(dramatic music) Our history
is no more than a series of incredible events.
Every one of us can influence it's course.
(dramatic music)
The most infinitesimal of our decisions
can influence the future of humanity.
To know the past is to foresee the future.
52 B.C.
Gaul, opiddum of Alesia.
In the day following a dreadful night of fighting,
the Arverne leader Vercingetorix is victorious.
In the heart of the fray he confronted,
then killed with his bare hands,
the enemy leader, King Hasdrubal.
(crashing)
After his crushing victory at the Battle of Cannae,
the general Hannibal attacked Rome.
The rival city was razed to the ground.
In Carthage, taking advantage of both
his great military prestige and his huge war chest,
Hannibal seized power and proclaimed himself king.
During the following century the Carthaginian armies
conquered the rest of the Western Mediterranean,
even venturing into Gaul.
But none of that ever happened.
In 216 B.C. a small grain of sand
will change the outcome of the conflict
between Rome and Carthage.
(ethereal music)
Eighth century B.C.
A Phoenician Queen, Dido, landed on the African coasts
where she founded the city of Carthage.
Six centuries later, the Carthaginian Hannibal Barca
invaded Italy and decimated the Roman legions.
In 146 B.C., finally defeated by Roman armies
Carthage is pillaged, set ablaze, and razed.
These three events are key moments of the Carthaginian era.
They resulted in it's destruction
by it's great rival the Roman Republic.
North Africa, eighth century B.C.
The Phoenician Queen Dido, forced to flee
from her native city of Tyre on the Lebanese coast,
finally landed here, on the other side
of the Mediterranean Sea.
She asked the local chief for a land
where she and her people could settle.
According to the legend, he promised her
as much land as could be encompassed by an ox hide.
Dido cut the ox hide into fine strips,
so that she had enough to encircle
an entire nearby hill for her new city.
Diplomacy and negotiation, two mainstays
of this embryonic city, helped create
one of the most impressive powers of antiquity.
Carthage. (dramatic music)
Phoenicians were indisputably
the greatest sailors of antiquity.
Although they didn't know the compass yet,
they knew how to find their bearings even at night.
At the end of the 2nd millennium B.C.
they turned to maritime commerce,
and set up trading posts and colonies on the Mediterranean.
Each new colony was independent,
but they where all united by a common culture,
the same language, and the same beliefs.
Carthage, which means new city, was one of these colonies.
From the beginning, it's development relied on trading,
then agriculture and craft production.
Situated on a peninsula closely linked to the dry land,
the town quickly extended its zone of influence,
from Spain to Cyprus.
It became a real sea empire, an economic confederation.
At the head of the city, no king or tyrant,
but two senior officials.
The Shophets, elected for a period determined by a senate
and controlled by a popular assembly.
(electronic beat)
Welcome to the memory of humanity.
Every historical event, regardless of how small,
is recorded and connected.
You only need to change one to upset all the others.
Here we are able to control time,
analyze and compare billions of events
in order to rewrite history in infinite ways.
Was Carthage the first republic in history?
Actually there are only a few sources of that time,
and we must rely on Roman
or Greek historians from antiquity.
But most likely, Carthage was ruled
by a system both oligarchic and democratic.
Two judges holding the executive power,
the Shophet's, were elected for a period
determined by a senate whose members were themselves born
into the major Carthaginian families.
A popular assembly allowed the population
to express itself and constituted an opposition force.
According to Aristotle, Carthage,
founded 300 years before the birth of the Roman Republic,
would thus be the first republic of history.
Let's resume.
(dramatic music)
Following an argument,
Remus has just been killed by his twin brother Romulus.
According to legend, the blood of the son of Mars
establishes a village on the Palatine hill
in the heart of the Italian peninsula.
He gives the village his name, Rome.
The early days of Rome were as violent as its founding myth,
made of frequent wars against neighboring cities.
In 390 B.C. the armies of Rome were wiped out
and the city was devastated by the Celtic hordes
of the great chief Brennus.
The Romans will never forget this traumatic experience.
Surrounded by enemies, they become obsessed
with their own survival and continuously build
a bigger and bigger living space.
The only guarantor for their security.
