Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage | World History | Khan Academy

As we enter into the 3rd century BCE, we see the Roman Republic, which was founded in 509 BCE, has now exerted control over most of the Italian Peninsula. But it's not the only power in the Mediterranean. We have the remnants of Alexander the Great's empire, and we also have the Carthaginians. You can see here that, in blue, Carthage had an extensive empire that controlled most of the Western Mediterranean.

So, you can imagine it was only a matter of time before they came into conflict with each other. It turns out they are actually going to have three significant wars. Some historians view these as the most significant and largest scale wars up to that point in history. The first of these happens in 264 BCE and goes on for 23 years, ending in 241 BCE. This is known as the First Punic War. You can see it on the timeline right over here, going from 264 to 241 BCE.

It’s a result of a conflict that starts between two city-states in Sicily. Sicily is this island right over here, and you have the city-state of Syracuse, which is a powerful city originally established by the Greeks. It gets into a scuffle with Messana, which is another city-state at the northeastern tip of Sicily. Rome and Carthage, these two great powers, get embroiled, and it ends up being a conflict over the island of Sicily, where Carthage already had a foothold on the west coast.

Now, what's interesting going into this war is that Carthage had a powerful navy, which you could view as an empire over the sea. Rome had a very powerful army but not really much of a navy to speak of. However, as we will see as we go through the First Punic War, that will change. The first major battle happens at Agrigentum—I'm probably mispronouncing it—on Sicily, and the Romans are able to win decisively.

Then, the Carthaginians, you could imagine, start to say, "Well, maybe we should engage them more at sea." That happens in 260 at the Battle of the Aegates Islands, which are right over here. When the Romans get defeated there, they say, "Hey, maybe we need a little bit more of a navy." Over the course of these several decades, you have this continual fighting and some Carthaginian or Punic victories.

We've talked about in previous videos that the word "Punic" is derived from what the Romans called the Carthaginians, which is linked to their roots as Phoenicians. You have some Punic victories, but for the most part, Rome is successful. At the end of the First Punic War, a few things happen: Carthage is expelled from Sicily. Rome tells Carthage, "Hey, you've got to pay us for all the damage you've created."

This is difficult for Carthage because a war costs them a lot. They didn’t have citizen soldiers; their army was made up mainly of mercenaries. So, these are soldiers who, if you pay them enough, they will fight for you. They don’t really have allegiances based on ideology or citizenship. As Carthage went through this many decades-long war, they had to pay all these mercenaries, and now Rome is making them pay indemnity to Rome.

The other side effect of this First Punic War is that it was a catalyst for Rome building its navy. Rome builds a navy, and you can imagine, especially given the cost of the First Punic War, it becomes very difficult for Carthage. It actually destabilizes Carthage; a lot of the mercenaries, when they're not paid as they feel they should be, rise up.

From 240 to 238 BCE, you have a mercenary war, which eventually is able to be put down by the Carthaginians. But the side effect is it weakens their hold on Sardinia and Corsica. By the end of this mercenary war, the map looks like this right over here, showing what the Mediterranean looked like in 238 BCE. Here, you see that Rome not only has control of the Italian Peninsula but has also gained control over Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily.

Now, Roman power is only going to increase, but the Carthaginians, this proud empire, are not done yet. In 218, the Carthaginian general Hannibal, the famous Hannibal, decides to attack the Romans. He does it in an unconventional way; he attacks from the north. He takes his army, which includes elephants, through the Swiss Alps. This is an artistic depiction of Hannibal's army with its elephants going through the Swiss Alps, and they are able to wreak havoc over the Italian Peninsula.

This goes on for roughly 15 years. So, from 218 BCE till 201 BCE, you have the Second Punic War. Even though Hannibal is able to wreak havoc for over a decade on the Italian Peninsula, he's never able to fully take control of Rome. There are several explanations for this. One is that the people he conquers kept rising up against him; they weren't just happy to be subjugated by the Carthaginians.

Hannibal never was able to get as many reinforcements as necessary to fully subjugate Rome. By the end of the Second Punic War, the Romans decide to take the battle to Carthage. In 202 BCE, at the Battle of Zama, the Romans are able to decisively beat Hannibal. He is called back to defend the homeland, and he is defeated at Zama. By 201 BCE, you have the end of the Second Punic War.

At that point, you now have Rome in control of significant chunks of the Iberian Peninsula that used to be under Carthaginian control. Carthage has really been reduced to a client state of Rome. This is roughly what the map looks like. After this, Rome isn't happy; this was a pretty ugly war. Hannibal was wreaking havoc on the Italian Peninsula, and he was almost successful at taking over Rome.

It was an existential threat to the Roman Republic. Carthage essentially becomes a client state of Rome. They have to pay war indemnity and really can't have a significant army or navy anymore. Many people in Rome, over the next several decades, start arguing, "Hey, we should just completely destroy this city because every time we beat them, we get into this peace treaty, but then they get powerful again, and we end up in a war with them."

Finally, in 149 BCE, as Carthage is starting to reassert a little bit of power and trying to rebuild its military, the Romans get scared. They say, "You know what? Let's just finish them off once and for all." They start to put very onerous terms on the Carthaginians; they say, "Hey, move your city further inland. We don't want you to ever be a power."

The Carthaginians, of course, can’t just say, "Hey, we're going to move our entire city." The Romans use that as grounds for attack. From 149 BCE to 146 BCE, you have the Third Punic War, which is really the one where Rome goes to destroy Carthage. They are able to destroy Carthage, ending a 700-year-old city-state empire.

The city of Carthage is utterly destroyed; its inhabitants are enslaved, which is something the Romans liked to do for subjugated people. The city was burned in a very systematic way for 17 days. The Romans wanted to ensure that Carthage could never rise up again to threaten Rome.

After the Third Punic War, the Romans are now the dominant empire in the Mediterranean. Not only did they control what they had going into the Third Punic War, but now they controlled Carthage's African colonies. The same year, 146 BCE, the Romans were also able to take control of Greece.

As we exit out of the Third Punic War, we now have a Rome that is extremely powerful. This Roman Republic is starting to resemble an empire. It's not officially an empire yet; it's still officially a republic, but it's taking control of other peoples. You could view it as an empire starting to take shape as this major civilization that will eventually control the entire Mediterranean.