The Carthaginians were led by a general named Hamilcar whose oldest son, born in 247 BC, would go on to become one of the most famous generals in the history of the world. His name was Hannibal — a name that means “Joy of Baal” (remember the ancient Canaanite god?). Hannibal’s military strategies and tactics were way ahead of their time — in fact they’re written about and studied to this very day.

At the age of nine, Hannibal’s father made him swear an oath with the blood of a sacrificed animal, that he would never forget that Rome was his enemy for life. This formed a hatred for Rome, in the young Hannibal, that consumed him for the rest of his life. At the age of 26, he assembled his first army — a group of professional soldiers-for-hire called mercenaries. These warriors became fiercely devoted to their leader — a devotion that would be a valuable asset for Hannibal as he would soon lead them on a journey that would go down in history as one of the most ambitious military expeditions ever attempted.

Before setting off, Hannibal added another asset to his arsenal — war elephants. Hannibal had two kinds of war elephants — Indian elephants and small northern Africa woodland elephants called “Forest Elephants”. Distinct features of both can even be seen on ancient coins that were minted during this era. The African elephants were ridden bare back, but the much larger Indian elephants were fitted with platforms on their backs called “castles” which contained archers with deadly aim. The sight of these massive war machines struck paralyzing fear into the hearts of the army. (If you’ve seen The Lord of the Rings, this is where the idea came from). It was the ancient version of shock and awe!

Then, beginning from his outpost in Spain, Hannibal embarked on his warpath to Rome. But instead of the traditional approach by sea, he did the unthinkable. To say that Hannibal took “the long way” around, is an understatement. His plan was to move all 90,000 foot soldiers, 12,000 horsemen (and of course his elephants) through Spain, north through France and east over the treacherous Alps and invade northern Italy by surprise.

One of Hannibal’s first great challenges was crossing the Rhone River. Try getting a cranky and skittish elephant to get on a small raft without panicking! But with his usual brilliance, Hannibal ordered long piers to be built jutting out into the river. He covered the piers with dirt to make the elephant think it was dry ground, with the last part of the pier designed to be cut away as a raft. Not a bad idea! …so long as the elephant could be kept calm for the ride. Now a few elephants did panic and stampede but Hannibal was able to get every elephant across without losing any of them.

The real fun began when Hannibal and his army reached the mountains. The Alps were virtually impassable with no roads and sometimes not even a narrow footpath. Not exactly the best conditions for an army expedition with thousands of men and animals. They were plagued by hostile encounters from fierce mountain tribes. Then they were hit with severe storms and freezing temperatures — all the while traversing precarious high-altitude passageways — some of which had to be carved out right of the mountain.

Not only was weather and altitude a problem. It wasn’t long before starvation and sickness began to take their toll claiming even more lives. But after a grueling 15 days, Hannibal finally reached the other side of the Alps. Historians’ accounts of how many of Hannibal’s men died while crossing the Alps varies, but the range is staggering. Between 20 to 36 thousand men were lost during the perilous journey. That’s an average of up to 2400 men per day! You can see why no one had ever attempted such an exploit before. But Hannibal, despite unthinkable odds, never gave up accomplishing what most men thought was impossible.