خلیج همیشه فارس
خلیج همیشه فارس
خلیج فارس (یا خلیج پارس) در امتداد دریای عمان و در میان شبه جزیره عربستان و ایران قرار دارد. مساحت آن ۲۳۳٬۰۰۰ کیلومتر مربع است. از شرق از طریق تنگه هرمز و دریای عمان به اقیانوس هند و دریای عرب راه دارد، و از غرب به دلتای رودخانه اروندرود، که حاصل پیوند دو رودخانهٔ دجله و فرات و الحاق رود کارون به آن است، ختم میشود. خلیج پارس نامی است به جای مانده از کهنترین منابع، زیرا که از سدههای پیش از میلاد سر بر آوردهاست، و با پارس و فارس _ نام سرزمین ملت ایران _ گره خوردهاست. از یونانی این خلیج، «خلیج پارس»، مورد استفاده قرار میگرفته که از نخستین شاهنشاهی مهم این منطقه، شاهنشاهی پارس برگرفته شدهاست. در دههٔ ۱۹۶۰ میلادی و با اوج گرفتن پان عربیسم، برخی از کشورهای عربی، از خلیج فارس، به صورتهای دیگری غیر از «خلیج فارس» نام بردند. ایران، به نوبهٔ خود با تصویب دو قطعنامه در سازمان ملل متحد، نام خلیج پارس را رسماً وارد اسناد این سازمان کرد. قطعنامهٔ نخستین به شمارهٔ UNAD ۳۱۱/Qen در ۵ مارس ۱۹۷۱، و مورد دوم به شمارهٔ UNLA ۴۵٫۸٫۲ در ۱۰ اوت ۱۹۸۴ تصویب شدند.
کشورهای ایران، عمان، عراق، عربستان سعودی، کویت، امارات متحده عربی، قطر و بحرین در مجاورت خلیج فارس هستند.
زمین شناسان معتقدند که در حدود پانصد هزار سال پیش، صورت اولیه خلیج فارس در کنار دشتهای جنوبی ایران تشکیل شد و به مرور زمان، بر اثر تغییر و تحول در ساختار درونی و بیرونی زمین، شکل ثابت کنونی خود را یافت
نام
خلیج فارس نامی است به جای مانده از کهنترین منابع، زیرا که از سدههای پیش از میلاد سر بر آوردهاست، و با پارس و فارس _ نام سرزمین ملت ایران _ گره خوردهاست.
خلیج فارس در دوران باستان
قدمت خلیج فارس با همین نام چندان دیرینهاست که عدهای معتقدند: «خلیج فارس گهواره تمدن عالم یا خاستگاه نوع بشر است.» ساکنان باستانی این منطقه، نخستین انسانهایی بودند که روش دریانوردی را آموخته و کشتی اختراع کرده و شرق و غرب را به یکدیگر پیوند دادهاند. اما دریانوردی ایرانیان در خلیج فارس، قریب پانصد سال پیش از میلاد مسیح و در دوران سلطنت داریوش اول آغاز شد. داریوش بزرگ، نخستین ناوگان دریایی جهان را به وجود آورد. کشتیهای او طول رودخانه سند را تا کرانههای اقیانوس هند و دریای عمان و خلیج فارس پیمودند، و سپس شبه جزیره عربستان را دور زده و تا انتهای دریای سرخ کنونی رسیدند. او برای نخستین بار در محل کنونی کانال سوئز فرمان کندن کانالی را داد و کشتیهایش از طریق همین کانال به دریای مدیترانه راه یافتند. در کتیبهای که در محل این کانال به دست آمده نوشته شدهاست: «من پارسی هستم. از پارس مصر را گشودم. من فرمان کندن این کانال را دادهام از رودی که از مصر روان است به دریایی که از پارس آید پس این جوی کنده شد چنان که فرمان دادهام و ناوها آیند از مصر از این آبراه به پارس چنان که خواست من بود.»این نخستین مدرک مکتوب بجا مانده درباره خلیج فارس است. از سفرنامه فیثاغورث ۵۷۰ قبل از میلاد تا سال ۱۹۵۸ در تمام منابع مکتوب جهان نام خلیج فارس و یا معادلهای آن در دیگر زبانها ثبت شدهاست. از دوره جمال عبدالناصر رئیس جمهور پیشین مصر، به تشویق او و اوجگیری تعصب عربی، رسماً کشورهای عربی نام تاریخی خلیج فارس را در رسانهها و کتب رسمی عربی تغییر دادند.
در دوره داریوش دوم ناوگانی ایرانی به رهبری سردار صداسپ ماموریت یافت تا جهان را دور بزند وی عازم مدیترانه و سواحل شنقیط (موریتانی) تا نزدیک اشانتی و سواحل بنین پیش رفتند ولی در اثر برخورد با اقوام وحشی سفر را ناتمام کذاشتند.
خلیج فارس از سمت شمال با ایران، از غرب با کویت و عراق و از جنوب با عربستان، بحرین و امارت متحده عربی همسایهاست. وسعت آن ۲۴۰،۰۰۰ کیلومتر است و پس از خلیج مکزیک و خلیج هودسن سومین خلیج بزرگ جهان بشمار میآید.
این خلیج توسط تنگه هرمز به دریای عمان و از طریق آن به دریاهای آزاد مرتبط است و جزایر مهم آن عبارتاند از: خارک، ابوموسی، تنب بزرگ، تنب کوچک، کیش ، قشم، و لاوان که تمامی آنها به ایران تعلق دارد. خلیج فارس و سواحل آن معادن سرشار نفت و گاز دارد و مسیر انتقال نفت کشورهایی چون کویت، عربستان و امارات متحده عربی است. به همین دلیل، منطقهای مهم و راهبردی بشمار میآید. بندرهای مهمی در حاشیه خلیج فارس وجود دارد که از آنها میتوان بندر شارجه، دوبی، ابوظبی و بندر عباس و بوشهر را نام برد. دریانوردی در خلیج فارس پیشینه بسیار طولانی دارد ولی نخستین مدارک قطعی در این زمینه به سده چهارم پیش از میلاد مربوط است. پس از بسته شدن راه بازرگانی میان خاور و باختر در دوره عثمانی، پرتغالیها متوجه اهمیت این خلیج شدند، به طوری که سراسر سده شانزدهم میلادی خلیج فارس را در تصرف خود داشتند. اما پس از آن انگلستان توانست کشورهای رقیب را از آن خارج کند و در آغاز قرن نوزدهم بر آن تسلط یابد. با این حال، در سالهای بعد نیز کشورهای حاشیه جنوبی آن به تدریج مستقل شدند و انگلستان پایگاههای خود را از دست داد. قدمت خلیج فارس با همین نام چندان دیرینهاست که عدهای معتقدند: «خلیج فارس گهواره تمدن عالم یا خاستگاه نوع بشر است.» ساکنان باستانی این منطقه، نخستین انسانهایی بودند که روش دریانوردی را آموخته و کشتی اختراع کرده و شرق و غرب را به یکدیگر پیوند دادهاند. اما دریانوردی ایرانیان در خلیج فارس، قریب پانصد سال پیش از میلاد مسیح و در دوران سلطنت داریوش اول آغاز شد(منظور اقوام آریایی ایران است زیرا عیلامیان و ... نیز ایرانی بودندوقرنها قبل از میلاد مسیح به کشتیرانی در خلیج فارس پرداختند ولی اقوام آریایی نبودند.). داریوش بزرگ، نخستین ناوگان دریایی جهان را به وجود آورد. کشتیهای او طول رودخانه سند را تا سواحل اقیانوس هند و دریای عمان و خلیج فارس پیمودند، و سپس شبه جزیره عربستان را دور زده و تا انتهای دریای سرخ کنونی رسیدند. او برای نخستین بار در محل کنونی کانال سوئز فرمان کندن ترعهای را داد و کشتیهایش از طریق همین ترعه به دریای مدیترانه راه یافتند. در کتیبهای که در محل این کانال به دست آمده نوشته شدهاست: «من پارسی هستم. از پارس مصر را گشودم. من فرمان کندن این ترعه را دادهام از رودی که از مصر روان است به دریایی که از پارس آید پس این جوی کنده شد چنان که فرمان دادهام و ناوها آیند از مصر از این آبراه به پارس چنان که خواست من بود.» داریوش در این کتیبه از خلیج فارس به نام «دریایی که از پارس میآید» نام بردهاست و این یکی از نخستین مدارک تاریخی است که درباره خلیج فارس موجود است. در کتاب اوستا اگرچه از نام خلیج فارس بطور صریح نام برده نشده اما در مهر یشت در مبحث مهر یا میترا اشارهای نیز به اروند رود شدهاست که در آن دوره ارونگ گفته میشدهاست و چنین آمده: «دارنده دشتهای فراخ» و «اسبهای تیزرو» که از سخن راستین آگاه است و پهلوانی است خوش اندام و نبرد آزما، دارای هزار گوش و هزار چشم و هزار چستی و چالاکی یاد شده، کسی است که جنگ و پیروزی با اوست، هرگز نمیخسبد، هرگز فریب نمیخورد، اگر کسی با او پیمان شکند خواه در خاور هندوستان باشد یا بر دهنه شط ارنگ، از ناوک او گریز ندارد، او نخستین ایزد معنوی است که پیش از طلوع خورشید فنا ناپذیر تیز اسب بر بالای کوه هرا بر میآید و از آن جایگاه بلند سراسر منزلگاههای آریایی را مینگرد.
