On this day in 146 BC, the Roman Empire defeated Carthage, its main competitor in the Mediterranean, and wiped it from the map. Why talk about a war won nearly 1,900 years ago? Because without Rome's repeated victories over Carthage, society would probably look pretty different today!
One century earlier, Rome and Carthage began a decades-long battle over naval control of the Mediterranean. Carthage controlled a massive slice of the North African coast and a band across the south of what's now Spain. That war ended with Rome gaining control of Sicily in 241 BC. Twenty years later, the two were back at each other's throats over control of the Iberian Peninsula (where Carthaginian control had grown), Italy, and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily (again.) Once more, after a decade and a half, Rome won. From there, it started to become the dominant power in the region.
In the decades before what would go on to be called the Third Punic War, a portion of the Roman Empire's population retained great enmity against Carthage. At that point, the multiple generations of conflict had created a sense of “us or them” on both sides, with some senators arguing at times that the diminished city-state across the sea must be destroyed. As Carthage's economy began to roar again after recovering from the wars, the Romans became even more concerned, eventually deciding to march once more on Carthage.
Rome declared war again in 149 BC, prosecuting the war entirely in modern-day Tunisia, where the city of Carthage was located. While we see Rome now as a country that created a cohesive civilization across hundreds of different cultures, it was also terribly brutal to whoever it defeated in combat. When the Romans finally defeated the enemy, city of Carthage was razed to the ground and its survivors enslaved.
If Rome hadn't scored the critical victory, it wouldn't have gone on to secure the near-total dominance of the Mediterranean Sea. And if that hadn't been the case, it wouldn't have become the regional superpower it did, and wouldn't have spawned so many countries that have so affected global history. For more on the Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage, check out the World History Encyclopedia.