The Punic Wars (264-146 BCE) marked the beginning of Rome as a major political power. These three wars were fought as a battle between the powerful Phoenician city-state Carthage and the “dominant power of the Italian peninsula” Rome (Punic 2015). Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Before the start of the Punic Wars, Carthage, a Phoenician city-state located in North Africa, was a major military power, in especially in the navy. Carthage fought primarily against Greece and was at peace with Rome at the time. They had concluded several peace treaties between them and everything was going well until Rome crossed the limits of Carthage's territory (Punic 2015). The First Punic War (264–261 BCE) began when Rome decided to become involved in a skirmish in Sicily, which was currently Carthage's territory. Rome brought an army to settle the dispute and Carthage considered this an act of war. This war was over over who would control the island of Sicily. Neither Carthage nor Rome won the land battle of Sicily, but Rome managed to snatch a naval defeat and take control of Sicily. Three years later, Rome attacked again before Carthage could recover and took control of two more Carthaginian territories, Sardinia and Corsica, thus ending the First Punic War. This angered General Hamilcar Barca of Carthage so much that he taught his son, Hannibal, to hate the Romans (SpeilVogel 2015). Decades passed before Rome and Carthage recovered enough to start again. Carthage replaced the lost territory by taking control of Spain under the command of General Hamilcar Barca. When Hamilcar died, he named his son Hannibal general. The Second Punic War (218–201 BCE) began two years later when Hannibal declared war on the Roman territory of Saguntum. Hannibal brought large numbers of troops, horses and elephants to wage war against the Romans. The Romans were vastly outnumbered and more intelligent than Hannibal remaining undefeated in many battles. Rome, however, held firm and attacked Spain and North Africa under the command of General Scipio, claiming these territories and absorbing them into the Roman Republic. Hannibal had to turn back to defend these territories and thus suffered heavy losses (Punic 2015). Hannibal committed suicide rather than be taken and tortured to death by the Romans. The Second Punic War was over and the Carthaginian Empire no longer existed. However, there was a small skirmish on the other side started by the Romans which completely destroyed the Carthaginians. This was what is known as the Third Punic War (149-146 BCE), although it was not really a war. Carthage and Rome had signed a peace treaty and were in a period of rest until a politician named Cato began stirring things up and claiming that Rome must destroy Carthage one for all. So the Romans looked for anything they could use against the Carthaginians to start another war and they discovered that a small skirmish was taking place between Carthage and one of Rome's allies in North Africa. Rome used this dispute to say that Carthage had broken the peace treaty and declared its third war on Carthage. Carthage was completely destroyed, even the ground was salted so that nothing could grow there (SpeilVogel 2015). The Punic Wars were over. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get now.