The First Punic War

by Gen

The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and the Phoenician city of Carthage. They are known as the "Punic" wars because Rome's name for Carthaginians was Punici.

The cause of the war was the clash of interests between the expanding Carthaginian and Roman influences. The Romans were very interested in expansion through Sicily, most of which was under Carthaginian control. At the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the ascendant power of the Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire, while Rome was rapidly rising in prominence as the most dominant power in Italy. By the conslusion of the third war, Rome had conquered Carthage's entire empire, becoming the most powerful state in the Mediterranean.


The First Punic War

The First Punic War was fought between Rome and Carthage from 264BC to 241 BC. It was the first of 3 major wars between the two powers for supremacy in the Mediterranean. After 23 years of fighting, Rome emerged the victor and imposed heavy conditions upon Carthage as the price for peace.

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 penisula was tightly secured under Roman hands. All enemies, such as the Latin league or the Samnites, had been overcome, and the invasion of Pyrrhus of Epirus was repelled.

Romans had an enormous confidence in their political system and military. Across the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Strait of Sicilly, Carthage was already an established naval and commercial power, controlling most of the Mediterranean maritime trade routes. Originally a Phoenician colony, the city had become the center of a wide commercial empire reaching along the North African coast to as far as Iberia.

In 288 BC, the Mamertines, a group of Italian mercanaries, occupied the city of Messina in the northeastern tip of Sicily, killing all the men and taking the women as their wives. From this base, 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 sieged Messina.

Most likely unwilling to see the 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 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.

Sicily was a hilly island, with geographical obstacles and a terrain where lines of communication are difficult to maintain, 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 were 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 armies, a total of 4 Roman legions, and took several months to resolve. The garrison or Agrigentum managed to call for reinforcements and a Carthaginian relief force commanded by Hanno came to the rescue. With supplies from Syracuse cut, the Romans found themselves sieged. After a few skirmishes, the battle of Agrigentum was fought and won by Rome, and the city fell. Inspired by this victory, Rome attempted 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 ememy to accept terms. A major fleet was built, both of transports for the army and its equipment and warships for protection. Carthage tried to intevene but was defeated in the battle of Cape Ecnomus.

As a result, the Roman army commanded by Marcus Atilius Regulus landed in Africa and started to ravage the Carthaginian countryside. At first Regulus was victorious, winning the battle of Adys and forcing the Carthage to sue for peace. The terms were so heavy that negotiations failed and, in responce, 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 Carthiginian naval supremacy, then defeated and captured Regulus at the battle of Tunis.

Toward the end of the conflict, Carthage sent general Hamilcar Barca to Sicily. Hamilcar managed to gain control of most of inland Sicily; in desparation, the Romans appointed a dictator to resolve the situation. Nevertheless, Carthaginian success in Sicily 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 in 241 BC.

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 mediterrean. 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 Repulic's ability to attract private investments in the war effort by playing on their citizens' patriotism to fund shipps 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 Roman navy, further enticing the expansion of the Roman Empire.