Yet, in the third century B.C.
there was no shortage of enemies in this part of the world.
A vast number of peoples, cities and kingdoms
were in perpetual motion.
Alexander the Great's shadow
is still hanging over the Eastern Mediterranean.
(dramatic music)
in Western Mediterranean, many Greeks
live in Sicily, Italy, or Gaul,
where they had founded numerous colonies.
Such as Massalia or Syracuse.
Alliances are formed and broken up,
each one trying to impose its authority.
War after war, sacrifice after sacrifice,
the Roman legions soon control the entire Italian peninsula.
In 264 B.C., even though it was only a regional power,
Rome had forged itself an unfailing fighting spirit.
Its legions of citizen soldiers were devoted
and ready to die for their country.
During many centuries, Carthage and Rome
developed independently.
Carthage was a sea confederation rooted in Africa,
while Rome was a mainland power turned towards the lands.
Both cities even made several trading agreements.
However, Roma had acquired a taste for conquest and power.
(dramatic music)
With Italy conquered and under control,
new threats could only come from Gaul in the north,
or Sicily in the south.
(dramatic music)
However Sicily, a strategic island
situated at the crossroads of sea routes,
was almost entirely under Carthaginian domination.
Both powers are now facing each other,
only separated by a strait a few kilometers wide.
(electronic music)
The Mediterranean Sea
is surrounded with lands and sprinkled with islands.
Whoever wants to control it must own a great naval fleet.
In the third century B.C. the most powerful warship
was indisputably the quinquereme.
An antique galley whose main feature
was five lines of rowers, as the name indicates.
It's 300 rowers, twice a standard galley,
brought the necessary power to charge at enemy ships
and strike them head on.
The rostrum, a kind of bronze ram
situated on the bow, smashed the opposing hull to pieces.
The Romans, clearly more at ease on land than at sea,
will develop their own tactics.
The corvus, a wooden removal bridge
equipped with an iron post, was designed to strike
enemy ships and allow boarding, followed by a hand to hand
fight in which the Legionaries excelled.
The Romans had found a way
of turning naval combat into land battle.
A way to restore the balance of power.
(ethereal music) 260 B.C.,
off Malia, the Roman fleet has just defeated Carthage's.
(ethereal music)
It came as a shock, one of the greatest navies
of the whole Mediterranean
had just been crushed on it's home turf.
The first major naval victory in
Roman military history, but not the last one.
As the terrible war between rival cities drags on for years.
(men shouting) (dramatic music)
From 264 B.C., legions landed in Sicily.
Since then, one siege followed another,
each camp scoring points in turn.
Aware that the conflict would be settled
by control of the seas, the Roman senate voted
for the building of a great fleet
and heavily recruited Greek sailors from the south of Italy.
On it's side Carthage recruited mass mercenaries
and in Sicily the troops
of the brilliant General Hamilcar Barca
succeeded in thwarting Roman legions.
(dramatic music) (men yelling)
The conflict gets bogged down,
soon there are thousands of casualties.
Two super powers are throwing all their strength
into gigantic combat.
Off Ecnomus, the Roman fleet is once again victorious
and lands troops in Africa.
The road to Carhage is wide open.
Carthage counter-attacks and sends 200 galleys
and 100 war elephants in Sicily.
In Drapana the Carthaginian fleet
inflicts a dreadful defeat on the Roman galleys.
Carthage rules the seas, but soon
has to face an uprising from the Numidian tribes.
Forced to devote its energies to this revolt,
the city can't capitalize on its victories.
In Rome, the last defeats swallow up money
which allows anti-war forces to bring
new military expenditure to a standstill.
At the same time, Carthage is on it's knees,
tries to obtain credit fro Egypt.
Trading, the driving force behind
the Carthaginian economy is deadlocked.
(dramatic music)
War is expensive.
Seeing that the situation is at a standstill,
Rome is resort to a private loan.
At their own expense, wealthy citizens
equip a final naval fleet.
It must end.
241 B.C. off Aegatian islands,
the confrontation, just like the war, is huge.
The Roman victory is crushing.
For the Carthaginian senate, dominated by
major merchant families, this new defeat is the last straw.
