Question

chapter 5, section 1 (continued)
they sent an army to sicily in 264 b.c. the carthaginians saw this as an act of war, because they considered sicily part of their empire. this war is called the first punic war. (the latin word for phoenician is punicus.) the romans created a navy and defeated the carthaginian navy off the coast of sicily. the first punic war came to an end in 241 b.c. carthage gave up its rights to sicily and paid a fine to the romans. sicily became the first roman province.
carthage added new lands in spain to make up for the loss of sicily. the romans encouraged one of the spanish leaders to revolt against carthage. hannibal, the greatest of the carthaginian generals, struck back. this began the second punic war, which lasted from 218 to 201 b.c. hannibal decided to invade italy. he entered spain, moved east, and crossed the alps. he had an army of about 46 thousand men, a large number of horses, and 37 battle elephants. in 216 b.c., the romans fought hannibal’s army at cannae. the romans lost an army of almost forty thousand men, but they refused to surrender. hannibal conquered parts of italy but was not able to attack the major cities, like rome. the romans gradually regained some of italy and sent troops to spain. by 206 b.c., they had pushed the carthaginians out of spain. then rome decided to invade carthage. this forced the carthaginians to bring hannibal back from italy. at the battle of zama in 202 b.c., the romans defeated hannibal’s army.
fifty years later, the romans fought their third and final war with carthage. in 146 b.c., carthage was destroyed, and the people of carthage became slaves. carthage became a roman province called africa. rome also fought the hellenistic states in the eastern mediterranean. the fourth macedonian war ended in 148 b.c., and macedonia became a roman province. two years later, greece was placed under the control of the roman governor of macedonia. in 129 b.c., pergamum became rome’s first province in asia. rome now controlled all of the mediterranean.

1. what started the first punic war?

Explanation:

The text states that Rome sent an army to Sicily in 264 B.C. Carthage viewed Sicily as part of its empire, so it saw this Roman action as an act of war, which triggered the First Punic War.

Answer:

The First Punic War started when Rome sent an army to Sicily in 264 B.C., and Carthage, which considered Sicily part of its empire, viewed this as an act of war.