First Punic War

The First Punic War (264 to 241 BC) was the first of three major wars fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic. For 23 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea. Carthage, located in Africa in what is today Tunisia, was the dominant Mediterranean power at the beginning of the conflicts. Eventually, Rome emerged the victor, imposing strict treaty conditions and heavy financial penalties against Carthage. The First Punic War marked the beginning of a sixty year period of Roman expansion which would leave them in control of most of the Mediterranean basin. The victory by Rome was a turning point which meant that the civilization of the ancient Mediterranean would pass to the modern world via Europe instead of Africa.

The series of wars between Rome and Carthage were known to the Romans as the "Punic Wars" because of the Latin name for the Carthaginians: Punici, derived from Phoenici, referring to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry.

Background

In the middle of the 3rd century BC the power of Rome was growing. Following centuries of internal rebellions and disturbances, the whole of the Italian peninsula was tightly secured under Roman hands. All enemies — such as the Latin league and the Samnites — had been overcome and the invasion of Pyrrhus of Epirus had been repelled. Romans had enormous confidence in their political system and military.

Across the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Strait of Sicily in part of the area that is now Tunisia, Carthage was already the dominant naval and commercial power, controlling most of the Mediterranean maritime trade routes. Originally a Phoenician colony, the city, located in Africa in what is today Tunisia, had become the center of a wide empire reaching along the North African coast as well as covering parts of the Iberian peninsula (now Spain and Portugal) in Europe. The series of wars with Rome, which included a Carthaginian invasion led by Hannibal, nearly prevented the rise of the Roman Republic. The eventual victory by Rome was a turning point which meant that the civilization of the ancient Mediterranean would pass to the modern world via Europe instead of Africa.

Beginning

In 288 BC the Mamertines, a group of Italian mercenaries, occupied the city of Messina in the northeastern tip of Sicily, killing all the men and taking the women as their wives. From here, they ravaged the countryside and became a problem for the independent city of Syracuse. When Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, came to power in 265 BC, he decided to take definitive action against the Mamertines and besieged Messina. The Mamertines then appealed for help simultaneously to Rome and Carthage. At first, the Romans did not wish to come to the aid of soldiers who had unjustly stolen a city from its rightful possessors. Moreover, Rome had recently dealt with an insurrection of mercenaries following the departure of Pyrrhus of Epirus (Rhegium, 271) and was probably reluctant to help this faction now, so Carthage was the first city to respond to the plea and send troops to the area. Most likely unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and get too close to Italy, Rome responded by entering into an alliance with the Mamertines. In 264 BC, Roman troops were deployed to Sicily (the first time a Roman army acted outside the Italian peninsula) and forced a reluctant Syracuse to join their alliance. Soon enough the only parties in the dispute were Rome and Carthage and the conflict evolved into a struggle for the possession of Sicily.

Land warfare

Sicily is a hilly island, with geographical obstacles and a terrain where lines of communication are difficult to maintain. For this reason land warfare played a secondary role in the First Punic War. Land operations were mostly confined to small scale raids and skirmishes between the armies, with hardly any pitched battle. Sieges and land blockades were the most common operations for the regular army. The main targets of blockading were the important naval ports, since neither of the belligerent parties was based in Sicily and both needed a continuous supply of reinforcements and communication with the mainland.

Despite these general considerations, at least two large scale land campaigns were fought during the First Punic War. In 262 BC, Rome besieged the city of Agrigentum, an operation that involved both consular armies - a total of four Roman legions - and took several months to resolve. The garrison of Agrigentum managed to call for reinforcements and a Carthaginian relief force commanded by Hanno came to the rescue. With the supplies from Syracuse cut, the Romans found themselves also besieged and constructed a line of circumvallation. After a few skirmishes, the battle of Agrigentum was fought and won by Rome, and the city fell.

Inspired by this victory, Rome attempted (256/255 BC) another large scale land operation, this time with different results. Following several naval battles, Rome was aiming for a quick end to the war and decided to invade the Carthaginian colonies of Africa, to force the enemy to accept terms. A major fleet was built, both of transports for the army and its equipment and warships for protection. Carthage tried to intervene but was defeated in the battle of Cape Ecnomus. As a result, the Roman army, commanded by Marcus Atilius Regulus, landed in Africa and began ravaging the Carthaginian countryside. At first Regulus was victorious, winning the battle of Adys and forcing Carthage to sue for peace. The terms were so heavy that negotiations failed and, in response, the Carthaginians hired Xanthippus, a Spartan mercenary, to reorganize the army. Xanthippus managed to cut off the Roman army from its base by re-establishing Carthaginian naval supremacy, then defeated and captured Regulus at the battle of Tunis.

Towards the end of the conflict (249 BC), Carthage sent general Hamilcar Barca (Hannibal's father) to Sicily. Hamilcar managed to gain control of most of inland Sicily. In desperation, the Romans appointed a dictator to resolve the situation. Nevertheless, Carthaginian success in Sicily was secondary to the progress of the war at sea; Hamilcar remaining undefeated in Sicily became irrelevant following the Roman naval victory at the battle of the Aegates Islands in 241 BC.

