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To: aculeus

Ya mean Hannibal's elephants didn't have to use snow shovels?


9 posted on 06/18/2005 5:42:34 AM PDT by Socratic (Honor the Liberator - He toils for you.)
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To: Socratic
On the third day he captured a Gallic town and provided the army from its stores with rations for two or three days.
Harassed by the daytime attentions of the Gauls from the heights and mistrusting the loyalty of his Gallic guides, Hannibal bivouacked on a large bare rock to cover the passage by night of his horses and pack animals in the gorge below.
Snow was falling on the summit of the pass, making the descent even more treacherous.
Upon the hardened ice of the previous year's fall, the soldiers and animals alike slid and foundered in the fresh snow.

A landslide blocked the narrow track, and the army was held up for one day while it was cleared. Finally on the 15th day, after a journey of five months from Cartagena, with 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and only a few of the original 38 elephants, Hannibal descended into Italy, having surmounted the difficulties of climate and terrain, the guerrilla tactics of inaccessible tribes, and the major difficulty of commanding a body of men diverse in race and language under conditions to which they were ill fitted. Hannibal was subsequently able to increase the size of his army to about 30,000 by recruiting Gauls.

Hannibal - Punic Wars

40 posted on 06/18/2005 9:09:35 PM PDT by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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