PC: Carthage becomes a Roman allied state after the second Punic War

With a POD after the Second Punic War would it be possible to make Carthage into a Roman allied state similar to Rome's allies in Italy.
 
Cato the elder dies earlier. You can't get him to shut up about Carthage, so instead that's the next best thing. I mean, the guy was ancient when he died OTL by ancient standards, 85 years old. Shouldn't be that hard to have him die two decades earlier, enough time for tensions about Carthage to be calm by the time the original indemnity it up.
 
Cato the elder dies earlier. You can't get him to shut up about Carthage, so instead that's the next best thing. I mean, the guy was ancient when he died OTL by ancient standards, 85 years old. Shouldn't be that hard to have him die two decades earlier, enough time for tensions about Carthage to be calm by the time the original indemnity it up.

An interesting change this would lead to would be no Cato the Younger, as his grandfather (son of the Elder) was born when Cato the Elder was 80 years old ...

Probably would have lightened the competition in Rome with the Boni lacking an important ideological cornerstone
 
An interesting change this would lead to would be no Cato the Younger, as his grandfather (son of the Elder) was born when Cato the Elder was 80 years old ...

Probably would have lightened the competition in Rome with the Boni lacking an important ideological cornerstone

Even if he was born, he'd be alive in completely different circumstances.

That said, what exactly does keeping Carthage alive change? Surprisingly, I'm finding it hard to find much difference it would itself create in Roman expansion. I mean, Carthage was quite the exception, given that most Roman client states were not forcibly annexed during the republic, and those cases that were, it was usually the revolt of a rebellion (or subsequent rebellions, as in the case of Macedonia).
 
I would think a stronger, longer term punic presence with an indpendant government would or at least could mean a stronger and possibly deeper hold on Africa. If the Carthagians are there to benefit from increased trade routes and development to their homelands, maybe they would end up eventually trading or spreading to the Sahel? It might be a longshot, but it seems possible to me. Maybe we see an easier time at assimilating the Berbers, or perhaps a greater local power, rather than "foreign" roman power, leads to a more stable Berber kingdom?

Honestly with a change this far back, everything would be different. If the Roman Empire even forms, Islam certainly would be butterflied being so far in the future, and Christianity likely would too.

How strong was the punic presence in North Africa? Is it even feasible for them to assimilate the berbers?
 
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