Punic Wars: Part 3 - The Fall of Carthage

History is not a novel. It is not meant to inspire, have climaxes, follow any set narrative that furthers your interest and leaves you feeling some emotion that is meant to be conveyed to the reader from the author, whatever that may be. Instead, it's a mere statement of facts; yes, they can be tremendous, shocking, exciting and so forth, but unless you're deliberately altering the past, there will be times you're left wanting. The Third Punic War is just one of those rather disappointing stories. The first war told of Carthage, a tremendous naval power, going head to head with the up and coming armies of Rome. The second is a humbled giant poised to strike again with all the might that elephants, cavalry and wave after wave of infantry has to offer, led by one of the greatest military generals you're going to hear of. So the third is the last of the series, what should be a culmination of all that has happened that turns out to be an awe inspiring bloodbath between two major forces fighting it out for the supremacy of Mediterranean Europe. Instead, we got a third part of the series that is more than a little predictable and just didn't live up to what has been a tremendously interesting wartime tale. Essentially, we got a historical version of The Matrix: Revolutions. Of course this is all just my opinion. I'll leave it up to you to decide what you think.

Cato the Elder, one of the most adamant
believers in the destruction of Carthage.
He looks like a pleasant fellow.

In between the second and third wars, a time of just a touch over half a century, Rome was caught up in conquering the East, all the while taking over the Hispanic regions that helped them in the fight against Carthage. If I haven't said this before, I'll say it now - Rome as a whole was a seriously untrustworthy jerk of a city state a heck of a lot of the time. Anyways, what's important is they were rolling through Europe and Carthage was rolling in debt. The massive indemnity owed to the Romans was just being paid off, they had lost much of their territory and their allies were not too keen on supporting a dying land. Worse yet, all of their border issues were largely controlled by the Roman senate, requiring Carthage a "good-to-go" from the Romans before engaging in any conflicts. They frequently quarrelled with Numidia, bordering them on the east, who happened to be an ally of Rome; you can image how those cases must have gone.

Carthage had little choice but to suffer through it - and they did so for the fifty years they owed the Romans the large indemnity of silver they owed from the second war. However, here's where things get a little complicated; is the treaty entirely over, or just the silver they were supposed to pay? There were two ways of seeing it: Carthage has paid their debt in full and is no longer obligated to answer to the Roman senate as they had completed the requirements of the treaty; the second way of seeing it is the land of Carthage has a lot of productive farmland to feed Rome's increasingly large population, they are no longer paying silver, and they can be "justly" attacked under the guise of saying the terms of the treaty were not just for the silver but a permanent subordination to the powers of the Romans. Yeah... Rome thought the second option seemed a little more lucrative.

In 151 BC, shortly after the debt had been paid off, Numidia launched a strike against Carthage. Suffering a defeat, they were charged with yet another fifty year debt to Numidia for not getting consent from Rome. Rome subsequently declares war, and the Carthaginians do their best to appease the Romans and basically tell them to cool off a little. Oh, and by tell them, I mean practically beg them. They offered 300 children from well-to-do Carthaginians to be sent as hostages as Rome, and essentially be raised as slaves. The 300 used in the movie 300 were likely much more intimidating than the babies, and the offer was deemed not enough.

The war heats up, and Utica, a city under Carthage's control, decides to defect to the Romans and effectively serving as a base of assault. 80,000 men gather, and demand Carthage hands over all their weapons and armour - Carthage, scared out of their wits, complies. They then politely ask to move a great distance inland, while Rome burns the city to the ground. I kid you not. That's what they asked the Carthaginians to do. It's like asking the enemy army to shoot themselves, and when they don't comply, claiming you gave diplomacy your best shot. Naturally, they had no choice but to abandon negotiations at this point and the city of Carthage was under siege, effectively beginning the third Punic war. If people were placing bets, there would be no amount of Roman gold worth the odds of betting on Carthage's success.

The preserved, rather pretty ruins of Carthage. It looks
rather nice when it isn't on fire.

To their credit, Carthage fought hard. Their cavalry caused a number of problems for the Romans and they won a few battles here and there, notably one where the Roman fleet was burned from a number of fire ships sent over to their harbours. Carthage endured, fighting tooth and nail knowing they were backed in a corner and pretty well out of options, but the crushing size and strength of the Roman force eventually proved too much. It was an underdog story where the predicted victor goes in and wins predictably.

After the final battle, there remained only 50,000 Carthaginians, a small portion of what they had been at the beginning of the third Punic war. They were promptly sold into slavery, as was the tradition after taking over a city. Carthage itself was burned, it's walls and buildings destroyed, marking the end of a once great and powerful civilization that had stood for centuries. Carthage's territories were taken, and the fertile farmland surrounding Carthage served to be a great boost to the Romans' food supply. So after having their city burned to the ground and their territories taken, their land served to fuel the beast that destroyed them.

Ain't that a kick in the teeth?

Famous Historical Battles Have the Darndest Things Happen!

1. Utica, the city that turned over to Roman rule, eventually became the capital for the Roman territories in Africa. What a bunch of bandwagon jumpers.
2. The Romans didn't actually salt the ground like the myth goes. They wanted to use the farmland... why the heck would they salt it? 
3. Julius Caesar rebuilt the city about a century later when the Roman empire was thriving. I suppose if the land fuelling the Roman army was a kick in the teeth, this was dancing on the grave.