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HANNIBAL’S ELEPHANTS “What do you get when you cross the Alps with an elephant?” Hannibal hoped that the answer was “Rome.” Elephants were the most spectacular, extravagant, and unpredictable element in ancient warfare. Since the Cme of Alexander the Great, HellenisCc kings and commanders had tried to use the great strength, size, and relaCve invulnerability of the animals to throw opposing infantry into confusion and flight. Elephants’ unusual smell and loud trumpeCng panicked horses not accustomed to the strange beasts, wreaking havoc with cavalry units. Mahouts, or drivers, who were usually Indians, controlled and directed the animal from a seat on the elephant’s neck. Normally each elephant carried a small, tower like structure from which archers could shoot down on the massed infantry. However, as with modern tanks, the primary importance of the beasts was the enormous shock effect created by a charge of massed war elephants. They made infantry afraid and they ran away. SCll, they oNen created more problems than they solved. Indian princes had used elephants in warfare for centuries. When Alexander the Great crossed the Indus in 326 B.C.E, the Indian king Porus came close to defeaCng the Greek conqueror, thanks largely to his more than 200 elephants. In 302 B.C.E, the HellenisCc king, Seleucus I, received 500 war elephants from an Indian king as part of a peace treaty. The next year the animals contributed greatly to Seleucus’s victory over AnCgonus at Ipsus, which made possible the creaCon of his separaCst kingdom in Syria. ThereaNer Seleucid kings used elephants as an integral part of their military and even aXempted, without much success, to breed elephants in Syria. The Ptolemys of Egypt, too, used elephants in Egypt, but lacking access to Indian animals, they had to be content with the smaller African forest elephant. (The great African bush elephant, the largest land animal and a far greater beast than either the forest or the Indian elephant, remained unknown to the Western world unCl the nineteenth century.) The Ptolemys sent large- scale hunCng parCes into Ethiopia to capture forest elephants. Captured animals were trained and driven by Indians. In baXles between Seleucids and Ptolemys, however, the larger Indian elephants usually brought victory. The Romans first experienced the terror of elephant charges in their war against Pyrrhus in the south of Italy. They next encountered them in the Punic Wars. The Carthaginians had learned to use elephants around the middle of the third century B.C.E., capturing them in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa and pung them to good use in Spain. When Hannibal decided to invade Italy via the Alps, he naturally wanted to take along the formidable beasts, which was easier said than done. In 217 B.C.E., Hannibal set out from Carthago Nova in Spain and some weeks later arrived at the Rhone River with an army that included roughly 38,000 infantry, 8000 cavalry, and 37 elephants. Ferrying the pachyderms across the river was a major undertaking, since the frightened animals refused to walk onto raNs. Finally, the Carthaginians lashed together a series of raNs, the first two on dry land, the others forming a pontoon into the river. The sides were piled with earth so that the elephants could not see that they were not walking on dry land. Their Indian mahouts led them a few at a Cme to the end raNs, which were then cut free and towed across the river by boats. Most of the animals, seeing water on all sides, remained terrified but sCll. Others panicked, upseng the raNs, falling into the river, and drowning their mahouts. Once in the water, however, most of the elephants were able to swim to the far shore. As difficult as the river crossing was, it paled in comparison to the problems of crossing the Alps. As Hannibal moved slowly up the valley of the Arc, his troops were under constant harassment from local CelCc tribes eager to ambush them on every occasion. From high up in the passes, the Celts showered down rocks, throwing the pack animals into confusion and causing them to hurl themselves off the narrow paths. Landslides carried away porCons of the track and, as Hannibal advanced, the path became too narrow for elephants and eventually even for horses and mules. Engineers had to rebuild paths, taking up valuable Cme. Great boulders had to be cleared away by heaCng them and them pouring vinegar into crevices to cause them to explode. At the top of the pass, new snow forced a three-day halt while a road wide enough for the elephants to descend was constructed down the more precipitous Italian side of the mountain. During this Cme the elephants were without fodder and suffered enormously. Finally, aNer 15 days, Hannibal’s depleted troops reached the ferCle plains of the Po River Valley. He had lost almost half of his infantry and cavalry since reaching the Rhone and more than half of his elephants. Was it worth it? In his first major encounter with the Romans at the Trebia River, Hannibal split his elephants into two groups to protect the wings of his infantry. The beasts were a major factor in the devastaCng defeat inflicted on the Romans. However, shortly aNerward, the cold and snow killed all but one of the animals. This lone survivor became Hannibal’s personal command post. The great Punic victories at Lake Trasimene and Cannae (Hannibal’s greatest victory where he destroyed two Roman Legions) were won without the assistance of the pachyderm shock force. In 207 B.C.E., Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal (d.207 B.C.E) entered Italy with ten elephants, but at the baXle of Metaurus they panicked, stampeded, and did more harm to the Carthaginians than to the Romans. The next Cme Hannibal faced a Roman army with his full conCngent of war elephants was at Zama. His last baXle and the only one he lost. There his 80 animals proved a biXer disappointment. Ordered to charge, many of the elephants panicked at the sound of trumpets and horns, wheeled about, and went raging into the massed African cavalry arrayed on the Punic side. Some elephants did charge, but with limited effect. The Romans had learned to take aim at the mahouts, killing them and leaving the animals without direcCon. The Romans also allowed the elephants to charge past, and then aXacked their flanks with javelins and their legs with swords. Finally, the Roman commander had taken the precauCon of leaving wide paths between his formaCons. Many of the animals simply charged down these paths and disappeared into the open fields beyond the Roman lines. The Romans themselves made liXle use of elephants in warfare. The exoCc beasts beXer suited the inflated egos of eastern kings than the pracCcal minds of Roman generals. The Romans preferred the disciplined advance of a well-trained cohort of Roman legionnaires to the charge of war elephant. It was with these steadfast and resolute infantrymen, rather than with raging elephants, that they won an empire. DEFINE THE FOLLOWING 1. The Alps 2. Spectacular 3. HellenisCc Kings 4. Pachyderm 5. Track DEFINE THE FOLLOWING AS THEY ARE IN THE READING 1. Mahouts 2. Shock Effect IDENTIFY THE FOLLOWING – TELL WHO/WHAT? AND WHY? 1. Hannibal 2. Seleucus I 3. Cartego Nova 4. The Celts 5. The Po 6. Cannae SHORT ANSWER – USE COMPLETE SENTENCES 1. Give two reasons that war elephants were thought to be such an important weapon on the ancient baXlefield 2. How did war elephants get to Europe? 3. Which is bigger? The African Bush Elephant, the African Forrest Elephant or the Indian Elephant 4 How did Hannibal get his elephants across the Rhone River ? 5. How did the organized Roman Ligoniers defeat Hannibal’s war elephants at the last Punic War baXle at Zama? .

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