نام خلیج فارس در میان یونانیها
نخستین بار یونانیها بودند که این خلیج را «پرسیکوس سینوس» یا «سینوس پرسیکوس» که همان خلیج فارس است، نامیدهاند. از آنجا که این نام برای نخستین بار در منابع درست و معتبر تاریخی که غیر ایرانیان نوشتهاند آمدهاست، هیچ گونه شائبه نژادی در وضع آن وجود ندارد. چنان که یونانیان بودند که نخستین بار، سرزمین ایران را نیز «پارسه» و «پرسپولیس» یعنی شهر یا کشور پارسیان نامیدند. استرابن جغرافیدان سدهٔ نخست میلادی نیز به کرات در کتاب خود از خلیج فارس نام بردهاست. وی محل سکونت اعراب را بین دریای سرخ و خلیج فارس عنوان میکند. همچنین «فلاریوس آریانوس» مورخ دیگر یونانی در کتاب تاریخ سفرهای جنگی اسکندر از این خلیج به نام «پرسیکون کیت» که چیزی جز خلیج فارس، نیست نام میبرد. البته جستوجو در سفرنامهها یا کتابهای تاریخی بر حجم سندهای خدشه ناپذیری که خلیج فارس را «خلیج فارس» گفتهاند، میافزاید. این منطقه آبی همواره برای ایرانیان که صاحب حکومت مقتدر بودهاند و امپراتوری آنها در سدههای متوالی بسیار گسترده بود هم از نظر اقتصادی و هم از نظر نظامی اهمیت خارق العادهای داشت. آنها از این طریق میتوانستند با کشتیهای خود به دریای بزرگ دسترسی پیدا کنند و به هدفهای اقتصادی و نظامی دست یابند.
نام خلیج فارس در زبان عربی
آثار عرب زبان نیز بهترین و غنیترین منابعی هستند که برای شناسایی و توجیه کیفیت تسمیه این دریا میتواند در این بررسی مورد استفاده قرار گیرد. در تمام منابع عربی تا قبل از سال ۱۹۵۸ خلیج فارس با نام بحر فارس و یا خلیج فارس ثبت شدهاست در این منابع و آثار از دریای فارس و چگونگی آن بیش از آثار فرهنگی موجود در هر زبان دیگری گفت و گو شدهاست. در آثار ابن بطوطه، حمدالله مستوفی، یاقوت حموی، حمزه اصفهانی، ناصرخسرو قبادیانی، ابوریحان بیرونی، ابن بلخی و دیگرانی که اکثر آنان کتابهای خود را به زبان عربی نیز نوشتهاند، و همچنین در آثار نویسندگان جدید عرب از نام «خلیج فارس» بدون کم و کاست یاد شدهاست.
سابقه جعل عنوان خلیج
درباره نام خلیج فارس تا اوایل دههٔ ۱۹۶۰ میلادی هیچ گونه بحث و جدلی در میان نبوده و در تمام منابع اروپایی و آسیایی و امریکایی و دانشنامهها و نقشههای جغرافیایی این کشورها نام خلیج فارس در تمام زبانها به همین نام ذکر شدهاست. اصطلاح «خلیج عربی» برای نخستین بار در دوره تحت قیمومت شیخ نشینهای خلیج فارس توسط کارگزاران انگلیس و بطور ویژه از طرف یکی از نمایندگان سیاسی انگلیس مقیم در خلیج فارس به نام رودریک اوون در کتابی بنام حبابهای طلایی در خلیج عربی در سال ۱۹۵۸ نوشت که «من در تمام کتب و نقشههای جغرافیایی نامی غیر از خلیج فارس ندیده بودم ولی در چند سال اقامت در سواحل خلیج فارس متوجه شدم که ساکنان ساحل عرب هستند بنابر این ادب حکم میکند که این خلیج را عربی بنامیم» وی و فرد دیگری بنام سر چارلز بلگریو به قصد تفرقه بین ایران و کشورهای عرب این موضوع را مطرح کردند. سر چارلز بلگریو که بیش از ۳۰ سال نماینده سیاسی و کارگزار دولت انگلیس در خلیج فارس بودهاست، بعد از مراجعت به انگلستان در سال ۱۹۶۶ کتابی درباره سواحل جنوبی خلیج فارس منتشر کرد و در آن نوشت که «عربها ترجیح میدهند خلیج فارس را خلیج عربی بنامند». این نماینده قطعا پیش از انتشار کتاب و مراجعت به انگلستان در تماس با مقامات امارات جنوبی خلیج فارس این فکر را در آنها القا کردهاست و تصادفی نیست که بلافاصله پس از انتشار کتاب سرچارلز بلگریو که نام قبلی سواحل جنوبی خلیج فارس یعنی «ساحل دزدان» را بر روی کتاب خود نهاده اصطلاح «الخلیج العربی» در مطبوعات کشورهای عربی رواج پیدا کند و در مکاتبات رسمی به زبان انگلیسی نیز اصطلاح «آرابیان گولف» جایگزین اصطلاح معمول و رایج قدیمی «پرشین گولف» میشود.
