Sicily became Rome’s first overseas province. Though its invasion of North Africa that same year ended in defeat, Rome refused to give up, and in 513 AUC the Roman fleet was able to win a decisive victory against the Carthaginians at sea, breaking their legendary naval superiority. Over the course of nearly 20 years, Rome rebuilt its entire fleet in order to confront Carthage’s powerful navy, scoring its first sea victory at Mylae in 494 AUC and a major victory in the Battle of Eknomos in 498 AUC. While Carthage supported Syracuse, Rome supported Messina, and the struggle soon exploded into a direct conflict between the two powers, with control of Sicily at stake. In 490 AUC, Rome decided to intervene in a dispute on the western coast of the island of Sicily (then a Carthaginian province) involving an attack by soldiers from the city of Syracuse against the city of Messina. Though Carthage had clashed violently with several other powers in the region, notably the Greeks, its relations with Rome were historically friendly, and the cities had signed several treaties defining trading rights over the years. By 489 AUC, Carthage was the wealthiest and most advanced city in the region, as well as its leading naval power. Phoenician (Punic) settlers from the Mediterranean port of Tyre founded the city-state of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa a century prior to the founding of Rome. By the time the First Punic War broke out, Rome had become the dominant power throughout the Italian peninsula, while Carthage-a powerful city-state in northern Africa-was the greatest maritime power in the Mediterranean.īackground and First Punic War (490-513 AUC) The three Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome were fought over nearly a century and ended with the destruction of Carthage. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |