a. The opposers would spook the elephants so that they would stampede backward over the advancing army.
The Romans used lots of different tactics against the War Elephants that Hannibal used. These include, but are not limited to:
- Use of spikes: These can be made from wooden or other materials. They are made so that the pointed side is facing upwards, and would skewer the elephant's foot when it stepped on it, leading to stampede, and later disorder of the army.
- Land: The Romans, after they found out how Hannibal's plan, used a different approach, such as choosing lands that are easier to defend against the elephants, as well as maintaining strategic points to easily deflect war elephant attacks.
These are just a few other ways that the Romans used to defeat Hannibals war elephants.
hope this helps
