Dusmanul la Poarta!-Partea-46!

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“The Carthaginian solution.”

As the Allies advanced on Berlin in 1944, there was much discussion over how the war would end. Even when realising defeat was inevitable, many among the Nazi high command envisaged Germany going down in a blaze of glory, everyone fighting to the bitter end for the glory of the Reich, and the formerly prosperous nation being reduced to ash and rubble. The question for the Allies was if Germany could be convinced to surrender, or if they would have to pursue another path – the path of utter destruction. A path they called “the Carthaginian solution”.

The Third Punic War is essentially just a grandiose name for the Siege of Carthage. While the first war had seen two powerful opponents contend for control of Sicily, and the second had seen fighting taker place across Italia, Iberia, Sicily, Greece and Africa, the third was Rome’s final attempt to crush the formerly great power. Despite having hamstrung Carthage as the end of the second war, the economic recovery of the Punic power had emboldened the embittered war faction in Rome’s Senate, led by Cato the Censor, to declare that there could be no coexistence of the two cities. With the flimsiest of pretexts, Rome had embarked on the genocidal path towards the obliteration of a power which, at that time, posed no threat to them. In a modern context it is unimaginable. It is inconceivable that, seeing the economic strength of Berlin and Tokyo in the mid 1990’s, America would decide that it needed to destroy these two nations merely because of their economic prosperity, even though the stipulations of the defeat half a century earlier (Japan having no army, the German army being prohibited from invasions) had neutered either as a threat. Yet that is precisely the path that Rome embarked upon with Carthage.

Despite Rome’s determination to obliterate a defeated foe, the legions and their Consuls were disappointed to find that Carthage was not a city of people meekly waiting to accept their fate. The numerous attempts to storm the city were repulsed with vigour by a resurgent populace who had rearmed themselves remarkable quickly after surrendering their arms to Rome, while too late Carthage realised that citizens fight for home defence far harder than mercenaries. After a year of defeats for Rome in attempts to take the city, 148 BC saw the new Consul Calpurnius Piso take command of the siege, with his adjutant Lucius Mancinius commanding the navy. Realising the failures of his predecessors, he pulled back the close siege of the walls to a looser blockade, attempting to mop up the various cities supporting Carthage first.

Hasdrubal, who had been condemned to death for the Numidian debacle before being relieved to command the Punic field army outside the city, now overthrew the government apparatus of the besieged city and installed himself as commander. A Numidian chief with 800 cavalry defected to Carthage, while the city looked to align itself with Andriscus, the pretender to the Macedonian throne who had invaded Roman Macedon and triggered the Fourth Macedonian War, crowing himself King Philip VI. This war would provide little lasting challenge for the legions, and the ‘alliance’ betwixt Carthage and Macedon would have no lasting benefits. The rest of the year petered out without significant further action.

Scipio Aemilianus planned to stand for election as aedile in 147 BC, a natural political progression for the 36-year-old which would see him rise from his former post of tribune to an administrative role in a city (similar to that of mayor, responsible for things like civic infrastructure). Rome’s mos maiorum dictated loose age limits for when aspiring politicians should stand for roles, such as 38 to make Praetor and 41 to stand as Consul. However public support for the grandson of Aemilius Paullus and the adopted grandson of Scipio Africanus was huge, and the Roman mob demanded that he be appointed as Consul to take command of what was fast becoming the Carthaginian debacle. The Senate thus disregarded the age requirements for all posts that year, with considerable political manoeuvring to ensure he was “elected” as Consul and took sole command of the war in Africa.

The same year saw Mancinius seize an unexpected opportunity to capture a sally port and force 3,500 men into the city. Some 3,000 of these were lightly armed sailors, and Mancinius swiftly asked for reinforcements. However they were hard pressed by a Punic counter attack, and Scipio arrived just in time to evacuate the survivors. Scipio moved the main legionary camp closer to Carthage, shadowed by a Punic detachment of 8,000 soldiers. He made a speech demanding tighter discipline, and dismissed legionaries he considered to be ill disciplined or poorly motivated. A night march saw his force attack a perceived weak point in the Carthaginian main wall, with a gate seized and 4,000 legionaries forcing their way into the city. Panicked in the dark, the Punic defenders fled after brief resistance, but Scipio knew the position would be untenable once the Carthaginians reorganised themselves come daybreak, and so withdrew. Hasdrubal was horrified by the manner of the collapse of resistance, and so brought all Roman prisoners to the walls to have them tortured to death in front of their comrades. Despite being a merchant nation rather than a martial one, Carthage still had a sadistic culture that often saw people and animals crucified for pleasure, and had commanders who had failed routinely killed. Other atrocities were also routine, with no sense of ethical justice or international law to prevent this. Seeing their comrades suffer embittered the Romans, and emboldened the Carthaginians to resist. Any council members who opposed Hasdrubal were immediately killed. There could be no possibility of negotiated peace or surrender now.

The renewed siege prevented landward entry to Carthage, but preventing naval access was impossible. Frustrated by the supplies being shipped into the city, Scipio began construction of an immense mole to cut off access to the harbour. The Carthaginians responded by cutting a new channel from their harbour to the sea. They had built a fleet of 50 new triremes and smaller ships since the sacrifice of their original fleet to Rome two years earlier, and were able to sail these out once the channel was completed. Taking the Romans by surprise, their light craft were able to cause havoc among the Roman fleet in the Battle of the Port of Carthage, sinking several and causing heavy Roman casualties despite their crews’ inexperience. The smaller vessels then looked to block the entrance to their port, forcing the large Roman ships into the shallows, where many were beached. As they then looked to break off and fall back, a collision blocked the new channel and left several Punic ships stranded. Now pinned against the sea wall without room to manoeuvre, the larger Roman ships proceeded to ram several Punic triremes before the blockage was cleared. Despite this setback, the majority were able to get back to the city, although the Carthaginian victory was insufficient to lift the Roman blockade.

The Romans then looked to advance against the Punic defences in the harbour. Carthaginians responded by swimming across their harbour at night, where they set fire to several siege engines. Spooked by the spreading flames in the night, many of the legionaries panicked and fled. Scipio blocked their retreat and ordered a halt, and when this was disregarded his had his mounted bodyguard attack them. Despite the initial success, the Romans eventually gained control of the quay and constructed a brick wall as high as the city wall. It took months to complete, but once done would enable 4,000 legionaries to hurl fire into Carthage. Carthage was enjoying small victories, though none of them were enough to break the Roman siege. While they may have been morale boosting, the city’s doom still seemed inevitable as the Roman juggernaut seemed to shrug off each setback and remain committed to its genocidal goal of destroying the city.