From the readings we have seen that, as the end of the second Punic War drew to a close, Rome had seriously re-asserted itself as a Mediterranean power. It had also built up a lot of momentum that it would soon leverage to great effect for its future conquests. Rome was now in control of, or allied with, every population along the western Mediterranean that was not on mainland African soil. Their reach in the west now extended all the way through Spain. To help them get to this point they had battled Carthage on Carthage’s home continent with the help of King Masinissa, whose monarchy was not yet fully recognized by all (Morey, 1901). As a reward for this help, Masinissa was now fully recognized as king of Numidia, and his country was recognized as an ally of mighty Rome. How did the losers fare in all this? Carthage was forced to pay massive fines for years to come and now needed Rome’s blessing before taking on any new enemies in battle.
Yet the results go much further than this in terms of their long-term effects
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We have read about Rome’s self-proclaimed valiant and persistent character (Morey, 1901), and this attitude must have been bolstered by their victory over Carthage. Rome had taken on its biggest rival up to that point, and won. It is not unreasonable to think that the confidence of its people and leaders was strong enough to encourage ever greater expansion in the future. If you think you can win, you have gone a long way toward achieving future victory. Conversely, if you had taken on an opponent with the help of one of the world’s greatest military leaders (Hannibal in this case) and suffered a defeat, you confidence would be diminished significantly. If you had witnessed such a contest (as other countries and city states in the area may have done) you might think twice about trying to oppose the new