Cause of The Second Punic War Essay

        It is hard to understand something that happened about 1800 years ago, and have a conclusive answer to how it started and who is to blame. At the end of the First Punic War, Rome and Carthage settled over a treaty where Rome could not go south of the Ebro River and Carthage could not go north of the river. The second war was started by the Romans. They violated their treaty which caused the Carthaginians to attack. The Romans did this by crossing the Ebro River and forming an alliance with the city Saguntum. Hannibal, king of Carthage, attacked Rome to start the Second Punic War. Both sides could be at fault here as Hannibal did not need to retaliate. But Rome broke the treaty. We can see how Hannibal attacked Rome for personal reasons since his father Hamilcar fought with the Romans in the First Punic War. His father’s hatred for Rome was passed to him. From a modern perspective, historian Tenney Frank believed that Rome broke the treaty, but Carthage didn’t have to fight. B.L. Hallward thought that it was Hannibal’s fault, but the were provoked by Rome. H.H. Scullard blames both Rome and Carthage. These historians are trying to prove whose fault the second war is, because it is still unknown. Some ancient historians who wrote about the war are Livy, Polybius, Appian, and Dio Cassius. They each had different theories on on how the war began and who was to blame. The Second Punic War was started when the Romans broke the treaty and Carthage attacked Rome.