The Greco-Punic Wars was a series of conflicts fought between the Hellenistic Kingdoms which ruled the eastern Mediterranean and the powerful Carthaginian Republic, which dominated the Western Mediterranean. As a direct result of these wars the Balkans peninsula, parts of Anatolia, and all of old Syria fell into Carthaginian hands. The Greco-Punic Wars also ended Greek independence in classical Greece and established Carthage as the dominant power in the entire Mediterranean.