What If Carthage Won the Punic Wars?

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Wars of the titans... Two mighty super powers inevitably clashing for the dominance of the Mediterranean... At the time they occurred, the Punic Wars were definitely the biggest conflicts in history. Lasting for almost a century, 264 BC till 146 BC, they ended with Carthage totally destroyed and erased from history. "Carthago delenda est"... "Carthage must be destroyed"... the plea often repeated within the walls of the the Roman senate was eventually put into action.

But before becoming a mere memory, Carthage was the richest and most modern city state as well as a major maritime power in the Mediterranean basin, and probably in the world at the time. Founded by the Phoenicians in the 9th century BC on the coast of Northwest Africa, it developed into a significant trading empire, and was seen as home to a wealthy and brilliant civilization. Carthage relied mostly on mercenaries, especially the indigenous Numidians, to fight its wars, whereas Rome had a large and disciplined army.

The flash point for the wars between Rome and Carthage was the island of Sicily in 264 BC, with the two powers taking sides with the cities of Syracuse and Messina. A small local conflict turned into a battle for dominance of the Mediterranean. The loss of Sicily to the Romans saw the most memorable campaign in ancient history, with Hannibal taking his army of 38,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry and 38 elephants over the mountains of Alps into Italy to reclaim the Carthaginian pride.

Hannibal crossing the Alps with war elephants, doing the unthinkable and catching the Romans off guard.

In Italy, Hannibal epically led his army into multiple victories over the Romans, the most notable of them was at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, where Hannibal inflicted on Rome the worst defeat in its military history. Between 50,000 and 70,000 Roman soldiers were killed or captured by a much smaller force. However, Hannibal's failure to capitalize on his victory at Cannae by marching immediately against Rome turned in Rome's favour. After 15 years in Italy, he was called back to defend his city against Scipio Africanus. The defeat in battle of Zama on the African soil saw the end of Hannibal and the Carthaginian military power.

But what if Hannibal actually defeated the Romans? What if he received the reinforcements that never arrived from Carthage? What if the Romans never captured the Carthaginian messenger between Hannibal and his brother Hazdrubal in Iberia (Spain), and thus their army were able to meet up in central Italy and crush the Roman army? What if Hannibal entered Rome and Carthage won the Punic wars?

The world we know today would have never existed...

Fall of Rome

With Hannibal entering the city of Rome, the Roman republic would be dissolved and will no longer remain an expanding force. It will lose Sicily and its allies in Italy.

As for the fate of the city, I don't believe Hannibal would more lenient than the Romans. Both of them were pragmatic people at their hearts. Eventually it would become a Carthaginian province paying tributes to Carthage and the Carthaginians certainly would have made Rome and surrounding cities into productive cities for their empire, same as Rome did when they took Carthage.

Rise of Barca family

Hannibal would surely gain a divine stature for the people Carthage, and the Barcas would become the most powerful political group in the city. With the military family in charge, Carthage would invest more into its army, in particular the land-based force.

Under the Barcas, Carthage would conquer the rest of Iberia since the Barcas' stronghold is in Spain.

Carthage colonizing the world

Carthage Ancient Harbour - the military port (circular) with the civilian harbor, connected to the first

Carthage and Rome are different civilizations. Rome was a militaristic society built by combats and her rulers shaped by war. Carthage was an economic society preferring trade and money over fighting and conquering lands. If Carthage defeated the romans it would be unlikely that they would go and conquer the vast territory Rome did. They would rather make allies. Their strategy would be as always, trying to avoid wars because wars will force them to raise taxes in order to pay mercenaries. And since they are practically business men, they will rely on their economy to rule rather than their military force. Their empire will stay a maritime empire and the army will only be used in extreme cases.

Carthage will move to expand their markets by establishing new trading routes and colonies. They would colonize Africa long before Europe actually did, and eventually discover the Cape of Good Hope and set up a global trading network that would reach as far as India and China.

The fate of Europe

In Europe, Carthage would fortify its Spanish stronghold. Whether Western Europe will remain barbaric or not will depend on numerous factors. Some would argue that with the fall of Rome to Carthage, Western Europe would never become civilized, however I do believe that Carthage would eventually blend in with the Gauls, Germanic and Celtic tribes. In the case where Europe would be influenced by Carthage, they would embrace civilization and modern cities would be formed. Just like how it happened in Iberia.

However, the most probable scenario would see barbaric tribes fighting against each other. Carthage would never have instituted stability as Rome did with the Pax Roman (the peace of Rome) in France and Britannia. Before the Roman conquest of Gaul, the German were steadily pressing west into Gaulish lands. So there is big probability that the west Gaul would become Germanic.

Carthage would expand its colonization of Britannia, but they wouldn't have the same conquest of Gauls and Britannia that the Romans had, instead this area would remain independent.

