Punic Wars: Did Carthage Have a Chance?
Founded in 753 BC e. Rome during the first few centuries of its existence was a small state, occupying only the territory adjacent to the city. It did not stand out in anything special, and only neighboring tribes knew about its existence. Ancient Greek authors, for example, first began to mention Rome in their writings only in the 450rd century BC. BC e. In a word, during the first XNUMX years of its existence, Rome remained an insignificant state, not striving for conquest. But why has everything suddenly changed so drastically? Why did Rome suddenly quickly turn from a tiny peace-loving state with a republican form of government into an empire striving for new conquests, which conquered not only most of Europe, but also territories in Asia and Africa? A sharp turning point occurred during the Punic Wars.
But the thirst for conquest appeared even before them. By the beginning of the III century. BC e. During the Samnite Wars, Rome conquered almost all of Italy. The conquest of Italy showed the Romans that they could conquer territories beyond the Apennine Peninsula. This was confirmed by the Punic Wars with Carthage.
Carthage, like Rome, was considered a republic and was founded shortly before the founding of Rome at the end of the XNUMXth century. BC e. It was a powerful state, which, like Rome, strove for new conquests.
The first of the three wars between Carthage and Rome began in 264 BC. e. The wars were called Punic, since the Romans called the Carthaginians Puns. Carthage was located on the territory of modern Tunisia, so the main battles of the first Punic War took place in the Mediterranean Sea and its islands. At the beginning of the war, the Romans were able to defeat the Carthaginian fleet and even land troops near the walls of Carthage. But they could not take a well-fortified city. In 255, under Tunet, the Roman army was destroyed, so that Carthage had the first chance to do away with Rome. But, as is often the case, he was missed. And as a result, it was the Romans who won the war, who defeated the Carthaginian fleet and in 241 signed a peace with the exhausted Carthage.
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War began 23 years later, in 218. It was no longer just an armed conflict for certain territories, but a war of annihilation, from which only one of the opponents was supposed to emerge victorious. The Carthaginian army by this time had become more numerous and conquered Spain. It was commanded by the talented commander Hannibal, who at the age of 9 swore to his father, also a Carthaginian commander, that until the end of his days he would be an implacable opponent of Rome. His cherished dream was not just to defeat, but to destroy Rome once and for all, to wipe it off the face of the earth. And so, he had such a chance.
In 218, Hannibal captured the city of Sagunt, allied to the Romans, and moved to the Alps, passing through which he hoped to suddenly appear in Italy. He had every chance of success. Speaking on a campaign, he had 80 thousand experienced soldiers, and the Romans in Italy could oppose him at least half as much. Along the way, in southern France, the Gallic tribes joined Hannibal.
The Carthaginian Senate was afraid of Hannibal's victories, since in this case his power in the republic would have increased, which the Senate really did not want, and therefore prevented the campaign. Crossing the Alps, especially in winter, was fraught with many dangers, so it was easier to transport the army from southern France to Italy by ship. But this was not in the interest of the Senate, which did not send ships. Hannibal had to make a difficult transition through the Alps, which none of the generals had made before him.
The passage through the snow-capped peaks lasted a long six months. During this time, 36 Carthaginians died from hunger and cold. The lack of food supplies is also the "merit" of the Carthaginian Senate, which refused to supply Hannibal not only with provisions, but also with money. And yet, despite the huge losses during the crossing of the Alps, Hannibal still had a chance to conquer Rome. Having crossed the Alps, the Carthaginian army, now numbering 000 people, defeated the Roman troops at Trebbia. After this impressive victory, the road to Rome opened before Hannibal, but he was obviously afraid to storm it and turned north. Thus was lost the first chance to do away with Rome.
Possessions of Rome and Carthage at the beginning of the Second Punic War
After the victory at Trasimene Lake, a second such chance presented itself, but Hannibal retreated again, pursued by the defeated Romans. During the retreat of the Carthaginians, the Romans managed to gather a new army. According to some sources, it numbered 69 people, according to others - 000. And the tribes allied with Rome began to go over to the side of Hannibal.
The decisive battle took place on August 2, 216 near Cannes. The Romans twice outnumbered the army of Hannibal, but they had a serious drawback: the army was commanded by two commanders at once - consuls Aemilius Paul and Varro, who competed with each other and made decisions without consulting each other. And most of the Roman army consisted of recruits.
The first day of the battle did not reveal the winner. On the second day, Hannibal formed his troops so that the infantry was in the center and moved far ahead, and the cavalry, located on the flanks, was behind the infantry. The calculation was made correctly: during the attack of the Romans, the center retreated, and the cavalry went on the attack. As a result, the Roman army, twice the size of the Carthaginian, was surrounded and a significant part of it was destroyed. The rout was complete, Roman historians call huge losses - 48, and sometimes 000-60 thousand dead. But it is more likely that most of these soldiers did not die, but simply fled. Nevertheless, the defeat was complete, and there was practically no one to defend Rome.
But Hannibal again did not go to Rome. It was his third and, alas, his last chance to put an end to the "eternal city" once and for all. For the third time in a row, he did not take advantage of the fruits of a brilliant victory.
What was he afraid of? New losses during the storming of the city? But the tribes of Italy went over to the side of Hannibal, so that even in the event of heavy losses during the storming of Rome, his army would continue to replenish. And the capture of the city could raise an uprising against the Romans throughout the Apennine Peninsula. In this case, the power of the Roman state would have been dealt a serious blow, from which it would hardly have recovered. The result of the fall of Rome would be the dominance of Carthage throughout the Mediterranean. And it is possible that sooner or later Carthage would have created such an empire that Rome actually created.
