The Punic Wars were a succession of three armed struggles between ancient Rome and Carthage. It took place in Sicily, Italy, the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and northern Africa, from 264 to 146 BC. The main cause of these conflicts was the hegemonic and economic rivalry between these powerful city-States for the geopolitical control of the Mediterranean region. In this period of confrontation, two Generals stood out from the rest; Hannibal, who led the Carthaginian army to Italy and almost destroyed Rome; and Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, who saved the Roman Republic, defeating Hannibal.
First Punic War– It was fought from 264 to 241 BC in Sicily and the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of this island. Basically, it was a dispute over the political control of the city-port of Messana, which lay on the straight in front of the coasts of Italy. The Mamertines, group of mercenaries, took this city, but the Sicilian Greeks living there asked for help. As a result, King Hiero of Syracuse lay siege to Messana. Then the Mamertines asked both Carthage and Rome for military aid. This is how the Roman and the Carthaginian fleets and armies clashed, fighting over Messana and Syracuse. The Romans defeated Carthage in a series of naval battles. The Carthaginians were forced to relinquish Sicily and the small islands off the coasts of the Italian peninsula.
Second Punic War– It began in 218 BC and ended in 201 BC. This armed conflict was one of the hardest in the history of Rome, which was on the brink of being totally destroyed by the Carthaginian Army, under Hannibal. It broke out when Carthage captured the city of Saguntum, in Spain. Since this city was allied to Rome, the Senate declared war on Carthage, whose General, Hannibal, led a powerful army across Europe and into Italy. Rome was besieged as their legions suffered a series of military defeat, the most important of which was the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC. However, the Roman General Cornelius Scipio, who had raised a big army in Spain, sailed across the Mediterranean and threatened to attack Carthage. In order to save his home city, Hannibal stopped his military campaign in Italy and returned immediately to Carthage. There, he would be defeated by Scipio at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC.
Third Punic War– It was the shortest of the three conflicts, taking place from 149 to 146 BC. At the end of the war, Carthage would be totally destroyed as a city and as a nation. Basically, it was a preventive Roman attack on this city. The main rational was the fast economic and military recovery of Carthage. Since they had been forbidden to raise an army by the peace treaty that had put an end to the Second Punic War, the Roman Senate decided to attack and destroy Carthage, romanizing the coastal region of Africa where Carthage had been founded. The General leading the expeditionary Roman legions was Cornelius Scipio the Younger, who was the adopted grand-son of Scipio Africanus the Elder.
Below, Scipio Africanus, the steel-willed General that defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202.
