War elephant
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A war elephant is an elephant that was trained for battle. People guided them into battle. Elephants were mainly used as shock tactics to charge against the enemy, trample them, and break their lines.
War elephants were first used in India, but their use spread to other regions. Pyrrhus of Epirus used many of them, and so did the armies of Carthage. Hannibal crossed the Alps with a number of war elephants and marched against Rome.
In the west, military tactics soon changed, and reduced the value of a war elephant. It was the use of cannons that made the war elephant useless in the 19th century. After that, elephants continued to be used for construction work.
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