This article is about elephants trained for fight. For the album by Deer Tick, see War Elephant ( album )
elephant swords, besides called horn swords, from India, are pairs of blades particularly designed to be attached to elephant tusks. A war elephant was an elephant that was trained and guided by humans for fight. The war elephant ‘s chief use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks and instill panic and fear. Elephantry is a condition for specific military units using elephant-mounted troops. [ 1 ]
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War elephants played a critical function in respective key battles in ancientness, specially in Ancient India. While seeing restrict and periodic use in ancient China, they became a permanent fixture in armies of historical kingdoms in Southeast Asia. During classical ancientness they were besides used in ancient Persia and in the Mediterranean world within armies of Macedon, Hellenistic Greek states, the Roman Republic and belated Empire, and Carthage in North Africa. In some regions they maintained a firm bearing on the battlefield throughout the Middle Ages. however, their function declined with the gap of firearms and other gunpowder weaponry in early modern war. After this, war elephants became restricted to non-combat mastermind and british labour party roles, vitamin a well as being used for minor ceremonial uses. They continued to be used in fight, however, in some parts of the populace, such as in Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam, well into the nineteenth hundred .
Taming [edit ]
war of Lanka in the ancient Indian epic Ramayana, showing war elephants. A 17th-century word picture of the mythologicalin the ancient indian epic, showing war elephants. An elephant flight simulator, rider, or keeper is called a mahout. [ 2 ] Mahouts were responsible for capturing and handling elephants. To accomplish this, they utilize metal chains and a speciate bait called an ankus, or ‘elephant goad ‘. According to Chanakya as recorded in the Arthashastra, first the mahout would have to get the elephant used to being led. [ 3 ] The elephant would have learned how to raise its legs to help a rider rise on. then the elephants were taught to run and maneuver around obstacles, and travel in constitution. [ 3 ] These elephants would be suit to learn how to systematically trample and charge enemies. The first elephant species to be tamed was the asian elephant, for use in department of agriculture. elephant taming – not full domestication, as they are still captured in the wild, quite than being bred in enslavement – may have begun in any of three different places. The oldest evidence comes from the Indus Valley Civilization, around roughly 2000 BC. [ 4 ] Archaeological testify for the bearing of wild elephants in the Yellow River valley in Shang China ( 1600–1100 BC ) may suggest that they besides used elephants in war. The fantastic elephant populations of Mesopotamia and China declined quickly because of deforestation and homo population growth : by c. 850 BC the Mesopotamian elephants were extinct, and by c. 500 BC the chinese elephants were seriously reduced in numbers and limited to areas well south of the Yellow River. Capturing elephants from the wild remained a unmanageable tax, but a necessary one given the difficulties of breeding in enslavement and the long time required for an elephant to reach sufficient adulthood to engage in conflict. Sixty-year-old war elephants were always prized as being at the most desirable old age for battle serve and gifts of elephants of this historic period were seen as particularly generous. [ 6 ] Today an elephant is considered in its prime and at the stature of its power between the ages of 25 and 40, so far elephants a old as 80 are used in tiger hunts because they are more disciplined and experience. [ 7 ] It is normally thought that all war elephants were male because of males ‘ greater aggression, but it is preferably because a female elephant in battle will run from a male ; therefore merely males could be used in war, whereas female elephants were more normally used for logistics .
