Not Another Military History Podcast · Jakob Sibley

War Elephants: A History, Episode 3: The Pyhrric War

·38 min·3 clips

Roman soldiers faced giant elephants for the first time, causing panic and a bloody rout at the Battle of Heraclea.

This episode explores the history of war elephants, focusing on their use in the Successor Wars and Pyrrhus' invasion of Italy. It covers how elephants were acquired, trained, and deployed in battles like Heraclea, leading to Roman innovations and the origin of 'Pyrrhic victory'. The discussion also touches on Carthage's elephant corps and sets up the Punic Wars.

As heard by us

A lively look at how armies improvised against war elephants.

The episode treats war elephants as a battlefield problem, not a curiosity, and it keeps that focus steady from the successor wars through Pyrrhus and the Romans.

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Why you'd press play

For a history of war elephants that ends with Rome improvising fast against them.

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