The military history of Portugal is as long as the history of the country, from before the emergence of the independent Portuguese state. Before Portugal Before the emergence of Portugal, between the 9th and the 12th centuries, its territory was part of important military conflicts – these were mainly the result of three processes. Roman expansion The conflict between Ancient Rome and Carthage for the dominion of the western Mediterranean sea mainly occurred in Iberia (the Roman Hispania) during the Second Punic War from 218 to 201 BC. The Roman conquest of Hispania, a long process from 218 BC (in the context of the Second Punic War) to 17 BC (already during Emperor Augustus), had three major confrontations regarding modern Portuguese territory: The Lusitanian War from 155 to 139 BC, between the Romans and the Lusitanians, namely during the period these were led by Viriatus. The expedition and conquest of Gallaecia (north of Portugal and Galicia), from 135 and 132 BC, led by Consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus. The Cantabrian Wars from 29 to 19 BC, in the last stade of Roman conquest, that, although not directed at populations in the present Portuguese territory, greatly involved military movements in what is now the north of Portugal. The Roman republican civil wars that took place, wholly or partially, in Hispania, even if in interaction and connection to the process of conquest, namely: Sertorius' revolt in Hispania, from 83 to 72 BC, under the leadership of Sertorius. Caesar's Civil War, from 49 to 45 BC, between Julius Caesar and the optimates (conservative republicans), initially led by Pompey. Germanic expansion The invasions during the Migration Period and the Decline of the Roman Empire, in the beginning of the 5th century, and the subsequent conflicts between conquerors (until the 8th century), namely: Invasion of Roman Gallaecia by the Germanic Suebi (Quadi and Marcomanni) under king Hermeric, accompanied by the Buri in 409. Invasion of Hispania by the Germanic Vandals (Silingi – established in Baetica, and Hasdingi – established in interior Gallaecia, near the Suebi) and the Sarmatian Alans (established in Roman Lusitania), in 409. Invasion of Hispania by the Germanic Visigoths led by King Theodoric, expanding from Aquitaine and under request by the Romans, in 410, establishing the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania. The war between The Suevi and the Hasdingi Vandals, where the first resisted with Roman aid, in 419. The war between the