The Punic Wars

Results of the First Punic War

Rome imposed a heavy indemnity on Carthage, to compensate her for her losses. She also forced Carthage to give up all claims to Sicily. Thus, as the result of this war, Rome won an easy income and a new province. It was the first step in the creation of the Roman empire.

Rome also learned some important lessons in this war. For one thing, Romans learned how to make war at sea. It is too much to say they learned to be sailors--even at the end of the Republic, they were still hiring Greeks to captain their ships--but they learned how to conduct naval warfare in an eminently Roman fashion.

The Romans were not particularly good sailors, and they found themselves outclassed by the Carthaginian navy. After suffering heavy losses in sea battles, the Romans made adjustments, just as they did in land warfare. They hired more Greek captains, for one thing, but one of the more interesting adjustments was technological: the corvus.

The corvus (Latin for crow) was a plank that was hinged at one end to the side of a Roman ship, and that had a heavy spike in the other end. The plank was held up by ropes. The Roman ship would maneuver alongside a Carthaginian ship and the rope would be released. The corvus crashed downward, its beak driving into the other ship's deck, whereupon Roman infantry dashed across.

Once the Romans had boarded the enemy, they could engage in hand- to-hand combat, at which they excelled. This is typical of the very pragmatic and ordinary ways in which Romans solved their military problems. It is typical, too, in that the Romans seemed always to have to lose a few battles before they would make a change; but, once they decided to change, their innovations were devastatingly effective.

Rome learned, too, how to conduct war on a massive scale. The Senate learned how to finance such a war, how to find the men for the armies, how to find the supplies, how to build fleets (over and over), how to conduct politics on the home front in times of war. All these were lessons it would apply again in later struggles.

Rome was now a Mediterranean power, though it perhaps did not yet recognize the fact. She still had no real interest in trade, but her Greek allies in southern Italy certainly did. She had not looked beyond Sicily when she started the war, but her ambition was certainly whetted by war's end.

The war was settled, but the conflict was not over. And both sides knew it.

History of Western Civilization

E.L. Skip Knox
Boise State University

Comments and questions