Baron von steuben aided the patriots by teaching the soldiers four new strategies. these were:

What he taught them was to drill with muskets, march in step, switch ranks, and to fight professionally

the romans were initially interested in expansion via sicily (which at that time was a cultural melting pot), part of which lay under carthaginian control. at the start of the first punic war (264-241 bc), carthage was the dominant power of the western mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire