246 Bc To 149 Bc With Carthage example essay topic

Carthage was first founded as a trading post in the year of 814 BC. Carthage was founded by the Phoenician Princess E lyssa-Dido on a peninsula from Africa which extends into the Mediterranean Sea. According to legendElyssa Dido fled from her brother Pygmalion, the king of Tyre, after he killed her husband. The post benefited from the vast market for the goods that it traded and grew in importance quickly.

It first had warehouses in which raw metals and finished metal products which the Phoenicians used and had made were stored. Carthage then started making metal products for Spain. These products were cheap due to they traded these cheap goods to Spain for the raw metals. Carthage soon became a huge trading empire, containing much of north Africa, Sicily, and Spain. In the fifth century BC, Carthage was the largest of all existing Mediterranean ports.

Carthage soon minted its own coins. The Carthaginians soon developed high skills in the building of ships. They used this to dominate the seas for centuries. Their most important trading goods were silver, lead, ivory, gold, beds, bedding, pottery, jewelry, glassware, wild animals from Africa, fruit, and nuts.

Carthage had two first class ports. One was a trading port which was rectangular and the other was a man-made military port which was circular. These two ports were connected by a canal. The Carthaginians also had great communication since they controlled the sea, the fastest way of communication at that time. The Carthaginians began a 240 year long struggle for survival with the Greeks then the Romans in the year 410 BC. It all started when the Sicily city of S egesta asked for help against its mortal Greek enemy of Selinius.

Carthage, in a lightening fast campaign sacked both Selinius, and the large Greek city of Agrigento. The Carthaginians failed in their attempt to siege Syracusa. After the siege upon Syracusa, the Syracusians built many weapons of war, including the catapult. They then sacked the important Carthaginian city of Moyka.

For over the next one hundred years the Carthaginians battled the Syracusians. Rome and Carthage allied and eventually defeated the Syracusians' army at that time ran by Phyrrus of Epirus. Rome had signed three peace treaties with Carthage, however in 246 BC Rome decided that with the Roman conquest of southern Italy, the Carthaginians in Sicily were now too close for comfort. This began the Punic wars. There were three Punic wars.

Rome and Carthage were the two strongest contenders of the central Mediterranean Sea of that time. In each of these wars Carthage lost. These wars lasted off and on from 246 BC to 149 BC, with Carthage eventually being destroyed. The First Punic War started in 264 BC and lasted to 241 BC. In the first half of the 3rd century BC Carthage held many territories that made it easy to control and dominate the western Mediterranean Sea. However, when they conquered Messana on the north eastern tip of Sicily, in 263, they faced the Romans for ware for the first time.

The people of Messana requested aid from Rome and Rome came to aid. The fear of a powerful neighbor was only one out of several motivations, next to the promise of glory that got Rome to aid in the fight. This war was fought mainly at sea around Sicily, and Carthage was by far the strongest of the two in this field. This superiority was met by a large scale Roman construction of the navel fleet after their land forces captured one of the Carthaginian ships. Soon this was reflected in the fighting's, and in 256 Carthage was besieged, but the Romans were defeated. Then for some years Carthage was the most successful who was commanded by Hamilcar.

However, at the battle at the Aerates Islands in 241, the Carthaginians were beaten so badly that they requested peace. This agreement involved leaving Sicily and paying a huge tax. Rome now had complete control of Sicily. The most important of the three wars was the Second Punic War which started in 218 BC and lasted until 201 BC.

This was also the most fascinating. It was the Carthaginians bitterness over the agreement from the first war, and the expansion following the years after it that brought on this war. Part of this expansion was the taking of Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage in the year of 237 BC. From 237 to 219 Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, and Hasdrubal, Hamilcar's son-in-law, conquered parts of Spain for Carthage.

In 226 BC an agreement with Rome set the northern border of the Carthaginian conquest to the Ebro river which was located in northern Spain. However, the Romans themselves crossed the Ebro river, heading south on a conquest train. Hannibal decided to face the Romans for doing so. This meeting was at Saguntum in 219 BC.

It was the same reasons, as in the First Punic War, that made Rome declare war in 218 BC. Hannibal did the unexpected, he set off north. He was bringing a large number of troops, also a large number of elephants. They crossed the Alps about 300 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The crossing of the Alps was hazardous, and a large part of the troops and elephants were lost. Hannibal had some luck recruiting locals to help make up for his loses.

He did most of this in the Goals in northern Italy. Romans' tactic of delaying communication on both land and sea made Hannibal almost isolated from Carthage. His number of troops declined rapidly, so Hannibal was continuously looking for more recruits. In 209 Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal Barca, repeated Hannibal's Alp crossing, bringing reinforcements.

He was beaten in 207 at Me taurus river. The following year the Carthaginians were driven totally out of Spain. In 204 Scipio invaded Ifriqiya (today's Tunisia), and despite strong resistance, a peace was almost arranged in 203 BC when Hannibal returned home. Hannibal was beaten in Zama in 202 BC and a peace treaty was signed. This stated that all claims in Spain, Sicily, and Italy were to be given up, the Punic fleet was to be reduced to ten ships, Forced to make heavy payments to the Romans and exile Hannibal. The Third Punic War was the shortest war of the three which only lasted from 149 BC to 146 BC.

It was control ed totally by the Romans. After the Second Punic War, Carthage managed once again to return to much of its former glory. The economy began to prosper, and the fleet was rebuilt. The Romans remembered the previous wars very well, many of which hated Carthage, they wanted Carthage dead.

Rome used their ally, Masinissa, to bring forward an excuse to go to war with Carthage. In 149 Carthage attacked Masinissa and Rome came to aid for their ally and declaring war on Carthage. Rome had an advantage with their military force being stronger than ever. A few battles were fought to decide who was strongest. At first a peace treaty was agreed upon, but then the Romans increased their demands, wanting a total abandonment of Carthage.

Facing these claims, Carthage renewed fighting, and soon entered a three year long siege. When the Romans finally breached the walls, one week of fighting occurred inside the walls of Carthage. Carthage was burned to the ground, the ground was sprinkled with salt so that nothing would grow, and the people were either killed or sold into slavery.