...until 218 B.C.E, when the Second Punic war began. Carthage and Rome were at rivalry once again. During the years following the First Punic War, Rome held Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage. This caused a greater indemnity than the original payment after the First Punic War. The First Punic War was very costly to both sides, and Carthage reluctantly agreed to pay reparations to Rome of 3,200 talents and withdraw from Sicily. The son of leader Hamilcar Barca and his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, acquired territory in Spain for Carthage. This now meant that Carthage could possibly renew the war against Rome, since Carthage had lost their strategic fortress in Sicily. Unfortunately for Carthage, they had to focus on the unrest of their people closer to home than Rome. There was much dissatisfaction about the truceless war and how Carthage was not paid for their efforts during the First Punic War.
Carthage now had money, being extracted from cities. Over 200 elephants worked for Carthage. By now, Carthage controlled half of the Iberian Peninsula. In 226 BCE, Hasdrubal had signed an agreement with Rome, concerned at Carthage’s expanding empire, to not cross the River Ebro in southern Spain. However, Hannibal, now in overall command in Spain, was more ambitious. The Romans, thanks to Marcius Septimus who saved the remnants of the defeated Roman armies by withdrawing north after the battles Castulo and Ilorca, and his replacement Nero, managed to hold onto territory north of the Ebro while the Carthaginians had regained complete authority over everything south.
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