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Was Hannibal's Reliance On Elephants In The Second Punic War

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Was Hannibal's Reliance On Elephants In The Second Punic War
Elephants in War:
Was Hannibal’s Reliance on Elephants in his armies Directly Related to the Fall of Carthage to Rome in the Second Punic War?

By: Cameron McCurdy

History
Saint John High school
February 23, 2014

Candidate: 000320 0014
Advisor: Ms Maryanne Lewell
Word Count: 3055
Abstract:
This essay, which examines all the available evidence for Hannibal 's use of elephants in the Second Punic War, refutes the contention that Hannibal was especially successful in his tactical use of the beasts. In addition, greater reliance on elephants and their many flaws would have hindered Hannibal in his lengthy campaign against Rome. The article also contends that Hannibal 's use of massed elephants at Zama highlights the degree to which he was accustomed to take chances in the field, and …show more content…
The Indians had a clear advantage with the sheer size of their army in comparison to Alexander the Great’s19 and their threatening cavalry, the elephants. This gave Porus, the Indian leader a false confidence which shows in his battle strategy as he charged his army in a single line with their elephants charging and disrupting the Greek phalanxes. This allowed Alexander the great to divide his cavalry into two flanks that would go to each side of the battlefield to be met be the lesser equipped chariots of the Indians. With Alexander the Great leaving his infantry in the center in phalanx formations, Porus saw this as the perfect chance to cause disruption amongst the Macedonians by charging his elephants straight the for the opponents infantry line20. This worked well for Porus as the elephants were “large, ferocious, great tusks for stabbing, huge feet for trampling, not to mention the javelin men and bowmen riding on board and. . . Alexander 's men had not faced anything like them
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