How Did Rome Have Carthage

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Introduction

Rome’s and Carthage’s stages were set in a collision of destiny nearly from the beginning. Two nations growing inevitably traipse upon the other in a manner that is disastrous to both and usually results in the victor swatting from existence their rival.

Carthage’s strength compared to Rome

Carthage was an empire older than Rome. Founded in 814 BC it was unequalled by any other city on earth. By the time Rome began Carthage was already a powerful and wealthy city-state. As both grew in size they inevitably came to threaten each other’s territory. Carthage controlled much of the north and northeastern coastlines of Africa, the Mediterranean coastline of Spain and much of the islands between these two lands and Rome. Rome made up almost the whole of Italy and covered comparatively far less land than Carthage. Carthage’s history is little known for they kept no written history and what is known is that which has been pieced together by stories. As Rome grew taking Carthage would vastly increase its empire and so began the first Punic war. This war ended with Rome gaining control of nearby Sicily and Sardinia (gaining control of the Mediterranean Sea) and forced Carthage to transfer it’s treasury to Rome. For two decades there was quiet until
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Carthage, however, was very skilled not only in naval warfare tactics, but also in ship building and design. Carthage advanced boat technology found the Greek triremes, tetreres and penteres. A Carthaginian boat, the quinquereme, had more rows of oarsmen allowing for more power and speed. Rome knew that to win a skirmish with Carthage it needed to win battles at sea. Rome knew it lacked any advantage at sea against the premier navy of the time. So solve this, Rome decided to overpower their opponent by overwhelming them with sheer numbers. To build as many ships as quickly as possible Rome began pouring money into the endeavor and built