Fundamentos epistemológicos de la educación

Carthage was a large port - city in Africa. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the middle of the 9th century B. C., and by the year 264 B. C., it developed as a powerful city - state with a large and lucrative commercial empire. Carthage’s navy was the largest in the ancient world at the time, and they were famous for their ability as mariners. However, Carthage did not maintain a

large, permanent, standing army. Instead, it relied on mercenaries, hired with its considerable wealth, to fight its wars.

During the same time, the Roman Republic had gained control of the Italian peninsula south of the river Po. Unlike Carthage, Rome had large standing armies made up almost entirely of Roman citizens. Yet, at the start of the First Punic War she had no standing navy, and were thus at a disadvantage until finally a navy was built.

The First Punic War [ 264 to 241 B. C. ] Causes

The real cause of the Punic Wars was the clash of interests between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. At the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire, while Rome was a rapidly ascending power in Italy. Thus, a war between these two forces seemed inevitable. Accordingly, a pretext for the immediate outbreak of the war was supplied.A group of Campanian mercenaries, known as the Mammertines, seized Messana and established themselves there. They extended their power and spread terror all around their neighbourhood. Hiero, the king of Syracuse, determined to suppress these robbers, marched against them, defeated them in battle and shut them up within Messana. Thus besieged the Mamertines looked for outside help. One group implored the help of Carthage, while another appealed to Rome. While Rome was hesitating, the Carthaginians send a garrison to occupy Messana. But the Romans looked upon the Carthaginian occupation of Messana as dangerous to Italy and so they induced the Mammertines to expel, the Carthaginian garrison and to admit a Roman garrison instead. Whereupon the Carthaginians made common cause with the Syracusans, and their combined armies besieged Messana. At this the Romans declared war against Carthage in 264 B. C.

Main events

· The Romans defeated the forces of Syracuse and Carthage, after which they advanced

to besiege Syracuse. Upon this Syracuse concluded a peace treaty with the Romans.

· Next, the Romans captured Agrigentum in 262 B. C.

· After their defeat at the Battle of Agrigentum, the Carthaginians resolved to avoid

further direct land - based engagements with the Romans, and concentrated on the sea, where they believed they had an obvious advantage.

· Initially, the experienced Carthaginian navy prevailed against the fledgling Roman Navy

in the Battle of the Lipara in 260 B. C. Rome responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. Within two months the Romans had a fleet of over 100 warships.

· In 241 B. C., Carthage signed a peace treaty under the terms of which they evacuated

Sicily and paid Rome a large war indemnity.

Interval between the First and Second Punic Wars

· In 238 B. C. the mercenary troops of Carthage revolted and Rome took the opportunity

to take the islands of Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage as well

· Rome engaged in the Illyrian War and Gallic Wars.

The Immediate Cause - In 219 BC Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, attacked Saguntum, a city allied to Rome.

There were three military theaters in this war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly; Hispania, where Hasdrubal, a younger brother of Hannibal, defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success until eventually retreating into Italy; and Sicily, where the Romans held military supremacy.

Hannibal’s march against Rome in 218 B. C.- Although Hannibal surprised the Romans and thoroughly beat them on the battlefields of Italy, he lost his only siege engines and most of his elephants to the cold temperatures and icy mountain paths. In the end it allowed him to defeat the Romans in the field, but not in the strategically crucial city of Rome itself, thus making him unable to win the war.

However, Hannibal defeated the Roman legions in several major engagements, including the Battle of the Trebia, the Battle of Lake Trasimene and most famously at the Battle of Cannae, but his long - term strategy failed. Lacking siege engines and sufficient manpower to take the city of Rome itself, he had planned to turn the Italian allies against Rome and starve the city out through a siege. However, with the exception of a few of the southern city-states, the majority of the Roman allies remained loyal and continued to fight alongside Rome, despite Hannibal’s near- invincible army devastating the Italian countryside. Rome also exhibited an impressive ability to draft army after army of conscripts after each crushing defeat by Hannibal, allowing them to recover from the defeats at Cannae and elsewhere and keep Hannibal cut off from aid.

The Roman army under Quintus Fabius Maximus intentionally deprived Hannibal of open battle. Hannibal’s defeated in the Battle of Zama.

