First Punic War

Timeline

1. -264Messina · SicilySyracuse and Carthage contested Messina, and the mercenary leader Hiero clashed with the Carthaginian general Hanno. Rome sent troops to Sicily in response to a call for aid, extending its power beyond the Italian mainland for the first time, and the war began.
2. -262–-260Sicily · SicilyRome won land victories at Agrigento and elsewhere, but the Carthaginian navy controlled the sea. Rome copied Carthaginian warships and invented the "corvus" boarding bridge, defeating the Carthaginian fleet for the first time at the Battle of Mylae and reversing its naval disadvantage.
3. -256–-247Mediterranean · MediterraneanThe Roman fleet campaigned in North Africa but suffered setbacks such as the Battle of Drepana; the famous Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca (Hannibal's father) fought hard on the island. The two sides repeatedly seesawed in Sicily and at sea, and the war entered a long war of attrition.
4. -241Aegates Islands · SicilyGaius Lutatius Catulus led the Roman fleet to annihilate Carthage's main force at the Battle of the Aegates Islands, and Carthage sued for peace. The treaty required Carthage to withdraw from Sicily, pay a huge indemnity, and refrain from waging war in Italy without Roman permission; Rome became the dominant power in the western Mediterranean.