First Punic War (264-241 BC)

Punic War derived their name from the Roman word for Carthaginian, Punici. The first two Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage were of an unprecedented scale of ancient Mediterranean warfare in terms of the expenditure of manpower and material resources.

Before the first Punic War the position of Carthage in the Mediterranean world is seen as an immediate threat to Rome, forcing Rome into action the rationale of which is reminiscent of a theory of defensive imperialism.

At that time Rome had acquired control of the entire Italian peninsula and had begun to look both east, toward Greece, and west toward Carthage.

The Romans’ first task was to capture the western half of Sicily, which Carthage had used as a fulcrum of its empire. Carthage could not permit the loss of Sicily, and so the war began.

The first war between Rome and Carthage is seen as the beginning of a new era. It was fought over control of Sicily. The First Punic War marked the beginning of Roman imperial expansion which ultimately engulfed the Mediterranean basin and much of its hinterland.

In the aftermath of the final battle Roman victory near the Aegates Islands, while Carthage was embroiled in war with its rebellious mercenaries, Rome seized the Carthaginian provinces of Sardinia and Corsica.

In 241 BC at the end of the First Punic War the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca was forced to make peace with the Romans, after a naval defeat by the Roman consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus and to give up holdings in Sicily. In this war Carthage also lost her Spanish colonies.
First Punic War (264-241 BC)