08b: Evil Empires

As long as superpowers have existed, there have also been evil empires. The American term "evil empire" comes from the 1977 classic Star Wars, in which the plucky rebels save the universe from the tyrannical Galactic Empire and its evil minions. Even though the bad guys of the Galactic Empire speak with British accents, the concept is basically warmed-over Cold War. The plot of Star Wars intentionally recalls plucky Americans trying to save the world from the tyrannical Soviet Union and its minions. But the plot is in fact ancient, with only the names changed. The ancient Greeks had the Persians, whom they demonized as cruel, stupid barbarians. And the ancient Romans had the Carthaginians. Even though the Rome soundly defeated Carthage in the Second Punic War, which ended in 201 BC, and even though Rome provoked a Third Punic War which ended with the obliteration of Carthage in 146 BC, little Roman kids were terrified for centuries afterward by the phrase Hannibal ad portas - "Hannibal is at the doors!" Over the years it became just a saying about a boogey man who would show up at a Roman kid's door with his elephants. But in Hannibal's own day Hannibal ad portas stood for the Romans' genuine fear that their nation was on the ropes.

The seaport of Carthage was founded in 814 BC. It was one of several Phoenician trading colonies founded in the Western Mediterranean - in fact, the name basically means "New City" in Phoenician. Today we know this ancient empire as "Carthage" and its people as "the Carthaginians," but the Roman word for Phoenicians is "Poeni," which leads to the term "Punic Wars" for Rome's wars with Carthage. As long as Rome's and Carthage's interests didn't clash, they were quite friendly. Carthage signed a treaty with the infant Roman Republic in 509 BC, pledging peace and commercial cooperation. The treaty was renewed in 306 BC and 278 BC, when Carthage and Rome agreed not to deal independently with King Pyrrhus of Epirus. Because Carthage's strategic location let it dominate all trade passing below the southern tip of Sicily, Carthage developed a mighty navy which enabled it to deliver troops (usually mercenaries) to any point in the Western Mediterranean. With time, Carthage gained control much of the North African coastline, along with Corsica and Sardinia, and began to fight with Greek cities for influence in Sicily.  By 310 BC, Carthage's empire included just about all Sicily.

As mentioned before, Rome's victory in the Pyrrhic wars had given her control of the Italian peninsula. This fact, in turn, made Rome a Mediterranean power by default, equal to the "successor states" of Alexander the Great to the east, and to the west, the Carthaginian Empire. In fact, Rome and Carthage are surprisingly close together for two capital cities. They are are on different continents, but they are separated only by two narrow straits and the island of Sicily. Remember, the United States has always been fixated on the island of Cuba, and not without reason. Cuba is only 90 miles away from the mainland United States, and any power with a base on Cuba would present a clear and present danger. Sicily had long since been settled by Greek and Phoenician colonists, and was packed with city-states of its own, many of which were older and more established than Rome. Carthage already controlled the western half of Sicily, and considered the rest of the island to be in their sphere of influence. When the Mamertines, a group of Italian mercenaries living in Messana (on the northern tip of Sicily) revolted against Carthage in 264 BC, Carthage struck back hard. At this point, the Mamertines appealed to Rome for help. The Romans were not obligated to comply. After all, they had never had any gripes with Carthage. They did not necessarily care about the Italian mercenaries, but the idea of a Carthaginian naval base just off of Italy's southern tip scared them. Thus the Senate recommended that Rome support the Mamertines, which in turn both met the rules of the ius fetialis and touched off the First Punic War.

The technology of the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage (264-241 BC) is itself interesting. Because the mountains of Sicily were no place to fight a land war, most of the war took place at sea. Since the Romans were utter landlubbers up to this point, the odds would appear stacked in favor of the seafaring Phoenicians. But the Romans figured out a strategy for taking the land war to their enemies, even on sea. Instead of ramming the Carthaginian ships (which was standard practice at the time), the Romans developed a gangplank with a big hook in the end which they called a corvus, or crow. Once the gangplank was dropped on to the Carthaginian ship, the corvus held it fast, so Roman soldiers could climb on board and wipe out the Carthaginian sailors. This innovation turned a Roman weakness into a Roman advantage. As long as the Roman fleet could make it into battle without sinking, it would, and did, win. Eventually it boiled down to a war of material attrition, and the Carthaginians blinked first. The wealthy Carthaginians were tired of the costly war, and stopped maintaining their fleet. The Romans, on the other hand, and especially the wealthiest Romans, proved more than willing to keep spending money on their navy.  Finally, in 241 BC, Rome destroyed the Carthaginian fleet and forced them to sue for peace. The prize was basically complete Roman control over Sicily. That is how Rome wound up with a navy and its very first province - Sicily. By 237 BC, Rome had taken the islands of Sardinia and Corsica away from Carthage, which became Rome's second province. By acquiring territories off of mainland Italy, Rome took its first steps toward Mediterranean empire. Carthage was defeated but far from broken. Both sides in the First Punic War knew that a Second Punic War was all but inevitable.