How do each of the first three Punic Wars compare to each other? What were the major successes and defeats of each?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. The first of the Punic Wars was remarkable for being primarily a naval-based conflict. This is remarkable in itself because Rome, a fairly new entity, fought against Carthage, the outpost of the Phoenicians and the earliest maritime power in the Mediterranean. Thus, the fact that Rome could survive for twenty-four years against a vastly more powerful and practiced navy is significant, even if at the end, they had only Sicily and reparations. The second Punic War is remarkable for the epic quality of the war fought by the Carthaginian general Hannibal, with diverse troops, cavalry, and war elephants that he marched over the Alps and into Rome. The Romans managed to hold out for eleven years in this case, finally seeing Hannibal flee back to Carthage, where he was caught by Cornelio Scipio (subsequently called Africanus) on the plains of Zama. This was a significant defeat to Carthage because, as the Romans followed Hannibal, they installed provincial government and administration in the territories that Hannibal left, including Gaul, two dioceses in Spain, and across Numidia, essentially leaving the western half of the Mediterranean under Roman control. The third Punic War was remarkable as one of revenge, inspired by Cato the Elder's constant reminders to the Roman senate, until in 149 b.c.e., the Roman troops returned to destroy Carthage completely.