بحر فارس
بحر فارس نامی است که عربها در قرون اولیه اسلام بجای دریای پارس بکار میبردند و این مفهوم شامل خلیج فارس و دریای عرب نیز میشد ولی در قرنهای اخیر تنها به پهنه آبی که شامل تنگه هرمز تا دهانه اروند رود میشود و بجای بحر فارس خلیج فارس میگفتند تا اینکه از سال ۱۹۵۸ بدنبال یک فراخوان از سوی رهبران قوم پرست در اتحادیه عرب مقرر شد که خلیج فارس را خلیج عربی بنامند و اکنون این نام جدید در ۲۲ کشور عربی بکار میرود و در بعضی از رسانههای غربی نیز این نام جدید بکار گرفته میشود. که این امر اعتراض شدید ایرانیان را برانگیختهاست. ایرانیان بر این باور هستند که نام جدید جعلی و با انگیزه سیاسی و از روی تعصب قومی بکار میرود و همچنان نام تاریخی خلیج فارس باید استفاده شود.[1]
هدف انگلیس از نامگذاری ساختگی خلیج فارس
انگلیسها نخستین عاملان کاشته شدن این تخم نفاق بودند زیرا از قدیم در صدد بودند که خلیج فارس را تبدیل به یک دریای انگلیسی کنند. بعدها در دههٔ ۱۹۸۰ میلادی امریکاییها هم به پیروی از آنها از تبدیل خلیج فارس به خلیج امریکایی سخن گفتند. از نظر امریکاییها و اروپاییها این منطقه «شریان حیاتی غرب» در منطقه «استراتژیک غربی» و «حوزه منافع ویژه» است، لذا اگر قادر باشند خلیج فارس را به طور مستقیم یا غیر مستقیم تحت تسلط خود در میآورند.
واکنشهای دولت ایران در برابر جعل نام
دولت ایران در روز ۱۳ مرداد سال ۱۳۳۷ به دلیل تغییر نام خلیج فارس به خلیج عربی از سوی عراق و برخی دیگر از کشورهای عربی و انگلیس اعتراض خود را به دولت جدید عراق به رهبری قاسم که با یک کودتای نظامی بر سر کار آمده بود و تمایل به حرکتهای آزادی خواهانه مصر به رهبری جمال عبدالناصر داشت، اعلام کرد.
همچنین دولت ایران در همان زمان در برابر این نام مجعول واکنش نشان داد و گمرک و پست ایران از قبول محمولههایی که به جای خلیج فارس نام خلیج عربی بر روی آن نوشته شده بود، خودداری کرد. ایران همچنین در مجامع و کنفرانسهای بینالمللی نیز در صورت به کار بردن این اصطلاح ساختگی از سوی نمایندگان کشورهای عرب واکنش نشان میداد. در این زمان بعضی از کشورهای عربی حتی اعتبار هنگفتی از محل درآمدهای کلان نفتی خود در اختیار بعضی از ماموران سیاسی در خارج میگذاردند تا با تطمیع مطبوعات خارجی نام مجعول خلیج عربی را به جای خلیج فارس رواج بدهند. در نیمه نخست بهمن ماه سال ۱۳۷۰ خورشیدی سر ویراستار سازمان ملل متحد با اشاره به اعتراضهای پیاپی نمایندگان ایران در آن سازمان به استفاده از نام ساختگی خلیج عربی در اسناد این سازمان از کارکنان سازمان ملل خواسته تا اعتراض دولت ایران را همیشه در نظر داشته باشند. کار به جایی رسید که در یازدهم شهریور سال ۱۳۷۱ هنگامی که حیدر ابوبکر العطاس نخست وزیر جمهوری یمن در اجلاس سران جنبش عدم تعهد که در جاکارتا پایتخت اندونزی برگزار میشد، از نام ساختگی خلیج عربی استفاده کرد، با اعتراض شدید نمایندگان ایرانی رو به رو شد. او سرانجام از نمایندگان ایران عذرخواهی کرد. و این عمل را غیر عمد خواند.
اما واقعیت مطلب این است که خلیج فارس یک نام کهن تاریخی است که از بدو تاریخ بر روی این خلیج گذاشته شدهاست و انگیزه تلاش حساب شدهای که برای تغییر این نام به عمل میآید جز ایجاد فتنه و اختلاف بین کشورهای این منطقه نیست. همچنان که ژان ژاک پرینی نویسنده کتاب خلیج فارس اعتراف میکند. «ملتها و قومهای بسیاری بر کرانههای خلیج فارس استیلا یافته و فرمانروایی کردهاند ولی روزگارشان سپری شده و منقرض شدهاند. تنها قوم پارس است که با هوش و درایت خود همچنان پا برجا زیسته و میراث حاکمیت خود را تاکنون نگهداری کردهاست.» اما مشکل در میان عده معدودی از سیاسیون و دولتمردان و صاحبان سرمایههای نفتی است که با رشوههای نفتی، تخم نفاق فرهنگی میپراکنند. هیچ مؤسسه و سازمان معتبر غربی، حاضر نیست اصالت نام خلیجفارس را زیر سؤال ببرد، مگر اینکه پول خیلی سنگینی دریافت کرده باشد.
نظر قومگرایان افراطی عرب
در بیست سال گذشته، مقالات و کتابهایی که در دفاع از تغییر نام خلیجفارس در همین کشورهای جدیدالتأسیس، منتشر شده، بر سه موضوع استوار است:
۱ـ «پلینی»، تاریخنگار رومی قرن اول میلادی در کتاب خود همواره این دریا را خلیج عربی گفتهاست. ۲ـ در سال ۱۷۶۲ «کارستن نیبور» نوشتهاست: سواحل خلیجفارس تابع دولت ایران نیست!
۳ـ «رودریک اوون» در کتاب «حبابهای طلایی در خلیج عربی» نوشتهاست: در همه نقشههایی که دیدهام، خلیجفارس در آنها ثبت شده، اما من با زندگی در بحرین دریافتم که ساکنان دو سوی این دریا عرب هستند، پس ادب حکم میکند که این دریا را «خلیج عربی» بنامیم. ۴ـ کشورهای عربی بیشتر از ایران هستند.
منابع
- کتاب خلیج فارس نامی کهن تر از تاریخ و میراث فرهنگی انتشارات پارت .۱۳۸۳ ،محمد عجم
- خلیج فارس _ پیروز مجتهدزاده
- و ویکی پدیا
'ایران سفیر کانادا را اخراج کرد'
'ایران سفیر کانادا را اخراج کرد'
ماکسیم برنیه، وزیر خارجه کانادا، با صدور بیانیه ای گفت: "از آنجا که این کشور هنوز سفرای پیشنهادی ایران در اتاوا را نپذیرفته، تهران نیز دست به اخراج سفیر کانادا زده است."
وی افزود: کانادا و ایران مدتهاست در تلاشند به توافقی بر سر تبادل سفیر برسند.
وزیر خارجه کانادا تصمیم دولت ایران مبنی بر اخراج سفیر کشورش را "کاملا غیرقابل توجیه" خواند و نسبت به آن ابراز تاسف کرد.
بر اساس این بیانیه کاردار سفارت کانادا در تهران نمایندگی و نیز حفاظت از منافع این کشور را بر عهده خواهد داشت.
وزیر خارجه کانادا تاکید کرد اتاوا و تهران به روابط عادی دیپلماتیک خود ادامه می دهند و کانال های ارتباطی خود را "باز" نگه می دارند.
وی افزود کشورش به تعهد خود بر "ترویج آزادی، دمکراسی، حقوق بشر و حکومت قانون" ادامه می دهد.
در خاتمه این بیانیه آماده است کانادا همچنان آماده پذیرای سفیر "مناسب" ایران است.
مقام های ایرانی هنوز در این مورد اظهار نظر نکرده اند.
