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Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage | World History | Khan Academy

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    - [Instructor] As we enter
    into the 3rd Century BCE,
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    we see the Roman Republic
    that was founded in 509 BCE
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    has now exerted control over most
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    of the Italian peninsula.
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    But it's not the only
    power in the Mediterranean.
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    We have the remnants of
    Alexander the Great's empire
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    and we also have the Carthaginians.
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    And you can see here in blue
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    that Carthage had an extensive empire
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    that controlled most of the
    the western Mediterranean.
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    You can imagine, it was
    only a matter of time
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    before they come into
    conflict with each other.
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    It turns out they are
    actually going to have
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    three significant wars.
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    Some historians view it
    as the most significant
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    and largest scale wars
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    up to that point in history.
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    The first of these
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    happens in 264
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    BCE
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    and then it goes on for 23 years
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    to 241
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    BCE.
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    This is known as the First
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    Punic War.
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    You can see it on the
    timeline right over here
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    going from 264
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    to 241,
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    right over there.
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    It's a result of a conflict
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    that starts between two
    city-states in Sicily.
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    Sicily is this island right over here.
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    You have the city-state of Syracuse
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    which is a powerful
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    city originally established by the Greeks,
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    and it gets into a scuffle with Messana
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    which is another
    city-state at the northern,
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    northeastern tip of Sicily.
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    Rome and Carthage, these two
    great powers get embroiled
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    and it ends up being a conflict
    over the island of Sicily
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    where Carthage already had a
    foothold on the west coast.
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    What's interesting going into this war
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    is that Carthage had a powerful,
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    you could view it as
    an empire over the sea.
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    It had a very powerful navy.
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    While Rome had a very powerful army.
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    Not really much of a navy, to speak of.
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    But as we'll see as we go
    through the First Punic War,
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    that will change.
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    The first major battle
    happens at Agrigentum,
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    I'm probably mispronouncing it here,
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    on Sicily.
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    The Romans are able to win decisively,
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    and then the Carthaginians,
    you could imagine,
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    started to say,
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    "Well maybe we should
    engage them more into sea."
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    That happens in 260 at the
    Battle of Lipari Islands
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    which are right over here.
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    When the Romans get
    defeated there, they say,
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    "Hey, maybe we need a
    little bit more of a navy."
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    And so over the course
    of these several decades,
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    you have
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    this continual fighting.
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    There are some Carthaginian
    or Punic victories
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    we've talked about in previous video.
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    The word Punic is derived
    from what the Romans
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    called the Carthaginians which is derived
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    from their roots as Phoenicians.
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    You have some Punic victories,
    but for the most part,
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    Rome is successful.
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    And so, at the end of the First Punic War,
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    a few things happened.
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    You have Carthage leaves Sicily.
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    Carthage expelled
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    from
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    Sicily.
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    You have war indemnity.
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    Rome tells Carthage,
    "Hey, you've gotta pay us
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    "for all of the damage you created."
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    This is difficult for Carthage because
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    a war cost Carthage a lot,
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    and Carthage, especially, it
    didn't have citizen soldiers.
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    Its army was made up of ...
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    Its navy had citizen, I
    guess you say, sailors.
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    But it's army was made
    up mainly of mercenaries.
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    These are soldiers
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    who really, if you pay them enough,
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    they're gonna fight for you.
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    They don't really have allegiances
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    based on some type of
    ideology or citizenship.
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    Carthage, as they went
    through this many decades war,
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    they went ahead and pay
    all these mercenaries.
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    They had their own cost.
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    And now, Rome is making
    them pay indemnity.
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    War indemnity
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    to Rome.
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    The other, I guess you
    could say side effect
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    of this First Punic War
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    is that it was a catalyst
    for Rome building its navy.
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    Rome
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    builds
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    navy.
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    You can imagine especially the
    cost of the First Punic War,
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    it becomes very difficult for Carthage.
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    It actually de-stabilizes Carthage.
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    A lot of the mercenaries,
    when they're not paid
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    as they see they should
    be, they actually rise up.
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    From 240 to 238, you have a Mercenary War.
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    So 240
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    to 238
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    BCE,
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    you have a Mercenary War.
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    Eventually, it's able to be
    put down by the Carthaginians
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    but the side effect is
    it weakens their hold
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    on Sardinian Corsica.
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    And so, by the end of the Mercenary War,
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    the map looks like this right over here.
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    You could view this map
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    as what the Mediterranean
    looked like in 238
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    BCE.
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    Where you see now the Romans
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    not only have control of
    the Italian peninsula,
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    they've gained control
    over Corsica, Sardinia, and
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    Sicily.
