WI: Rome doesn't (is)land-grab Corsica and Sardinia?

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.
 
Seems unlikely that the islands would stay un-Roman. They're too close to Italy to remain untouched, and they're basically right in the path of any trade going west from Rome. Maybe they could be de jure independent as Roman client states for a brief time, but eventually they'll probably be incorporated into the republic/empire.

Though if we just ignore that and say that Rome leaves Sardinia alone because of more pressing issues, you might see the Nuragics retake the island. They were apparently still ruling the interior highlands of Sardinia at the time and if they got organized they could probably take advantage of Carthage's retreat to reclaim the coast.
 
Though if we just ignore that and say that Rome leaves Sardinia alone because of more pressing issues, you might see the Nuragics retake the island. They were apparently still ruling the interior highlands of Sardinia at the time and if they got organized they could probably take advantage of Carthage's retreat to reclaim the coast.
Why wouldn't Carthage just maintain control once the mercenary war is over?
 
Why wouldn't Carthage just maintain control once the mercenary war is over?

Indeed. I mean, Carthage was preparing to send a military force to the island to chase down the routing mercenaries from Africa in our timeline, which was used as the excuse by Rome to occupy the islands in the first place. It's not like they were totally broken by the efforts of subduing the revolt or abandoned the islands
 
Indeed. I mean, Carthage was preparing to send a military force to the island to chase down the routing mercenaries from Africa in our timeline, which was used as the excuse by Rome to occupy the islands in the first place. It's not like they were totally broken by the efforts of subduing the revolt or abandoned the islands
Also Sardinia has immense economic importance for Carthage, especially after losing Sicily. It's why its seizure caused such a massive outrage in Carthage in the first place.
 

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I'll check for takers one more time.
Since the Carthaginians didn't really assimilate most of their territories, I wonder if the Nuragic language could have survived in Sardinia without Roman conquest.
 
Since the Carthaginians didn't really assimilate most of their territories, I wonder if the Nuragic language could have survived in Sardinia without Roman conquest.

I suppose that depends on if you think the Conquest would be put off indefinately, or merely delayed until Carthage and Rome smack heads again in a large conflict which Carthage loses and thus formally surrenders the Islands. Which itself would be based off how much you think the retention of the Isles affects Rome's and Carthage's political relationship and their involvement in the Western Med.

Assuming inaction on the part of any other party (IE. Carthage and the natives just generally interacting without major Roman or Hellenic meddling), I'd say it survives in the interior as long as Carthage controls the islands, though Punic would naturally spread as a language of commerce and high prestige among those interacting with the more "polis" coastal cultural developing from their ports and dependent hitherlands. Unless you see a broader change in the city-empire's political culture, the leadership really isen't going to want to take on the cost of culturally assimilating the hill-kingdoms so long as they can otherwise make a profit.
 
The problem with these threads is that the two islands, and I have been to Sardinia, are one of the worlds perennial backwaters. I realize Napoleon came from Corsica, but the important point is that he came from there, he didn't stay there. They are the sort of places great powers may posses,but possession of them doesn't make one a great power.

Retention of the islands neither prevents Carthage's second war with Rome nor prevents it. If there is a second war with Rome, and Carthage loses, and the islands won't change the result, Rome takes them anyway. The way Rome acquired them was one of those things that was a big deal at the time but not so much in perspective.
 
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