How Significant Was The Defeat Of Carthage For The Rise Of Rome?

“Thus arose the Carthaginian Empire,
an armed trading-association
whose purpose was to create
and preserve a monopoly of
the trade of Spain and
Western North Africa.”

The mighty power of Carthage spanned the known world, with trading partners and subordinate allies across the Hellenistic world that had enabled it to create a huge empire based around trade and military dominance. Able to launch campaigns across the globe at the whim of the ruling men, Carthage had maintained naval and military dominance for hundreds of years, unopposed by any other nation. By controlling vast tracts of land and ruling unopposed the men of Carthage had begun to believe themselves invincible and looked at all other nations as though they posed no threat to Carthaginian dominance.

The external image of dominance was important to Carthage and they were quick in putting down rebellions in Carthaginian land, unfortunately one rash attack on Messana, without knowing of its alliance with Rome, began the first of three Punic wars between mighty Carthage and the fledgling state of Rome in 280BC. Thus enabling Rome for the first time to increase their influence on the European political stage. The reality was that one nation had to triumph over the other; the Hellenistic world was neither big enough nor stable enough for two large powers to dominate. The scene had been set for a “race for power” between two opposing states, one who had already benefited from years of power development and deployment and one hungry to experience the thrill of controlling the seas, amassing a strong and well trained fighting force, developing a strong and focused economy and conquering territory won as a prize to promote power.

“look for the cause of the
Punic war in an act of
‘defensive imperialism’
on the part of Rome”.

Sicily had always been a barrier separating Carthage from Rome and ensuring a tentative but established peace was maintained by the two nations. With Carthaginian intrusion bringing conflict to the island and throwing the security of the Roman people into doubt however, the peace was soon to break and the two nations would fight for the barrier and the upper hand. Whoever had Sicily had control over vast stretches of the Mediterranean sea, Sicily was beneficial to both sides left to its independent kingdoms of Messana and Syracuse but if either Rome or Carthage could control the island their enemy would suffer heavily.

Rome and Carthage focused on their strengths as soon as the war for Sicily was declared. Rome quickly landed troops on Sicily, pushing back the small Carthaginian army and gave control back to their allies in Messana. In comparison Carthage retaliated quickly at specific targets before retreating quickly to sea with their superior navy. Rome’s original policy, to maintain the land as a neutral barrier, was not working and would give nothing to Rome in compensation for the loss of life and wealth the nation had suffered. Carthage’s hit and run tactics were beginning to earn them Sicilian land while Rome was conquering no land but fighting for other nations. To beat Carthage it became clear Rome would have to conquer and control the island.

Many towns on the island saw Rome as the moral superior over the ruthless and cunning men of Carthage who thought in terms of profit and loss over morality and glory. These towns began to place themselves under the protection of the Roman people (dederant se in fiden). By quickly amassing such allegiances, Rome found itself controlling most of Sicily yet Carthage saw the profit of owning Sicily still outstripping the potential loses in the lives of men and so put another army on Sicily bringing the control of the island herself back into dispute. Carthage still had the sea but Rome no longer held control over the land, Rome realised they could never win without a navy.

By using alliances and intimidation, Rome quickly amassed a force to be reckoned with. However, still lacking the experience of the Carthaginian sailors and marines they were naive in engaging just off the coast of the island where the Roman naval commanders were outclassed by their Carthaginian counterparts and experienced a humiliating defeat. Carthage had showed the Roman senate that to win at sea Rome had to do more than just rely on their allies. As a result of such a defeat the Roman senate reacted quickly and forcefully showing their desire and determination not only to survive but also to show the world there is a new power rising and that they can beat superior enemies and overcome any obstacle to win.

The creation of 100 quinqueremes (largest naval vessel in use at this time) and 20 triremes (the smallest naval vessel in use at this time) were ordered and the creation of the fleet took an amazingly short time of just 64 days to finish, showing how the Roman senate was willing to spend huge amounts of wealth to win a war which was not threatening the nation directly but would give glory and increase the standing of the nation. The ruling men of Carthage however thought not about glory or standing but saw just profit and loss and seeing Rome spend so much money on an aim Carthage still saw as futile and pointless, the men of Carthage began to see Rome as a worthy adversary and put more of their own wealth into winning Sicily.

