Chapter 5

The main cause of the First Punic War was undoubtedly the presence of the Sons of Mars, or Mamertines as they were called by the Romans. They were originally mercenaries hired by the King of Syracuse, a major city in Sicily, but when the King died, they abandoned Syracuse to forge their own destiny. They attacked the city of Messana, a strategically important city that dominates the strait separating Italy and Sicily.

The Greeks in the city were ousted easily by the war-hardened veterans, and quickly the town became a haven for pirates and mercenaries. This made the Sons of Mars a hated force in Italy and Sicily, and the new King of Syracuse, Hiero, attacked the Mamertines between 310 and 305 BC. During what should have been a decisive defeat for the Mamertines during the Siege of Messana, a Carthaginian trade fleet, escorted by dozens of war ships, came into the sight of the city. The Syracusans, fearing the mercenaries had made an alliance with Carthage, retreated. The Mamertines welcomed their saviours, although soon they themselves resented the protection the Carthaginians gave them. They secretively called for Roman aide, although the Senators advising the Roman King, Marcus, brother of the previous King, Lucius, were cautious, the King himself was all for an expedition to Italy.

Legions were levied from the huge manpower pool that Rome now commands, and the troops set off for Sicily in 304 BC, and despite the efforts of a small Carthaginian fleet guarding the Straits of Messana, the much larger but inferior Roman fleet reached Sicily without hitch.

The small Carthaginian garrison in Messana retreated further inland, whilst Hiero of Syracuse remained neutral, waiting to see who would gain the upper hand in what would be a conflict lasting more than twenty years.

It took several days for the Carthaginians to register the fact that they are at war again, but soon huge armies of mercenaries were amassed at their main base in Sicily, Lillybaeum. But neither side were willing to engage each other in the mountainous island, and soon both sides settled to siege the minor cities which supported the other side.

The Romans, in the autumn of 304 BC, made the first major move. The King, who had now arrived in Sicily to personally command the army, decided that the neutral city of Syracuse was too good a target to miss. The Carthaginians, hearing this ordered their main campaign army there as well, so that the Syracusans would think that they were defending them from the Romans.

The first major of the war was fought on a relatively flat plain just several Roman miles outside of Syracuse. The Romans gained the upper hand quickly over the inexperienced mercenaries, and pushed them back. However, a Carthaginian fleet arrived, and most of their fleeing army were rescued.

This minor defeat convinced Hiero to join the Romans, although the common people of Syracuse were more inclined towards the Carthaginians, since they viewed the Romans as the aggressors, and the Carthaginians as their protectors. Despite this, Hiero still contributed a large number of hoplites to the Roman army.

Unfazed by the small defeat and still determined to oust the Romans from Sicily, the Carthaginians mustered an even larger army and attack by land in 303 BC. The army ravaged the Roman-controlled land and defectors for two years, with weapons and food supplied by Syracusan sympathisers, until the Romans defeated them in the battle of Mount Etna.

The situation in Sicily then gradually degenerated into slow but gradual advances by the Romans across the island, but not a single decisive defeat was inflicted by the Romans; and so the naval engagements would decide the conclusion of the war.

At the beginning of the war, Carthage has a definite advantage over the Roman navy. They have a history of maritime exploits, whilst the Roman fleet was mainly cobbled together from its Italian allies.

The first naval engagement of the war, in 301 BC, was a complete victory for Carthage; they wiped out the allied fleet, and consequently allowed the Carthaginians to dominate northern Sicily. The Romans appealed to their allies, Syracuse and Egypt, and soon a new fleet was made, but with more modifications added, including legionnaires which would board enemy ships, which would in time develop into the Legio Marina, and the corvus, a hammer like structure that could pierce the hull of a ship, and allow boarding parties to go through.

The next naval battle, near the island group of Mylae, was an attempt by the Romans to win back control of the sea north of Sicily. The new modifications proved a success, and the Carthaginian fleet was soundly defeated and scattered. For the next few years, the Carthaginian fleet was beaten again and again. Until the Roman senate decided that the time was right for an invasion of Africa itself.

The fleet and the army for the task were made ready on the coast of Syracuse on 296 BC, under the command of Marcus Atilius Regulus. It brushed off the light resistance from the small Carthaginian fleet placed near Africa, and landed the troops near the city of Apsis, it was quickly taken.

The Carthaginians were shocked at the sudden invasion by the Romans, they hastily gathered an army made out of militias and its Numidian allies, they were put under the command of Xanthippus, a disgraced Spartan who became a mercenary commander for the Carthaginians. He found the Roman army near the city of Tunis, and utilising the open ground, used his cavalry and elephants, the Carthaginians’ most powerful weapon, to good effect. In a few hours, the entire Roman army, consisting of 5 legions, were destroyed. The commander, Regulus, was captured; he was executed shortly before the end of the war.

Despite the small victory in Africa, in all other fronts the Carthaginians were losing, especially in Sicily, where they were in control of less than half of the island, but they still fought on. A respite came in 289 BC when they sent a new general, Hamilcar to Sicily and, in the same year, the battered Carthaginian fleet managed to defeat a full Roman fleet.

Hamilcar, now commander of Sicily, quickly struck where the Romans were weakest, and in a few years, he had reconquered several cities and had set up a new base on Mount Etna, where he was virtually impregnable from attacks. The government of Carthage however, especially the old land-owner Hanno, thought that the war was over, as the Roman fleet was completely destroyed. They ordered the demobilisation of the fleet, which Hamilcar had hoped to use to invade and raid Italy. Without a fleet, Hamilcar was trapped in Sicily, and when a new Roman fleet was built in 281, the Carthaginians sued for peace.

The Romans gained Sicily, as well the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, adding, for the first time, territories not in Italy to the Kingdom of Rome.

Several sources, including Livy, claimed that the Carthaginians did not want peace because they had been defeated so many times, but because the island of which the war was fought for, Sicily, was so devastated by the war that its riches and grain were almost completely used up. Livy even continued to say that “The people of Carthage were a trading people at heart, when the objects of trade disappear, so shall them.”

Nevertheless, Carthage suffered enormously from the war, its fleet was devastated and its riches accumulated for centuries used up. In an effort to stem its financial loses, Hanno ordered all mercenaries to accept a reduced amount of pay. This kindled another mercenary rebellion, so called the Second Mercenary War. Hamilcar, led the Punic forces against the rebels, and quickly put the rebellion down. But he was not content to see his homeland weak; he led his remaining loyal mercenaries to Iberia, where the Carthaginian settlements were relatively untouched by war, and begun an aggressive war against the local tribes. In time, Carthage would again become a superpower, and would attack Rome for the last time, under a general few had rivalled in skill.