As US-China tensions rise, the Punic wars offer a cautionary tale
- Rather than rely on the recently popular ‘Thucydides trap’, the clashes between Carthage and Rome might provide better insight into our current predicament
- The triumph of political will, military technology and economic power over calls for peace and respect for the environment show how dire succumbing to war can be
Rome was the rising power, expanding outward at the time of the first Punic war. Carthage was more interested in guarding its trading monopoly in the western Mediterranean, whereas Rome was invested in expansion through conquest.
The first Punic war began with Carthage being the dominant naval power while Rome had the stronger land army. Before the outbreak of war, Rome and Carthage had good commercial ties and friendly relations, but one can imagine that Carthage probably ran trade surpluses with Rome since it controlled the Mediterranean trade.
Carthage relied more on hiring mercenaries and less on its own citizens to fight in wars. Rome, on the other hand, had mostly citizen-soldiers whose fortunes depended largely on victory and conquest.
Once Carthage began to lose its naval superiority, there was a period of attrition in which both sides fought indecisively with severe consequences for both. In 241 BC, Rome won the naval Battle of Aegates. Carthage ceded control of Sicily to Rome and paid terrible reparations.
After its loss, Carthage had to fight off a mercenary uprising led by discontented unpaid mercenaries who were joined by a rebellion of other Africans in Carthage’s oppressed territories. To defend the empire, the Carthaginian general Hamilcar consolidated control over the Iberian Peninsula. In the second Punic war, his son Hannibal took the conflict to the Italian peninsula by marching through the Alps and fighting on Roman territory.
The Romans regrouped after initial losses and, once the Numidians rebelled against Carthage, the Roman general Scipio landed in Africa in 204 BC to march on Carthage with his Numidian allies. Hannibal was soundly defeated in the Battle of Zama. After suing for peace, Carthage was stripped of its overseas territories and had to pay ruinous reparations.
The Numidians then ate at Carthaginian power, with Carthage being finally destroyed in the third Punic war. Carthaginians were sold into slavery and the whole region was incorporated as a Roman province. When the Germanic Vandals conquered Carthage in 439 AD, the days of the Western Roman empire were numbered.
The Punic wars demonstrated that political will, military technology and discipline – plus economic power over food, energy and minerals – ultimately matter the most in great power rivalry. Great power conflicts have their origins in national, sectoral and human interests, but historically they occurred with little regard for the environment. Roman deforestation of the empire’s lands, as well as the Spanish conquest of the Americas, had serious climatic consequences that only became apparent later.
Balance has been lost because populists and elites profit from imbalance. The Punic wars showed that, more often than not, human beings fight over short-term interests rather than working towards building long-term peace. War that appears glorious ends up causing long, ruinous trauma for both people and the planet. It is easier to shout for war than to work for peace. For those who care about our future generations, give peace a chance.
Andrew Sheng writes on global issues from an Asian perspective