What happened to Rome in the Third Punic War?

Answer 1

Nothing happened to the city of Rome itself, given that the Third Punic War happened entirely in North Africa. The Roman Republic, on the other hand, grew larger with the destruction of the city of Carthage, and the subsequent annexation of the surrounding territories. The Third Punic war also eventually led the Romans to use modern-day Tunisia and Libya as their major grain-producing regions

Answer 2

After her defeat in the Second Punic War, Carthage was forced to make large payments to Rome for the next fifty years. Additionally, if Carthage needed to get involved in any sort of war, they were required to ask the Romans to deal with it first. When Carthage's neighbors attacked her, she was forced to go to the Romans to deal with; the Romans pretty much always sided with Carthage's neighbors.

When Carthage finished the fifty years of payments, they believed that the treaty was over, and that they no longer had to get Rome's permission for war anymore; however, Rome disagreed. When Carthage's neighbor attacked them, Carthage fought back without telling Rome first. Rome believed they had a reason to declare war on Carthage, so they did.

Rome didn't mind having the war with Carthage. They were still angry over what Hannibal had done in the previous Punic War, and they were pretty sure that they could easily beat the weakened Carthage. More importantly, Rome really wanted to conquer Carthage and its farmlands. Rome was becoming a large city and needed more food to feed their people.

The Carthaginians tried to negotiate with the Romans to avoid fighting, but the Romans kept making unreasonable demands. At first, Carthage accepted the demands but eventually they gave up and decided they had to fight. The Romans sent a huge army and besieged Carthage itself. The siege lasted a few years but eventually the Romans attacked the city and conquered it. Carthage was annexed by the Roman Republic, her territory becoming a new province called "Africa" and the Carthaginian people were killed or enslaved.

There are stories that the Romans completely destroyed the city and even threw salt in the fields so that plants wouldn't grow anymore. The city was indeed destroyed, but it was rebuilt by Julius Caesar about a century later, and it became an important city for not only the Romans, but also for early Christianity. However, the fields were not salted, and Africa Province quickly became an important "breadbasket" for the Roman Republic and later the Empire.