Which Side Would You have Supported During the Three Punic Wars?

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The other big issue with Carthage is their total reliance on mercenaries and client states for their military almost always led them to bad results: even in their best of times the civilian leadership was almost always at loggerheads with their generals, like the Spartan that they hired during the First Punic War or even Hannibal himself, who basically acted completely autonomously from Carthage as much as he could. So when the Carthagianians were beaten in battle, there was less "rallying round the flag" and more "desperately trying to stiff your hired goons". The Roman success at flipping Numidia to their side is this in action.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes, Poeni soldiers only fought when the homeland was invaded. On overseas operations even the spearmen who formed the backbone of their armies came from Libya.