antiquity [edit ]
amerind subcontinent [edit ]
conjectural reconstruction of the main gate of Kusinagara used by war elephants circa 500 BC adapted from a easing at Sanchi. There is doubt as to when elephant war first started, but it is widely accepted that it began in ancient India. The early Vedic time period did not extensively specify the use of elephants in war. however, in the Ramayana, the king of Gods and chief Vedic deity Indra is depicted as riding either Airavata, a fabulous elephant, or on the divine horse, Uchchaihshravas, as his mounts. Elephants were widely utilized in war by the late Vedic time period by the sixth hundred BC. [ 7 ] The increase conscription of elephants in the military history of India coincides with the expansion of the Vedic Kingdoms into the Indo-Gangetic Plain suggesting its initiation during the intervene period. The practice of riding on elephants in peace and war was common among Aryans and non-Aryans, royalty or coarse, in the 6th or fifth century BC. [ 7 ] This practice is believed to be much older than proper record history. The ancient indian epics Ramayana and Mahābhārata, dating from 5th–4th hundred BC, elaborately picture elephant war. They are recognized as an essential component of royal and military processions. In ancient India, initially, the united states army was fourfold ( chaturanga ), consisting of infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. Kings and princes chiefly ride on chariots, which was considered the most royal, while rarely ride the back of elephants. [ 6 ] Although viewed as secondary coil to chariots by royalty, elephants were the prefer vehicle of warriors, particularly the elite ones. While the chariots finally fell into neglect, the other three arms continued to be valued. [ 11 ] many characters in the epic Mahābhārata were trained in the art. According to the rules of engagement set for the Kurukshetra War two men were to duel utilizing the same weapon and backing including elephants. In the Mahābhārata the akshauhini conflict formation consists of a ratio of 1 chariot : 1 elephant : 3 cavalry : 5 infantry soldiers. many characters in the Mahābhārata were described as skilled in the art of elephant war e.g. Duryodhana rides an elephant into struggle to bolster the demoralize Kaurava united states army. Scriptures like the Nikāya and Vinaya Pitaka assign elephants in their proper place in the administration of an army. [ 6 ] The Samyutta Nikaya additionally mentions the Gautama Buddha being visited by a ‘hatthāroho gāmaṇi ‘. He is the drumhead of a village community bound in concert by their profession as mercenary soldiers forming an elephant corporation. [ 6 ] ancient indian kings surely valued the elephant in war, some stating that an united states army without elephants is vitamin a despicable as a forest without a leo, a kingdom without a king, or as heroism unaided by weapons. The use of elephants further increased with the rise of the Mahajanapadas. King Bimbisara ( c. 543 BC ), who began the expansion of the Magadha kingdom, relied heavily on his war elephants. The Mahajanapadas would be conquered by the Nanda Empire under the reign of Mahapadma Nanda. Pliny the Elder and Plutarch besides estimated the Nanda Army force in the east as 200,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots, and 6,000 war elephants. Alexander the Great would come in reach with the Nanda Empire on the banks of the Beas River and was forced to return due to his army ‘s unwillingness to advance. flush if the numbers and art of these elephants were exaggerated by historic accounts, elephants were established hard as war machines in this period. Chandragupta Maurya ( 321–297 BC ), formed the Maurya Empire, the largest empire to exist in South Asia. At the height of his might, Chandragupta wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots and 9,000 war elephants besides followers and attendants. In the Mauryan Empire, the 30-member war office was made up of six boards. The sixth board looked after the elephants, and were headed by Gajadhyaksha. The gajadhyaksha was the superintendent of elephants and his qualifications. The use of elephants in the Maurya Empire as recorded by Chanakya in the Arthashastra. According to Chanakya ; catching, educate, and controlling war elephants was one of the most important skills taught by the military academies. [ 3 ] He advised Chandragupta to setup forested sanctuaries for the health of the elephants. Chanakya explicitly conveyed the importance of these sanctuaries. The Maurya Empire would reach its zenith under the reign of Ashoka, who used elephants extensively during his conquest. During the Kalinga War, Kalinga had a standing united states army of 60,000 infantry, 1000 cavalry and 700 war elephants. Kalinga was celebrated for the timbre of their war elephants which were prized by its neighbors for being stronger. [ 13 ] Later the King Kharavela would restore an mugwump Kalinga into a mighty kingdom use war elephants as stated in the Hathigumpha inscription or “ elephant Cave ” Inscriptions. Following indian accounts alien rulers would besides adopt the use of elephants .
Mallas defending the city of Kusinagara with war elephants, as depicted at Sanchi.[14] The Cholas of Tamil Nadu besides had a identical potent elephant force. The Chola emperor Rajendra Chola had an armored elephant storm, which played a major character in his campaigns .