منبع بی بی سی
punic wars
The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and the Phoenician city of Carthage. They are known as the "Punic" Wars because Rome's name for Carthaginians was Punici (older Poenici, due to their Phoenician ancestry).
The primary cause of the Punic Wars was the clash of interests between the expanding Carthaginian and Roman spheres of influence. The Romans were particularly interested in expansion via Sicily, most of which lay under Carthaginian control. At the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the ascendant power of the Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire, while Rome was rapidly rising in prominence as the dominant power in Italy. By the conclusion of the third war, Rome had conquered Carthage's entire empire and razed the city itself to the ground, becoming in the process the most powerful state of the Mediterranean.
The First Punic War was fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic from 264 to 241 BC. It was the first of three major wars between the two powers for supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea. After 23 years of fighting, Rome emerged the victor and imposed heavy conditions upon Carthage as the price for peace. The conflict was called the "Punic War" because Rome's name for Carthaginians was Punici (older Phoenici, due to their Phoenician ancestry).
In the middle of the 3rd century BC, the power of Rome was growing. Following centuries of internal rebellions and disturbances, the whole of the Italian peninsula was tightly secured under Roman hands. All enemies - such as the Latin league or the Samnites - had been overcome, and the invasion of Pyrrhus of Epirus was repelled.
Romans had an enormous confidence in their political system and military. Across the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Strait of Sicily, Carthage was already an established naval and commercial power, controlling most of the Mediterranean maritime trade routes. Originally a Phoenician colony, the city had become the center of a wide commercial empire reaching along the North African coast to as far as Iberia.
In 288 BC, the Mamertines, a group of Italian mercenaries, occupied the city of Messina in the northeastern tip of Sicily, killing all the men and taking the women as their wives. From this base, they ravaged the countryside and became a problem for the independent city of Syracuse. When Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, came to power in 265 BC, he decided to take definitive action against the Mamertines and besieged Messina.
The Mamertines then appealed for help simultaneously to Rome and Carthage. At first, the Romans did not wish to the aid of soldiers who had unjustly stolen a city from its rightful possessors. Moreover, Rome had recently dealt with an insurrection of mercenaries following the defeat of Pyrrhus of Epirus (Rhegium, 271) and was probably reluctant to help this faction now, so Carthage was the first city to respond to the plea and send troops to the area.
Most likely unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and get too close to Italy, Rome responded by entering into an alliance with the Mamertines.
In 264 BC, Roman troops were deployed to Sicily (the first time a Roman army acted outside the Italian peninsula) and forced a reluctant Syracuse to join their alliance. Soon enough the only parties in the dispute were Rome and Carthage and the conflict evolved into a struggle for the possession of Sicily.
Land warfare
As Sicily was a hilly island, with geographical obstacles and a terrain where lines of communication are difficult to maintain, land warfare played a secondary role in the First Punic War. Land operations were mostly confined to small scale raids and skirmishes between the armies, with hardly any pitched battle. Sieges and land blockades were the most common operations for the regular army. The main targets of blockading were the important naval ports, since neither of the belligerent parties were based in Sicily and both needed a continuous supply of reinforcements and communication with the mainland.
Despite these general considerations, at least two large scale land campaigns were fought during the First Punic War. In 262 BC, Rome besieged the city of Agrigentum, an operation that involved both consular armies - a total of four Roman legions - and took several months to resolve. The garrison of Agrigentum managed to call for reinforcements and a Carthaginian relief force commanded by Hanno came to the rescue. With the supplies from Syracuse cut, the Romans found themselves also besieged and constructed a line of circumvallation. After a few skirmishes, the battle of Agrigentum was fought and won by Rome, and the city fell.Inspired by this victory, Rome attempted (256/255 BC) another large scale land operation, this time with different results.
Following several naval battles, Rome was aiming for a quick end to the war and decided to invade the Carthaginian colonies of Africa, to force the enemy to accept terms. A major fleet was built, both of transports for the army and its equipment and warships for protection. Carthage tried to intervene but was defeated in the battle of Cape Ecnomus.
As a result, the Roman army commanded by Marcus Atilius Regulus landed in Africa and started to ravage the Carthaginian countryside. At first Regulus was victorious, winning the battle of Adys and forcing Carthage to sue for peace. The terms were so heavy that negotiations failed and, in response, the Carthaginians hired Xanthippus, a Spartan mercenary, to reorganize the army. Xanthippus managed to cut off the Roman army from its base by re-establishing Carthiginian naval supremacy, then defeated and captured Regulus at the battle of Tunis.
Towards the end of the conflict (249 BC), Carthage sent general Hamilcar Barca (Hannibal's father) to Sicily. Hamilcar managed to gain control of most of inland Sicily; in desperation, the Romans appointed a dictator to resolve the situation. Nevertheless, Carthaginian success in Sicily was secondary to the progress of the war at sea; Hamilcar remaining undefeated in Sicily became irrelevant following the Roman naval victory at the battle of the Aegates Islands in 241 BC.
Naval warfare
Due to the difficulty of operating in Sicily, most warfare of the First Punic War was fought at sea, including the most decisive battles. Moreover, naval warfare permitted an efficient blockade of enemy ports, and consequently of reinforcement and supply for the inland troops. Both sides of the conflict had publicly funded fleets. This fact compromised Carthage and Rome's finances and eventually decided the course of the war.
At the beginning of the First Punic War, Rome had virtually no experience in naval warfare, whereas Carthage had a great deal of experience on the seas thanks to its sea-based trade. Nevertheless, the Republic soon understood the importance of Mediterranean control in the outcome of the conflict.The first large fleet was constructed after the victory of Agrigentum in 261 BC. Since Rome lacked naval technology, the design of the warships was copied in a straightforward manner from captured Carthaginian triremes and quinqueremes.
Perhaps in order to compensate for the lack of experience, and to make use of standard land military tactics on sea, the Romans equipped their new ships with a special boarding device, the corvus. The new weapon's efficiency was first proved in the battle of Mylae, the first Roman naval victory, and continued to prove its value in the following years, especially in the huge Battle of Ecnomus. The addition of the corvus forced Carthage to review its military tactics, and since the city had difficulty in doing so, Rome had the naval advantage. Later, as Roman experience in naval warfare grew, the corvus device was abandoned due to its impact on the navigability of the war vessels.
Despite the Roman victories in sea, the Republic was the side that lost most ships and crews during the war, largely due to the effect of storms. On at least two occasions (255 and 253 BC) whole fleets were destroyed in bad weather. The weight of the corvus on the prows of the ships was largely responsible for the disasters. Towards the end of the war Carthage ruled the seas, as Rome was unwilling to finance the construction of yet another expensive fleet. The Romans did however build another fleet paid for with donations from wealthy citizens.
The First Punic War was decided in the naval battle of the Aegates Islands (March 10, 241 BC), where the new Roman fleet under consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus scored a victory. Carthage lost most of its fleet and was economically incapable of funding another, or to find manpower for the crews. With no fleet, Hamilcar Barca was cut from Carthage and forced to surrender.
Aftermath
Rome won the First Punic War after 23 years of conflict and in the end replaced Carthage as the dominant naval power of the Mediterranean. In the aftermath of the war, both states were financially and demographically exhausted. To determine the final borders of their territories, they drew what they considered a straight line across the Mediterranean. Hispania, Corsica, Sardinia and Africa remained Carthaginian. All that was north of that line was signed over to Rome. Rome's victory was greatly influenced by its persistent refusal to admit defeat and by accepting only total victory. Moreover, the Republic's ability to attract private investments in the war effort by playing on their citizens' patriotism to fund ships and crews, was one of the deciding factors of the war, particularly when contrasted with the Carthaginian nobility's apparent unwillingness to risk their fortunes for the common good. The end of the First Punic War also resulted in the official birth of Roman navy, further enticing the expansion of the Roman Empire.
