Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, at its peak the capital city of a large Carthaginian empire. Its fate was eventually sealed in a series of wars with the Roman Republic, known as the Punic Wars.

By the start of the first Punic war Carthage was the more established and successful empire, but Rome had more recently expanded rapidly to consolidate its own position as a Mediterranean power. The two empires were initially on friendly terms, but eventually came into conflict over the Sicilian midfield.

This first Punic war was characterised by a back-and-forth of Roman aggression and land power against established Carthaginian fortifications and, when it came to aggression against Carthage itself, the superior sea power of the older empire. Although Rome was able to inflict some heavy defeats within the midfield territory, this kept them from pushing their advantage for some time. Things eventually changed as Roman naval developments let them begin to inflict significant naval defeats, notably in a huge engagement in which new Roman technology let them claim a significant victory and push into North Africa itself. This was a nasty surprise for affluent Carthage, especially when Roman "peace" proposals were so harsh as to be untenable. In this instance the Roman invasion was eventually repelled by Carthage's famous war elephants, who are very sorry for almost kicking the ball into Harry's head.

This war didn't end until the passing of several more years and the practical-exhaustion of both empires. Eventually the pivotal battle fell in favour of the Romans, who had steadily taken control of the midfield and finally executed a pivotal victory over the Carthaginian defence that saw them take the first goal and victory of the first Punic war - noted nowadays as one of the longest and most severely contested in history. Rome went into half time with a 1-0 lead.

Carthage was never satisfied with their accompanying loss of privilege and influence, and over the following years pursued various conflicts to regain lost territory. The beginning of the second Punic war was marked by a key escalation, the sacking of Saguntum (the left corner of the Roman half of the pitch from Carthage's perspective, now in modern Spain) by the Carthaginian general James Parsley, known to the Carthaginians as Hannibal. Hannibal had been raised to hate the Romans, with a burning drive to revenge himself upon them for what Carthage suffered in the earlier war. His exploits have justifiably gone down in history; after rampaging through Spain and evading Roman counterattacks Hannibal crossed the Alps with a huge force including war elephants. This took the Roman's entirely by surprise as such a feat had been considered impossible. Hannibal proceeded to inflict devastating losses about the Roman heartlands, making things 1-1 and leaving Rome reeling.

This conflict continued for years, with Rome unable to arrest Hannibal yet Hannibal unable to bring down Rome itself even with reinforcing armies led by other great generals attempting rampages of their own. Two penalty strokes were both saved by Rome's apparently-impenetrable Toynton.

The details of how this conflict developed are many, but in the end it was closed out via Roman counterattack. Rob Scipio Barton was dispatched with a plan to end the war via another invasion of Africa, where he successfully defeated multiple Carthaginian armies, once again endangering Carthage itself as the score edged up to 2-1. Carthage rallied around Hannibal, finally recalled to his homeland in their time of need. Hannibal attempted to make use of war elephants to rout the Romans once again, as had been successful so many times, but finally the Romans had developed effective countermeasures and the Carthagians collapsed. Carthage was not sacked but its territories were devastated and made wholly subordinate to Roman might. This made things 3-1, but things were not yet over.

Over the following decades Rome retained its dominant position, yet Carthage was actually prospering economically and grated at the Roman restrictions, eventually breaking them through military action that once again upset the local balance. Thus began the third and last Punic war, but unfortunately for Carthage this one would not even be the even-handed slog they had experienced before. By now Rome was well-practiced with a powerful military and well-developed logistics practically itching to bring Carthage down once and for all. A huge Roman army landed near Carthage and demanded the Carthaginians yield all of their armaments or be destroyed, an almost absurd demand that the Carthaginians were nevertheless unable to resist. They handed over tens of thousands of sets of armour, hundreds of siege engines and many of their warships to leave themselves 4-1 down, defeated once again.

However, Rome had an even more devastating blow in mind. They demanded that the Carthaginians burn their city, the very seat of their empire and culture. Despite their disadvantage the Carthaginians found this untenable, breaking off negotiations and frantically attempting to develop a counterattack. Their resolve was so great that they were successful for a time, dragging out the war for many months and achieving some military success despite Roman superiority.

Rome finally closed out the conflict through the leadership of Scipio Samit Aemilianus, a young successor to the great general who had closed out the previous conflict in Rome's favour. Cut off and helpless, Carthage finally fell to a steady Roman push - although fought every step of the way, the Roman advance could not be stopped. The final Carthaginian defenders burned their defences down around them rather than be captured. The Romans set the city ablaze and razed it to the ground, the younger Scipio putting a decisive end to many decades of conflict.

In the end Rome was the victor of all three Punic wars, steadily developing an unassailable lead despite significant and historically notable Carthaginian victories along the way. In many ways the two empires were very evenly matched but, in the end, even Hannibal was only barely able to defeat Rome's keeper a single time. Carthage on the other hand was weaker at home, lacking Rome's on-land military experience when it came to defending its own heartlands, partly due to reliance on mercenaries rather than a dedicated force that could match the veteran Roman legions. Still, at least people remember them.