First Punic War

Neither, they were going to come to head no matter what once Sicily was on the table.

Carthage was wrong and deserved everything it got in the end.

Carthago delenda est.

>>2685012
go away cato

>>2685009
Maybe Sicily should never have been on the table in the first place. The Roman's claim to Sicily is weak. The Carthaginians and Greeks had been there for quite long already.

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>>2685019

>>2685022
>implying it fucking matters

Legitimacy is and always has been a bullshit argument. Countries run on geopolitics. Rome will never tolerate a Carthaginian presence so close to the bootheel where a prospective invasion can be launched at any time whenever the Carthaginians feel like it.

They were going to come to head, and that is as plain as day.

>>2685022
the legitimacy of a claim depends on how many legions you have to back it up

>>2685033
its more about food
the grain in sicily was for a long time the literal breadbasket of the republic

I'm still mad about the fact that Rome completely destroyed Carthage. It seemed like such a fascintaing civilization and yet we don't know anything about it.

>>2684994
Nobody was in the wrong.
Silicy was just too damn important to roman interests to be left in the hands of some child burning africans.
Also Hanno was an idiot.

>destruction of the athenian empire after the stalled campaign in sicily saves carthage from probable destruction
>carthage become the new dominant power in the mediterranean taking sicily for themselves
>rome is rising at the same time and has designs on sicily
>resolves to curb this carthage problem in the process

Sicily was the Afghanistan of the ancient Mediterranean Great Game.

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Are the Mamertines the biggest cunts in Roman history?
>be Campanian band of mercenaries
>go adventuring in Sicily, hired by the lord of Syracuse
>lord of Syracuse dies, have no job anymore, try to go back
>on the way back, get welcomed by the rulers of Messana, get invited to feast
>one night, sneak around and kill all men, take their wives as your wives and take over control of the city
>raid the Sicilian countryside, make Syracuse butthurt
>Syracuse sends army to BTFO the Mamertines, and they do so
>Mamertines panic, appeal to Carthago and Rome to get saved from the Syracuseans they irated in the first place
>Carthago accepts first, sends fleet for protection
>Mamertines panic again again, they realize they actually don't want a Carthaginian garrison
>refuse entry, appeal to Romans for protection from Carthago instead
>start a massive war between Rome and Carthage in the process