6622. HANNIBAL CROSSED THE ALPS

HANNIBAL CROSSED 

THE ALPS

When Hannibal crossed the Alps, he had the

radio on all the time  -  tuned to WALP, he

mostly listened to weather reports and such.

But oh those elephants  -  they could withstand 

most anything. It was the men who caused him

grief. Desertion. Revolt. Insubordination. He

couldn't even keep the cooks, quite often. And

then he spoke "I will bury you bastards in your

own pajamas. you'll be dead right where I find

you." 22BC was a most propitious time. He left 

with tens of thousands of infantry, and 37 elephants, 

marching June through October. Reaching the 

Rhone River then, he decided not to stop, but 

marched on some more  -  the harder, Alpine 

route into Italy. With ice and snow in the high

passes, and landslides in the low,  everything

was complicated quickly. By November he'd

lost most of his army to desertion. But the 

best had stayed, and the elephants too. His

army inflicted a crushing defeat on the larger

Roman force. The next Winter was devastating,

and only one of the poor elephants lived into

the year 217. "With all this mist, it seemed as

if we were sitting low in the clouds, all of us

alike, crowded together. The mist hid the

hills surrounding us. We surprised again the

Roman Army, and left 10,000 of them dead

at the water's edge, the consul Flaminius

among them. I am Liberator of the

Italian cities all."