But the chance was missed. The Romans soon gathered a new army, calling into it all who could wear weapon. Hannibal gave the Romans precious time, which they successfully used. Meanwhile, he himself went into politics and put together an anti-Roman coalition, which included the Macedonian king Philip V and the king of Sicily Hieron. They started a war with Rome, but Philip was forced to fight with the Greek states, not being able to help Hannibal directly in Italy, and the capital of Hieron of Syracuse was soon under siege by the Romans. The Romans besieged it for almost two years and finally took it in 212. During the assault, the outstanding scientist of antiquity Archimedes died, who during the entire siege invented various throwing weapons, which gave the city the opportunity to defend itself for so long.
Hannibal continued to stay in Italy. But over the next 8 years that he was in Italy, he failed to win new victories. And the Romans, meanwhile, began to take revenge for Cannes. Soon the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula began, and the Carthaginian fleet was defeated. But Hannibal still continued to hope for victory, although Carthage no longer had a chance to win this war.
Statue of Hannibal in the Louvre by Sebastien Schlodtz
In 203, when the Romans landed near Carthage itself, the Senate decided to recall Hannibal from Italy to defend the capital. Upon learning of the recall, Hannibal said:
Hanno is the same Carthaginian senator, the head of the pro-Roman party, who throughout the war put sticks in the wheels of Hannibal.
By this time, almost nothing was left of the former huge army, so Hannibal spent 9 months to form a new army.
Hannibal's recruits were now opposed by battle-hardened Roman veterans under the command of the talented general Publius Cornelius Scipio. He realized that it was possible to defeat Hannibal only by applying his own tactics.
The decisive and last battle of the second Punic War took place in 202 at Zama. In it, Hannibal suffered a complete defeat. Revenge for Cannes was still taken.
Battle of Zama. Painting by Cornelis Court, 1567
Hannibal, even after the defeat, wanted to continue the war, but in 201 the Carthaginian Senate made peace with Rome. According to this peace treaty, Carthage transferred to the Romans its entire fleet of 500 ships, and was deprived of all its former territories. Now the territory of Carthage was limited only to the city and its environs.
As for Hannibal, until 196 he held the highest positions and was preparing for a new war. But when the Romans suspected him of this, the Carthaginian Senate removed Hannibal from all posts and expelled him from the city. The state, which he defended for almost 20 years, expelled his hero.
Further, the former commander wandered around the Middle East for a long time, remaining true to his oath to be the eternal enemy of Rome. He first found shelter with the Syrian king Antiochus III, and when he was defeated by the Romans and had to hand over Hannibal to them, he fled to Bithynia. The Romans could not find and destroy it for a long time, and finally, in 183, found out its location. Not wanting to fall into the hands of his enemies alive, Hannibal took poison.
Third and last Punic War
"Carthage must be destroyed" - repeated half a century after the end of the war, the Roman senators. It was not enough for them to destroy Hannibal, they wanted to destroy and wipe out Carthage itself, which they had been so afraid of before. This thirst for revenge led to the third and last Punic War.
In 149 BC. e. she started. But even before it began, it was obvious to everyone that Carthage, due to the colossal inequality of forces, had no chance of winning it. Moreover, Carthage did not even have a chance to continue its existence, since the Roman senators had long decided to destroy the city to the ground, and sell all the inhabitants into slavery.
The Carthaginians understood that they would not be able to win, so they wanted to avoid bloodshed. They sent a delegation to Rome, which stated that Carthage, in order to avoid bloodshed, was ready to capitulate. The Roman senators gave them an ambiguous answer. They seemed to welcome the "wise decision" of the Carthaginians, but at the same time kept silent about the fate of the city itself. Meanwhile, the troops approaching Carthage put forward the condition to give out all the weapons stored in the city. This requirement has been met.
And only having disarmed the once formidable enemy, the Romans expressed the main demand: all residents must leave the city, and it must be destroyed. Of course, nothing was said about the future of slavery.
Having learned the Roman demands, the Carthaginians immediately killed the supporters of surrender and began to prepare for defense. In a short time, the Carthaginian workshops provided weapons for their soldiers and civilians. The women donated their hair to making ropes for catapults and jewelry to buy weapons. All city slaves were freed and drafted into the army. The inhabitants of Carthage were ready to die, but not to submit to the enemy.
While the Roman army stood under the city walls and stocked up on food, the Carthaginians had time to prepare for defense. The Romans did not expect that civilians would take up arms and put up a desperate resistance. Several assaults were repulsed with heavy losses for the Romans. The Carthaginian commander Hasdrubal struck at the rear of the Romans.
After that, the Romans began a long siege. A few months later, Hasdrubal defeated the Roman general Manilius. And the inhabitants of the city burned almost the entire enemy fleet. After that, diseases began in the Roman army, the war dragged on.
And only three years later, after continuous battles and assaults, at the cost of huge losses, the Romans were able to break into the city. But the townspeople continued their heroic resistance, the Romans had to take every house, every temple with a fight. City battles went on for more than a week, the Romans killed not only men, but also women, the elderly and children. The last defenders decided to capitulate. 30 men and 000 women surrendered, many of whom were wounded. All of them were sold into slavery. The number of survivors only indicates that about the same number of women died during the defense as men.
After several days of plunder, Carthage was literally wiped off the face of the earth, even the ruins were destroyed. Such was the ultimate revenge for the defeat of the Romans at Cannae.
So Rome began to create its empire, which after that will last another 600 years.
- Andrey Sarmatov
- https://ru.wikipedia.org
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