War elephants were important, although not widespread,
weapons in ancient
military history. Their main use was in
charges, to trample the enemy and/or break their ranks. They were first employed in
India, where the elephant corps served as one of the four classical wings of the Indian Army.In the Hellenistic period of Greece, they were also used by the
Diadochi to protect against cavalry attack. Their most famous use in the West was by the armies of
Carthage, especially
Hannibal, who brought elephants with his army to
Spain and transported them over the
Pyrenee Mountains and
Alps into
Italy, where he campaigned against
Rome for several years. Eventually improved tactics and weapons such as the axe mitigated the value of the elephant in battle, as did decreasing contact with the East at the start of the 1st Millennium AD. However, it was the cannon which brought the combat elephant to an end, war elephants being limited to engineer and labour roles.
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