For them, instead of a new military option,
it is now time for negotiation.
Mercenaries or citizens,
war was both expensive and risky.
The Carthaginian senate chose to get out of
this conflict using money and diplomacy.
The city had soon made the pragmatic choice
to recruit mercenaries, particularly to save
it's limited manpower resources.
The Carthaginian armies were thus,
not permanent and lacked cohesion.
Libyan's, Numidian's, Iberian's and Celts made up the basis
of both its infantry and cavalry.
The Carthaginian generals could also count
on the tanks of the time, war elephants.
Led by a mahout, they were trained
to charge at the enemy ranks to break the first lines,
and to spread panic by trampling on soldiers.
Unlike Carthage, Rome owned a land army
mostly made up of citizens.
Each legion was composed of 30 maniples
which were also divided up into two centuries.
The whole, very flexible and maneuverable,
made three lines of battle.
On the front line, the hastati took the first confrontation.
The principe's came after, followed by the triari,
the veterans who formed the last bastion.
A real army of citizens in which
every Roman less than 46 years old
could be called up to serve the Republic.
Two completely different conceptions of an army.
October, 218 B.C., Northern Italy.
(marching footsteps)
Hannibal Barca son of the great Hamilcar,
hero of the last war against Romans,
has just crossed the Alps. (elephant trumpets)
Hannibal, his army and his elephants.
Just in front of them is Italy,
home of the Roman Republic.
It is now time for revenge for this Carthaginian general.
(marching footsteps) (sorrowful music)
(men chanting)
At the end of the previous war Carthage was forced,
in addition to the payment of a large indemnity,
to give up Sicily and numerous islands.
23 years of armed peace had followed,
during which Rome had seized Sardinia.
Meanwhile, Carthage had made up for its territorial losses
by the conquest of a large part of Spain.
The oligarchic power of the Carthaginian merchants
had seen the emergence
of a new dominant family, the Barcids,
of which Hannibal was a member.
Deeply devoted to his city, the young Carthaginian
had lived at the dark moments
of the dreadful mutinies of mercenaries.
(peaceful music) Now a grownup and a general
he considers that it is time to make Rome pay.
Aware that his fleet is weak,
he decides to attack the Romans bye surprise
and to travel overland to reach Italy
through the natural barrier of the Alps.
(dramatic music)
His goal is to provoke the uprising of the allies of Rome
and to defeat the Roman legions.
When the Roman senators learn about Hannibal's feat,
they are panic stricken.
An army is immediately sent to confront him.
Then another one.
And so on.
(dramatic music)
Each one of them is defeated.
Showing a true tactical genius,
Hannibal surrounds the legions at Ticinus,
attacks the by surprise at the Trebia,
slaughters them in thousands
on the misty shores of Lake Trasimene.
The Republic is abandoned by several allies of Rome,
but most of them remain faithful to Rome.
Despite his resounding military victories,
Hannibal has not yet succeeded in raising up Italy.
He is counting on a decisive military victory,
however the Romans now refuse direct confrontation.
They understand that for the time being,
the Carthaginian is simply invincible.
To force them to fight, Hannibal seizes the Cannae area.
The Roman army's granary.
(dramatic music)
Rome has no other choice but to fight with its last army.
(dramatic music)
August 2nd.
In the year 216 B.C. Hannibal's 50,000 mercenaries
are facing the 80,000 Roman Legionaries
who are rushing headlong into the
Carthaginian generals' trap.
Quickly surrounded and attacked from all sides,
the legions are unable to maneuver and are slaughtered.
(dramatic music)
In the evening of the battle,
there are more than 45,000 dead.
Hannibal is at the gates of Rome.
We are now at a point of divergence.
A point of divergence is a key moment,
a crossroads in our history
where our world can swing from one side or the other.
Hannibal had just brought down the Roman armies.
Now, he only had to advance on Rome, take the city,
and nip the Roman ambition in the bud.
If he had done it, we would now live in a world
which would have never known the Roman Empire.
Numerous serious consequences would have
completely changed the face of the world.
From the Empire, the west inherited the Roman law,
the right of property, Latin and Greek art and culture,
but also the Christian religion.
