Entire civilizations can die in a single day, not through natural disaster but through deliberate military annihilation by attackers with both capability and intent to destroy

Carthage's walls were 27 miles of fortifications on a peninsula, the greatest walls in the ancient world (until Constantinople), making it extremely difficult for Rome to breach despite Roman siege superiority; Rome lost battles and 20,000-30,000 troops over two years

Philip II of Macedon transformed a depreciated, uncivilized backwater mountainous region into an imperial power over 20 years prior to 335 BC through military innovation and borrowed Greek tactics

The Sarissa was an innovation (elongated pike) in Greek phalanx warfare developed by Philip II that improved upon traditional Greek tactics by fighting in column formation

At the Battle of Chaeronea three years prior to 335 BC, Philip II defeated an allied army of Thebans and Athenians and other city-states, destroying Greek freedom and ending consensual government in the city-states

The Greek city-states believed Alexander was unproven and willing to rebel against Macedonian control, with Thebes leading because it had been the legendary moral and cultural center under Epaminondas, home to Oedipus and Antigone myths, and a Pythagorean enlightened society

Thebes had a population of between 15,000 and 25,000 citizens and perhaps 5,000 to 10,000 residents; it was the capital of Boeotia, which had 150,000 to 250,000 people, and spoke a distinct dialect

Alexander was capable of marching 200 miles from the north in 10 days by moving at 20+ miles per day, demonstrating logistical prowess and speed comparable to Napoleon and Caesar

Alexander threatened to kill every Theban over age 16, enslave every woman and child, but spared the descendants of Pindar the poet and some religious shrines, then razed the city to its foundations

Carthage and Rome were founded around the same time but represented antithetical civilizations: Carthage was Punic-Semitic (Phoenician-founded around modern Tunisia, 90 miles across from Sicily), while Rome was Latin, and they fought three Punic Wars for Mediterranean dominance

The Roman trauma from Hannibal was so severe that 'Hannibal ad portas' ('Hannibal at the gates') became a phrase used to scare children, and Romans remained scared of Carthage for generations

After paying off the indemnity early, Carthage became prosperous again with 500,000 to 600,000 people, booming economy, lush countryside, and one of the ancient world's great ports, rivaling Rome despite professing peaceful intentions and having no bellicosity

Rome had consolidated Spain, Italy, much of Greece, and Macedon by the time Carthage had recovered, and was in an expansionary mood; some Romans, particularly Cato the Elder, repeatedly insisted 'Carthage must be destroyed' as the epithet of every speech

When inspectors returned from Carthage, they reported it as 'insidious' and concluded the city would rival Rome again, though some senators argued Carthage posed no threat and that competition kept Rome vigilant and prevented decadence

Rome presented Carthaginian allies with a choice: join Rome and become favored colonies sharing spoils, or face destruction; most allies defected, leaving Carthage isolated and militarily vulnerable without its weapons

Rome brought in Scipio Aemilianus, the adopted grand-nephew of Scipio Africanus, a philosopher and man of letters with a circle of playwrights and friendship with historian Polybius, who brought military discipline and strategic genius to overcome the siege

The population of Carthage had nowhere to go and was starving; Scipio killed everyone except Hasrubal, who flipped and cut a deal with Scipio, leaving his wife to burn herself; Hasrubal was later paraded in a Roman triumph and humiliated but allowed to live

Remnants of the Punic population survived into Augustine's time (fifth century AD), with some people still claiming to speak Punic, but the civilization and its knowledge had been entirely destroyed

The Athenians were egging the Thebans on to revolt against Alexander, promising that Spartan support would follow, but both the Athenians and Spartans were in decline and ultimately abandoned Thebes to face Alexander alone.

Modern postmodern moral societies believe annihilation cannot happen to them because they assume they are more advanced than ancient civilizations, but this is a false assumption unsupported by historical evidence