39
t rade: Sicily.  The Carthaginian merchants could not hold out against
Latin ferocity.  The island became a Roman possession.  As part of the
peace settlement, Rome also demanded--and got--every island that
dotted the sea between Sicily and the African coast.  Then Rome broke
the treaty under which she had been granted this windfall and seized
Carthaginian-controlled Sardinia and Corsica as well.75
With these enemy outposts in the middle of their sea lanes, the
Carthaginians were in trouble.  Their merchants could no longer sail in
safety from one market to another.  Every Carthaginian trading vessel
was in danger of Roman naval attack.
But a Carthaginian general named Hamilcar Barca had an idea.
He wanted to put the Romans on the defensive.76  And he was
determined to open new sources of supply to replace those the Romans
were cutting off.  Hamilcar Barca's plan: to outflank Roman might by
turning one of the old Carthaginian trading partners into a massive
province.  That territory was Spain.  Its conquest would allow the
Carthaginians to monopolize Spanish goods, carrying them by land, if
necessary, back to Carthage's customers in the East.  What's more, a
massive Carthaginian domain hulking to the west of the Roman sphere
of influence might make the toga-wearers feel less secure about their
Mediterranean rampage.77
To put his plan in motion, Hamilcar Barca kissed his wife and
most of his children goodbye, took one nine-year-old son as a
companion, mobilized his soldiers, and marched well over a thousand
miles to the Spanish coast.  There, his troops demonstrated just who
was on top of the local pecking order.  During nine years, they won a
steady stream of battles against the native troops.  Spanish tribes
eventually flocked to the Carthaginian side.  A small mob of Iberian,
Celtiberian, Tartessos and Gallic chiefs offered to ally their men with
the Carthaginian military machine.78
Barca not only enlarged his army--he enriched the Carthaginian
treasury depleted by Roman trade obstructions.  How?  He pumped
<<  <  GO  >  >>