Empayar Carthage

Empayar Carthage berpusat di Utara Afrika. Empayar ini muncul pada tahun 575 BC dan bertahan sehingga tahun 146 BC. Ia adalah sebuah empayar bagi negara kota Tamadun Phoenic iaitu Tamadun yang bersifat Talasokratik (kekuasaan maritim). Empayar ini menjadi pesaing kepada Kerajaan Rom yang berpusat di Kota Rom, Itali. Beberapa siri peperangan yang dinamakan Perang Punic berlaku dengan Rom. 

Komander tentera Empayar Carthage bernama Hannibal (247-182BC) adalah tokohnya yang terkenal.

Hannibal was born in 247 BC in Carthage (modern Tunis, Tunisia), the great trading empire in North Africa. His father, Hamilcar Barca, was a senior general in the army who’d fought the Roman’s during the First Punic War (264-241 BC). The Carthaginians had lost that war and the subsequent peace treaty stripped them of island territories in the Mediterranean and heavy financial reparations had been demanded from Rome.

Hamilcar believed that the way to improve fortunes for his city was to claim territories and resources on the Iberian Peninsula. At the age of just nine, Hannibal was invited by his father to join him on his campaign in Spain, making the young boy swear an oath to ‘never be a friend of Rome’. It was an oath Hannibal lived by until his death.

For the next nine years, Hamilcar conducted a fruitful campaign in Iberia, seizing lands and sending resources back to Carthage. Growing up in such an environment laid the educational groundwork that saw Hannibal develop into one of history’s greatest military tacticians.

After his father’s death in battle, Hannibal’s brother-in-law, Hasdrubal the Fair, took command of the army and began consolidating Carthaginian gains in the area. He even signed a peace treaty with Rome, agreeing neither side should cross the river Ebro. When Hasdrubal the Fair was assassinated, 26-year-old Hannibal took command of the invasion force and it wasn’t long before the peace treaty with Rome was in tatters.

After Rome made an allegiance with the city of Saguntum, which lay south of the river Ebro, Hannibal took this as his chance to declare war on the Republic. After an eight-month siege, Hannibal captured Saguntum in 218 BC and Rome sent an ultimatum to Carthage – hand over Hannibal or face war. The wealthy aristocrats back in Carthage had been enjoying the bountiful treasures of the Iberian Peninsula and so stood by their young general. The Second Punic War had begun.

Petikan: History.co.uk

Perang Punic I berlaku antara tahun 264-241BC. Perang ini bertumpu di Pulau Sicily di laut Mediterranean. Ia berlangsung selama 23 tahun. Setelah memakan banyak korban kedua-dua pihak, akhirnya perang ini dimenangi oleh tentera Rom.

Perang Punic II tamat  pada tahun 201BC. Ia ditamatkan dengan perjanjian damai yang mensyaratkan Empayar Carthage tidak boleh melancarkan perang tanpa kebenaran Rom. Syarat ini menjadikan Raja Masinissa yang menjadi sekutu kerajaan Rom dari Kerajaan Numidia di sebelah selatan selalu membuat serangan ke daerah Kerajaan Carthage tanpa dapat dibalas oleh Kerajaan Carthage. Namun, pada tahun 149BC, kerajaan Carthage mengirimkan bala tentera dipimpin oleh  Hasdrubal untuk menghadapi Raja Masinissa. maka meletus perang yang dinamakan Battle of Oroscopa . Carthage mengalami kealahan dalam perang ini. Perang ini menjadi alasan Rom untuk melancarkan perang Punic III pada tahun 149 BC.

Selepas Perang Punic III(149-146BC), Empayar Carthage dikalahkan oleh Rom dan Rom menjadi empayar serantau yang menguasai kawasan yang luas.

Bacaan: wiki