| abstract
| - The Phoenician Wars were waged between Carthago and Roma. Roma dubbed this war the Bellum Punicum or, although less used, the Bellum Phoenicum, referring to Phoenicia, where Dido, the first queen of Carthago, had lived. Over time, this Latin name was replaced by the Carthaginian translation of it. Roma had declared war on Carthago in 264 BC, because the Mamertines wanted help and assistance. They had first asked Carthago, but, maybe because they didn't want Carthaginian oppression (a Carthaginian garrison), they asked Roma. And after a long debate, Roma accepted, and went to war with Carthago. Another possible and likely reason was, that Roma didn't want any more Carthaginian influence on Sicilianu (Sicily), because after Carthago managed to deal with the Mamertines, they could deal with the city of Syracuse, and then Sicilianu would essentially be completely controlled by Carthago. Strangely, in the first part of the Phoenician Wars, which lasted from 264 BC to 241 BC, Carthago lost and was forced to pay a hefty price for it. Roma, having completely no experience in naval warfare, didn't even have a fleet ready, and when they built one, they copied their design from Carthago. But Roma was an inventive nation, and instead of ramming ships, as was usual, they created a corvus. A corvus was a primitive boarding system, and would attach it to the other ship via spikes at the end of the bridge. Then, soldiers would board the enemy ship and take it over. But the corvus had its drawbacks, it made the ship harder to steer, and possibly imbalanced it, causing it to easily sink in bad weather. Carthago, a trading power and not a military one, had difficulties adapting to war time, and had difficulties with adapting in general. Indeed, when the corvus proved a huge succes, Carthago was forced to change its naval doctrine, with which it had great difficulties. However, Roma lost many ships, due to Carthago, but also due to the corvus (remember, ships with a corvus were easily lost in storms, and were hard to steer), and didn't want to keep building new and expensive fleets. Carthago dominated the waves. And because of that, Carthago lost. As has been said, Carthago had troubles with war time, and its government didn't help. Many wanted to end the war, and now that they controlled the sea, Roma could do nothing. Thus, the fleets were demobilized, and the war was considered won. Hamilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal Barca, raided the coast of Roma many times in this period, and perhaps because of this, Roma did build a new fleet. And Carthago had demobilized hers. In response, Carthago did make a new fleet, although hastily and without enough men. It was no surprise that the fleet of Roma won, and Hamilcar, now cut off from Carthago, was forced to sign a peace treaty, which he himself actually didn't do. He let Gesco, one of his subordinates, do this, perhaps to give the impression that he wasn't really defeated. Both nations were financially very weak now, and Carthago needed to pay the mercenaries it had hired, the soldiers captured by Roma (while Roma got hers for free), and pay 3200 talents (although only 1000 talents needed to be paid immediately). Further, Carthago was forced to evacuate every single island between Europa and Afrika, including Sicilianu and some islands north of it. Also, Carthago wasn't allowed to attack Syracuse or her allies, or in fact, attack Roma or any of her allies. But Roma also wasn't allowed to attack Carthago or her allies. Carthago also wasn't allowed to recruit mercenaries in territories controlled by Roma or her allies. Carthago now had no money, and it did need money, for the mercenaries it hired wanted their payment. This caused the Mercenary War (around 240 BC), in which Carthago had great difficulties to quell the mercenaries. It succeeded, but Roma took over Corsica and Sardinia in the meantime. Syracuse became an ally of Roma, Sicilia became the first province of Roma, and Roma began expanding beyond the Peninsula Roma (the Italian peninsula). Roma now controlled the seas, but not for long. Indeed, in 218 BC, Roma again declared war on Carthago. Before, it was agreed that Iberia, or more precisely, the Iberus (the Ebro), would be the border of Roma and Carthago, but Roma conquered the city of Saguntum, which lay south of the Iberus and thus in territory of Carthago. Thus Hannibal besieged the city of Saguntum, and after a long and bloody siege, the city was taken by Hannibal (who was wounded, and his army was nearly destroyed) and most of the citizens committed suicide. Roma demanded Hannibal, Carthago refused, and war was declared. Hannibal left with one of the largest armies the world had ever seen (or at least, the Hellenistic