Eastern Asia [edit ]
Elephants were used for war in China by a small handful of southern dynasties. The express of Chu used elephants in 506 BC against Wu by tying torches to their tails and sending them into the ranks of the enemy soldiers, but the try failed. In December 554 AD, the Liang dynasty used armor war elephants, carrying towers, against western Wei. They were defeated by a volley of arrows. The Southern Han dynasty is the alone state in taiwanese history to have kept a permanent wave corps of war elephants. These elephants were able to carry a column with some ten-spot people on their backs. They were used successfully during the Han invasion of Ma Chu in 948. In 970, the Song dynasty invaded Southern Han and their crossbowmen promptly routed the Han elephants on 23 January 971, during the assume of Shao. That was the last time elephants were used in Chinese war, although the Wanli Emperor ( r. 1572–1620 ) did keep a ruck of elephants capable of carrying a loom and eight men, which he showed to his guests in 1598. These elephants were credibly not native to China and were delivered to the Ming dynasty by Southeast asian countries such as Siam. [ 16 ] [ full citation needed ] During the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, the rebels used elephants against the Qing dynasty, but the Qing Bannermen shot them with so many arrows that they “ resembled porcupines ” and repelled the elephant care .
… the soldiers of the first column were attacked by the elephants. The flags of Major-general of the Guards, Walda of the Yellow Banner, and of Lieutenant Ulehi of the Manchu-Mongol cavalry were captured. As the elephants closed in on the encircle soldiers of the moment column, the arrows shot by all of my men [ into the elephants ’ hides ] looked like the quills of a porcupine. The elephants fled towards the hills [ but ] I was greatly dismay and had a strange feeling. The rebels withdrew from the plain and cleave into groups [ to hide ] in the thickly forest of the mountain. — Dzengseo
chinese armies faced off against war elephants in Southeast Asia, such as during the Sui–Lâm Ấp war ( 605 ), Lý–Song War ( 1075–1077 ), Ming–Mong Mao War ( 1386–1388 ), and Ming–Hồ War ( 1406–1407 ). In 605, the Champa kingdom of Lâm Ấp in what is now southerly Vietnam used elephants against the intrude on army of China ‘s Sui dynasty. The Sui army dig pits and lured the elephants into them and shot them with crossbows, causing the elephants to turn back and trample their own united states army. [ 19 ] In 1075, the Song defeated elephants deployed on the borderlands of Đại Việt during the Lý–Song War. The birdcall forces used scythed polearms to cut the elephants ‘ trunks, causing them to trample their own troops. During the Mong Mao political campaign, the elephants were routed by an categorization of gunpowder projectiles. In the war against the Hồ dynasty, Ming troops covered their horses with lion masks to scare the elephants and shot them with firearms. The elephants all trembled with fear and were wounded by the gun arrows, causing the Viet united states army to panic .
Achaemenid Persia, Macedonia and Hellenistic Greek states [edit ]
From India, military think on the use of war elephants spread westwards to the Persian Achaemenid Empire, where they were used in several campaigns. They in turn came to influence the crusade of Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia in Hellenistic Greece. The first confrontation between Europeans and the Persian war elephants occurred at Alexander ‘s Battle of Gaugamela ( 331 BC ), where the Persians deployed fifteen elephants. These elephants were placed at the centre of the irani lineage and made such an impression on Alexander ‘s army that he felt the want to sacrifice to the God of Fear the night before the battle – but according to some sources the elephants ultimately failed to deploy in the final battle owing to their long march the day before. Alexander won resoundingly at Gaugamela, but was deeply impressed by the enemy elephants and took these beginning fifteen into his own army, adding to their number during his capture of the respite of Persia .
