The First Punic War

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**The First Punic War** is an OverSimplified two-part series that covers the events of the First Punic War. It was released on September 2, 2022.

## Summary

### Part 1

Rome was a great civilization, but it came at a cost, a cost that a child wouldn't pay for. Rome was founded in 753 BC. Afterward, Rome conquered neighboring cities and became the Roman Republic—not the Roman Empire (yet). Horrified, a child named Timiulus called Rome "uncivilized"; his dad meant to prove him wrong, but he did the opposite.

The Phoenicians founded Carthage in 814 BC. Thus, Carthage (sometimes known as the Punics, hence the video name) started life as a trading colony. As a result, Carthage had lots of money and sacrificed its children to *Ba'al Hammon*, the god of plant fertility. At first, Carthage and Rome were allies. Rome's "defensive" expansionism and Carthage's protectiveness of trade ultimately led to the deterioration of their relationship.

Meanwhile, in Syracuse, the Mamertine leader died, and his successor told them to "go home." The Mamertines did not; instead, they massacred Messana's men and stole their women and children. The Mamertines, now in control of Messana, raided Syracuse's coastline. They asked Carthage to save them, which they accepted. Some were unhappy, and they asked Rome for help instead.

Despite Rome's situation, it didn't want to avoid war partially because, as a republic, it did not want a dictator. Instead, Rome had two leaders elected to one-year terms. During their short reign, the best way to get prestige was war. While Rome was aggressive, Carthage was more careful. Failure or cowardice could lead to cruxification.

So, Rome occupied Messana, driving out some Carthaginians. Carthage and Syracuse teamed up to kick out the Romans. Therefore, Rome and Carthage had just entered a war. Rome saw initial success, with some losers switching to the winners' side.

In 262 BC, Carthage built up its forces at Agrigentum, which Rome laid siege to. Since Rome was not a great naval power, it and Carthage were starving. Carthage sometimes killed the Romans as they were looking for food, and Carthage also set up another siege. In the end, Rome won, though at a considerable cost: they suffered about four times as many casualties as Carthage, but they still won.

Rome, being aggressive, now had plans to conquer all of Sicily—an island. Since Rome wasn't a naval power, Carthage had the upper hand. Rome didn't know how to build a boat until they took inspiration from a Carthaginian ship. Not only that, but Rome innovated their stolen design—in two months. In contrast, OverSimplified's videos take about half a year to make (6 months). Carl—a Carthaginian disguised as the NordVPN Guy—advertised NordVPN, leaving the general screaming.

Now, it was time to test Rome's new navy. They had a trick up their sleeve: they added bridges—called a Corvus—to their ships, turning a naval battle into a land battle, which Rome excelled at. Thus, they won the Battle of Mylae in 260 BC—their first battle involving their Corvus.

Carthage, humiliated, decided on a new tactic: a war of attrition. Because of this, their land battle on Sicily slowed, and they were sick of it. In 256 BC, Marcus Atilius Regulus decided to attack Carthage with the hopes of having thousands of naked statues of himself. The Romans panicked and built a fleet. Carthage built a bigger, stronger fleet to stop the Romans. In 256 BC, the Battle of Cape Economus saw 350 Carthaginian ships and 150,000 Carthaginian soldiers fighting 330 Roman ships and 140,000 Roman soldiers. To date, the Battle of Cape Economus remains "possibly the largest naval battle in human history." Proximity allowed Rome to win the battle.

### Part 2

After the Battle of Cape Economus, the Romans immediatly took the city of Aspis when Carthage started to defend itself. The Romans sent a letter to Marcus Atilius Regulus to bring back the booty. Steve gets sad when he thinks he has to be sent home. Marcus Atilius Regulus tells Steve that they were bringing home the money booty. The teacher gets mad and turns off the episode for the kids. According to Livy, they fought a literal dragon. Carthage at this point was starving and the mayor told everyone that he had food, so everyone gets mad.

Carthage was great at using their navy but not at their army. They fought on rough uneven terrain with mercineries with different cultures. Numidia provided Carthage with their skilled cavalry. The Romans won against the Carthaginians in the battle of Adys in 255 BC. Steve is sad since he was bad at War Thunder {Part 2 sponser}. Marcus Atilius Regulus forced them to surrender to bad terms, reinvigorating Carthagenian resolve.

So the Carthaginians hired Xanthippus from Sparta to help them, and he did. Winning them a great victory, while Marcus Atilius Regulus was captured. He was sent by the Carthaginians to make the Romans to surrender, he told the Romans to surrender and failed and was killed by the Carthaginians.

The Romans in Africa were still in Africa were rescued, until they were sunk by a storm off the coast of Sicily. The Romans built another fleet and got sunk again. The Carthaginians sent a general called Hamilcar Barca and became a huge mess for the Romans. Counsul Pulcher ignored to read the signs of the gods during the attack of Drepana, they removed the corvus which made them lose miserably. The Carthaginians sent a fleet to stop the Roman supply fleet, they saw a storm brewing and took shelter, the Romans kept going and got sunk by the storm.

Carthage decided that the Romans couldn't build another fleet so they recalled most of the navy for trade. The Romans brought back the corvus during the battle of the Aegates and won. The Romans beated the Carthaginians during the First Punic War after 23 years. Hamilcar Barca made peace with the Romans but the Romans changed the peace treaty a bit which forced the Carthaginians to pay a lot of money. Also, the Romans got Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia.

Unfortunately, the harsh peace treaty made the Carthaginians very mad. At the end, Hamilcar's wife can be seen watching Drew Durnil {lol} and Hamilcar calling Hannibal vengeance.

## Transcript

View the First Punic War transcript here.

## Errors

* On timestamp 7:18-7:19 in part 1, the fire on the roof and on a window disappear.

## Trivia

* The First Punic War took 9 months to upload which makes it the second-longest gap between it and the previous video, beating the The Pig War, which took 6 months. This record was broken by The Second Punic War.
* This is the only OverSimplified video to be uploaded in 2022.
* The video hinted at the Second Punic War.
* Part 2 introduced a new sponsor: War Thunder.
* When the mamertines raided Sicily, the teen was playing *Among Us*.
* During the last scene of part 2, Hamilcar Barca's wife can briefly be seen watching Drew Durnil on the television for a split second.