The
First Punic War (264 to 241 BC) was the first of
three wars fought between
Ancient Carthage and the
Roman Republic. For more than 20 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy, primarily on the
Mediterranean island of
Sicily and its surrounding waters, and also in
North Africa. The war signaled the beginning of a strategic transformation in the western Mediterranean. Carthage began the war as the great
sea-power of the western Mediterranean, while Rome had but a small fleet of fighting ships. Over the course of the war, Rome built up a powerful navy, developed new naval tactics, and strategically used their navy, army, and local political alliances on Sicily in order to achieve a victory that expelled the Carthaginians from Sicily. The First Punic War ended with a treaty between Rome and Carthage, but years of bloodshed were to follow in the Second and Third Punic Wars before the strategic issue of power in the western Mediterranean was resolved in favor of Rome, and in the total destruction of Carthage.