Mopping Up

-150 BC- King Andriscus, the last king of Macedonia, comes to power and tries to unite the people to throw out the Romans and their domination of the region.  Tried to be legit by pretending to be King Perseus' son.
   -Macedonia has been divided into 4 republics, and Andriscus wanted to reunite the kingdom.
-Rome sent an army to quell this rebellion, but it was actually repelled by the fierce Macedonian defense.  So, Rome sent another, bigger army to quell the rebellion, and this time they crushed the Macedonian defenses, captured Andriscus, and paraded him around Rome in chains.
-Macedonia and Epirus (who had officially allied themselves with Macedonia) were then officially annexed as Roman  provinces in 146 BC.
   -As a result of the encroaching Roman power in the region, Corinth, leader of the Achean League, called the other Greek cities to band together and fight against Roman domination of Greece.
      -So, Rome sent an army and destroyed Corinth by burning it to the ground!  The men were slaughtered, and the women and children were enslaved.
         -Soon, all of Greece would be annexed as well.  Rome didn't meet much resistance, as they had done a pretty good job of making an example out of Corinth to show the Greeks what happened to those who went up against the Romans.
-Rome, at the same time, also decided to destroy the Carthaginians once and for all.
   -Carthage was minding its own business, as they were truly a merchant empire and not warlike.
      -They were also in a weakened state due to losing territory in North Africa because of Numidian invasions (led by Massinisa, a Roman ally).
         -These Numidian invasions pissed off Carthage, since Rome was supposed to be a protectorate of the region.  Therefore, Carthage had to raise an army to protect themselves from the Numidians.
-151 BC- The Numidians besieged a Carthaginian border town.
   -Carthage sent 25,000 soldiers to liberate the city.  However, the Numidians defeated this army.
      -Also, because Carthage had raised an army, Rome used this as an excuse to finally crush the empire!
-Cato the Elder and his allies convinced the Senate to vote in favor of invasion.
   -Rome sent 80,000 troops to North Africa.  Carthage begged for mercy, but found the Roman terms for peace to be too harsh.
   -Carthage was besieged by the Romans for 2 years!
-147 BC- Carthage's harbor was blockaded, and the Roman army began to raid the Carthaginian countryside.
-146 BC- Rome finally broke the walls of city.
   -6 days of street fighting.
      -Carthage had a population of 700,000- by this time only 50,000 die-hards had remained in the city.
      -Finally, the city was taken.  It was put to the torch, and, according to legend, the city burned for 10 days, and afterwards the Romans salted the fields to ensure that nothing would grow there again (although it is highly unlikely that this actually happened).
-At this time, Rome was finally starting to look like the major empire that it would ultimately grow into.  There was no other superpower in the region that could counter it.
   -However, it's not like it was a time of peace for the Romans, as they were still fighting with barbarian hordes in the Iberian peninsula and Gaul.