1. The Punic Wars

3. Prior to the Punic Wars, Rome battled with its neighbors to expand. Greece had many colonies in southern Italy which was known as Magna Graecia.

4. The Celts invaded from the north, sacking Rome in 390 B.C.E.

5. One positive that arose was Rome created a huge system of roads to connect all of its empire. One of the most important roads that was built during the republic was the Via Appia or Appian Way.

6. Also, such constant fighting led to dramatic innovations in the Roman military.

7. For instance, the Romans developed the corvus on their ships, allowing sailors to connect their ship to that of an enemy by means of a plank and hook.

8. The Punic Wars consisted of three separate wars fought by the Romans against Carthage from 264- 146 B.C.E.

9. Why “Punic” if the wars were against Carthage? In Latin, the people from Carthage were called the “Peoni” and anything related to them was Punic.

10. The First Punic Wars were fought from 264-241 B.C.E. Each side lost nearly 100,000 men. In the end, Rome won and added Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica to its territories.

11. The Second Punic War was fought from 218-202 B.C.E. This time the Carthaginians were led by Hannibal, the sworn enemy of Rome.

12. To give his side greater strength, Hannibal employed a number of war elephants against the Romans.

13. In a stroke of genius, Hannibal surprised Rome by crossing over through Spain and attacking from the North.

14. To do so, Hannibal and his war elephants had to cross over the Italian Alps.

15. For quite some time, Hannibal was very successful. Indeed, in the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C.E., the Romans lost 80,000 soldiers in just one day.

16. However, the Romans held out and eventually Hannibal’s supplies were cut off and his army depleted. The Romans were led by a general named Scipio who forced Hannibal back to Carthage to defend his homeland.

17. Scipio routed the Carthaginians. Rome demanded that Hannibal be turned over but he escaped and eventually committed suicide.

18. About 50 years later in 146 B.C.E., war broke out again between Rome and Carthage in what is now known as The Third Punic War.

19. Carthage was throttled again. After 100 years of on again, off again, war with Carthage, the Romans had enough.

20. As you will see, you do not want to get the Romans to the point where they have had enough.

21. First, Carthage was captured and burned to the ground.

22. Anyone still living was sold into slavery.

23. Then, the charred ruins of the city were smashed up and the area was ploughed up.

24. Finally, to make sure nothing would grow there again, the Romans sowed salt into the ground.

25. By the end of the Punic Wars, Rome had established itself as the major power of the western Mediterranean…

26. …with a future eye on the world.