North Africa offered few easy overland supply routes, so armies depended on maritime transport and protected harbors. Carthage belonged to the western reach of Phoenician maritime expansion, with Cadiz and numerous North African settlements forming layers in that coastal world. Rome had to contest Carthaginian naval strength before it could carry the Punic Wars into Africa and sustain armies there. Centuries later, Gaiseric's Vandals crossed from Spain at the Strait of Gibraltar and advanced east along the coast between AD 429 and 433. Their fleet moved ahead to secure ports, pasture, and defensible positions for the land force. Both examples show how sea control opened difficult North African geography to military operations.
Chapter · 52:32-55:24
Sea control made North African campaigning possible
Carthaginian power and the Vandal conquest of Roman North Africa both demonstrate the logistical leverage of controlling the coast.