Carthage And Rome: The First Punic War

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Carthage and Rome were very similar in their desire to be in power. Where they differed was in their military skills. Carthage was a naval force, while Rome was an army force. Carthage used their wealth to increase their holdings in the area, Carthage had a strong naval force and due to their location on the coast they were successful merchants. Trading as far north as Tyre (modern day Lebanon) for dyes, Spain for gold, and England for tin. This ability to travel and trade made them very wealthy. It also gave them the opportunity to form alliances with these countries. (Morey, 1901). Carthage sought to take the entire island of Sicily, probably because of its location in the Mediterranean, it was a strategic location for their navy. …show more content…

They had the choice of going to either Carthage or Rome for assistance. In the end, they asked Rome for help to fight against the mercenaries. In return Rome was promised control of Messana if they were able to defeat the mercenaries. (Carthage, 2016). This is what put Rome on the island of Sicily. In hindsight, the King of Syracuse, may have wished they had sought help from Carthage instead of Rome. With Rome now maintaining a strong foothold on the Island, the king found himself turning to Carthage to push Rome back out. This was the beginning of the first Punic War. Up to this time, Rome was not considered a strong naval force, but rather an army. This changed after Carthage joined forces with Syracuse. Rome was forced to move to the sea to protect what they now had on Sicily.
Rome’s navy consisted of galley ships called triremis, meaning three rows of men rowing oars. While these ships had served Rome well in their trade business, they were no match for the larger, quicker quinquiremes (five rows of men rowing oars) ships in the Carthaginian navy. Rome put all its efforts and finances into building as many of these quinquiremes as they could. Rome found an abandon Carthaginian ship and used it as a model to build more than 100 in under sixty days. (Morey, 1901). Each ship took 300 men to power it. (Hart, 2016). While Carthage had greater wealth, Rome had the manpower to fill the sea with their

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