Second punic. Hannibal and the Second Punic War 2019-01-07
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Causes of the Second Punic War Essay Example for Free
Hannibal now fielded the best-trained and equipped army in the ancient world; the Romans enjoyed complete naval superiority, which they could use to invade Carthaginian territory at will. In the meantime, this battle enabled another Roman army under Fabius to approach Tarentum and take it by treachery in the. However, this security was short-lived. Rome essentially practiced exploitation colonialism, which means that with few colonists they kept the Iberian territories under their control to exploit the natural resources, manpower and trade opportunities to benefit the metropole. This convinced the Carthaginian commander Hanno, the nephew of Hannibal, to accept pitched battle before his troops had been united with the army under , the brother of Hannibal, despite being outnumbered 2 to 1. At , Hannibal again demonstrated his mastery of battlefield tactics when the consul Gaius Flaminius Nepos and more than 40,000 soldiers were ambushed on the narrow path along the shore of the lake. This was not the case with Carthage.
The causes of the attack and the justification for the war have been a matter of controversy for centuries. Arriving in Etruria still in the spring of , Hannibal tried without success to draw the main Roman army under Flaminius into a by devastating the area the latter had been sent to protect. Moving to Italy, the Romans were successful in securing their control over Sicily and in the Italian mainland the war was essentially in a stalemate. However, he would be remembered by Romans and others for his superior military abilities and accomplishments. This victory was important for several reasons. Despite pointedly rapid movement by Flaminius, Hannibal still managed to get over the passes unopposed, and once again take control of the situation, this time by marching straight past Flaminius, burning and pillaging as he went, and forcing the Romans to chase him. Fabius famously adopted the so-called Fabian strategy of avoiding pitched battles and open battles, and instead provoke skirmishes that exhausted the enemy.
Who was going to lead them now? Yet, relative size was not the only difference between the Carthaginians and the Romans. The Numidians remained loyal to Muttines, and when the Romans arrived at the city, opened one of the city gates and let them in. Livy reports that it was agreed that the Iber should be the boundary between both empires and that the liberty of the Saguntines should be preserved. However, he was uncertain of the feasibility of such an attack and spent a great deal of time pondering it. After sacking the Carthaginian camp, he marched to the coast. They were populists who could sway public opinion and put pressure on the pro-peace faction to support Hannibal. The Iberians had to accept their new rulers, because nothing would be like it had been before the Second Punic War started.
In a few minutes they were out of hand and virtually out of action except for the confusion they left behind them. The National Museum of Denmark, Royal Collection of Coins and Medals The war in Africa In 205 Scipio, who had returned to Rome to hold the consulship, proposed to follow up his victories by an attack upon the home territory of Carthage. First, he would neutralize Rome's advantage at sea through a daring invasion of Italy across the Alps. He got caught and had his hands cut off as a punishment. Hannibal caught the proconsul Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus off guard during his siege of Herdonia and destroyed his army in a pitched battle with up to 13,000 Romans dead out of less than 20,000.
Hannibal was aided by the fact that , the old tyrant of Syracuse and a staunch Roman ally, had died and his successor was discontented with his position in the Roman alliance. Though his political enemies limited his troop numbers, Scipio was able to raise additional troops and soon traveled from Sicily to North Africa. Hannibal asked Scipio if they could resolve their differences without fighting. A rash pursuit by the Roman field force under led to its being entrapped on the shore of and destroyed with a loss of at least 15,000 men. This meant he had 30,000 troops by the time he met the Romans in battle.
The combined Roman army frustrated an attempt of Hasdrubal to elude it and forced him to fight on the banks of the Metaurus. While little progress was made in the Iberian theatre, the Scipios were able to negotiate a new front in Africa by allying themselves with , a powerful Numidian king in North Africa. But then you had the powerful families that had enriched themselves with maritime trade that wanted to expand overseas. Never again Carthage supposed a serious threat to Rome, even though there was the Third Punic War, but that one was very asymmetrical and supposed the existential destruction of Carthage. Having ravaged Apulia without provoking Fabius into a battle, Hannibal decided to march through to , one of the richest and most fertile provinces of Italy, hoping that the devastation would draw Fabius into battle. The inhabitants of Capua held limited Roman citizenship and the aristocracy was linked to the Romans via marriage and friendship, but the possibility of becoming the supreme city of Italy after the evident Roman disasters proved too strong a temptation. Scipio Africanus, the popular Roman general on the other hand,tried to reinforce the Roman insight as much as he could.
Causes of the Second Punic War Essay Example for Free
The Punic Wars lasted in 3 stages, all resulting to the obsessive pride and higher standings of Rome. This attack was easily defeated, but for a brief period news of the Macedonia alliance caused a panic in Rome, and expectation of a Macedonian invasion of Italy. The usual procedure required the presence of a consul to appoint the dictator. The Latin cavalry was then destroyed. In early 215 an attempt was made by Hasdrubal to lead another army along the land route to Italy, but this was defeated at the battle of Ibera. Karthago und die iberische Halbinsel vor den Barkiden: Studien zur karthagischen Präsenz im westlichen Mittelmeerraum von der Gründung von Ebusus bis zum Übergang Hamilkars nach Hispanien. Mago Barca attempted to recapture Carthago Nova, but he failed.
At this point, although he could not retreat, Scipio demonstrated his genius by having trumpet calls sounded from end to end of the legions. Broken armistice and final peace treaty The decisive battle soon followed. Pirates probably played an important role in capturing slaves, one of the most profitable trade goods, but merchant ships with tradeable goods and a crew were also their targets. When he had entered Italy he was 29. But the Romans did detect them, and Publius Cornelius Scipio, the consul that had to attack Carthaginian possessions in Iberia, returned to Rome to protect the Roman homeland. During the conflict, the Romans sounded horns that panicked the Carthaginian elephants, causing them to reverse and trample many of Hannibal's troops.
Thus the inferior Carthaginian mercenaries on the wings were severely beaten by the Romans. Although Rome did nothing to help Saguntum, she did sent a delegation to Carthage over the winter. Within a year of his landing in Africa, Scipio twice routed the regular Carthaginian forces under and his allies. Despite the shocking defeat, Rome refused to negotiate terms with the invader. His crossing was expected by the enemy, but not such an early arrival, while the Roman forces were still in their winter quarters. The interval between the First and Second Punic Wars 241—218 bce The loss of naval supremacy not only deprived the Carthaginians of their predominance in the western Mediterranean but exposed their overseas empire to disintegration under renewed attacks by Rome.
