The Punic Wars 264-146 BC

by Nigel Bagnall

Overview

The three Punic Wars lasted over 100 years, between 264 BC and 146 BC. They represented a struggle for supremacy in the Mediterranean between the bludgeoning land power of Rome, bent on imperial conquest, and the great maritime power of Carthage with its colonies and trading posts spread around the Mediterranean. This book reveals how the dramas and tragedies of the Punic Wars exemplify many political and military lessons which are as relevant today as when Hannibal and Scipio Africanus fought to determine the course of history in the Mediterranean.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472809971
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/06/2014
Series:	Guide to... , #16
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Nigel Bagnall was born in India in 1927, the son and grandson of Army Officers. He was educated at Wellington College and joined the army in January 1946. Commissioned a year later he saw service in Palestine, Malaya, the Canal Zone, Cyprus, Borneo, Singapore and Germany. He was Commander in Chief of the British Army of the Rhine and ended his career as Chief of the General Staff. He was a Defence Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and then an Honorary Fellow. Nigel Bagnall died in 2002.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	7
	Chronology	9
	Background to war: Two great Mediterranean powers	11
	Warring sides: Carthaginian and Roman forces on land and sea	20
	Outbreak: Collapse of the Third Treaty of Friendship	30
	The fighting: The three Punic Wars	36
	Portrait of a soldier: Hannibal Barcid and Scipio Africanus	76
	The world around war: The political, social and economic impact	80
	Portrait of a civilian: Carthaginian trade; a Roman senator	84
	Conclusion and consequences: Expansionism and the disposition for war	88
	Glossary of names	91
	Further reading	93
	Index	94