Naval warfare

Due to the difficulty of operating in Sicily, most of the First Punic War was fought at sea, including the most decisive battles. Moreover, naval warfare permitted an efficient blockade of enemy ports, and consequently of reinforcement and supply for the inland troops. Both sides of the conflict had publicly funded fleets. This fact compromised Carthage and Rome's finances and eventually decided the course of the war.

At the beginning of the First Punic War, Rome had virtually no experience in naval warfare, whereas Carthage had a great deal of experience on the seas thanks to its centuries of sea-based trade. Nevertheless, the growing Roman Republic soon understood the importance of Mediterranean control in the outcome of the conflict.

The first major Roman fleet was constructed after the victory of Agrigentum in 261 BC. Some historians have speculated that since Rome lacked advanced naval technology the design of the warships was probably copied verbatim from captured Carthaginian triremes and quinqueremes or from ships that have beached on Roman shores due to storms. Other historians have pointed out that Rome did have experience with naval technology, as she patrolled her coasts against piracy. Regardless of the state of their naval technology at the start of the war, Rome quickly adapted.

Perhaps in order to compensate for the lack of experience, and to make use of standard land military tactics on sea, the Romans equipped their new ships with a special boarding device, the corvus. Instead of maneuvering to ram, which was the standard naval tactic at the time, corvus equipped ships would maneuver alongside the enemy vessel, deploy the bridge which would attach to the enemy ship through spikes on the end of the bridge, and send legionnaires across as boarding parties.

The new weapon's efficiency was first proved in the battle of Mylae, the first Roman naval victory, and continued to prove its value in the following years, especially in the huge Battle of Ecnomus. The addition of the corvus forced Carthage to review its military tactics, and since the city had difficulty in doing so, Rome had the naval advantage. Later, as Roman experience in naval warfare grew, the corvus device was abandoned due to its impact on the navigability of the war vessels.

Despite the Roman victories at sea, the Roman Republic lost most ships and crews during the war, due to both storms and battles. On at least two occasions (255 and 253 BC) whole fleets were destroyed in bad weather. The weight of the corvus on the prows of the ships made the ships unstable and caused them to sink in bad weather. Towards the end of the war Carthage ruled the seas, as Rome was unwilling to finance the construction of yet another expensive fleet. Nevertheless the Carthaginian faction that opposed the conflict, led by the land-owning aristocrat Hanno the Great, gained power and in 244, considering the war to be over, started the demobilization of the fleet, giving the Romans a chance to attain again naval superiority. Rome did build another fleet paid for with donations from wealthy citizens and the First Punic War was decided in the naval battle of the Aegates Islands (March 10 241 BC), where the new Roman fleet under consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus scored a victory. Carthage lost most of its fleet and was economically incapable of funding another, or to find manpower for the crews. With no fleet, Hamilcar Barca was cut from Carthage and forced to surrender.

Aftermath

Rome won the First Punic War after 23 years of conflict and in the end replaced Carthage as the dominant naval power of the Mediterranean. In the aftermath of the war, both states were financially and demographically exhausted. To determine the final borders of their territories, they drew what they considered a straight line across the Mediterranean. Hispania, Corsica, Sardinia and Africa remained Carthaginian. All that was north of that line was signed over to Rome. Rome's victory was greatly influenced by its persistent refusal to admit defeat and by accepting only total victory. Moreover, the Roman Republic's ability to attract private investments in the war effort, by playing on their citizens' patriotism to fund ships and crews, was one of the deciding factors of the war, particularly when contrasted with the Carthaginian nobility's apparent unwillingness to risk their fortunes for the common good. The end of the First Punic War also resulted in the official birth of the Roman navy, which greatly assisted the expansion of the Roman state.

Casualties

The exact number of casualties on each side is always difficult to determine, due to bias in the historical sources, normally directed to enhance Rome's value.

According to sources (excluding land warfare casualties):

Rome lost 700 ships (mainly to bad weather and demagogues) and at least part of their crews.
Carthage lost 500 ships and at least part of their crews.
Each ship's crew was of about 100 men.

Although uncertain, the casualties were heavy for both sides. Polybius commented that the war was, at the time, the most destructive in terms of casualties in the history of warfare, including the battles of Alexander the Great. Analyzing the data from the Roman census of the 3rd century BC, Adrian Goldsworthy noted that during the conflict Rome lost about 50,000 citizens. This excludes auxiliary troops and every other man in the army without citizen status, who would be outside the head count.

Peace terms

The peace terms designed by the Romans were particularly heavy for Carthage, which was in no position to negotiate. The Romans demanded that:

Carthage evacuate Sicily
Carthage return their prisoners of war without ransom, while paying heavy ransom on their own
Carthage refrain from attacking Syracuse and her allies
Carthage transfer a group of small islands north of Sicily to Rome
Carthage evacuate all of the small islands between Sicily and Africa
Carthage pay a 2200 talent indemnity in ten annual installments, plus an additional indemnity of 1000 talents immediately

Further clauses determined that the allies of each side would not be attacked by the other, no attacks were to be made by either side upon the other's allies and both sides were prohibited from raising troops within the territory of the other. This denied the Carthaginians access to any Roman mercenary manpower.

