FillyofDelphi
Banned
While the terms imposed on Carthage at the end of the First Punic War were particularly harsh: not only seizing from her long-held positions on the strategically vital island of Sicily, but imposing an extreme financial indemnity on a strict timetable that crippled the city's ability to not only rebuild its naval and trade dominance, but lead directly to a major revolt known as the Mercenary War where the Carthaginian state barely managed to put down their (former) hired army after not being able to fully pay out their contracts. These official terms would not be the end of her territorial loses though; taking advantage of the chaos created by the Mercenary War and the plea for protection by a renegade group of retreating rebels, Rome would end up seizing the western Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Corsica (or, at least, the Carthaginian coastal holdings on them), in a fait accompli , which a war-weary Carthage had to accept to avoid restarting war with the Romans.
However, I started wondering: what if the Romans stuck with their rhetoric of strict honor and not taken advantage of their rival's weakened state? Perhaps the threat of Gaulic migrations in the north or upswing in piracy in Illyria meaning they had to turn their attentions elsewhere. In such an event, Carthage would still be hobbled by all the terms of the treaty, have their political-military situation shift dramatically from the reforms imposed during and immediately after the Mercenary War, ect., but retain a greater degree of influence in the western Med. , particularly in projecting commercial power against the Greek colonies and limiting Roman political involvement in Iberia and southern Gaul. How would this affect Carthage's actions and fortunes in the following decades leading up to the 2nd Punic War?
I imagine, at the very least, you'd still see the Barcids move into Iberia. The higher-ups in Carthage proper wanted to see that 'problematic' general Hamilcar was busy and out of the way, and the wealth of the region's minerals as well as trading potential would still be attractive in their own right and a useful way to pay off the required silver tribute to Rome.
However, I started wondering: what if the Romans stuck with their rhetoric of strict honor and not taken advantage of their rival's weakened state? Perhaps the threat of Gaulic migrations in the north or upswing in piracy in Illyria meaning they had to turn their attentions elsewhere. In such an event, Carthage would still be hobbled by all the terms of the treaty, have their political-military situation shift dramatically from the reforms imposed during and immediately after the Mercenary War, ect., but retain a greater degree of influence in the western Med. , particularly in projecting commercial power against the Greek colonies and limiting Roman political involvement in Iberia and southern Gaul. How would this affect Carthage's actions and fortunes in the following decades leading up to the 2nd Punic War?
I imagine, at the very least, you'd still see the Barcids move into Iberia. The higher-ups in Carthage proper wanted to see that 'problematic' general Hamilcar was busy and out of the way, and the wealth of the region's minerals as well as trading potential would still be attractive in their own right and a useful way to pay off the required silver tribute to Rome.