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    Roman power is only going to increase
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    but the Carthaginians, this proud empire,
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    they're not done here.
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    In 218,
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    the Carthaginian general Hannibal,
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    the famous Hannibal, decides
    to attack the Romans.
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    He does it in a unconventional way.
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    He attacks from the north.
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    He takes his army,
    which includes elephants
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    through the Swiss Alps.
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    This is an artist depiction of
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    Hannibal's army with its
    elephants going through
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    the Swiss Alps.
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    They're able to wreak havoc
    over the Italian peninsula.
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    This goes on for roughly 15 years.
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    From
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    218
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    BCE
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    'til 201
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    BCE,
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    you have the Second Punic War.
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    Even though Hannibal's
    able to wreak havoc for
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    over a decade on the Italian peninsula,
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    he's never able to fully
    take control of Rome.
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    There's several explanations there.
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    One is that the people that he conquers
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    kept rising up against him.
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    They weren't just happy to be subjugated
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    by the Carthaginians,
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    by the Punics, I guess you could say.
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    And he never was able to
    get as many reinforcements
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    as necessary to fully subjugate Rome.
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    By the end of the Second Punic War,
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    the Romans decide to take
    the battle to Carthage.
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    In 202
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    BCE at the Battle of Zama,
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    the Romans are able to
    decisively beat Hannibal.
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    Hannibal is called back
    to defend the homeland
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    and he is defeated here at Zama.
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    In 201 BCE, you have the
    end of the Second Punic War.
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    By that point, at the end
    of the Second Punic War,
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    you now have
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    Rome in control
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    of significant chunks
    of the Iberian peninsula
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    that used to be under control of Carthage.
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    And Carthage has really been reduced to a
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    client state of Rome.
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    This is roughly what the map looks like.
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    After this, Rome isn't happy.
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    This was a pretty ugly war.
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    Hannibal was here wreaking
    havoc on the Italian peninsula.
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    He was almost successful
    at taking over Rome.
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    He was an existential threat
    to the Roman Republic.
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    Carthage essentially becomes
    a client state of Rome.
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    They have to pay war indemnity.
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    They really can't have a
    significant army anymore
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    or a significant navy.
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    Many people in Rome over
    the next several decades
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    even though Carthage is weakened so much,
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    they start arguing,
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    "Hey, we should just
    completely destroy this city
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    "because every time we destroy
    them or at least we beat them
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    "we get into this peace treaty
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    "but then they get powerful again and then
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    "we get into a war with them."
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    These are very ugly wars.
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    Finally, in 149,
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    let me write this,
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    149
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    BCE
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    as Carthage is starting to
    reassert a little bit of power,
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    it's trying to rebuild its military,
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    the Romans get scared.
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    They say, "You know what,
    let's just finish them off
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    "once and for all."
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    They say, "All right."
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    They start to put very onerous
    terms on the Carthaginians.
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    They say, "Hey, move
    your city further inland.
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    "We don't want you to ever be a power."
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    The Carthaginians of course really can't.
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    They say, "Hey, we're just
    gonna move our entire city
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    "and we're gonna cede to your demands."
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    And so the Romans used
    that as grounds for attack.
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    From 149
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    BCE to 146
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    BCE,
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    you have the Third Punic War.
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    Which is really the one where
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    Rome goes to destroy Carthage,
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    and they are able to
    destroy Carthage ending a
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    700-year
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    city-state, empire,
    whatever you wanna call it.
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    The city of Carthage is utterly destroyed.
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    Its inhabitants are enslaved
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    which the Romans like to
    do for subjugated people.
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    The city was burned in a very
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    systematic way for 17
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    days.
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    The Romans wanted to ensure that Carthage
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    could never rise up
    again to threaten Rome.
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    After the Third Punic War,
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    the Romans are now the dominant empire
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    in the Mediterranean.
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    Not only did they control that,
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    what they controlled going
    into the Third Punic War,
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    but now they controlled
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    Carthage's African colonies.
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    The same year, 146 BCE,
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    the Romans were also able
    to take control of Greece.
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    As we exit out of the Third Punic War,
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    you now have a Rome
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    that is extremely powerful
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    and this Roman Republic is
    starting to resemble this
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    empire.
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    It's not officially an empire yet.
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    It's still officially a republic,
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    but it's taking control of other people
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    so you could view it as an empire.
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    It's starting to take shape
    as this major civilization
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    that will eventually control
    the entire Mediterranean.
Title:
Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage | World History | Khan Academy
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Khan Academy
Duration:
11:05

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