Why Did Carthage Become The Equal To Rome Research Paper

How did Carthage become almost the equal to Rome?

Introduction:

The Roman Republic was an ancient territory known for its people, people that would fight for passion, unity, and for the prosperity of their country. Carthage, in historic times, was known for its great rulers, especially of the likes of Hannibal. Both of these countries had a mindset on expansion. Both were the worst of rivals. And during the time of the Punic Wars, Carthage was on the brink of becoming the equal to Rome. In fact, during much of the war, it can be argued that Carthage was already stronger than the likes of Rome. Both powers had their strengths. They both had their weaknesses. All in all, this led to Rome becoming a naval power, and eventually taking the best

of Carthage and winning the war.

Photo taken from: http://co.jackson.or.us/Images/ImageManager/first_punic_war.jpg
Body:
Before going into detail on how Carthage almost became the equal to Rome, I’d like to discuss where the Carthaginians originate from.

According to Illustrated History of the Roman Empire, “The beginnings of Carthage date back to the Phoenicians, who were a people in the Middle East inhabiting Phoenicia, the region known as Lebanon. The Phoenicians established themselves as a sea-faring people early on, dominating much of the sea trade of the Mediterranean (Illustrated History, n.d.).” And speaking of Phoenicians, the name Punic, the term given for the Punic Wars, comes for the Latin word Punicus (aka Poenicus), which means Carthaginian. This was a reference to the Carthaginians’ Phoenician lineage (Sidwell, 1997). The reason why I mention this history is because the only way to describe how Carthage almost became the equal of Rome, one would have to look at the details of the Punic Wars. It should be noted that Carthage was the dominant merchant nation of the Mediterranean at the time. The buying and selling of Carthage made it a wealthy and very powerful nation that no doubt was bound to become rivals with Rome, whom was on the verge of expansion within the

Mediterranean.
According to Morey in Outlines of Roman History, they were already basically equals before going to war.

So a better question to be asked is not how did Carthage become almost the equal of Rome, but how did Carthage fall from its equality?! As he states, “In comparing these two great rivals of the West, we might say that they were nearly equal in strength and resources. Carthage had greater wealth, but Rome had a better organization. Carthage had a more powerful navy, but Rome had a more efficient army. Carthage had more brilliant leaders, while Rome had a more steadfast body of citizens. The main strength of Carthage rested in her wealth and commercial resources, while that of Rome depended upon the character of her people and her well-organized political system. The greatness of the Carthaginians was shown in their successes, while the greatness of the Romans was most fully revealed in the dark hours of disaster and trial (Morey,

1901).”
The 1st Punic War established Rome as a naval power. It all started over a fight for the possession of Sicily. At the time, Sicily was divided into three sections. The third section is one which had a conflict of its own going on. Some men who were Campanian mercenaries (called Mamertines, or Sons of Mars) basically decide to rampage the country of Messana for the heck of it. Due to this, the King of Syracuse, in defense, attacked them, destroyed their city, and left them with little to work with. It was well deserved as they basically ram sacked another country for the sake of personal gain. They first reach out to Rome for help. Rome was hesitant at first, but obliged for the sake of winning the Sicilian province over Carthage. But the treacherous Mamertines let Carthage garrisons within the city to come to their aid. Rome, seeing this as a broken verbal contract, and having already seen Carthage as a rival, decides that this means war.
The Romans knew that Carthage was a strong naval power much like Athens. And in order to win this war, they had to dominate on both land and sea. But in the sea, they were no match. In order to become equals on the water, the Romans took “as a model a Carthaginian vessel which had been wrecked on the Italian shore, they constructed, it is said, a hundred vessels like it in sixty days. In the meantime their soldiers were trained into sailors by practicing the art of rowing upon rude benches built upon the land and arranged like the banks of a real vessel… To maintain this advantage, they provided their ships with drawbridges which could be used in boarding the enemy’s vessels. Thus equipped with a fleet, Rome ventured upon the sea as a rival of the first naval power of the world. (Morey, 1901).”
Conclusion:
The Romans won the first major battle on sea in Mylae, and then loses the next battle in Africa. The victories and losses that continued are what would establish a near equality of both forces. But this is all just the beginning of the wars. Two more carried on. In the 2nd Punic War, Carthage desolates much of Rome with the rise of Hannibal. And no matter which approach we would take, it can still be argued that during many periods, Carthage was already an equal of Rome if not more powerful at times. For example, before Rome became a naval power, Carthage was probably stronger than Rome and would have won the war had Rome not duplicated on of their ships.