Ad Astra - Scipio and Hannibal - Vol. 12 Ch. 75 - A Fateful Exchange
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Elephants scare horses and that could make their numidian cavalry rout. Elephants can also scare Roman infantry to those who have never fought one before. Is Hannibal's grand scheme is to just throw a bunch of elephants to Scipio's proud army and use his army to kill the ones who aren't shaken? Sounds too simple to be true.
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@Rosen_Ritter
that's exactly it.
with enough elephants spread over the battlefield (rather than focused on one wing like with Hasdrubal's battle), he can cause enough disquiet to both roman infantry and numidian cavalry.
and should they run amok, they will be too isolated to cause a dangerous stampede, but will still disrupt the enemy lines by their very presence and impede clock-work movements of a well-trained army like Scipio's. thus allowing the more numerically-superior side to take advantage of any gaps in formation.
that's exactly it.
with enough elephants spread over the battlefield (rather than focused on one wing like with Hasdrubal's battle), he can cause enough disquiet to both roman infantry and numidian cavalry.
and should they run amok, they will be too isolated to cause a dangerous stampede, but will still disrupt the enemy lines by their very presence and impede clock-work movements of a well-trained army like Scipio's. thus allowing the more numerically-superior side to take advantage of any gaps in formation.
As expected, straight to Zama. Not surprising at all but still, too bad though that the author couldn't fit in the original peace and betrayal. I always thought it was interesting/important that Scipio and Carthage originally agreed on a treaty with very generous terms, regardless of the total war damage Scipio talked about in this chapter. It was Carthage that then regained confidence and breached, after which only total surrender was acceptable. The author glosses over the omission as well as could be expected, but still a shame, the dynamic there would have made for an even better final face-to-face.
And yeah the plan to cause chaos to make use of numbers was interesting, but this also highlights how critical intelligence is and scouting vs deception, which in turn was another issue with elephants: they're big, and hard to hide.
And yeah the plan to cause chaos to make use of numbers was interesting, but this also highlights how critical intelligence is and scouting vs deception, which in turn was another issue with elephants: they're big, and hard to hide.
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@Raikin
recorded history states that Hannibal used elephants at Zama, as was the custom use by Carthaginian forces in North Africa, and sporadically in Sicily and Iberia.
you just forgot or missed that part.
here is next chapter raw
recorded history states that Hannibal used elephants at Zama, as was the custom use by Carthaginian forces in North Africa, and sporadically in Sicily and Iberia.
you just forgot or missed that part.
here is next chapter raw
https://loveheaven.net/read-ad-astra-scipio-to-hannibal-chapter-76.html
and for the fate of many of those elephants (but not all)
and for the fate of many of those elephants (but not all)
