The first and second Punic wars destroyed the military power of Carthage, but the economic power was not destroyed. In the case of losing overseas colonies, we should pay attention to the development of agriculture and rely on local resources in Africa to quickly recover from the trauma of war and become a prosperous city again. At the same time, its commercial prosperity not only established frequent trade exchanges with local tribes, but also established extensive commercial ties with Egypt, Bentu and other countries and regions. After the Second Punic War, Rome immediately took advantage of the contradiction between Hellenistic countries in the eastern Mediterranean. It embarked on the road of eastward expansion and successively conquered Macedonia, Greece, Syria and other places. Incorporating the vast area along the eastern Mediterranean into its own territory, it has established sovereignty over the vast area around the entire Mediterranean. The rapid recovery of Carthage caused the envy and anxiety of Rome, especially the dissatisfaction of the Roman knights and some nouveau riche, who appeared after the first two wars and were closely related to foreign trade. They can't allow Carthage to hinder their overseas interests, and they don't want to see Carthage become their trade competitor again. Old Cato is the representative of this school. He is a big farmer and has extensive connections with the business class. In BC 153, he led a mission to Africa to mediate the dispute between Carthage and Masini. When he sees the prosperity of Carthage, he always adds: "I think Carthage must be destroyed!" " . "

In this huge and long-lasting war, Rome is the winner. The main reason for Rome's victory is that the Roman Republic is in a period of vigorous development. Although it is an aristocratic Republic, there are contradictions between civilians and nobles among different classes of the ruling class. However, after more than two centuries of struggle, the common people abolished the debt slave system, gained certain political rights and interests, adjusted the internal relations of the ruling class, greatly improved the enthusiasm of the common people to participate in national life, and temporarily stabilized the political life of the country, which provided important political and social preconditions for Rome's smooth external expansion. The main purpose of Rome's external expansion was to plunder land, wealth and slaves. Of course, the most urgent demand for this kind of plunder is the upper class of slave owners. However, civilians are not without interest. Many people also hope to get a little profit from the gains of the war, especially in the case of increasingly tight land in Italy. The result of external expansion can meet the needs of civilians for land to a certain extent, although they often become victims and victims of war. In this way, on the issue of external expansion, the main tool of Roman slave Rome's external expansion is a well-organized legion, which is composed of Roman citizens, and civilians, especially farmers, are the backbone of the Roman legion. For the above reasons, Rome has a strong power to expand abroad. Although it suffered repeated failures in the Punic War, it was quickly supplemented by manpower and material resources after each failure until it finally won.

By contrast, Carthage is far inferior to Rome in many aspects. After Carthage conquered the land in North Africa, the ruling class was obviously divided into two factions: one represented the interests of the big landlords and advocated mainly safeguarding and consolidating the interests in Africa; The other school is the business school, which advocates continuing overseas expansion and expanding overseas interests. There has always been a sharp struggle between the two factions, often one after another, affecting and acting on Carthage's foreign policy. Hamill Karl, Hasselblad Barr and Hannibal mainly represent the interests of the latter school. The main activity bases and strongholds are Spain and New Carthage, but in Carthage and the government, landlords often have the upper hand. This is why Hannibal never got the support of the Carthaginian government when he moved to Italy. Although Hannibal had outstanding military talents, he commanded an army that was isolated and almost cut off from his own country and was mainly composed of mercenaries. Besides, he was fighting on the territory of other countries, and the situation was very difficult. All these circumstances made Carthage finally fail and be destroyed in the war.