The Pnic Wars: The First Punic War

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The Punic Wars tell a story between two powerful kingdoms with completely different cultures. One that had distugising practices. The other with virtue. The First Punic War was the beginning of a great power struggle between Rome and Carthage. In the beginning it was a fight to protect a city. As more and more battles were won, it led to the birth of the Roman fleet. The First Punic War began in 264 B.C. Messana was in need of support to fight. The people turned to both the Carthagians and the Romans for help. Carthage already had control over Africa, parts of Spain, most of Sicily, and the islands of the Sardinian and Tyrrhenian Sea. The Romans knew that if Carthage made an alliance with Messana, they would not be safe. So, Rome decided to aid Messana even though the Mamertines committed an offence that a few Romans have been punished for. After the Romans sent Appius Claudius on the expedition, the …show more content…

Hannibal was forced to fight and lost the battle due to confusion between the Carthaginian merchinaries and the Phoenician army. Hannibal was able to escape the city that night since the Romans were not keeping watch as strictly as usual. The next day, the Romans entered Agrigentum and take control. In 261 B.C. the cities inland joined the Romans. The coastal cities left Rome and joined the Carthaginians due to their naval forces. Their navy was also behind the attacks of the Italian coast. With the Carthaginian navy making it hard for the Romans, the Romans decided to build their own navy. The First Punic War started out as fight over a city. A city that kept Rome from being in constant danger. As the fighting progressed it both sides started to fight more, the battle over one city turned into a war over Sicily. After winning more battles, The Romans decided to fight on the seas. This pushed the Romans into creating a navy of their