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Hannibal and Carthage. The Carthagenian Empire. Sicily: the theater of the land operations. Roman advance. War at Sea. Rome had no naval experience in the beginning Carthage had been a major naval power for centuries
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War at Sea • Rome had no naval experience in the beginning • Carthage had been a major naval power for centuries • The Romans understood that they needed a fleet, if they were ever to prevail in a war with Carthage. • The Roman ships were equipped with the Corvus, a bridge which latched on enemy ships, but reduced the safety and navigability of its mother ship. • The unexpected effect of the Corvus led to a stunning and unexpected Roman victory in the first naval engagement with the Carthagenians at Mylae • This victory was the beginning of greatness for Rome, and the end for Carthage
Polybius 3,2 • First I shall indicate the causes of the above war between Rome and Carthage, known as the Hannibalic war, and tell how the Carthaginians invaded Italy, broke up the dominion of Rome, and cast the Romans into great fear for their safety and even for their native soil, while great was their own hope, such as they had never dared to entertain, of capturing Rome itself. … Interrupting my narrative at this point, I shall draw up my account of the Roman Constitution, as a sequel to which I shall point out how the peculiar qualities of the Constitution conduced very largely not only to their subjection of the Italians and Sicilians, and subsequently of the Spaniards and Celts, but finally to their victory over Carthage and their conceiving the project of universal empire.
3RD Punic War: With a thin excuse Rome laid siege on Carthage in 149 and the City was destroyed in 146. Its rich farmland became Roman.