(haunting music)
Carthage might have exerted it's influence to Gaul.
Nowadays, Europeans would be deeply impregnated with the
Carthaginian culture, and might speak
a Semitic language closely related to Arabic.
However, arrived at the gates of Rome,
Hannibal seemed to be hesitant.
His troops were exhausted and he lacked siege equipment.
Hannibal gave up the siege of Rome
and occupied the south of Italy instead.
He thought that the surrender of the Romans
was both inevitable and imminent.
However, sheltered by it's sturdy walls,
the Roman people will decide otherwise.
202 B.C., plain of Zama, North Africa.
(marching footsteps)
Hannibal has just been called back from Italy.
The Roman troops of General Scipio had landed in Africa,
allied themselves with the Numidian Prince Masinissa,
and threatened to take Carthage.
(dramatic music)
What a strange irony of fate.
After having threatened the Roman capital many years ago,
his strategy of isolation had completely failed.
Italy had remained faithful to Rome
and today he is forced to fly to Carthage's assistance.
(dramatic music) (Hannibal yelling)
The Carthaginian elephants charge General Scipios legions.
(dramatic music)
But Scipio had anticipated the attack
and had ordered his troops to let through the mastodons
to better surround them before slaughtering them.
The soldiers of Rome rapidly had
the advantage over Hannibal.
Hannibal is defeated, the war is lost.
The city is forced to hand over its entire fleet,
its war elephants, and Spain.
Carthage is a mere shadow of its former self.
(dramatic music)
But even if the city is down, it is still living.
Deprived of both political and military roles,
Carthage boosts its trade and puts
the economical situation right in only a few years.
The city gets rich again, after barely 10 years Carthage
offers Rome to pay its war debts in advance.
In the senate, the senators are once more haunted
by the specter of a military recovery of Carthage.
Caton, one of the most virulent ones ,
ends every one of his speeches by the sentence
Carthago delende est meaning, Carthage must be destroyed.
The Romans won't take long to find a pretext,
forced to defend itself against an aggression
from the Numidian Kingdom, Carthage has to rearm.
It doesn't take more.
In 146 B.C. after a long three year siege,
it is the last action of this age old war.
The Roman troops enter the burning city.
(somber music)
The fighting, house after house, is pitiless.
The streets are strewn with corpses.
The cornered Carthaginians know
they are fighting to survive.
In vain.
During six days and six nights
the city is engulfed in flames and given over to pillage.
(somber music) (people faintly shouting)
The survivors are reduced to slavery.
The land is declared sah sehre, which means cursed.
It is strictly forbidden for anyone to settle there.
Carthage has been well and truly destroyed.
During the same year, Greece is subjected
by the legions for good.
The influence of Rome soon expands
to the entire Mediterranean.
However, both this expansion ant this wealth inflow
are about to completely change the stability
of the original city state.
Serious crises would soon be triggered
followed by a dreadful civil war,
which would lead to the end of the Roman Republic,
then to the advent of the Empire.
But that is another story.
(crowd cheering) (electronic beat)
Woe to the vanquished.
(eerie music)
During the antiquity it was customary
to plunder the city seized from the enemy.
The capture of Carthage was a tragedy
and an appalling sight.
(soft music)
Its population was enslaved or wiped out,
its archives went up in smoke.
Its magnificent library was devastated.
After a 650 year old existence,
hardly anything is known about this city.
It is as if it had disappeared from history.
It will subsist only through its language and its culture
which survived in its former colonies.
The succession of the three wars
which led to its destruction
are these days known as the Punic Wars.
The word Punic is Latin, not Carthaginian.
It reveals that the conquerors make history.
(somber music)
Rome is the one which survived a century of wars.
Thanks to a stronger demography,
it showed an unfailing resilience.
A tremendous ability to know how to roll with
dreadful punches without ever giving up.
With its armies devastated and Hannibal
ready to give the death blow, Rome refused every kind
of surrender and prepared their reprisal.
(dramatic music)
Through its long history, it seems that Rome always refused
to negotiate without having secured victory first.
(dramatic music)
The secret of the Roman success may lie in these facts.
(dramatic music)