The Second Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome from 218 to 202 BC. It was the second of three major wars fought between the Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic, then still confined to the Italian Peninsula. They were called "Punic" Wars because Rome's name for Carthaginians was Punici (older Poenici, due to their Phoenician ancestry).
Background Information
After Carthage lost its holdings in Sicily to Rome in the First Punic War, Carthage moved to compensate for the loss by extending her territory in Hispania (the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula). This was begun by Hamilcar Barca, and continued by his son-in-law Hasdrubal and then his son Hannibal, meaning "Beloved of Baal". According to Roman tradition, Hannibal had sworn hatred to Rome, and he certainly did not take a conciliatory attitude when the Romans berated him for crossing the river Iberus (Ebro), which Carthage was by treaty, required to stay south of. The truth to fairer historians, however, is that Hannibal swore at the altar to Ba'al "never to be friend to Rome" (according to the more objective Polybius), and feel that "Barcid Rage" is mere post-war Roman opinion. Hannibal did not cross the Ebro River (Saguntum was near modern Valencia - well south of the Ebro River) in arms, and the Saguntines provoked his attack by attacking their neighboring tribes who were Carthaginian protectorates, and by massacring pro-Punic factions in their city. Rome had no legal protection pact with any tribe south of the Ebro River. Nonetheless, when asked to hand Hannibal over, the Carthaginian senate promptly refused and so Rome declared war on Carthage.
The War in Italy
Hannibal anticipated that a consular army would move along the coast towards Hispania, and so took a combined army of 40,000 North Africans and Iberians across southern France by an inland route and crossed the Alps over the winter. His invasion of Italia came as a surprise to the Romans, for he had constructed no fleet, and it was believed his army could not possibly make it through the mountains. Indeed, it sustained very heavy casualties, including all but three of his 37 war elephants. Nevertheless, that spring he came into North Italia with a still-formidable force of 26,000 men.
The Romans tried to attack him while he was still unready, but he defeated them in a skirmish at the river Ticinus, and then again at the Battle of Trebia, where both the Roman consuls were killed along with a quarter of their forces. The Romans then retreated, leaving Hannibal in control of Northern Italia. His support from a few of the Gallic tribes and Italian cities was not what he had hoped for, and many Roman landholders burned their estates to prevent Hannibal's army from plundering them (indirectly later giving rise to the latifundia). Despite this resistance, Hannibal was able to strengthen his army to a force of 50,000 men.
The next year the Romans elected Gaius Flaminius consul in hopes that he could defeat Hannibal. Flaminius set up an ambush at Arretium. However, Hannibal was warned of the attack and so bypassed the Roman army, allowing him a free march on Rome. Flaminius had to pursue him, but the Roman forces were ambushed and utterly defeated at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. However Hannibal, despite the urgings of his generals, did not proceed to besiege Rome, as he lacked siege equipment and he had no supply base in central Italia. Instead he proceeded to the south in hopes of stirring up rebellion amongst the Greek population there.
Meanwhile, the veteran Fabius Maximus had been appointed Roman dictator, and he decided that it would be best to avoid any further field battles. Instead, Fabius tried to cut off Hannibal's supplies by devastating the countryside and harassing his army. Such operations are now called Fabian tactics after him, and earned him the nickname of the Cunctator (delayer). Fabius' tactics were very unpopular in Rome, and the following year he was replaced by two consuls who promised to end the war quickly.
These consuls jointly fielded the largest Roman army ever, which met Hannibal at Cannae (216). The Romans outnumbered the Carthaginians 70,000 (some reports have the Roman forces at 100,000 men, but neither number can be fully proven) to about 50,000, but by allowing his center to retreat and using his numerically superior cavalry to rout the Roman cavalry guarding the Roman flanks, Hannibal was able to encircle their forces, and completely annihilated them.
Only 16,000 Romans survived (this number can also be called into question, seeing as the amount of troops they began with isn't known, and because the number of troops who survived would have included deserters as dead.) As the story goes, Rome declared a national day of mourning as there was not a single person in Rome who was not either related to or knew a person who had died. The Romans became so desperate that they resorted to human sacrifice, the last recorded human sacrifice that the Romans would perform, killing a few slaves and burying them in the forum.
The battle of Cannae led to some of the support Hannibal had hoped for. Over the next three years Capua, Syracuse, and Tarentum went over to his side. Philip V of Macedonia also allied with Hannibal in 217 BC, starting the First Macedonian War against Rome. Philip's fleet, however, was unable to stand up to Rome's, so he was never able to provide any direct help in Italy.
However, Rome had come to understand the wisdom of Fabius' delaying tactics. Fabius Maximus was reelected consul in 215 BC and again in 214 BC. For the rest of the war in Italy, Rome employed Fabian tactics, dividing their army into small forces at vital locations, and avoiding Carthaginian attempts to draw them into field battles.
The war in Hispania
While all this was happening, the Romans had carried the war into Hispania. Over the years Rome had gradually expanded along the coast until in 211 BC it captured Saguntum. This prevented Hasdrubal from sending his brother any aid and also diverted Carthaginian reinforcements away from Italia. That same year Rome recaptured Capua and Syracuse, the second falling after what was now a two-year siege, made famous by the defense engines made by Archimedes, who was killed in the sack of the city.
However, Hasdrubal was able to defeat the Romans in battle and the two Roman commanders, brothers named Publius and Gnaeus Scipio, were killed. Even so Hasdrubal did not feel confident enough to expel the Roman army after his other losses.
The following year the Romans sent out Publius Scipio's son and namesake, Scipio Africanus Major with the authority of a consul even though he had not held any offices. Vowing to avenge his father and uncle, he proceeded directly to what was effectively the capital of Punic Hispania, Carthago Nova. It fell in 209 BC. Hasdrubal, deprived of his main port, decided to focus his efforts on the Italian peninsula, and, abandoning Hispania to some relatively weak garrisons, set out to repeat his brother's crossing of the Alps. His move was a failure.
This time, the Romans anticipated the Carthaginian army's arrival, and had two legions waiting for it to come down from the Alps. Hasdrubal was defeated and killed at the Battle of the Metaurus River (207). The first news Hannibal received that his brother had left Hispania came when Hasdrubal's head was flung into his encampment by a Roman horseman.
The Carthaginian forces that remained in Hispania were defeated a few years later, at Ilipa (206), and Hispania became a Roman province. In that time Rome had recovered Tarentum, and thanks to continual attrition and lack of support Hannibal's army had been confined to the southernmost part of Italia. Macedonia had also withdrawn its support, feeling that the Carthaginian defeat was now only a matter of time.
The attack on Carthage
Scipio returned to Rome a great hero, and, although he was technically ineligible, was elected consul in 205 BC. He resolved to end the war by attacking Carthage itself, and appealed directly to the Centuriate Assembly when he found the senate opposed this. Thus he was given command of the two legions in Sicily, plus 7,000 volunteers he had recruited, and the next year brought the war to North Africa when he landed at Utica, about twenty miles away from Carthage. Here he was counting on support from the Numidians, who resented Carthaginian control and so agreed to provide him with cavalry. Hannibal was recalled from Italia, and had to leave behind the Hispanic and Gallic contingents that made up about two-thirds of his army.
