Carthage

      This was a feat that still remains incredible and has mind-blown many historians. With that done, many peoples who had been oppressed by the Romans joined the Carthaginian army. The Romans saw this as a great threat and responded accordingly by sending consul and army after consul and army to defeat Hannibal. But, Hannibal’s brilliance prevailed and the Romans were consecutively defeated at the battles of Ticinus, Trebia, and the most well-executed ambush in all history.....Lake Trasimene. Hannibal plundered Italy and this affected Rome greatly - Hannibal and the Carthaginians seemed unstoppable. (Meanwhile, Rome had sent a fleet of ships to the Iberian Peninsula for a counter landing, and after some success, they were defeated. They sent more reinforcements there and eventually prevailed). So Rome decided to do something like never before, they mustered a HUGE army of 85,000 men to crush Hannibal.

 

      The Carthaginians had an army of approximately 54,000 men, but Hannibal used the stubborn Roman mindset, as well as the terrain, to his advantage, and by deploying the crescent formation the Carthaginians surrounded and massacred the Roman’s in a battle of annihilation... Cannae. After this humiliating defeat with 50,000 dead, and 20,000 captured, things became desperate for Rome. However, luckily for the Romans, their army in Spain had been successful in defeating the Carthaginians at Ilipa. After that, Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal, who was bringing supplies, reinforcements and siege equipment from Carthage to help Hannibal, and take the city of Rome, was defeated and killed by an intercepting Roman army. If Hasdrubal had made it and joined up with Hannibal, Rome certainly would have been destroyed for good.

 

      After achieving more and more victories over Rome in Italy, Carthage recalled Hannibal and his army back to Carthage to defend Africa from a Roman invasion. Hannibal left to defend his homeland. The clash of the titans was to follow. Hannibal gathered an army of 10,000 levies, (the ones we talked about in ‘The Armies of Carthage’ heading) as well as Gaulish mercenaries, and Hannibal’s veteran Libyan and Liby-Phoenician infantry, which had fought all through Hannibal’s campaign in Italy. Carthage also had the Sacred Band in this battle which formed most of their cavalry, as well as 80 war elephants. The Romans were under the command of Publius Cornelius Scipio, who had been fighting the Carthaginians in Spain. His force was the normal maniple formation of infantry (which consisted of three large lines, the hastati at the front the principes in the middle and the triarri in the rear). They also had an unusually large number of cavalry consisting of the typical Roman and allied cavalry, as well as the Numidians who had gone over to the Roman side for money. This large contingent outnumbered that of their Carthaginian adversaries.

 

      The two forces met in the plains of Zama, and at first the Carthaginian’s levy and mercenary infantry made headway into the Roman infantry. But Scipio and the Romans used their advantage in cavalry, and eventually after routing the brave but outnumbered mounted Sacred Band, wheeled around and attacked the Carthaginians in the flanks and rear. Hannibal’s elite infantry fought with bravery and valour against the Roman cavalry until all were killed or captured. The Second Punic War was over, Rome had won. Carthage lost all their land in Spain, and almost all in Africa as well. All that remained was a small amount around the city of Carthage itself. Hannibal, being a powerful figure in the Senate, revived Carthage and brought order and wealth back, though Carthage was no longer a strong contestant for power. Rome had triumphed in the end. But it was still not over.

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 - Third Punic War -

 

      The Numidians had been launching some raids on the Carthaginian borders, so Carthage having recovered a little, commenced a military expedition against them. When the Romans saw this, however, they were not happy, for Numidia was on good terms with the Romans so they declared war on Carthage. At once the Romans moved to besiege the city of Carthage itself. The defences were very strong due to the city’s strategic situation, the strength and height of her walls, and the determination of her occupants. Weapons and armour were continually being produced, hundreds a day in fact. The Carthaginian defenders fought and held the Romans off for two full years before Carthage fell. It was the end. The greatest series of wars in all antiquity had been fought. The hatred with which Carthage and Rome had clashed was even greater than the resources that went into the wars.

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 - Interesting Facts about the Punic Wars and Carthage -

 

• The battle of Lake Trasimene was the greatest ambush in all history, not only in coordination and execution but because the numbers involved also makes it the largest ambush in history.

 

• The sea battle of Ecnomus during the First Punic War was possibly the largest naval battle in all history. The Carthaginians had 350 vessels and the Romans 330, with over 500,000 men involved.

 

• While crossing the Alps, Hannibal was once in a steep-sided gully and in the middle was a huge boulder. It looked like he might have had to turn back, but telling his men to get two trees, he leaned them against the rock and set them alight. Once the rocks became hot, Hannibal ordered his men to pour a vinegary wine over them, this broke the rock into pieces and the Carthaginians could get through!

 

• In his campaign in Italy, Hannibal had his camp cut off by Romans. Hannibal was near the sea and there were lots of mountains surrounding him, with the two small passes being blocked. During the night, Hannibal got his men to tie torches to the horns of a herd of cows nearby and sent them to one of the passes. The Romans focussed all their forces on that area thinking the Carthaginians were making a breakout, only to find cows. Meanwhile, Hannibal and his men escaped via the other pass. The Romans were furious. Hannibal was very, very clever.

 

• The reason many Carthaginian names ended with ‘bal’ is that the Carthaginians used to worship Baal.

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Researched and written by

Gabriel Shaw

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Edited by

Caleb Shaw and Cody Mitchell