The Punic Wars

The major powers in the Mediterranean at 280 BC were Greece, Rome, and Carthage. There was a king of Greece named Phyrrhus at the time who decided to go to war with Rome, because Greece didn’t like the treaty they had with the Romans, and to go to war with Carthage at the same time because he wanted to conquer Sicily, which was under Carthaginian control. The war ended five years later in 275 BC and Greece actually won, since they got a new treaty with Rome they liked and took Sicily from Carthage, but Greece had lost far more men the Romans or Carthaginians had, had became a territory of Rome, and both Carthage and Rome swooped in and took Sicily from Greece. This form of victory that’s really a loss is called a Phrrhic victory. After this the only main powers in the Mediterranean were Carthage and Rome. Carthage owned most of Sicily and Rome owned a small portion of the island but some of the city’s were free, such as Syracuse and Messina. Syracuse attacked Messina and since Syracuse was stronger than the city, Messina asked Carthage for help. Carthage was dealing with it’s own problems at the time and said no. Messina then asked Rome for help and Rome agreed. Carthage wanted to fight Rome, so they used this an excuse to fight Rome and sided with Syracuse, the attacker. This led to many more battles between Carthage and Rome with Rome winning almost all of them. Eventually they beat Carthage and took Sicily for themselves. Carthage, angry at the Romans, eventually broke the peace and fought Rome in the second Punic War. The Carthaginian general who fought the second Punic War was named Hannibal, and he is known as one of Rome’s greatest enemies. He led his army across North Africa, through several mountain ranges including the Alps, though Spain and France, into Italy. Once there, he fought a continuous battle for 17 years before the Romans sailed straight through the Mediterranean to Carthage and enslaved it. Hannibal rushed back home only to be killed by the Roman army. Carthage survived, but remained a slave of Rome until they disrespected the treaty they had made with Rome. Once that happened Rome went over and completely annihilated the city. That is the majority of the Punic Wars.