Crossing the Alps
Crossing the Alps
Oneof the most wonderful events related in history, is that of Hannibal’s crossing the Alps, with an army of many thousand men, about two thousand years ago.
At that period, Rome, a city of Italy, and Carthage, a city of Africa, were at war. Hannibal was the Carthaginian general, and, being in Spain with hisarmy, he determined to lead them into Italy. He, accordingly, crossed the Pyrenees and entered France, in his march. But now the Alps, the loftiest mountains in Europe, lay between him and Italy. They were not only many thousand feet in height, but their tops were covered with perpetual snow and ice. There were no roads over these cold and desolate regions, and no general had ever before thought of leading an army across them.
But Hannibal was a bold and enterprising man. He did not follow in the footsteps of those who had gone before, but struck out new paths for himself. He carefully examined the mountains, and, while he thus saw the difficulties, he felt sure that they could be overcome.
It must have been a strange and interesting sight to have seen the soldiers climbing up the steep, shaggy sides of the mountains, creeping along the dizzy edges of the precipices, crossing the dark and narrow ravines, and ascending and descending the steep and slippery glaciers. It must have been curious to have seen the elephants, of which there were several hundreds attached to the army, climbing over the lofty peaks of the mountains. It must have astonished the inhabitants of Italy to have seen the vast army, after crossing a barrier regarded as insurmountable, now pouring down upon their smiling plains like an overwhelming torrent, and spreading the terrors of war on every hand.
This achievement of Hannibal has ever been regarded as one of the wonders of history. A little more than forty years ago, Buonaparte, also, crossed the Alps with a large army; but he enjoyed many advantages not possessed by the Carthaginian hero. He had better equipments, tools and implements for his purpose, and possessed far more skilful engineers. His soldiers, also, were better fitted to aid in such an enterprise. The achievement, however, is esteemed one of the greatest exploits in the life of Napoleon.