The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 23 years they struggled for supremacy, primarily on the island of Sicily and its surrounding waters, and also in North Africa. After immense losses on both sides the Carthaginians were defeated. The war began with the Romans gaining a foothold on Sicily. In 260 BC they built a navy to challenge Carthage's, and inflicted several defeats. Taking advantage of their naval victories, the Romans launched an invasion of North Africa, which failed. In 249 BC they besieged the last two Carthaginian strongholds on Sicily. After several years of stalemate, the Romans rebuilt their fleet and blockaded the Carthaginian garrisons. A Carthaginian fleet attempted to relieve them, but the fleet's destruction in 241 BC forced the cut-off Carthaginian troops to negotiate for peace. (This article is part of a featured topic: Punic Wars.).
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Punic_Wars
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1777:
American Revolutionary War: British forces caught up with American troops withdrawing from Ticonderoga, capturing more than 200 men at the Battle of Hubbardton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hubbardton
1937:
The Peel Commission published a report stating that the League of Nations' Mandate for Palestine had become unworkable and recommended the partition of British-administered Mandatory Palestine into two states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peel_Commission
1991:
Yugoslav Wars: The signing of the Brioni Agreement ended the Ten-Day War between SFR Yugoslavia and Slovenia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brioni_Agreement
2016:
A U.S. Army Reserve veteran ambushed and shot at police officers (memorial service pictured) in Dallas, Texas, killing five of them and injuring nine others, before being killed by a bomb attached to a police robot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_shooting_of_Dallas_police_officers
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
hebdomad: 1. (obsolete) A group of seven. 2. A period of seven days; a week. 3. (Gnosticism) A group of seven world-creating archons (supernatural beings) often regarded as somewhat hostile; also, a term of address for the Demiurge (“a being sometimes seen as the creator of evil”). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hebdomad
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
I would be disappointed if everything I saw turned out to be something Western Electric will build once Bell Labs works the bugs out. There ought to be some magic, somewhere, just for flavor. --Glory Road https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Glory_Road