After the loss of Capua he had begun to lose influence, but he was still able to break off peace talks, and Scipio met him at Zama in 202 BC. The two men are said to have met face-to-face before the battle. Hannibal reminded Scipio of fate's role in the war, and how lenient Hannibal was to Rome when it was on the brink of destruction. Scipio replied that chance played a role in every decision every day, and would not give peace without battle. In the ensuing conflict, the infantry were evenly matched, and neither side was able to out-general the other.
The Numidian cavalry chased the Carthaginian horsemen away from the battle. It is possible that Hannibal wanted this to occur in order to have to fight only an infantry battle. However, the Numidians did not give enough chase to completely leave and were able to attack Hannibal's infantry from the rear. For this victory Scipio became known as Scipio Africanus. Carthage immediately sued for peace.
Results
Hispania was lost to Carthage forever, and she was reduced to a client state. A war indemnity of 10,000 talents was imposed, her navy was limited to 10 ships to ward off pirates, and she was forbidden from raising an army without Rome's permission. Numidia took the opportunity to capture and plunder Carthaginian territory. Half a century later, when Carthage raised an army to defend itself from these incursions, it was destroyed by Rome in the Third Punic War. Rome on the other hand, by her victory, had taken a key step towards domination of West Eurasia.
Hannibal survived the battle of Zama and continued to enjoy a leadership role in Carthage even after the end of the war. In 195 BC, after he was denounced to the Romans for plotting an attack with the help of the Seleucid king, Antiochus III, Hannibal fled to Antiochus's court in Syria. When Scipio was sent to meet with Antiochus in Ephesus, he talked to Hannibal, asking him to name the greatest general of all time. Hannibal said, "Alexander the Great."
Scipio then asked him who was the second. "Pyrrhus of Epirus," said Hannibal. Perhaps annoyed that Hannibal had not mentioned Scipio's name yet, Scipio pressed on and asked Hannibal who was the third. Hannibal said, "Myself." Scipio finally asked what would have happened if Hannibal had beaten him at the battle of Zama, and Hannibal said, "Then I would be the greatest general of all time." Rome feared Hannibal until the day he died, and even long after. Mothers would tell their children, "Hannibal ad portas," meaning "Hannibal to the gates[of Rome]" in order to scare them into being good. However, together with Philip of Macedon's attack on Italia, Hannibal's presence in the East contributed to Roman suspicion of the Hellenistic kingdoms.
The Third Punic War was fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic from 149 BC to 146 BC. This was the last in a series of three wars.
In the years between the Second and Third Punic Wars, Rome was engaged in the conquest of the Hellenistic empires to the east and ruthlessly suppressing the Iberian people in the west, although they had been essential to the Roman success in the Second Punic War.
Carthage, stripped of allies and territory (Sicily, Hispania), was suffering under a yearly indemnity of 200 silver talents to be paid every year for 50 years, an enormous sum.
The Romans still harboured a bitter hatred for Carthage, which had nearly destroyed them in the Second Punic War. Sentiments ran so strong that the powerful statesman Cato stated during a discussion of Carthage's fate, ceterum censeo Carthaginem delendam esse. (Besides which, I think that Carthage must be destroyed).
Meanwhile, Carthage had regained much of its prosperity through trade, further alarming Rome that a revived Carthage could again threaten them with war. The peace treaty at the end of the Second Punic War required that all border disputes involving Carthage be arbitrated by the Roman Senate and required Carthage to get explicit Roman approval before arming its citizens, or hiring a mercenary force.
As a result, in the fifty intervening years between the Second and Third wars Carthage had to take all border disputes with Rome's ally Numidia to the Senate, where they were decided almost exclusively in Numidian favour.
In 151 B.C., however, when the Carthaginian debt to Rome was fully repaid (meaning that, in Hellenic eyes, the treaty was now expired, though not so according to the Romans, who instead viewed the treaty as a permanent declaration of Carthaginian subordinance to Rome akin to the Roman treaties with her Italian allies) Numidia launched another border raid on Carthaginian soil, and in response Carthage launched a military expedition to repel the Numidian invaders.
As a result, Carthage suffered a humiliating military defeat and was charged with another fifty year debt to Numidia. Immediately thereafter, however, Rome showed displeasure with Carthage's decision to wage war against her neighbour without Roman consent, and told her that in order to avoid a war she had to "satisfy the Roman People." The Roman Senate then began gathering an army.
After Utica defected to Rome in 149 B.C., Rome declared war against Carthage. The Carthaginians made a series of attempts to negotiate with Rome, and received a promise that if three hundred children of well-born Carthaginians were sent as hostages to Rome the Carthaginians would keep the rights to their land and self-governance.
Even after this was done, however, the Romans landed an army at Utica where the Consuls demanded that Carthage hand over all weapons and armour. After those had been handed over, Rome additionally demanded that the Carthaginians move at least ten miles inland, while Carthage itself was burned. When the Carthaginians learned of this they abandoned negotiations and the city was immediately besieged, beginning the Third Punic War.
The Carthaginians endured the siege from 149 BC to 146 BC, when Scipio Aemilianus took the city by storm. Many Carthaginians died from starvation during the latter part of the siege, while many others died in the final six days of fighting. When the war ended, the remaining 50,000 Carthaginians (perhaps a tenth of the original pre-war population) were sold into slavery.
The city was systematically burned for somewhere between 10 and 17 days. Then the city walls, its buildings and its harbour were utterly destroyed and the surrounding territory was supposedly sown with salt to ensure that nothing would grow there again. The sowing may have been merely a symbolic curse against Rome's defeated enemy, or the account may be entirely invented; it does not appear in the records of the war, and historians today dispute whether it actually happened.
persian war
Like the Trojan War, the Persian Wars were a defining moment in Greek history. The Athenians, who would dominate Greece culturally and politically through the fifth century BC and through part of the fourth, regarded the wars against Persia as their greatest and most characteristic moment. For all their importance, though, the Persian Wars began inauspiciously. In the middle of the sixth century BC, the Greek city-states along the coast of Asia Minor came under the control of the Lydians and their king, Croesus (560-546 BC). However, when the Persians conquered the Lydians in 546 BC, all the states subject to the Lydians became subject to the Persians. The Persians controlled their new subject-states very closely; they appointed individuals to rule the states as tyrants. They also required citizens to serve in the Persian army and to pay fairly steep taxes. Smarting under these new burdens and anxious for independence, the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, began a democratic rebellion in 499 BC. Aristagoras was an opportunist. He had been placed in power by the Persians, but when he persuaded the Persians to launch a failed expedition against Naxos, he began to fear for his life. So he fomented a popular rebellion against the Persians and went to the Greek mainland for support. He went first to the Spartans, since they were the most powerful state in Greece, but the Spartans seem to have seen right through him. When he approached the Athenians, they promised him twenty ships. In 498 BC, the Athenians conquered and burned Sardis, which was the capital of Lydia, and all the Greek cities in Asia Minor joined the revolt. The Athenians, however, lost interest and went home; by 495 BC, the Persians, under king Darius I (521-486 BC), had restored control over the rebellious Greek cities.
