The 1st Punic War

>>1958397
Basically a huge stalemate on Sicily, Romans had vastly superior land armies, while Carthage used mainly mercenaries. Carthage played defensive, and their fleet kept their cities supplied, preventing Roman conquest. Over the course of the war, Romans slowly build up naval dominance and make their way across Sicily; after capturing Lilybaeum, the war is concluded.

A few highlights:
>Romans develops the corvus, a sweet naval boarding device
>Basically the end of elephant warfare, as while they are used with great success in the beginning of the war, Metellus figures out that elephants are more trouble than they're worth for the Carthaginians
>Romans actually have an army land in Africa, although it is too weak to take Carthage, and is crushed by an army led by a Spartan mercenary general
>Pulcher, a Roman admiral, received a bad omen for battle involving holy chickens, which refused to eat. He threw them into the sea, remarking "let them drink." His fleet was promptly wrecked by the Carthaginians

>>1958607
I remember the chicken thing from when I was a kid.

>>1958607
Its worth mentioning that the Romans supposedly built an entire navy with little to no maritime military experience based on a Punic shipwreck.

>>1958628
And they did it in less than 2 months

>>1958397
I always find it funny how much weaker Carthage was than Rome. They never had the same ability to recover from losses or innovate in warfare at the same rate. (With some obvious exceptions). Honestly, it isn't a good analogy but the Punic Wars remind a lot of the World Wars.

File: Roman boarding corvus.jpg (10KB, 300x431px) Image search: [Google]

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>>1958397
When the Romans realized that they would have a hard time beating Carthage's much older and developed navy, they decided to take their advantage in infantry quality TO the Carthaginians.

Behold! The boarding corvus (Latin for crow): a bridge set on the bow of Roman vessels to allow their legionaries and marines to swiftly and effectively board Carthaginian ships. Rome went from having no chance in the Mediterranean to actually usurping it from its century long master. Of course, like >>1958607 and >>1958619 say: Rome did not win always. The war just surprised Carthage. It surprises us today. Rome did what it would do for centuries... overcome.

Rome also had a rising power in its Senate. Although an effective body before the war, more and more during and after the war did the Roman Senate make martial decisions for the entire nation. Once Sicily was no longer clearly under Carthage's dominion, Roman policies for taking the island both by force and through trade ventures emerged. The nice tribute Carthage had to pay as well as releasing all Roman prisoners free of charge only bolstered Rome's view of the war as a victory rather than a stalemate

File: Romans boarding.jpg (357KB, 1262x900px) Image search: [Google]

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>>1958669
Reminds me of a cold war actually. Not our modern Cold War of course, but the long standing proxy wars, edging one another into conflict, and political banter back and forth all remind me of a cold war. Then it got hot... I guess it takes mutually assured nuclear destruction for us not to enter wars like the Punic Wars

>>1958718
Yeah most people have no understanding of how long the Punic Wars lasted. It was 60 years, pretty comparable to the Cold War.

>>1958669
Thats not really true. Rome may have been more militarily powerful due to Carthage's complete reliance on mercenaries, but Carthage was an economic powerhouse.
Even after the devastating first Punic war, and Carthage's subsequent war with her mercenaries, Carthage was still able to pay off all of her indemnity within a few years.
The issue was that she faced an enemy who was built for the sole purpose of conquest.