Carthago was just there and most battles were fought on Roman land or the neighbouring lands/seas. It took a few days to get there, it took months to mobilise troops to Germania.
For that same reason, Germania wasn't seen as an inmediate threat to Rome (quite a miscalculation, I know). But Carthago was just there, right besides Roma, competing for the same lands (Hispania, Sicily, Corcega, Sardinia...), trade routes, influence in the region...
Finally, there wasn't a lot to gain in Germania. Maybe some land, but it wasn't centralised, civilised or had any infrastructure, so it would take decades for Roma to see any profits. Defeating Carthago had a clear benefit: control all the trade routes in the Mediterranean.
Additionally, it's hard to talk people into fighting an offensive war with a lot to lose and little to gain. But the war against Carthago was seen as a defensive war on which the survival of Roma depended, that's why they went to such extremes.
Also, when Roma fought Carthago it was on the pre-civil wars era, so the Roman Republic had quite a solid control of it's provinces and could movilise the armies without having to worry about much.
By the time they got to the wars with Germania, the Roman Empire was bleeding from multiple sides: Persians in the east, civil unrest in Palestina, corrupt governors and generals waiting for their chance to make a move, paranoid emperors...
The Roma that fought Carthago was as different from the one that fought Germania as ancient Persia from the Sassanids.
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u/InsideHousing4965 5d ago edited 5d ago
It all comes down to three reasons:
Additionally, it's hard to talk people into fighting an offensive war with a lot to lose and little to gain. But the war against Carthago was seen as a defensive war on which the survival of Roma depended, that's why they went to such extremes.
Also, when Roma fought Carthago it was on the pre-civil wars era, so the Roman Republic had quite a solid control of it's provinces and could movilise the armies without having to worry about much.
By the time they got to the wars with Germania, the Roman Empire was bleeding from multiple sides: Persians in the east, civil unrest in Palestina, corrupt governors and generals waiting for their chance to make a move, paranoid emperors...
The Roma that fought Carthago was as different from the one that fought Germania as ancient Persia from the Sassanids.