What if the Romans had lost the First Punic War?

See title for my question. The Romans were forced to sign a treaty similar to the One that Hannibal's father had to sign. I don't know how this could happen, maybe a consul being trapped and forced to sign a peace treaty. What would Hannibal do or be like? Would the Romans rebound and learn from their defeat, maybe work on investing in heavy cavalry or a professional army early.
 
See title for my question. The Romans were forced to sign a treaty similar to the One that Hannibal's father had to sign. I don't know how this could happen, maybe a consul being trapped and forced to sign a peace treaty. What would Hannibal do or be like? Would the Romans rebound and learn from their defeat, maybe work on investing in heavy cavalry or a professional army early.

Well, the Carthaginians would seize control of all of Sicily, as well as keep control of Corsica and Sardinia. They might continue to expand into Numidia, and might not invade Iberia at all (they invaded Iberia to compensate for their losses in the Mediterranean, and by in large, it worked).

Rome probably won't rise to dominance, and will be economically crippled. They'd likely remain land-locked, but this might result in over-land invasions into Pannonia, Illyria, and the Balkans, leading to more conflicts with Macedonia, which could possibly draw Carthage in AGAIN, because Macedonia and Carthage were allies at this point. If Carthage wins again, they might take control of Magna Graecia and cripple Rome further by establishing Samnite independence as a buffer/puppet state.

I'd be interested to see what happens in Iberia, though. If Carthage won the 1st Punic War, then Iberia might continue along without Roman influence, and very limited Punic influence at all as well.
 
Roman seemed to rebound and learn from defeat again and again. You don't think that would happen ?

The Carthaginians rebounded too. If there's a 2nd Punic War with the mastermind of Hannibal, and Carthage already has more of an advantage by winning the previous war? It seems pretty likely Carthage would win. They'd be wealthier, have more man-power, not to mention the superior military leadership they had the first time around...
 
See title for my question. The Romans were forced to sign a treaty similar to the One that Hannibal's father had to sign. I don't know how this could happen, maybe a consul being trapped and forced to sign a peace treaty. What would Hannibal do or be like? Would the Romans rebound and learn from their defeat, maybe work on investing in heavy cavalry or a professional army early.

Well... it's kind of hard to see Carthage winning the First Punic War - once the war got going, Rome nearly always had the momentum. Rome was hurt a lot more by the weather than Punic warships or soldiers, and Carthage never really came close to conclusively win the war - certainly, Carthage didn't come as close to winning during the First Punic War as it did during the Second War with Hannibal.

If Carthage were to win the war, it'd have to be really early on, and decisive enough to make Rome just say "fuck it" and find someone else to go fight for the time being. And that would butterfly away the rise of Hamilcar Barca, and potentially that whole dynasty. And, the treaty signed likely wouldn't be anything like what the Romans forced Hamilcar Barca and Carthage to agree to IOTL - Rome would just agree to stay out of Sicily.

I'll answer the rest of your question based on that assumption of what a Carthaginian victory would be like.

Well, as Errnge says, they'd obviously hold on to Sardinia and Sicily, and as he also says, there's a good chance that Carthage doesn't expand into Iberia as it did IOTL (that was very much a Barcid enterprise, that came as a consequence to the loss of Sicily - with Sicily kept, and the Barcas potentially butterflied, it seems unlikely that Carthage would expand there, for the time being). I'll disagree with Errnge on where Carthage would expand into - I think Carthage will focus on annexing Syracuse from Hiero II (which would be a long-standing challenge for Carthage). I don't think there's much chance of Carthage sending armies into Numidia - the Numidian chieftains were intermarried with the ruling elites of Carthage, and their relationship was a tributary one, with the Numidians fighting for Carthage when they were asked in exchange for political independence by and large, and it had been that way for quite a while. Unless they suddenly went rogue, I don't see anyone in Carthage getting riled up to conquer them. Also of importance to point out is that the Mercenary War likely doesn't happen to Carthage, since they would easily have the funds to pay the troops well.

For Rome... well, Rome goes north, and waits for an excuse to have another go at Carthage - they'll want Sicily, now that they have the Italian Greeks. You might see them drawn to the east, if Illyrian Pirates piss them off like they did IOTL, but I think the main focus will be on conquering and settling the north, up to the Po River Valley.

Eventually, a Second War starts - quite probably igniting with a Carthaginian attack on Syracuse, or vice versa, with Hiero II drawing Rome into the fight. And Carthage is likely to lose this war. The best chance Carthage had to actually beating Rome, and reducing them to insignificance, or obliterating them entirely, was under Hannibal, with the manpower of Iberia under its/his belt. And only Hannibal had a chance to beat Rome - no one else even came close to having a chance. Not even Hamilcar. Rome was just too strong, too jingoistic, and too willing to win wars of attrition for Carthage to beat without a genius like Hannibal. And even Hannibal would've needed a lot of luck to pull it off.

PLUG: Check out my Second Punic War timeline! The link's in the signature; feel free to read and comment!
 
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