The first powerful empire that the Roman Republic came into conflict with were known as the Carthaginians. The territory of Carthage included much of the area of northern Africa that touches the Mediterranean Sea, just on the opposite side of the sea of the Republic Republic. The wars fought between Rome and Carthage were known as the Punic Wars, after the name the Romans had for the Carthaginians, called punicus (the latin word for Phoenicians, the tribe that would eventually become the Carthaginians).
The 1st Punic War was fought over control of the island of Sicily, which was first controlled by Carthage, and represnted a threat to the power of the Roman Republic. It was during this war that Rome grew its navy, so that it could better fight Carthage, which had a large navy itself. The war ended with a victory for Rome, which took control of the island of Sicily. Carthage, not happy about losing vowed to get revenge on Rome, and took control of land in Spain to make up for losing Sicily. The 2nd Punic War began with the Carthaginian General Hannibal lauching a surprise attack on Roman from the north, by taking his army north through Spain. Hannibal's army, made up of about 46,000 men, and included 37 battle elephants . At the beginning of the war, Hannibal had a lot of success defeating the armies of Rome, including in a battle where Rome lost 40,000 soldiers. Hannibal's biggest problem was that he army did not have the ability to attack major cities, and Rome was eventually able to raise another army, which is set south to attack the city of Carthage directly, instead of taking on Hannibal's army. Rome was eventually able to defeat Carthage, and established itself as the dominate power in the Mediterranean Sea. Rome would fight Carthage one more time in the 3rd Punic War, which ends with Rome completely destroying the city of Carthage, and selling its citizens into slavery, which brings the Carthaginian Empire to an end. Rome would go on to fit various other states around the Mediterranean Sea, taking control of lands in Greece, Macedonia, and Pergamum. This would also establish Rome as an conquering empire, as it would send out armies to all surrounding areas, and taking Rome yet another step closer to becoming the most powerful empire in the world. |
Sculpture of the General Hannibal
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