Matching Carthage ship for ship was still not enough, Rome could never hope to produce sailors or marines matching the quality of their Carthaginian equivalents and so the adaptive and ingenious men of Rome and their Greek allies set to work to give Rome the advantage. The Corvus (Raven) was soon invented and placed on every ship in the Roman fleet. The Corvus was just a 13 foot long plank of wood attached to swivel mount which allowed the sailors to smash the plank onto an enemy ship anchoring it in place while the Marines flooded the enemy vessel and butchered the waiting enemy.

The Romans, now confident in their naval ability, looked to find the perfect conflict to show Carthage they were doomed to lose the war. The place found was at Aegusa where the new Roman navy quickly surrounded and subdued a small guard of Carthaginian vessels, this in itself was an immense step for Roman supremacy across the Mediterranean but the victory also had the benefit of cutting off the Carthaginian supply line to their armies and allowed the Roman army to finally crush opposition on the island and conquer the first part of the future Roman empire.

Rome would experience almost 800 years of naval dominance and create an empire based around the manoeuvrability of her troops, the trade with exotic overseas powers and above all the power and influence her navy would lend the nation.

“What man exists who is so worthless or so apathetic
that he would not wish to know how
and by what sort of political system
practically the whole of the inhabited world
was conquered in not quite fifty-three years
and came under the rule of the Romans?”

When Hannibal Barco brought his army from Spain, over the Alps, and into Italy he brought death and destruction right to the doorsteps of Rome. Rome found itself facing an enemy more determined and more powerful than any they had ever faced before. Hellenistic armies used to be purely conscript with men commonly being farmers who longed to be allowed back to their farms and held little desire for glory and fighting, so armies invariably campaigned for one season before being disbanded while another was conscripted to take its place. This clearly led to armies of largely undisciplined men who had no desire to die far from home and armies tended to fight just a few small skirmishes each season. Rome had managed to create disciplined armies which led to their victories but they were still temporary forces and when Hannibal’s professional, seasoned force was brought to bear on a Roman legion it is unsurprising that he repeatedly defeated his enemies attempts to be victorious.

The Roman people, suffering from so many defeats and faith in the Senate diminishing led to new, unprecedented measure beginning imposed to defeat the invader. Criminals were brought into the army and conscriptions began to turn to careers with more money being invested in the military, the troops began to gain in experience and fighting ability which slowed Hannibal’s invasion and began to limit the troops he had at his disposal. It soon became apparent however that while the men may have been able to slow Hannibal’s advance the Consuls leading the armies were incapable of matching the military genius of Hannibal and the Roman legions still failed to experience a victory and while Hannibal’s advance was slowed it was far from stopped and the invaders were beginning to draw closer and closer to city of Rome itself.

Rome needed a military leader which could at least match Hannibal in military leadership ability. The job of liberating Italy fell to one, Cornelius Scipio, the son of the ex-consul Cornelius Scipio who previously suffered a heavy defeat to Hannibal, he was elected the youngest consul ever and took to the field to head Hannibal off before he could march on the capital.

Seeing the Roman’s replacing each army as soon as it was defeated showed the Carthaginian rulers that they would be hard pressed to take the city herself and the losses would be too large and as such they refused to send aid and reinforcements to Hannibal leaving him stranded on the peninsula being hunted down by Scipio and his new and powerful army. Finding himself on the back foot was a first for Hannibal and after being abandoned by his leaders he began to plan a fighting retreat from the peninsular back to Spain where he was planning to begin another campaign later on.

Scipio however, was unwilling to allow Hannibal to come back again, he wanted to put the threat down for good, and so leaving a large enough force behind to keep Hannibal’s progress slow Scipio invaded the homeland itself. He used the now dominate Roman navy and crossed over to Africa and began laying waste to the land around Carthage, Hannibal’s home was in trouble and he fought a desperate retreat to the coast where a small navy force led by one of his brothers picked him up and ferried him back across to Carthage where the leading men ordered him to take the fight to Scipio with a newly levied army.

Hannibal knew that with farmers and local tribes men making up the majority of his force he would be unable to beat Scipio. Instead he quickly amassed a large elephant unit and he relied heavily on his Numidian allies to win the battle for him. The force he had been given compared closely with the traditional skirmishing force rather than the armies now being used by the Romans which were showing their value many times. Unfortunately for Hannibal his poorly trained elephants were easily routed by the enemy and they ploughed through their own lines in the hope of escape, killing numerous troops and causing the poorly disciplined army to begin to waver. The greatest threat to Hannibal however was the devastating betrayal of the Numidian prince who took his cavalry to Scipio and quickly used them to seal Hannibal’s defeat.

