HI123 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Numidian Cavalry
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Carthage and Rome expanded near each other
•
Carthage had been fighting for Sicily- they turn to Rome and ask for help
•
Rome sees Carthage as a threat- send an army
○
Result of this was a 24 year long war
•
Was a maritime war (fought at sea)
•
Romans were weaker at sea- built a navy (copying a Carthaginian ship)
and they built a hook (corvus) so they could fight a land bottle at sea
○
Many Roman victories
•
Biggest battle: Battle of Cape Economus- Roman fleet of 330
quinqueremes crewed by 140,000 rowers and Carthaginians had a similar
size
•
Romans make 1 final effort- contribute private wealth to create a final
fleet
○
Results in total Roman victory
•
Consequences: harsh Roman terms to Carthage (so they didn’t attack
again)
○
Rome steals some land from them and fines them
○
Designed to cripple the economy
Carthaginians
•
237 BC Carthaginian Senate sent Hamiclar Barca to Spain, he expanded
the Carthaginian dominions there over the next 9 years
•
Spanish silver and manpower revived Carthage's power and strength
•
Rome is worried about this and orders the Carthaginians not to expand
into Northern Spain
•
221 Hannibal becomes the Commander of the Carthaginian forces in
Spain
○
Even though he's only in his early 20's, he displayed great
generalship and speed of action, mastery of tactics and an
inspirational leader
•
Carthaginian army was made of non-citizens (mercenaries, or took
subjects from their Empires)
• Heavy and light infantry and cavalry was far superior to Romans
• Heavy infantry: libians fought in a phalanx-like formation with spears.
Spanish had spears and were excellent swordsmen
• Hannibal relied heavily on Spanish cavalry and Numidian light cavalry-
were very fast, and had javelins (quick strikes and retreats)
○After cavalry had worn down the army, their army would ove in
• Light infantry; Spanish javeliners and deadliest missle troops- Beleanic
slingers
○All veteran soldiers
○Employed war elephants, they broke up enemy formations and
were effective against cavalry (horses can't stand the smell)- they
died quickly
First Punic War
Monday, July 2, 2018
11:36 AM
Document Summary
11:36 am: carthage and rome expanded near each other, carthage had been fighting for sicily- they turn to rome and ask for help, rome sees carthage as a threat- send an army. Many roman victories: biggest battle: battle of cape economus- roman fleet of 330 quinqueremes crewed by 140,000 rowers and carthaginians had a similar size, romans make 1 final effort- contribute private wealth to create a final fleet. Results in total roman victory: consequences: harsh roman terms to carthage (so they didn"t attack again) Rome steals some land from them and fines them. Spanish had spears and were excellent swordsmen: hannibal relied heavily on spanish cavalry and numidian light cavalry- were very fast, and had javelins (quick strikes and retreats) After cavalry had worn down the army, their army would ove in: light infantry; spanish javeliners and deadliest missle troops- beleanic slingers.
