who were the participants of the punic wars
First Punic War The First Punic War (264 to 241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic, the two great powers of the Western Mediterranean. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and greatest naval war of ancient times, the two powers struggled for supremacy, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters, and also in North Africa.
Second Punic War The war began with the Carthaginian general Hannibal's conquest and destruction of the Roman-allied Iberian city of Saguntum in 219 BC, prompting a Roman declaration of war on Carthage in 218. Hannibal surprised the Romans by marching his army overland from Iberia to cross the Alps and invade Roman Italy, followed by his reinforcement by Gallic allies and crushing victories over Roman armies at Trebia in 218 and on the shores of Lake Trasimene in 217. Moving to southern Italy in 216, Hannibal at Cannae annihilated the largest army the Romans had ever assembled, killing or capturing more than 67,000 Roman soldiers. After the death or imprisonment of 130,000 Roman troops in two years, 40% of Rome's Italian allies defected to Carthage, giving her control over most of southern Italy. Macedon and Syracuse joined the Carthaginian side after Cannae and the conflict spread to Greece and Sicily. The Carthaginian navy was built up in the early years of the war and from 215â€“210, the Carthaginian army and navy launched amphibious assaults to capture Roman Sicily and Sardinia but were ultimately repulsed.