At the east, Carthage wouldn't have conquered Greece and the Greeks would probably ally with the rising Balkan nations to stop the Persian press in Anatolia.

The Levant back to the Persians

Without the Romans to counterbalance them in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Parthians in Iran would have conquered the entire Seleucid Empire putting them on the borders of the Mediterranean. This means that they would control the Levant and probably conquer Egypt.

Christianity wouldn't spread

To start with, Jesus Christ would not be crucified in the first place. Crucifixion was a Roman practice, and therefore the cross would have never become the symbol of Christianity.

Without the safe unifying network from Italy, Greece and Palestine to pass ideas the faith wouldn't spread so quickly. And without Roman adoption, the faith wouldn't be legitimized in an entire Empire. Therefore if Rome lost to Carthage, Christianity would never converted Europeans.

The most probable scenario would see Jesus Christ born and living in the Parthian Empire. Thus St Paul wanting to spread Christianity wouldn't have taking the Roman route, instead Christianity would spread throughout the Middle East and some parts of Persia. Christianity would most likely remain a small religion with little effect in history.

An alternative storyline would see Paul going to Carthage, and Carthage becoming the center of Christianity, and still be spread to Europe via Spain. But given that the Romans actually legitimized Christianity to unify the empire under one faith for political and strategical reasons, the same wouldn't be replicated in Carthage, since its power is derived from doing business rather than imposing its ideology upon others.

Islam would probably never exist

Given that Islam is derived from Christianity and Judaism, and that Mohammed's ideas were inspired by Bahira (Sergius the Monk) - originally a Christian monk before being considered heretical - the Islam would have never come into existence if Christianity didn't exist or spread through the Parthian Empire.

However if Christianity and Islam came into existence, Arab troops would still take the middle east, then march into both Europe and Africa. In Africa, they would reach as far as Libya, as they would clash with Carthaginians forces. Western North Africa would remain Carthaginian, whereas the eastern part would fall under the Arabs. Therefore, the Arabs would never be able to conquer Spain as it would be a Carthaginian fortified stronghold. Wars between Carthage and the Arabs would last for some time.

In Eastern Europe, the Arabs will collide with the Greeks and the Balkan rising nations. The outcome of the clash will depend on how much Greece and these nations have fortified themselves since the beginning of this timeline. Islam spreading through Southern Europe wouldn't be a surprise, but it's hard to imagine it going North as the temperate forests and Islam don't really mix well. In these regions, the pork is important part of people's diet and they rely on alcohol to keep them warm in the winters, and Islam has forbidden both pork and alcohol.

Carthage discovers the Americas much earlier

The Carthaginians are sailors by nature. This Phoenician culture has been running in their blood for hundreds of years, long before the foundation of Carthage in c. 800 BC. Unlike the Roman desire for land, Carthaginians yearned for the vast and endless sea.

The Carthaginians were the best sailors and had the best ships in their times. It wouldn't take them long before they set sail into the Atlantic Ocean and discover the new land of the Americas.

The Carthaginians would meet the Mayan civilization in its peak, before the birth of the Aztecs and Incas. The meeting of the two worlds would be much less brutal than how it was with the Spaniards. Again Carthage would seek to make colonies and establish trade markets in the new world rather than make military conquests. America's history would take a turn that I can't even predict...

The Western World would speak Phoenician instead of Latin

Without the Roman Empire, Latin language would probably remain in Rome and its Italian surrounding without expanding into Western Europe. With Carthage the dominant empire, Spain would be speaking Phoenician, the surrounding of Iberia would be influenced by the Phoenician language. The current French and Spanish language wouldn't come into existence, and the English would be different.

The Americas would surely be influenced by the more advance Carthaginian language. At that time, the Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, was the writing system of the Maya civilization. Therefore the Phoenician alphabet soon would be adopted in the new world, and probably would be altered to fit the American civilizations, the same way has ancient Greece derived their letters from the Phoenician alphabet.

Africa replaces Europe in an earlier renaissance

The circumstances that led to the European renaissance would soon arise in Carthage. The difference is that Carthage wouldn't go through the dark ages Europe endured, as it was already a more liberated society. Therefore the renaissance would take place earlier than it did in our actual timeline.

It is true that the Carthaginians were religious people, but their aristocracy was purely based on wealth. Enterprising individuals, able to exploit the market conditions and to fund their own private trading expeditions, could rise to the very top of society and politics. Indeed, this was a criticism of Aristotle when commentating on Carthage – that such a preoccupation with wealth would lead inevitably to a self-interested oligarchy dominating society.

This freedom that the Carthaginians enjoy, their contact with various civilizations from around the globe, their notable discovery of the new world and the unimaginable prosperity and wealth they would reach, would give birth to a Carthaginian renaissance in Carthage, and probably in other Carthaginian cities. North Africa would replace Europe as the center of modernity in the world.