This elephant and driver with a search howdah, including pistol, bows and a plunder are most likely from the Mughal Emperor ‘s stable. By the prison term Alexander reached the borders of India five years late, he had a substantial number of elephants under his own command. When it came to defeating Porus, who ruled in what is now Punjab, Pakistan, Alexander found himself facing a considerable force of between 85 and 100 war elephants [ 26 ] [ 27 ] at the Battle of the Hydaspes. Preferring stealth and mobility to sheer power, Alexander manoeuvered and engaged with precisely his infantry and cavalry, ultimately defeating Porus ‘ forces, including his elephant corps, albeit at some cost. Porus for his partially placed his elephants individually, at retentive intervals from each other, a unretentive distance in front of his main infantry credit line, in order to scare off macedonian cavalry attacks and aid his own infantry in their struggle against the phalanx. The elephants caused many losses with their tusks fitted with iron spikes or by lifting the enemies with their trunks and trampling them. [ 28 ] Arrian described the subsequent fight : “ [ W ] henever the beasts could wheel around, they rushed forth against the ranks of infantry and demolished the phalanx of the Macedonians, dense as it was. “ [ citation needed ] The Macedonians adopted the standard ancient tactic for fighting elephants, loosening their ranks to allow the elephants to pass through and assailing them with javelins as they tried to wheel around ; they managed to pierce the unarmored elephants ‘ legs. The panic and wounded elephants turned on the Indians themselves ; the mahouts were armed with poison rods to kill the beasts but were slain by javelins and archers. [ 28 ] [ 29 ] Looking far east again, however, Alexander could see that the kings of the Nanda Empire and Gangaridai could deploy between 3,000 and 6,000 war elephants. Such a force was many times larger than the numeral of elephants employed by the Persians and Greeks, which probably discouraged Alexander ‘s united states army and effectively halted their advance into India. [ 30 ] On his return, Alexander established a force out of elephants to guard his palace at Babylon, and created the post of elephantarch to lead his elephant units .
The successful military use of elephants spread foster. The successors to Alexander ‘s conglomerate, the Diadochi, used hundreds of indian elephants in their wars, with the Seleucid Empire being particularly noteworthy for their consumption of the animals, still being largely brought from India. indeed, the Seleucid–Mauryan war of 305–303 BC ended with the Seleucids ceding huge eastern territories in exchange for 500 war elephants – a small share of the Mauryan forces, which included up to 9000 elephants by some accounts. [ 32 ] The Seleucids put their new elephants to good function at the Battle of Ipsus four years late, where they blocked the render of the victorious Antigonid cavalry, allowing the latter ‘s phalanx to be isolated and defeated. The first practice of war elephants in Europe was made in 318 BC by Polyperchon, one of Alexander ‘s generals, when he besieged Megalopolis in the Peloponnesus during the wars of the Diadochi. He used 60 elephants brought from Asia with their mahouts. A veteran of Alexander ‘s army, named Damis, helped the besieged Megalopolitians to defend themselves against the elephants and finally Polyperchon was defeated. Those elephants were subsequently taken by Cassander and transported, partially by sea, to other battlefields in Greece. It is assumed that Cassander constructed the first base elephant transport ocean vessels. Some of the elephants died of starvation in 316 BC in the besiege city of Pydna in Macedonia. Others of Polyperchon ‘s elephants were used in diverse parts of Greece by Cassander. [ 33 ] Although the use of war elephants in the western Mediterranean is most excellently associated with the wars between Carthage and Roman Republic, the presentation of war elephants there was chiefly the result of an invasion by Hellenistic era Epirus across the Adriatic Sea. King Pyrrhus of Epirus brought twenty elephants to attack Roman Italy at the conflict of Heraclea in 280 BC, leaving some fifty dollar bill extra animals, on loanword from Ptolemaic Pharaoh Ptolemy II, on the mainland. The Romans were unprepared for fighting elephants, and the Epirot forces routed the Romans. The future year, the Epirots again deployed a like force of elephants, attacking the Romans at the battle of Asculum. This time the Romans came fix with flammable weapons and anti-elephant devices : these were ox-drawn wagons, equipped with farseeing