Interbellum

-After the war, both sides were weakened.
   -Carthage would soon have problems with the Numidians, and Rome with Gallic hordes and Illyrian pirates.
-Stupidly, Carthage decided to stiff their mercenaries, and spent the next 3 years fighting a war against them because of it.  Carthage then hired new mercenaries to fight their ex-mercenaries, and eventually the Carthaginians won.
-Meanwhile in Rome, Roman politics was divided by two families- the Claudiae and the Fabiae.
   -The Claudiae wanted to expand south and take on Carthage.
   -The Fabiae wanted to expand north and take on the Gauls.
-Even the Po Valley in the far north of Italy was once Etruscan, but it had recently been overrun by Gallic hordes.
-230s BC- Gauls begin to organize against Rome.
   -Also, Illyrian pirates began to be a major nuisance for Rome.
-Illyria (modern-day Balkans, westernmost Greek lands)- people were considered barbarians by the "civilized" Greeks of the south.
   -Various tribes, kingdoms (including Epirus), etc.
   -While these people wanted to be a legit power, they were barbarians, not merchants, so they naturally were best at being pirate raiders, which was extremely annoying for Rome.  Rome finally had enough, however, when they started to raid port cities that were frequented by Roman ships.
228 BC- The First Illyrian War- Rome sends troops to go fuck up Illyria.
   -Rome also sent diplomats to Greece ti explain that they weren't invading, they were just tired of the Illyrian pirates, and the Greeks accepted it.
      -The Greeks and the Romans had a peaceful understanding, although the Greeks still viewed the Romans as uncultured/uncivilized folk.
         -Corinth even invited Rome to participate in the Isthian Games!
-Meanwhile, the ancient kingdom of Macedonia was on the rise again, in the wake of the power vacuum left after Alexander the Great's death.
-After a year, the Illyrian pirates were pacified.
   -The Roman's peace terms were harsh.  Illyrian ships were completely banned from the Adriatic Sea.  Also, southern Illyria and other tribal lands were then designated as a "Roman protectorate" in a forced alliance with Rome.
      -The First Illyrian War was over.
-226 BC- Gauls organized and began raiding Roman lands, and wanted to sack Rome a second time.
   -Rome mobilized a huge amount of troops from every community in the Italian peninsula- up to 700,000 infantry (!!) and 70,000 cavalry (!!).
      -This also consisted of many civilians and untrained warriors, but this was still indicative of how serious/scared Rome was regarding the Gallic hordes.
         -The first battle went really badly for Rome, but this was actually a blessing in disguise.
            -The Gauls became overconfident and greedy in their raids, and decided to hold off on attacking Rome directly and instead raid other places instead.  Then after heading back up north with all of their booty, they would come back again and sack Rome.
               -This allowed for Rome to quickly organize and crush them while they were scattered and raiding.  Thus, the Gauls were driven out of Italy completely, and the lands south of the Alps were conquered by Rome as a result.