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The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Italy and Iberia, but also on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and, towards the end of the war, in North Africa.
The First Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome for 23 years, from 264 to 241 BC. After a 23-year interbellum, war broke out again in 218 BC as the Second Punic War. After a further 13 years of war Scipio, Rome's most successful commander, was assigned to Sicily with the intention of invading the Carthaginian homeland in North Africa.
The battle was part of the Second Punic War and resulted in a heavy defeat for Carthage. In the wake of its defeat in the First Punic War (264–241 BC) Carthage expanded its territory in south-east Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal). When the Second Punic War broke out in 218 BC a Roman army landed in north-east Iberia.
The end of the war sparked a major but eventually unsuccessful revolt within Carthaginian territory known as the Mercenary War. The Second Punic War began in 218 BC and witnessed the Carthaginian general Hannibal's crossing of the Alps and invasion of mainland Italy. This expedition enjoyed considerable early success and campaigned in Italy for ...
During the Second Punic War, at which point Carthage had lost most of its Mediterranean islands, it still managed to field some 300 to 350 warships. The sailors and marines of the Carthaginian navy were predominantly recruited from the Punic citizenry, unlike the multiethnic allied and mercenary troops of the Carthaginian army.
The name Carthage (/ ˈ k ɑːr θ ɪ dʒ / KAR-thij) is the Early Modern anglicisation of Middle French Carthage /kartaʒə/, [12] from Latin Carthāgō and Karthāgō (cf. Greek Karkhēdōn (Καρχηδών) and Etruscan *Carθaza) from the Punic qrt-ḥdšt (𐤒𐤓𐤕 𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕 ) "new city", [b] implying it was a "new Tyre". [14]
The city was one of the most fortified in the area and it would have been a poor move to leave such a stronghold in the hands of the enemy. Hannibal was also looking for plunder to pay his mercenaries, who were mostly from Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, the money could be spent on dealing with his political opponents in Carthage.
When the Second Punic War broke out between Rome and Carthage in 218 BC, much of Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal) was controlled by Carthage or its allies. [1] One of Rome's first actions of the war was to send an army to north-east Iberia. [2]