Western Civ 5/15 - Punic wars

Slides 23-31

The Punic wars were 3 wars between Rome vs. Carthage. Rome won the first war. They gained control of the island of Sicily. The second war was 15 years long, a 29 year old general almost took control of Rome, but doesn't. They rode elephants in war. The last war was because Rome wanted to eliminate the threat of Carthage. They went and attacked it, the city was burned for 17 days; the buildings and walls were destroyed and the last 50,000 people were sold into slavery. The last territories of Carthage were annexed and made into the Roman province of Africa. Slavery became a big thing in Italy after this defeat of Carthage, by the end of the second century BCE there were over a million slaves in Italy. Slaves worked on farms for the rich.