F irst M acedonian W ar (215–205 bce )

Between 230 and 219 BCE Rome imposed its influence over the Illyrian and neighboring peoples of the Adriatic's eastern coast. When Hannibal invaded Italy in 218, his early victories over the Romans, above all Cannae in 216, encouraged Philip V, king of Macedon, to ally with Carthage, aiming to replace Rome's influence along the Adriatic with Macedon's. Although this opened another military front for the embattled Romans, they threw Philip out of Illyria and more or less eliminated his involvement in Hannibal's war, even though the king won successes against their western Greek ally the Aetolian League. The Aetolians made peace with him in 206, leaving the Romans to follow suit in 205. For Rome this was unfinished business: soon after the Carthaginians made peace, they acted to finish it with a new Macedonian war.