The Punic Wars : Rome, Carthage, and the Struggle for the Mediterranean
The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage, and the Struggle for the Mediterranean by Nigel Bagnall. Hardcover: 304 pages. (New York, NY: Thomas Dunne, 2003), Amazon.com $19.77.
Review by Ryan Setliff
The Punic Wars : Rome, Carthage, and the Struggle for the Mediterranean is really bold historical prose capturing one of the most resounding conflicts in antiquity between the Carthaginians and the Romans. The Punic Wars were actually a protracted series of three wars between 264 B.C. and 146 B.C.
For the first time in United States, Thomas Duanne books has brought British historian Nigel Bagnall's epic history to print in 2005. The Punic Wars forever changed the destiny of Rome and marked their unfettered ascent to becoming an imperial power to be reckoned with. These two Mediterranean peoples—Carthaginians and Romans—stood in enmity one against the other, and their climatic struggle would set the balance of power in favor of Rome for the ages. In the third century before Christ, the great naval power in the world was not Rome but Carthage. The Carthaginians were descendants of the seafaring Semitic race the Phoenicians and their campaign of colonization inevitably brought them into a clash of arms with the Romans who had imperial ambitions of their own. As the Romans solidified their control over the Italian peninsula, Carthage extended their control over North Africa's entire arable coastline. Likewise, when Carthage expanded its colonies to Spain, Sardinia, and Sicily — this colonization sparked a clash with the Romans. Treaties were broken and honor was at stake. The Romans took over Sicily seeking a buffer zone to minimize hit-and-run naval raids on the Italic peninsula. Hamilcar Barca and Hasdrubal sought to create a Carthaginian bastion on the Iberian peninsula (i.e. Spain) and its ancillary islands. What is more, the bold gambit of Hannibal is brought to life as his ambition in Iberia is recaptured with amazing detail. The author meticulously documents Hannibal's painstaking and arduous trans-alpine march as his men struggled to brave the elements of Gaul, as well as the climatic battle with the Romans.
The former soldier Nigel Bagnall captures the epic clash of personalities with amazing detail including the decimation of Carthage's Navy. An account of Rome's brutul subjugation of Carthage and her colonies is captured with astonishing detail. Cato's merciless quip "delenda est Carthago" ("Carthage must be destroyed") surmised the belligerent Roman policy toward their Mediterranean neighbors to the south. Carthage itself would be utterly vanquished and plowed over with pillars of salt. Bagnall gives life to the ancient historical accounts in a keen narrative history.
This book is powerful and yet easy to read. All things considered, it is a really good laymen's history of a pivotal war in the annals of history. Bagnall is possessed of a profound historical acumen that makes this particular book come to life. Though, a cursory understanding of Roman history is probably prerequisite for readers.
