The first Punic war was fought to establish control over the strategic islands of Corsica and Sicily. In 264 the Carthaginians intervened in a dispute between the two principal cities on the Sicilian west coast, Messana and Syracuse, and so established a presence on the island. Rome, responding to this challenge, attacked Messana and forced the Carthaginians to withdraw. In 260 a Roman fleet failed to gain complete control of Sicily but opened the way to Corsica, from which the Carthaginians were expelled. A second Roman fleet sailed in 256 and established a beachhead on the African continent. Carthage was prepared to surrender, but the terms offered by Rome were too severe, and in 255 Carthage attacked with a new army built around cavalry and elephants and drove the invaders to the sea.
The battle for Sicily resumed in 254 but was largely stalemated until 241, when a fleet of 200 warships gave the Romans undisputed control of the sea lanes and assured the collapse of the Punic stronghold in Sicily. One year later Carthage surrendered, ceding Sicily and the Lipari Islands to Rome and agreeing to pay an indemnity.