What was the carthaginian army made of?

Answer 1

Carthage was famous for its use of mercenaries, although these troops were more loyal and prepared to fight for a cause than the way we would think of mercenaries now. They came from Spain, all along the African coast and even Greece and her colonies. Greek was used to communicate between all the different ethnic groups. Numidian cavalry were exceptionally important in the 2nd Punic War, and when they joined the Romans it was a terrible blow to Carthage.

The officers were usually native Carthaginians and there was a core of native troops. There was the 'scared band' cavalry and infantry units, who wore white, the Carthaginian colour of death, who were the army's best troops, but I'm not sure if they were still around at the start of the 2nd Punic War. Of course, there were elephants too, which were used heavily by the post Alexandrian kingdoms in the east and basically by every major power prior to the expansion of Rome.

the carthiginians disovered a way to melt through rock cliffs and mountains using fire and amonia to disolve the solid rock. it was during an effort to attack rome from the mountains of gaul. but by the time they got there, the army was severely depleted and unable to defeat the roman army.

There's loads of info on the internet, just head over to wikipedia or a military history forum