(June 17, 2019 at 1:04 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:(June 17, 2019 at 9:23 am)Anomalocaris Wrote: That’s the Roman propaganda - Roman simple virtues triumphant over Carthaginian perfidy and decadence, which is in no small part an artifact of later Romans trying to sooth the deep trauma experienced and long lasting insecurity inflicted when Hannibal brought Romans to the conviction that Rome's final demise in the hands of Carthage could be very near.
The reality seems to have more to do with Romans and Carthaginians having filled all the vacuum available after the Greek city states in southern Italy and Sicily had declined in power and the Hellenistic powers the rose after Alexander had withdrawn, they had no other enemies in their own environs to confront than each other. Rome triumphed because Rome had a far larger manpower pool, and a political system fighting a 3rd century equivalent of total war and thus willing and able to draw its manpower reserve down almost to the last without giving up, while Carthage fought a limited war and its political system proved unwilling to thrown the last measure onto the balance to seal the deal when prowess of her generals had brought her to the very cusp of final victory.
Actually, Rome triumphed (eventually) because it had a largely citizen army, whereas the Carthaginian army depended largely on mercenaries. Towards the end, both powers had liquidity problems. This didn't matter so much for Rome, but mercenaries have a tendency to pack up and go home when they aren't paid.
Additionally, Rome copied Carthaginian naval technology (with a few tweaks, such as the crow), while Carthage didn't bother to learn anything from Roman land tactics. If they had, things might have gone differently.
Also, elephants have never been a particularly effective military tool.
Boru
I don’t think the fact that Romans had a citizen army really was that critical. In any case only at most 1/3 of the Roman forces were Roman citizens. Half of the heavy infantry that fought legion style consisted of non-Roman citizen Italian client state population compulsorily enlisted into the Roman war effort, and most of the worthwhile auxiliary forces on Roman side were subject and client Tripp’s. What made the difference is the population pool available for the rest romans rob draw on In Italy was so huge. But mostly ofvtgat pool wasn’t Roman citizens.