At the battle of Zama, in Africa, Hannibal met his Roman equivalent. With the ability to use his enemies pincer movement against him Scipio showed the Roman senate the advantages that could be had by adopting enemy tactics and implementing them within their own armies. The Roman military would be forever changed by this one Roman commander and his one victory over one of the greatest military leaders the world has ever seen. The roman legions would become the most adaptable and powerful military force ever seen and would carve one of the greatest empires in the world and therefore bring in huge levels of wealth to the nation.

“War changes a way a country runs,
both positively and negatively.
War changes history,
it completely modifies how what history might have been.”

Rome found themselves the master of unprecedented levels of land, countless people and various sources of wealth. Her leaders were overwhelmed and being unused to ruling people and imposing their will and laws their hold was at first tenuous and wavering. Rome turned to the one way of rule they knew and were well adapted for, their military became their way of rule. The newly professionalised army was easily mobilised and various garrisons across the new territory were erected both to ward of new enemies and maintain the control and hold over the new lands. We all know the Roman military was unmatched for hundreds of years and conquered vast swaths of land for the various senators and emperors, but the huge empire started with that first naval war over Sicily, and from that point their influence quickly spread through the Hellenistic world.

Throughout the following Punic wars Rome gained land after land from Carthage, and with them the Roman’s gained Carthaginian allies and trade routes and with the security and influence of their mighty navy and unparalleled legions Rome created an empire at the heart of which was a thriving capital with countless souls at the disposal of its leaders and wealth beyond even that which the once mighty trading power of Carthage had ever had the pleasure of commanding. Rome had more than replaced Carthage they had surpassed this old power on every front. Their navy became far greater than that of Carthage, their military was more disciplined, more powerful and far more effective than even the seasoned professionals commanded by Hannibal Barca and with such a force at its disposal Rome quickly mastered huge amounts of land and brought in un-foretold wealth.

Things could have been hugely different however, if Rome had stayed within Italy and left their allies to the mercy of Carthage, Carthage would undoubtedly have conquered the barrier and trapped Rome on Italy for good and may even have crushed Rome and conquered the land for themselves. Rome was saved from an almost certain mediocre fate by doing the unthinkable in taking on a mighty power and doing the unbelievable by winning not once but three times, twice by defeating overwhelming odds, first by sea then on the land.

The wars with Carthage changed Rome exponentially, the people witnessed such changes in their nation that no other Roman would ever be able to recall again, in fifty three years from the end of the war most of the known world was under the administration of Rome, never again would such a rapid rate of growth hit the empire in such a small time frame, Rome had outstripped every other nation on most fronts and they quickly took advantage of the weakening empires. Macedonia and other Greek empires fell to Rome almost as soon as the Punic wars were concluded bringing the arm of the senate to once dark corners of the world.

The Roman military became the pinnacle of the soldier’s art, large and well disciplined they were able to quickly adapt to new situations and the Roman commanders became some of the most strategic, intuitive, and above all excellent in their ability to adapt to new and demanding combat situations. One of the most famous examples of roman adaptability and ingenuity was the testudo (tortoise) which proved itself on many occasions as a highly effective tool for storming a stronghold under heavy fire with limited loss of life to the Roman soldiers. The Romans brought civilization to the known world and shaped the world we see around us, they encouraged others to fight for them with the offer citizenship and changed the ideas of an empire. This was only possible with the defeat of Carthage and in no way would Rome had ever reached the peak it did if they had have left Carthage to conquer lands unopposed, the rash and seemingly suicidal choice of the Senate to take a stand led to the rise of one of the greatest and most established empires this world has ever seen.

With a taste of victory and glory the Roman people were no longer content to sit idly on their peninsular while the great powers of the world rose and conquered. With their navy now the unopposed power of the seas the Senate quickly shipped men to foreign lands using their ultimate soldiers to quickly overwhelm and overthrow the defenders. The empire expanded beyond comprehension, the fear of the Roman military spread like a plague throughout the Hellenistic world and nations fell on their knees before the new power, pledging aid and alliance for their cause.

With new allies came new enemies and the knowledge of the Roman people grew to encompass the new trials and obstacles that stood in the way of their ultimate dominance. The life of the Roman people would be forever changed by the simple act of finding new and exotic countries. Spices, silks and exotic goods from far off countries which were never known before flooded the Roman market and the people began to experience the benefits of an empire in new ways. Trade became increasingly important to a nation once content to survive on the basic food its land could sustain, yet it was purely the defeat of Carthage which allowed this obsession with power, glory and wealth to flourish.