Carthage: The Second Punic War

Carthage was first founded as a trading post in the year of 814 BC. Carthage was founded by the Phoenician Princess Elyssa-Dido on a peninsula from Africa which extends into the Mediterranean Sea. According to legend Elyssa_Dido fled from her brother Pygmalion, the king of Tyre, after he killed her husband. The post benefited from the vast market for the goods that it traded and grew in importance quickly. It first had warehouses in which raw metals and finished metal products which the Phoenicians used and had made were stored. Carthage then started making metal products for Spain. These products were cheap due to they traded these cheap goods to Spain for the raw metals. Carthage soon became a huge trading empire, containing much of
Then for some years Carthage was the most successful who was commanded by Hamilcar. However, at the battle at the Aegates Islands in 241, the Carthaginians were beaten so badly that they requested peace. This agreement involved leaving Sicily and paying a huge tax. Rome now had complete control of Sicily. The most important of the three wars was the Second Punic War which started in 218 BC and lasted until 201 BC. This was also the most fascinating. It was the Carthaginians bitterness over the agreement from the first war, and the expansion following the years after it that brought on this war. Part of this expansion was the taking of Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage in the year of 237 BC. From 237 to 219 Hannibal, son of Hamilicar, and Hasdrubal, Hamilcar's son-in-law, conquered parts of Spain for Carthage. In 226 BC an agreement with Rome set the northern border of the Carthaginian conquest to the Ebro river which was located in northern Spain. However, the Romans themselves crossed the Ebro river, heading south on a conquest train. Hannibal decided to face the Romans for doing so. This meeting was at Saguntum in 219