Hannibal Crosses The Carpathians
Posted on 01/08/2014 12:16:33 AM PST by lbryce
Hannibal Crosses The Carpathians
When did Hannibal cross the alps?
According to http://carpenoctem.tv/military/hannibal.html it was in 218 B.C.
Why did Hannibal take elephants to cross the alps?
Hannibal took elephants across the Alps as weapons of war against the Romans.
How many men crossed the alps with Hannibal?
50,000 infantry, 9,000 cavalry, and about 30 elephants when he first began the ascent.
How many elephants did Hannibal have before he crossed the alps?
Fifty
The elephants were more of a scare tactic than anything else.
When you consider what it takes to feed an elephant daily, and the fact that they just aren’t mountain-climbers....this was mostly a stupid idea. If you notice....no one after this event....ever tries to use elephants as a military threat again. I think they kinda learned a lesson from the episode.
Stinkbeetle?
Huh?
What did the Romans say when they saw Hannibal and his elephants?
Answer: ‘Here come Hannibal and his elephants!’
From: 101 Elephant Jokes
You're right. I misread the name. It's called a Stag Beetle. My apologies.
And that’s how they defeated. They laughed so hard they were easily disarmed, killed, taken prisoner.
Q-Why did Hannibal cross the Alps?
A-To get to the other side of course!
Sorry, couldn’t help it.
Interesting article.
There are several decent looking documentaries on the subject at YouTube. All are 45 mins or longer:
The True Story of HANNIBAL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJrShQRh8Ns
HANNIBAL - THE RISE AND FALL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VPkHytuyKQ
HANNIBAL: The Man, The Myth, The Mystery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DQgvvNvOvA
HANNIBAL - CARTHAGE vs ROME:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpIulQs807s
Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants, but none of the offspring surived.
Whatever happened to the Hannibal movie with Vin Diesel as the lead? Didn’t care for the casting, but I still would see it nonetheless.
Is Vin Diesel’s HANNIBAL THE CONQUEROR Trilogy Finally Moving Forward?
Carthago delenda est
Elephants were used successfully in India and SE Asia up until the end of the 19th century. They even mounted cannon on them and used them as mobile artillery.
“Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants, but none of the offspring survived.”
Yeah, travel is tough on a relationship...
On Hollywood Squares:
Peter Marshall: Which has a longer gestation period, your average woman or your average elephant?
George Gobel: How do you know about my elephant?
Note: Hannibal used African Elephants—somehow they learned to domesticate them. The modern world has forgotten this. If the African Elephants could be domesticated like the Indian/Asian they might be used to help Africa and not seen as tings to kill for ivory. Elephants are good against cavalry. Horses hate them and will not ride against them. Elephants were the Tiger Tanks of the Ancient World and gave the Romans fits for a while.
G. Julius Caesar fought war elephants at the Battle of Thapsus 6 April 46 BC.
Incorrect - Carthage continued their use through the end of the 3rd punic war, Armies of the the Indian subcontinent including the Burmese used through the 19th century (AD), last combat is typically attributed to the Vietnamese and siamese used them in the late 1880s/90s as cannons had increasingly made them less advantageous.
They were used for non-combat roles in WWII and were imperative in the retreat from Burma by the British.
From Wikipedia: “They are classed as a pack animal in a U.S. Special Forces field manual issued as recently as 2004, but their use by US personnel is discouraged because elephants are an endangered species.[56] The last recorded use of elephants in war occurred in 1987 when Iraq was alleged to have used them to transport heavy weaponry for use in Kirkuk.”
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