So I figured it was time enough for me to write a TL. This is just a trial really, to see how well this works, and to get myself acclimated to writing a TL.
PoD: Carthaginian forces are not ambushed by Timoleon of Corinth, and instead, successfully defeat Syracusan forces, leading to an end to the Second Sicilian War that was more favorable to Carthage, and more Carthaginian reliance on Punic, rather than mercenary troops.
Note: For no reason other than the obvious, years will be reckoned in standard AD/BC terms, and names of geographic places, as well as people, will be referred to by the most common Anglicization.
Battle of the Crimissus
In the year 341 BC, Carthaginian forces once again invaded the lands of the other predominant power on the island of Sicily, Syracuse. Having unsuccessfully prosecuted a similar conflict twenty-two years earlier, Carthage by this point urged to revenge herself against the Greeks.
At the battle of the Crimissus, Carthaginian forces clashed decisively against the forces of Syracuse, commanded by the Corinthian Timoleon. According to most of the old accounts, Timoleon attempted to draw the Carthaginian forces into an ambush while they were crossing the river, but that plan was thrown awry when Carthaginian chariots, as well as light, javelin-armed Numidian auxiliaries skirmished with the cavalry, crossing the river to join battle more effectively.
By the time the Greek infantry had arrived, the Carthaginian infantry was secure on the opposite bank of the river, having abandoned the crossing. According to sources of the time, the Carthaginians had thirty thousand men arrayed against twenty thousand of Syracuse. Taking a risk, Timoleon split his forces, sending the bulk of his army to cross the river, assuming that his steadfast Greek troops would carve their way through the Carthaginian line, while leaving a portion behind to guard against attacks by the looming Carthaginian cavalry, who had driven off the Syracusan cavalry forces, and now lurked around his flanks.
Reportedly, rain began to fall at this time, obscuring both of the armies’ views equally as the Greeks ran onto Carthaginian spears. Most crucially, the troops guarding Timoleon’s crossing were blinded by the falling rain, which left them unprepared for a sudden charge by Carthaginian cavalry.
Shattered, they began to flee, as the Carthaginian cavalry dashed across the river, where they met with the remainders of the main body of Greek troops. Surrounded, and increasingly weary, Greek troops fought, reportedly, and to their credit, to the last man. The Sacred Band, the elite heavy infantry of Carthage, were said to have distinguished themselves greatly, and were awarded with a monument upon the spot where Timoleon fell.
Hasdrubal, who commanded these forces, sent the finest of the Greek armor back to Carthage, to show to the Council of Elders, and continued to march, besieging Syracuse herself within the week’s end.
Unable to request any further aid from Corinth, and unwilling to sue for peace, Syracuse held out for almost two months:
Third Siege of Syracuse:
Syracuse was an extremely fortified city for those times, well prepared by Dionysius the Elder in the years before. However, with the invading army, Carthage had made allowance for major sieges, and quickly readied siege engines once the walls of Syracuse were reached.
Soon one major sortie by Syracusan forces was repelled, with heavy casualties to both sides, ladders, the simplest of siege equipment were brought to the walls. To carve a path up to the wall, Hasdrubal sent all three thousand Sacred Band onto the walls first, followed by the heaviest of the Libyan infantry.
These forces successfully opened the walls to further Carthaginian encroachment, and after several hours of brutal fighting, Syracusan forces were forced back into the city. Hasdrubal’s troops, by this point exhausted, made a final effort to reach the citadel, but halted before night fell.
Carthaginian forces, over the next week, further prepared for a siege, occupying the city, and ransacking farms in nearby countryside. However, such preparation was not needed, as after a further day, a traitor was convinced to open the gates of the citadel.
In the middle of the night, Carthaginian troops poured through the gate, and overwhelmed Syracusan resistance.
And so the Greco-Punic wars came to an end, an overwhelming Carthaginian victory over their greatest foe so far. The territory of Syracuse was soon amalgamated into the Carthaginian Empire, and all its manifold treasures buried away within the city itself, whilst Hasdrubal returned to Carthage, greeted with highest accolades and honors available.
Interwar Period:
During this time, in 337 BC, Carthage sent envoys to the other major Western Mediterranean states, including the Greek colony of Massilia, and to the Roman Republic, who had defeated their central Italian rivals, the Samnites, in the same year that Carthage defeated Syracuse.
However, the Romans had not as decisively defeated the Samnites, and the Romans, in return for Carthaginian aid in flushing out the remaining hill people, promised a pact of alliance, an addition to their previous treaty of 348 BC, which guaranteed sovereign rights to Carthage and Rome in matters of the other’s territory.
This pact of alliance promised troops to the other ally if they should fall under attack, and promised aid in prosecuting wars that were not against each other’s interests.
This treaty is considered to be the event that most saved Rome from defeat and led it to unimaginable glory under Carthaginian dominance.
Massilia also joined this alliance later in the same year, serving as a less powerful, though still potent, addition to the western Mediterranean coalition. It is not known to what extent Massiliotes disapproved of the conquering of a city of their fellow Greeks, though they seemingly joined the alliance willingly.
Soon, however, the most potent enemies Carthage had seen yet would come.
I'll continue with the threat later. (Hint: It's related to, but isn't Alexander. In this TL, in 336, Philip is assassinated and Alexander takes the throne, same as in OTL.)