What is the longest war? The influence of PunicWars Punic Wars (or Punic Wars) is a famous war between ancient Rome and ancient Carthage for the dominance of the western Mediterranean, and its name comes from what Rome called Punic at that time.
How long did the Punic War last? The Punic War was fought by ancient Carthage and the Roman Empire. In order to compete for the dominance of the surrounding areas, these two great powers launched three Punic wars, which lasted for 1 18 years, which was called retribution by God. During the war, Rome and Carthage tried their best to defeat each other. Although the war is cruel, from the perspective of the development of the times, this large-scale war has made the ancient people's knowledge and knowledge in the military field by going up one flight of stairs and promoted the progress and development of military art, such as Hannibal's battle of defeating the strong with the weak and the crow hanging newly created by the Roman army, which are all great progress and innovations.
War background: Rome was born in the Italian peninsula and is a small city-state. At the beginning of the 3rd century BC, Rome unified the Italian peninsula and became a powerful country in the Mediterranean. Later, Rome turned its expansion target to Carthage in the western Mediterranean.
Carthage, located in Tunisia in contemporary North Africa, was built by Phoenician immigrants. In the 3rd century BC, it has developed into a rich and powerful country, occupying the west coast of North Africa, the south coast of Spain, most of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and Balearic Islands. And has become the enemy of Rome's overseas expansion. The focus of the competition between the two sides is Sicily, which is rich in grain. The Roman army is divided into four legions, each with about 4,200-6,000 men, which basically belongs to the standing army and has strong combat effectiveness. Carthage's military strength is also very strong, especially the navy, which ranks among the best in the Mediterranean region.
The first origin: in the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Republic stabilized its internal affairs, relieved the threat from Gaul, sent troops to occupy Gaul land, eased the war in the north with the Alps as a barrier, and put down the rebellion in Italian states. The whole Apennine Peninsula is firmly in the hands. In the western Mediterranean, Carthage, which is older and richer than Rome, has now become a maritime power, controlling most of the maritime trade routes, and its sphere of influence has developed from North Africa to Iberian Peninsula and its western Mediterranean.
The fuse of the war was Messina incident: in the first 288 years, a group of Syracuse mercenaries, led by Marmetti, occupied Messina in the northeast corner of Sicily, claiming to be "the son of the God of War" and became independent from Syracuse. They killed all the local men, married women, based in this city, and harassed nearby villages and cities, including Syracuse, the mother state.
In 264 BC, Herod II of Syracuse ascended the throne and decided to destroy these bandits, leaving the army to besiege Messina. Mammetti asked Rome and Carthage for help at the same time. At first, Rome did not want to help them. On the one hand, it is because mommy's name is unreasonable, on the other hand, Rome has just cleaned up inferior mercenaries. Carthage immediately agreed, and soon sent troops to Messina, forcing Syracuse troops to retreat. The Roman Senate could not tolerate the huge threat from the south and a small strait, so Rome and Marmetti joined forces to send General Scipio and authorized him to lead troops to Sicily in an attempt to make Syracuse take refuge in Rome. This is the first time that the Roman army has been active outside the Italian peninsula. After the stability of the tripartite alliance, Rome and Carthage continued to compete for Sicily.
General situation of the war: The first Punic War was the first of three Punic wars between ancient Rome and Carthage, which lasted from 264 BC to 24 BC1year. The conflict between the two countries revolves around the hegemony of the Mediterranean coast, especially the ownership of Sicily. Twenty-three years after the war, Rome gained and mastered the sea power in the western Mediterranean, and Carthage was forced to sign an unequal peace treaty. Carthage ceded Sicily and its nearby Lipari Islands to Rome, and paid 3,200 talents (/kloc-paid off within 0/0 year). In 238 BC, Rome used Carthage mercenaries to riot and sent troops to capture Sardinia and Corsica. In 227 BC, the two islands were merged into one province.