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The Punic Wars

Origins of the First Punic War

Carthage had, in the 260s, control of much of Sicily. This mattered little to Rome, for it had few direct interests there. Thus, when a complicated little dispute arose in the city of Messana in 264, and one side appealed to Carthage while the other appealed to Rome, no one thought it was any more than a local quarrel.

Messana was a port city controlling the Straits and so when a Carthaginian fleet was invited in by one side, Rome felt it had to respond in some way. An expeditionary force caused the Punic (the Roman word for Carthaginian) fleet to withdraw and that could well have been that.

The Punic admiral's retreat was ill-received at home, and Carthage responded with a larger force, prying out the Romans. Now the issue was more serious, and Rome responded with a consular army. Again Rome won an easy victory--so easy, in fact, that the consul decided to press into the interior in search of more.

The line of this story should be obvious by now. Carthage responded with a still-larger army, about 50,000. And Rome answered in kind, winning such quick victories in 262 that they won nearly the entire island. Further victories, however, were much harder to win, as it became apparent that Rome would have to win control of the sea if it was to keep its gains in Sicily.

The war, so thoughtlessly begun, would last 20 years. Neither side had sought a major conflict, but neither side knew how to withdraw once the issue was joined.