And there it should have ended. But Athens had gotten the attention of the Persians, who desired that Athens be punished for the role it played in the destruction of Sardis. The Persians also had Hippias, the tyrant of Athens who had been deposed by Cleisthenes in 508 BC. So in 490 BC, the Persians launched an expedition against Athens. They were met, however, by one of their former soldiers, Miltiades. He had been an outstanding soldier in the Persian army, but he took to his heels when he angered Darius. Unlike other Athenians, he knew the Persian army and he knew its tactics. The two armies, with the Athenians led by Miltiades, met at Marathon in Attica and the Athenians roundly defeated the invading army. This battle, the battle of Marathon (490 BC), is perhaps the single most important battle in Greek history. Had the Athenians lost, Greece would have eventually come under the control of the Persians and all the subsequent culture and accomplishmenst of the Greeks would probably not have taken the form they did.
For the Athenians, the battle at Marathon was their greatest achievement. From Marathon onwards, the Athenians began to think of themselves as the center of Greek culture and Greek power. This pride, or chauvinism, was the foundation on which much of their cultural achievements were built. The first great dramas, for instance, were the dramas of Aeschylus; the principle subject of these dramas is the celebration of Athenian greatness. The great building projects of the latter half of the fifth century were motivated by the need to display Athenian wealth, greatness, and power.
The Persians, however, weren't done. For the Persians, Marathon barely registered; the Persians, after all, controlled almost the entire world: Asia Minor, Lydia, Judah, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. While Marathon stands as one of the greatest of Greek military accomplishments, it was really more of an irritation to the Persians. The Persian government, however, was embroiled in problems of its own, and it wasn't until Xerxes (486-465 BC) became king, that the Persians really got down to business and launched a punitive expedition against Athens. This time the Persians were determined to get it right. In 481 BC, Xerxes gathered together an army of some one hundred fifty thousand men and a navy of six hundred ships; he was determined that the whole of Greece would be conquered by his army.
The Athenians, however, were prepared. While many Athenians celebrated their victory at Marathon and thought that the Persians had gone home permanently, the Greek poitician, Themistocles, convinced the Athenians otherwise. So while Persia delayed through the 480's, Themistocles and the Athenians began a navy-building project of epic proportions. Themistocles convinced the Athenians to invest the profits from a newly discovered silver mine into this project; by 481 BC, Athens had a navy of two hundred ships.
When Xerxes gathered his army at the Hellespont, the narrow inlet to the Black Sea that separates Asia Minor from Europe, most Greeks despaired of winning against his powerful army. Of several hundred Greek city-states, only thirty-one decided to resist the Persian army; these states were led by Sparta, Corinth, and Athens: the Greek League. Sparta was made leader of all land and sea operations.
Themistocles, however, understood that the battle would be won or lost at sea; he figured that the Persian army could only succeed if it were successfully supported by supplies and communications provided by the fleet. He also understood that the Aegean Sea was a violent place, subject to dangerous winds and sudden squalls. While he kept the Athenian fleet safe in harbor, many of Xerxes' boats were destroyed at sea. He also waited his time; if the Persians could be delayed on land, then he could destroy the Persian fleet when the time was right.
That time came in a sea battle off the island of Salamis. The Greeks had slow, clumsy boats in comparison with the Persian boats, so they turned their boats into fighting platforms. They filled their boats with soldiers who would fight with the opposing boats in hand-to-hand combat; it was a brilliant innovation, and the Athenians managed to destroy the majority of the Persian fleet. The Persians withdrew their army.
However, one Persian general, Mardonius, remained. He wintered in Greece, but he was met in 479 BC by the largest Greek army history had ever known. Under the leadership of the Spartan king, Pausanias, Mardonius was killed in the battle of Plataea, and his army retreated back to Persia.
It's difficult to assess all the consequences of the Greek victory over the Persians. While the Spartans were principally responsible for the victory, the Athenian fleet was probably the most important component of that victory. This victory left Athens with the most powerful fleet in the Aegean, and since the Persians hadn't been completely defeated, all the Greeks feared a return. The majority of Greek city-states, however, didn't turn to Sparta; they turned, rather, to Athens and the Athenian fleet. The alliances that Athens would make following the retreat of the Persians, the so-called Delian League, would suddenly catapult Athens into the major power of the Greek city-states. This power would make Athens the cultural center of the Greek world, but it would also spell their downfall as the Spartans grew increasingly frightened of Athenian power and increasingly suspicious of Athenian intentions.
Carthage
| The greatest naval power of the Mediterranean in the third century BC was the North African city of Carthage near modern day Tunis. The Carthaginians were orginally Phoenicians and Carthage was a colony founded by the Phoenician capital city of Tyre in the ninth century BC; the word "Carthage" means, in Phoenician, "the New City." The Phoenicians, however, were conquered by the Assyrians in the seventh century BC, and then conquered by the Persians; an independent Phoenician state would never again appear in the Middle East. Carthage, however, remained. Since Phoenicia no longer existed as an independent state, that meant that Carthage was no longer a colony, but a fully functioning independent state. While the Romans were steadily increasing their control over the Italian peninsula, the Carthaginians were extending their empire over most of North Africa. By the time that Rome controlled all of the Italian peninsula, Carthage already controlled the North African coast from western Libya to the Strait of Gibraltar, and ruled over most of southern Spain—and the island of Corsica and Sardinia in Europe as well. Carthage was a formidable power; it controlled almost all the commercial trade in the Mediterranean, had subjected vast numbers of people all whom sent soldiers and supplies, and amassed tremendous wealth from gold and silver mines in Spain. |
| These two mighty empires came into contact in the middle of the third century BC when Rome's power had reached the southern tip of Italy. The two peoples had been in sporadic contact before, but neither side felt threatened by the other. The Romans were perfectly aware of the Carthaginian heritage: they called them by their old name, Phoenicians. In Latin, the word is Poeni, which gives us the name for the wars between the two states, the Punic Wars. These conflicts, so disastrous for Carthage, were inevitable. Between Carthage and Italy lay the huge island of Sicily; Carthage controlled the western half of Sicily, but the southern tip of the Italian peninsula put the Romans within throwing distance of the island. When the Sicilian city of Messana revolted against the Carthaginians, the Romans intervened, and the first Punic War erupted. |
The First Punic War: 264-241 BC
| The First Punic War broke out in 264 BC; it was concentrated entirely on the island of Sicily. Rome beseiged many of the Carthaginian cities on Sicily, and when Carthage attempted to raise the seige with its navy, the Romans utterly destroyed that navy. For the first time since the rise of the Carthaginian empire, they had lost power over the sea-ways. The war ended with no particular side winning over the other. In 241 BC, the Carthaginians and Romans signed a treaty in which Carthage had to give up Sicily, which it didn't miss, and to pay an indemnity to cover Roman costs for the war, which it could well afford. But Carthage soon faced rebellion among its mercenary troops and Rome, in 238 BC, took advantage of the confusion by seizing the island of Corsica. The Romans greatly feared the Carthaginians and wanted build as large a buffer zone as possible between them and the Carthaginians. By gaining Sicily, the Romans had expelled the Carthaginians from their back yard; they now wanted them out of their front yard, that is, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia west of the Italian peninsula. The Carthaginians were furious at this action; even Roman historians believed it was a rash and unethical act. The Carthaginians began to shore up their presence in Europe. They sent first the general Hamilcar and then his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, to Spain to build colonies and an army. Both Hamilcar and Hasdrubal made allies among the native Iberians, and their armies, recruited from Iberians, grew ominous as Carthaginian power and influence crept up the Iberian peninsula. |
