The Punic Wars 264–146 BC

by BAGNALL, NIGEL

• ISBN13: 9781841763552
• ISBN10: 1841763551
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-02-25
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

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.

Author Biography

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	(2)
Chronology	9	(2)
Background to war
Two great Mediterranean powers	11	(9)
Warring sides
Carthaginian and Roman forces on land and sea	20	(10)
Outbreak
Collapse of the Third Treaty of Friendship	30	(6)
The fighting
The three Punic Wars	36	(40)
Portrait of a soldier
Hannibal Barcid and Scipio Africanus	76	(4)
The world around war
The political, social and economic impact	80	(4)
Portrait of a civilian
Carthaginian trade; a Roman senator	84	(4)
Conclusion and consequences
Expansionism and the disposition for war	88	(3)
Glossary of names	91	(2)
Further reading	93	(1)
Index	94