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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.