The Second Punic War: 218-202 BC
| Following its defeat in the First Punic War, Carthage rebuilt its strength by expanding its empire in Spain. Growing increasingly anxious, the Romans had imposed a treaty on Carthage not to expand their empire past the Ebro river in Spain. However, when a small city in Spain, Saguntum, approached Rome asking for Roman friendship and alliance, the Romans couldn't resist having a friendly ally right in the heart of the Carthaginian Iberian empire. A few years later, however, in 221 BC, a young man, only twenty-five years old, assumed command over Carthaginian Spain: Hannibal. At first, Hannibal gave the Saguntines wide berth for he wished to avoid coming into conflict with Rome. But the Saguntines were flush with confidence in their new alliance and began playing politics with other Spanish cities. Hannibal, despite direct threats from Rome, attacked Saguntum and conquered it. The Romans attempted to solve the problem with diplomacy and demand that Carthage dismiss Hannibal and send him to Rome. When Carthage refused, the second Punic War began in 218 BC. Rome, however, was facing a formidable opponent; in the years following the first Punic War, Carthage had created a powerful empire in Spain with a terrifyingly large army. Hannibal marched that terrible army out of Spain and across Europe and, in September of 218, he crossed the Alps with his army and entered Italy on a war of invasion. Although his army was tired from the journey, he literally smashed the Roman armies he encountered in northern Italy. Within two months, he had conquered the whole of northern Italy, with the exception of two cities. These spectacular victories brought a horde of Gauls from the north to help him, fifty thousand or more; his victory over Rome, as he saw it, would be guaranteed if he could convince Roman allies and subject cities to join Carthage. |
| The Romans were divided as to whether they could beat Hannibal in open warfare and they knew that he and his army were alone and far from any supplies. Despite Hannibal's certainty that Roman allies would join him, the allies remained faithful to Rome. So on the eve of his invasion of Rome, Hannibal steered south. The Romans, desperate because of their losses, asked Quintus Fabius Maximus to become absolute dictator of Rome. Fabius determined to avoid open warfare at any cost and simply shadowed and harassed the Carthaginian army until they were weak enough to be engaged with openly. His instinct was to wait out Hannibal; he was hated for this policy—the Romans called him "The Delayer" and eventually removed him from power. But when Hannibal marched into Cannae in southern Italy and started decimating the countryside in 216 BC, the two inexperienced consuls which had replaced Fabius as generals of the army sent an army of eighty thousand soldiers against him. This army, vastly outnumbering the Carthaginian army, was completely wiped out by Hannibal' "pincer" strategy: the largest defeat Rome ever suffered. The battle had proven that Fabius was right all along to avoid direct battles, so the Romans went back to his strategy of waiting out Hannibal. Roman allies in the south of Italy literally ran to Hannibal's side; the whole of Sicily allied itself with the Carthaginians. In addition, the king of Macedon, Philip V, who controlled most of the mainland of Greece, allied himself with Hannibal and began his own war against Roman possessions in 215 BC. |
| The situation looked bad for the Romans; however, none of the central Italian allies had gone over to Hannibal's side after Cannae. The Romans had been chastened by their defeat and absolutely refused to go against Hannibal, whose army moved around the Italian countryside absolutely unopposed. Hannibal, however, was weak in numbers and in equipment. He didn't have enough soldiers to lay seige to cities such as Rome, and he didn't have either the men or equipment to storm those cities by force. All he could do was roam the countryside and lay waste to it. In 211, he marched right up the walls of Rome, but he never laid siege to it. So confident were the Romans, that on the day that Hannibal marched around the walls of Rome with his cavalry, the land on which he had camped was sold at an auction in Rome, and it was sold at full price! |
| The Romans, however, very shrewdly decided to fight the war through the back door. They knew that Hannibal was dependent on Spain for future supplies and men, so they appointed a young, strategically brilliant man as proconsul and handed him the imperium over Spain. This move was unconstituional, for this young man had never served as consul. His name: Publius Cornelius Scipio (237-183 BC). Scipio, who would later be called Scipio Africanus for his victory over Carthage (in Africa), by 206 had conquered all of Spain, which was converted into two Roman provinces. Hannibal was now left high and dry in Italy. |
| Scipio then crossed into Africa in 204 BC and took the war to the walls of Carthage itself. This forced the Carthaginians to sue for peace with Rome; part of the treaty demanded that Hannibal leave the Italian peninsula. Hannibal was one of the great strategic generals in history; all during his war with Rome he never once lost a major battle, although he had lost a couple small skirmishes. Now, however, he was forced to retreat; he had, despite winning every battle, lost the war. When he returned to Carthage, the Carthaginians took heart and rose up against Rome in one last gambit in 202 BC. At Zama in northern Africa, Hannibal, fighting against Scipio and his army, met his first defeat. Rome reduced Carthage to a dependent state; Rome now controlled the whole of the western Mediterranean including northern Africa. |
This was the defining historical experience of the Romans. They had faced certain defeat with toughness and determination and had won against overwhelming odds. Their system of alliances had held firm; while Hannibal had depended on the allies running to his side, only the most remote Roman allies, those in the south and Siciliy, left the Roman alliance. For the rest of Roman history, the character of being Roman would be distilled in the histories of this seemingly desperate war against Carthage. The Second Punic War turned Rome from a regional power into an international empire: it had gained much of northern Africa, Spain, and the major islands in the western Mediterranean. Because Philip V of Macedon had allied himself with Hannibal and started his own war of conquest, the second Punic War forced Rome to turn east in wars of conquest against first Philip and then other Hellenistic kingdoms. The end result of the second Punic War, in the end, was the domination of the known world by Rome.
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The Third Punic War: 149-146 BC
| In the years intervening, Rome undertook the conquest of the Hellenistic empires to the east. In the west, Rome brutally subjugated the Iberian people who had been so vital to Roman success in the second Punic War. However, they were especially angry at the Carthaginians who had almost destroyed them. The great statesman of Rome, Cato, is reported by the historians as ending all his speeches, no matter what their subject, with the statement, "I also think that Carthage should be destroyed." Carthage had, through the first half of the second century BC, recovered much of its prosperity through its commercial activities, although it had not gained back much power. The Romans, deeply suspicious of a reviving Carthage, demanded that the Carthaginians abandon their city and move inland into North Africa. The Carthaginians, who were a commercial people that depended on sea trade, refused. The Roman Senate declared war, and Rome attacked the city itself. After a seige, the Romans stormed the town and the army went from house to house slaughtering the inhabitants in what is perhaps the greatest systematic execution of non-combatants before World War II. Carthaginians who weren't killed were sold into slavery. The harbor and the city was demolished, and all the surrounding countryside was sown with salt in order to render it uninhabitable. |
سکوت بزغاله ها
سکوت بزغاله ها
من در خانه بودم که دیدم در میزنن رفتم در را باز کنم وقتی در را باز کردم طنابی به دور گردن من انداختن وقتی از آنها پرسیدم چرا این کار را با من میکنن به من گفت برای خودت خوبه گفتم چرا گفت برای اینکه تو هیچ چیز نمیدانی باید یکی دیگر بجای شما ملت فکر کنند من گفتم من که کاری نکردم او به من گفت مگه تو نبودی که از قیمت گوشت و نان گله میکردی گفتم خوب بله چوی من کارمند شرکت گاز هستم و حقوق زیادی نمیگیرم او به من گفت ببین تو همین یک جمله دو اشتباه داری یک رژیم برای بدن خوبه و دوم همین حرف انتقاد از دولت هست پس تو هم کمتر از بزغاله هستی و باید یکی دیگر برایت فکر کند.من سکوت کردم چون من یک بزغاله هستم.
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