The Second Punic War took place between the years 218 B.C. and 201 BC. At this stage of the Punic Wars, the name of Hannibal stood out, defeating Rome in many battles, being one of its main rivals from Carthage.
The causes
According to Polybius
The cause of the war, analyzed by Polybius, was Carthage's spirit of revenge against Rome for the humiliations of the First Punic War.
The cause of the war:Sagunto
The city of Sagunto, on the Hispanic Mediterranean coast, was the capital of the Edetans, a great landing port for commercial ships.
Carthage had forbidden Hannibal to break the pacts with Rome, but the city was south of the Ebro, in the area of Carthaginian influence, according to the treaty of 226 BC. Ancient authors disagree about the reason for the attack on Saguntum and the Roman declaration of war.
Events
The siege of Saguntum began in late 220 BC. or early 219 BC and fell into the hands of Hannibal after eight months.
Hannibal's March to Italy
Hannibal then subdued the Ilergetes and crossed the Pyrenees, reaching the Rhône, enlisting the help of the Italian Gauls.
The Roman Offensive
Rome entrusted the direction of the war to Publius Cornelius Scipio. Rome's plan for a double attack on Hispania and Africa, starting from Sicily, was left without effect when Hannibal crossed the Alps, in a surprising march.
The war in Hispania
Meanwhile, Hasdrubal, Hannibal's brother, remained in Hispania in command of an army, against which Cornelius Scipio sent his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio.
Hannibal'sfirstitalianbattles
There were three:
1. Ticino (autumn 218 BC).
2. Trebia (December 218 BC), where the consuls Tiberius Sempronius Longus-Scipion were defeated.
3. Trasimene (June 21, 217 BC). battle in which the consul Gaius Flaminius was defeated.
The reaction in Rome
The shock at these events was so great that Quinto Fabio Máximo Cuntator was appointed Dictator, who led the offensive against Hannibal.
Cannas
The consuls Lucio Emilio Paulo and Marco Terencio Varrón succeeded him and on August 2, 216 B.C. the battle of Cannae took place .
Almost 50,000 Romans died in it and the consul Emilio Paulo died. Hannibal's tactic was to place the infantry in the center, which easily yielded to the Roman push. But the wings of the Carthaginian army, made up of Gallic and Numidian cavalry, enveloped the Roman legionnaires.
This battle has gone down in the annals of military tactical history as the classic example of the flank encirclement tactic.
Hannibal does not attack Rome (Hannibal ad portas )
Despite his four victories and his general advice. Hannibal did not attack Rome, perhaps heavily defended by its strong walls, although all the assumptions we make are gratuitous. since the reason is not known.
And maybe. if he had, he would have changed the course of history.
As a result of this Roman defeat, Hannibal was joined by the Samnites, Lucanians and Bruttii, although the central Italian bloc remained firm.
Hannibal after cannae
Hannibal wintered in Campania, unable to follow his offensive, failing to get reinforcements. He later sought alliance with Philip V of Macedon. In Sicily, the death of Hieran gave rise to a succession struggle and the alliance of Syracuse with Carthage.
In 212 BC, Hannibal conquered Tarentum; and Rome allied itself with the Aetolian League in its fight against Philip of Macedon, who in turn was allied with Carthage. Also joining the fight were Elis, Messenia, and Sparta, and later Attalus I of Pergamon.
The war in Hispania and Italy
In Hispania, the two Scipios were defeated at the battles of Cástulo and Cazlor (212 BC).
Two years later, Publius Cornelius Scipio, proconsul, and Marco Junius Silanus, as propraetor, conquered Carthagonova (209 BC) after the battle of Baecula, in which the Ilergetes, commanded by Indibil, the Ilergavones, participated as allies of the Romans, with Mardonius and the Edetani with Edescon.
Hasdrubal, after heavy losses, managed to break through the Pyrenees and set out for Italy. Meanwhile, Rome withdrew its troops from Greece, and Macedonia concludes peace with the Aetolian League .
In Italy Hasdrubal he was defeated and killed in Metaurus (207 BC) by the Roman consuls M. Livio Salinator and C. Claudius Nero, who used the Carthaginian encircling tactic.
In Hispania, Scipio won at Ilipa (206 BC) over the Carthaginian generals Giscón and Magón, advancing on Cádiz. Mago fled with the Carthaginian squadron to the Balearic Islands and from there to Genoa, where he attempted to raise the Ligurians and Gauls against Rome. With these events the Carthaginian rule over Hispania ended.
The end of the Second Punic War. Zama
In 205 BC, Scipio returned to Rome. And he concluded peace with Philip V of Macedon.
In 204 BC, Scipio landed in Africa. Masinisa went over to the Roman side. After the Carthaginian defeat in Tunis and unsuccessful peace negotiations, Carthage asked Hannibal to return from Italy. Meanwhile Mago died in northern Italy.
Hannibal's final defeat came at Zama (202 BC). Hannibal fled to Hadrumetum, advising that a treaty be signed with Rome
By the clauses of this Carthage treaty:
- It abandoned its claims to the Iberian Peninsula.
- He handed over Numidia to Masinissa.
- Syracuse is annexed to the Roman province of Sicily.
- He promised to pay an indemnity of 1,000 talents over 50 years.
- Also hand over the fleet, except 10 triremes.
- He renounced all military action outside of Africa.
- While in it he could only act with the authorization of Rome.
Scipio received for this victory the nickname of "African" .
ConsequencesoftheSecondPunicWarinRome
The Punic Wars meant an end and a starting point for Rome:
- End of a provincial world, limited to the Italian Peninsula.
- Beginning of the «international» phase, bringing the two eastern and western halves of the Mediterranean face to face
- Forcing a restructuring of Roman society and state.
- The Punic Wars forced an increase in military, land and naval forces, increasing spending, public income, taxes and personal benefits of the individual, representing a set of phenomena that amounted to a social revolution.
- The traditionalist exclusivism of Rome would disappear in contact with the Eastern world.
- The extension of military service to ever broader social sectors would make the multitude prevail over the patricians.
- Foreign, exotic ideas influence Rome, which will end with its provincialism.
- In 208 BC, Rome allowed the Allies to enter the Senate.
Economic consequences:Economic crisis
- Originated by the scarcity of numeraire.
- The weight of the as was cut in half.
- The publicani appear in the history of Rome so called because they were in charge, under adjudication, of collecting rents and executing public works.
- The State was established for the first time as guarantor of the assets of orphans and widows.
- Fiduciary control occurred in a way unknown in modern countries. In 210 BC a maximum was set for the sums that individuals could keep in cash.
- The economic crisis subsided after the Battle of Metaurus.
- In 204 BC, the censor Livy created a tax on salt that earned him the unpopular name Salinator.
These operations were an exponent of the crisis, but also of commercial activity.
Political consequences:Political crisis
- It ended the disputes between patricians and plebeians, since the fraternity created by the struggles managed to end the differences of origin.
- In 215 B.C. two plebeian consuls were appointed.
- The tribunes of the plebs acquire more and more importance because the curule magistrates are absent, in the war
- In 209 B.C. a commoner became Pontiff Maximus.
- From 207 B.C. the plebs annually elected 24 military tribunes.
- The end of the Second Punic War marked the rise of senatorial influence. Patrician senators and plebeians tacitly agreed to reduce the importance of the Dictatorship magistracy, which had had to be resorted to three times during Hannibal's offensive.