Political results

In the aftermath of the war, Carthage had virtually no funds. When Hanno the Great refused to pay the disbanded military armies, an internal conflict, the Mercenary War, broke out. After a hard struggle the combined efforts of Hamilcar Barca and Hanno the Great were finally able to defeat the mercenaries. However, during this conflict, Rome took advantage of the opportunity to strip Carthage of Corsica and Sardinia as well.

Perhaps the most immediate political result of the First Punic War was the downfall of Carthage as a major naval power. Conditions signed in the peace treaty compromised Carthage's economic situation and prevented the city's recovery. The indemnity demanded by the Romans caused additional strain on the city's finances and forced Carthage to look to other areas of influence for the money to pay Rome. An interesting comparison can be drawn with the politics of Germany following the defeat in World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, which then led into World War II.

As for Rome, the end of the First Punic War marked the start of the expansion beyond the Italian Peninsula. Sicily became the first Roman province (Sicilia) governed by a former praetor, instead of an ally. Sicily would become very important to Rome as a source of grain.

Notable leaders

Ad Herbal, Carthaginian leading admiral
Appius Claudius Caudex, Roman consul
Aulus Atilius Calatinus, Roman dictator
Gaius Duilius, Roman consul
Gaius Lutatius Catulus, Roman consul
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina, Roman consul
Hamilcar Barca, Carthaginian leading general
Hannibal Gisco, Carthaginian general
Hanno the Great, Carthaginian leading politician.
Hasdrubal, Carthaginian general
Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse
Lucius Caecilius Metellus, Roman consul
Marcus Atilius Regulus, Roman consul
Publius Claudius Pulcher, Roman consul
Xanthippus, mercenary in the service of Carthage
Bostzer, Carthaginian general
Hannibal the Rhodian, Carthaginian admiral

Chronology

264 BC - The Mamertines plead assistance to both Rome and Carthage to deal with the attacks of Hiero II of Syracuse. Rome responds only after Carthage.

263 BC - Hiero II is defeated by consul Manius Valerius Messalla and is forced to change Syracuse's alliance to Rome.

262 BC - Roman intervention in Sicily. The city of Agrigentum, occupied by Carthage, is besieged.

261 BC - Battle of Agrigentum, which results in a Roman victory. Rome decides to build a fleet to threaten Carthaginian domination in the sea.

260 BC - First naval encounter (battle of the Lipari Islands) is a disaster to Rome, but soon afterwards, Gaius Duilius wins the battle of Mylae with the help of the corvus engine.

259 BC - The land fighting is extended to Sardinia and Corsica.

258 BC - Naval battle of Sulci: Roman victory.

257 BC - Naval battle of Tyndaris: Roman victory.

256 BC - Rome attempts to invade Africa and Carthage attempts to intersect the transport fleet. The resulting battle of Cape Ecnomus is a major victory for Rome, who lands in Africa and advances on Carthage. The battle of Adys is the first Roman success in African soil and Carthage sues for peace. Negotiations fail to reach agreement and the war continues.

255 BC - The Carthaginians employ a Spartan general, Xanthippus, to organize their defenses and defeat the Romans at the battle of Tunis. The Roman survivors are evacuated by a fleet to be destroyed soon afterwards, on their way back to Sicily.

254 BC - A new fleet of 140 Roman ships is constructed to substitute the one lost in the storm and a new army is levied. The Romans win a victory at Panormus, in Sicily, but fail to make any further progress in the war. Five Greek cities in Sicily defect from Carthage to Rome.

253 BC - The Romans then pursued a policy of raiding the African coast east of Carthage. After an unsuccessful year the fleet head for home. During the return to Italy the Romans are again caught in a storm and lose 150 ships.

251 BC - The Romans again win at Panormus over the Carthaginians, led by Hasdrubal. As a result of the recent losses, Carthage endeavors to strengthen its garrisons in Sicily and recapture Agrigentum. Romans begin siege of Lilybaeum.

249 BC - Rome loses almost a whole fleet in the battle of Drepana. In the same year Hamilcar Barca accomplishes successful raids in Sicily and yet another storm destroys the remainder of the Roman ships. Aulus Atilius Calatinus is appointed dictator and sent to Sicily.

248 BC - Beginning of a period of low intensity fighting in Sicily, without naval battles. This lull would last until 241 BC.

244 BC - With little to no naval engagements, Hanno the Great of Carthage advocates demobilization of large parts of the Carthaginian navy to save money. Carthage does so.

242 BC - Rome constructs another major battle fleet.

241 BC - On March 10 takes place the Battle of the Aegates Islands, with a decisive Roman victory. Carthage is forced to accept peace terms and the First Punic War ends.

References

The Punic Wars, by Adrian Goldsworthy, Cassel
The First Punic War by J.F. Lazenby, 1996, UCLPress
World History by Polybius, 1.7 - 1.60

External links

Polybius on the First Punic War The full text of Polybius's account of the war

264 BC | Punic Wars

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