W WAR AND ANIMALS from which strategic assaults could be launched With their innate devotion to humans and superior physical senses, dogs have been one of the more easily exploited animals in military history The ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks depended on barking dogs to give early warning of approaching enemies Also common were heavy-set dogs trained to maim and kill Cloaked in armor and wearing collars studded with metal spikes, these Molosers would be unleashed on enemy infantry to tear out the throats and bellies of soldiers and horses The advantages of using dogs as weapons were not lost on later strategists, either Upon arriving in Jamaica in 1494, one of Christopher Columbus’ first acts was to unleash a large hound on a reception party of ceremonially painted natives, killing six of them within minutes Subsequent conquerors of the New World brought their own detachments of killer dogs, and easily routed every native community in Latin America Like dogs, pigeons have played a recurring role throughout centuries of warfare News of the conquest of Gaul (modern France and Belgium) in 56 bc by Caius Julius Caesar was dispatched to Rome via a homing pigeon with a papyrus message tied to one of its legs Similarly trained birds were also present at the battle of Waterloo in 1815, when Wellington used them to convey word of his overwhelming victory against Napoleon’s From elephants to pigeons, all manner of animals have been drawn into humanity’s wars, to be used as offensive and defensive forms of weaponry or to serve as couriers and, more recently, as disposable subjects for chemical and biological weapons experimentation Hannibal of Carthage used Indian elephants in his ambitious plan to defeat the Roman army on their home soil via a journey to Italy over the Alps in 215 bc With 50,000 foot soldiers as reinforcement, the elephants plowed into the Roman ranks like modern-day tanks, trampling the enemy and creating general chaos Horses were perhaps the most commonly employed of wartime animals because of their endurance, agility, and speed Among the first to launch a war using horses were the tribal Hyksos from modern day Turkey, who conquered Egypt around 2000 bc with horse-drawn chariots, from which their archers could deliver their arrows with deadly accuracy In 450 bc, Attila the Hun used horses with the addition of saddles and a new invention, the foot stirrup, which gave his warriors superior balance and leverage to accurately fire an arrow, swing a sword, or throw a spear Horses would continue in much this same capacity in the centuries to follow, serving as a mobile foundation 585