world) from Carthago Nova. He travelled over land, and at the Pyrenees, he subdued a few tribes which caused him to lose many soldiers. He lost more soldiers though, for some Iberian soldiers didn't want to leave Iberia. But, he travelled further, not sticking to the coast, but travelling more land inwards in order to avoid fights with Roma and her allies. In Gaul, no Gaulish army tried to stop him, except for one when Hannibal tried to cross the Rhodanus (the Rhone), which, needless to say, lost. Roma knew that Hannibal had crossed the Iberus, but a galley of Roma, on its way towards Iberia which landed in the territory of the Roman ally Massalia, learned there (from Massalia) that Hannibal had already crossed the Rhodanus. They sent out a scout party, defeated a Carthaginian scout party, and uncovered Hannibal's encampment. Hannibal however, managed to evade them, and resupplied his army with Gaulish soldiers from a tribe he had helped. A few Gauls, allied with Carthago, living in the Peninsula Roma, plead Hannibal to stop the Roman oppression, and sent guides to him, guides, which would help him crosing the Alpis (Alps). He then began raiding the Peninsula Roma, with the help of Gauls and other newly conquered subjects of Roma (although most cities stayed loyal to Roma, but, the island Sardinia did rebel against Roma). 'Hannibal ad portas' still means that there is a great danger coming, for at this time, the citizens of Roma frequently used this phrase. Quintus Fabius Maximum Cunctator, the newly appointed dictator of Roma, suggested that instead of attacking Hannibal directly, they should attack Iberia, from where Hannibal's reinforcements came. However, while in our timeline, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (maior, or, the greater) was the general that was sent to Iberia to do this (and who, together with Quintus Fabius Maximum Cunctator, came up with the idea to attack Iberia). In this timeline, he had already died near the river of Ticinus, trying to save his father, who also died. Thus another general was sent, who didn't use the Numidian rebellions to his advantage, nor the minor squibbles of the Carthaginian commanders. Thus, he and his armies were defeated, and Hannibal kept being reinforced. Iberia also stayed loyal to Carthago. Hannibal didn't began losing to the Romans, the Romans didn't go into Afrika, Hannibal wasn't recalled to Afrika, and peace negotiations didn't happen. Thus, Hannibal and his reinforcements eventually arrived at the city of Roma. Before besieging it he (or so some people claim) said 'Roma delenda est'. Eventually the city crumbled. Hannibal ordered his men to utterly destroy it, after all, he had an intense hate for anything to do with Roma. He had been made to swear to always hate Roma by his father. But, after his men had delighted theirselves with destroying the city of Roma, and the citizens that hadn't fled, Hannibal marched on towards the few cities still loyal to Roma, and most immediately pledged their alliance to Carthago upon sighting Hannibal and his army. The Iberians and Numidians all stayed loyal to Carthago, and what few Romans that survived fled towards Graece or towards various barbarian tribes. The barbarian tribes mostly (if not all) liked Carthago and didn't raid the new and unprotected territories of Carthago (well, Hannibal and his army stayed sometime in the Peninsula Roma). With the wealth gathered from the abandoned, conquered, and assimilated Roman cities, Carthago wasn't in financial troubles, and after the Peninsula Roma was protected (lightly, though), Hannibal marched back to Iberia. The tribes there suddenly were as loyal as ever. More isn't known about Hannibal (well, he was sent to Graece, but not much is known about him there), except for a few stories which have no proof, like that Hannibal was the main cause of the reforms of Carthago's government and that he was one of the Barca members in the new government. And there's a fancy story saying that Hannibal and Cato met in the city of Roma, and that Cato hysterically screamed 'Censeo Carthaginem esse delendam' (it's my opinion that Carthago must be destroyed) while Hannibal again roared 'Roma delenda est' (Roma must be destroyed), and that Hannibal then ripped Cato's head of his body, with his bare hand. While that story was something like a mini Odysseus for Carthago, it of course stretches the turth a bit too far. That story was part of an almost mythical tale of Hannibal's life, and ended with the razing of Roma. It's name was simply 'Hannibal'. With the end of the Phoenician Wars (or the Second Phoenician War, but most simply refer to the 2 wars as the Phoenician Wars), Carthago was a superpower.
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