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Hannibal ordered that these should instantly race down below the foliage line (2 miles below the summit of the Alps) [105] and should be allowed access to the pastures there. [104] However, Hannibal's remaining elephants, which were completely famished, were still unable to proceed along the path.
Several Roman writers give accounts of Surus, a large elephant with a tusk broken. According to Plautus, Surus wore a red cloth, and may also have carried a red shield and a howdah (a construction on the animal's back), which served as a platform for Hannibal, who had difficulties overlooking the battlefield after losing one eye from an infection.
Hannibal then ordered a charge against the Roman infantry by his 80 elephants, with the whole of his first two lines moving forward in support. [ 146 ] [ 147 ] The modern historian Jacob Edwards, in a study of Hannibal's use of elephants during the war, describes their deployment at Zama as "an ill-advised practice which departed from the ...
The use of elephants in the Maurya Empire as recorded by Chanakya in the Arthashastra. According to Chanakya; catching, training, and controlling war elephants was one of the most important skills taught by the military academies. [4] He advised Chandragupta to set up forested sanctuaries for the wellness of the elephants.
Hannibal did not know the size of the Roman army or its location, [190] even if his total force was at par two Roman consular armies (38,000 foot. 8,000 horse and 37 elephants against 46,000 foot and 4600 horse) [191] and he was vastly superior in the cavalry arm and was confident of victory, [192] however, his soldiers were tired from the ...
These were the famous war elephants used by Carthage in the Punic Wars, their conflict with the Roman Republic. Although the subspecies has been formally described, [3] [4] it has not been widely recognized by taxonomists. [2] [5] Other names for this animal include the North African forest elephant, [6] [7] Carthaginian elephant, [5] [8] and ...
Hannibal arrived with 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and an unknown number of war elephants – the survivors of the 37 with which he had left Iberia [19] [20] – in Cisalpine Gaul. The Romans had already withdrawn to their winter quarters and were astonished by Hannibal's appearance.
Hannibal avoided the coastal route, and took his army over the Alps. His march has been described by ancient historians Polybius and Livy. The route has been subject of long and inconclusive scholarly discourse. [1] In his 1955 book Alps and elephants: Hannibal's march, Gavin de Beer lists 12 possible candidates from 30 different books. [2]