1-Acest articol este copiat !
2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1.
“My son Hannibal will be a great general, because of all my soldiers he knows best how to obey.”
In 237 BC, the indigenous islanders of Sardinia drove out the mutinous garrison, who took refuge in Italy. With the war in Africa drawing to a close, they appealed anew to Rome for assistance. Three years after the original request, this time Rome supported them, and the legions were drawn up for an expedition to seize Sardinia and Corsica. Carthage sent an embassy to Rome, quoting from their Treaty of Lutatius and detailing that they were outfitting their own expedition to retake the island, which had been Carthaginian for three centuries. The Roman Senate audaciously declared that such an expedition would be deemed an act of war, and that peace terms to avoid this would include the ceding of both islands, plus an additional 1,200 talent indemnity. Crippled by three decades of war, Carthage now bowed to these demands rather than risk further war with Rome.
Rome would spend the next seven years developing its military strength on Sardinia and Corsica, struggling to suppress unrest from the islanders who saw their dreams of freedom following the expulsion of Carthage swiftly vanquished. The act of bad faith by Rome merely stirred popular resentment of the republic in Carthage, and ensured popular support for those who openly shunned Rome. This came at a time when Hamilcar Barca’s popularity reached its zenith, his unblemished record on Sicily from the First Punic War now complemented by his victory in the Truceless War. Far from disbanding his army and reintegrating into the Carthaginian hierarchy though, Hamilcar instead led his veterans to establish a new colony.
With the Mediterranean islands of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia now forfeit, Hamilcar’s vision was of a Carthaginian fortune in Iberia. That was where he led his troops, establishing various colonies as he pushed inland to exploit the peninsula’s vast resource wealth. Though this would only be a Carthaginian province in name – in practice, Iberia was now the private kingdom of Hamilcar Barca. He would raise troops among the tens of thousands from the native Celtiberian tribes, and these tribes would not declare loyalty to the Carthaginian state, but the Hamilcar Barca himself. While he was far removed from the city, the views of Hamilcar’s Barcid family and his supporters in the Popular Assembly now began to ride roughshod over the previous governing oligarchies of the Senate and the Tribunal. Not only was Hamilcar king of Iberia, he was increasingly king of Carthage too.
All of this was made possible by the previous decades of war reversing Carthage’s fortunes – in a similar way to how Roman reverses against Jugurtha and then the Cimbri and Teutones would being the unravelling of the Roman Republic over a century later. Having kept his army mobilised for a decade, it was now essentially a professional force, and more importantly one that Carthage had no control over, for its loyalty was to Hamilcar Barca alone. Carthage would never regain control of its armies, and increasingly the troops began selecting their own generals rather than having them imposed on them by the state – against there are similarities with the mid-Roman Empire and how the legions essentially became kingmakers. This climate of a quasi-autonomous Spanish kingdom was where Hamilcar’s family, including his eldest son Hannibal, would grow into adulthood.
Rome knew of Hamilcar’s expansion into Iberia, and was concerned by it. However, he had the perfect excuse to hand – he needed the resources to pay Rome. Carthage still had to pay the indemnity from the first war, so Rome could hardly object to the city’s expansion to find the resources to pay that. There had been but a handful of prosperous cities on the southern coast, and Hamilcar’s push inland exploited Iberia’s silver mines, agricultural potential, manpower, and military facilities such as shipyards. Carthage was not only finding the resources to pay Rome the indemnity, but it was also finding the resources to grow rich again. With access to such resources, any future Roman aggression could be repelled with confidence. Furthermore, a land route now lay open to Italia so Carthage would not be dependent on raising a navy. Emboldened they these advancements, Hamilcar began the long process of preparing for renewed war with Rome, and victory to restore Carthage’s honour and place on the world stage.
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu