Carthage Refused to Pay 20,000 Mercenaries. It Sparked the Most Savage War in History.

Carthage Refused to Pay 20,000 Mercenaries. It Sparked the Most Savage War in History. In 240 B.C., Carthage made the fatal mistake of refusing to pay 20,000 battle-hardened mercenaries, sparking the most savage conflict in human history. Following their exhausting defeat in the First Punic War, the Carthaginian Senate tried to cheat their foreign contractors out of their hard-earned wages. This single financial misstep ignited the Mercenary War (or Truceless War), a merciless rebellion led by the runaway slave Spendius and the Libyan commander Mathos that pushed the Carthaginian empire to the brink of extinction. General Hamilcar Barca, father of the legendary Hannibal, was forced to unleash armored war elephants and brutal guerrilla tactics to save his city from absolute annihilation. From the horrific starvation trap at the Defile of the Saw to the brutal retaliatory crucifixions outside the walls of Tunis, discover how a routine payroll dispute evolved into an apocalyptic fight for biological survival. 00:00 The Mutiny of 20,000 Mercenaries 06:25 Hanno the Great's Fatal Negotiation Blunder 14:38 Hamilcar Barca Takes Command 26:15 The Horrific Trap at the Defile of the Saw 33:44 The Crucifixions at Tunis 38:32 How Hannibal Barca's Vengeance Was Born If you enjoy deep dives into the dark and forgotten corners of ancient history, hit that like button and subscribe to WF Historians for more epic documentaries! #Carthage #MercenaryWar #HamilcarBarca #AncientHistory #WFHistorians