The Third Punic War [ 149 B.C to 146 B.C. ]

Having being stripped of her military power, Carthage suffered raids from its neighbour Numidia. Under the terms of the treaty with Rome, such disputes were arbitrated by the Roman Senate. Yet, intercessions were always in favour of the Numidians. Eventually, Carthage mustered an army to repel the Numidian forces, but eventually failed.

In 149 B. C., in an attempt to draw Carthage into open conflict, Rome made a series of escalating demands, one being the surrender of three hundred children of the nobility as hostages, and finally ending with the near - impossible demand that the city be demolished and rebuilt away from the coast, deeper into Africa. When the Carthaginians refused this last demand, Rome declared the Third Punic War.

Having previously relied on mercenaries to fight their wars for them, the Carthaginians were now forced into a more active role in the defence of their city. They made thousands of makeshift weapons in a short amount of time, even using women’s hair for catapult strings, and were able to hold off an initial Roman attack. A second offensive under the command of Scipio Africanus [ Minor ] resulted in a three - year siege before he breached the walls, sacked the city, and eventually burned Carthage to the ground in 146 B.C.

Political

· The authority and the prestige of the senate increased.

· The Romans became more and more exclusive in their attitude towards the allies, often

treating them with contempt.

· With the extension of Rome’s conquest the material benefits of Roman citizenship

increased.

· Lastly, the Punic Wars led to the final reduction of the Gauls of northern Italy. The fact

that the Gauls had helped Hannibal opened the eyes of the Romans to the necessity of subjugating them thoroughly. This they did. The result was that Roman Civilisation spread up to the river Po and the gates of the Alps were closed to further invasion.

Social

· Farms and homesteads were destroyed and the country districts were largely

depopulated by the drafting of the farmers into the army.

· The loss of the old spirit of country life. Long accustomed to the exciting life in the

camp the Romans found country life extremely dull find tedious. So they sold up their lands and began to crowd into Rome. The result was the decay of the yeoman class and the decrease of the rural population.

· Increase in the slave population

2.6.4.1 Hannibal.

Hannibal was, undoubtedly one of the towering personalities in ancient antiquity. On the one hand, he was one of the greatest generals known. Though the Romans have often depicted him as a ruthless barbarian bent on revenge, there is no historical basis to justify such view. On the contrary, his achievements indicate his ability and skill as a general as well as a statesman. The boldness of his plans, as well as the skill which he displayed was definitely marks his greatness. His crossing of the Alps was an astonishing feat of endurance. As he expected, the rapidity of his march took the Romans by surprise and gave him the initiative through the critical stages of the early period of the war. His capacity for leadership is clearly shown by the fact that he exposed a mutely army of alien mercenaries to all kinds of danger and hardship without provoking a single mutiny. The promptitude with which he met the incessant demands of the military situation marks him out as a great organiser. Of his military genius it is enough to say that he inflicted a series of signal defeats on the Romans on their own ground. His victory at Canna was a marvel of skilful general ship. It is true that he failed to conquer Rome but this failure was due not to the superior military talents of the Romans but to their doggedness and superior manpower.

It should be remembered that Hannibal was not a mere soldier. He was a statesman as well. After his defeat at Zama he set himself to reorganise the government of Carthage whose corruption and inefficiency were largely responsible for his failure. Had he been left alone he might have recreated Carthage on a new basis. But the relentless hostility of Romans compelled him to flee away. His life was a failure but none will dispute that it was a noble failure.

Learing Teaching Activities Activity No. 1 (2.6.1)

Name the early kings of Rome and list out the contributions which were made by them to the Roman society?

Instructions

· The students go through the lesson that they have studied and then find more information about the respective kings from the encyclopedias and the internet.

· Once it is done they can read out the information that they have found to the whole class.

Activity No 2 (2.6.3)

Explain the form of government with which the Romans replaced kingship?

Instructions

· The students can do this activity as a structural writing activities

Activity No. 3 (2.6.4)

Why did the Cartheginian have to clash with the Romans?

Instructions

· The students can go through the section of the Cartheginian wars and write down the causes of the wars.

· They will list out the causes of the Cartheginian wars with the teacher on the black- board.

Resources:

• Grant, Michael, History of Rome, Prentice Hall, 1978.

• Forsythe, Gary, A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War, University of California Press, 2006.

• Cornell, T. J., The beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars, Routledge Publishers, 1995.