spikes to wound the elephants, pots of fire to scare them, and accompanying screening troops who would hurl javelins at the elephants to drive them away. A final charge of Epirot elephants won the day again, but this time Pyrrhus had suffered very heavy casualties – a Pyrrhic victory. The Seleucid king Antiochus V Eupator, whose forefather and he vied with Ptolemaic Egypt ‘s ruler Ptolemy VI over the control of Syria, [ 34 ] invaded Judea in 161 BC with eighty elephants ( others say thirty-two ), some clad with armored breastplates, in an attempt to subdue the Jews who had sided with Ptolemy. In the result conflict, near certain cragged straights adjacent to Beth Zachariah, Eleazar the Hasmonaean attacked the largest of the elephants, piercing its bottom and bringing the elephant down upon himself. [ 35 ]
North Africa [edit ]
The Ptolemaic Egypt and the Punics began acquiring african elephants for the lapp function, as did Numidia and the Kingdom of Kush. The animal used was the north african elephant ( Loxodonta africana pharaohensis ) which would become extinct from overexploitation. [ citation needed ] These animals were smaller, harder to tame, and could not swim deep rivers compared to the asian elephants [ 28 ] used by the Seleucid Empire on the east of the Mediterranean region, particularly syrian elephants, [ 36 ] which stood 2.5–3.5 meters ( 8.2–11.5 foot ) at the shoulder. It is probable that at least some syrian elephants were traded afield. The front-runner, and possibly last survive, elephant of Hannibal ‘s cross of the Alps was an impressive animal named Surus ( “ the syrian ” ), which may have been of syrian stock, [ 37 ] though the attest remains equivocal. [ 38 ] Since the late 1940s, a strand of scholarship has argued that the African forest elephants used by Numidia, the Ptolemies and the military of Carthage did not carry howdah or turrets in combat, possibly owing to the physical failing of the species. [ 39 ] Some allusions to turrets in ancient literature are surely anachronic or poetic invention, but other references are less easily discounted. There is denotative contemporary testimony that the united states army of Juba I of Numidia included turreted elephants in 46 BC. [ 40 ] This is confirmed by the picture of a turreted african elephant used on the neologism of Juba II. [ 41 ] This besides appears to be the encase with Ptolemaic armies : Polybius reports that at the struggle of Raphia in 217 BC the elephants of Ptolemy IV carried turrets ; these elephants were significantly smaller than the asian elephants fielded by the Seleucids and therefore presumably african forest elephants. [ 42 ] There is besides testify that Carthaginian war elephants were furnished with turrets and howdahs in certain military context. [ 43 ] Farther south, tribes would have had access to the African savanna elephant ( Loxodonta africana oxyotis ). Although much larger than either the african forest elephant or the asian elephant, these proved unmanageable to tame for war purposes and were not used extensively. [ 44 ] Some asian elephants were traded westwards to the Mediterranean markets ; Pliny the Elder stated that the Sri Lankan elephants, for example, were larger, ferocious and better for war than local elephants. This superiority, ampere well as the proximity of the supply to seaports, made Sri Lanka ‘s elephants a lucrative deal commodity. [ 45 ] Sri Lankan history records indicate elephants were used as mounts for kings leading their men in the battlefield, [ 46 ] with individual mounts being recorded in history. The elephant Kandula was King Dutugamunu ‘s climb and Maha Pambata, ‘Big Rock ‘, the mount of King Ellalan during their historic meet on the battlefield in 200 BC, for exercise. [ 47 ]
possibly inspired by the victories of Pyrrhus of Epirus, Carthage developed its own use of war elephants and deployed them extensively during the First and Second Punic Wars. The performance of the carthaginian elephant corporation was rather mix, illustrating the necessitate for proper tactics to take advantage of the elephant ‘s strength and cover its weaknesses. At Adyss in 255 BC, the carthaginian elephants were ineffective due to the terrain, while at the battle of Panormus in 251 BC the Romans ‘ velites were able to terrify the carthaginian elephants being used unsupported, which fled from the plain. At the struggle of Tunis however the commission of the carthaginian elephants helped to disorder the legions, allowing the carthaginian phalanx to stand fast and defeat the Romans. During the Second Punic War, Hannibal famously led an army of war elephants across the Alps, although many of them perished in the harsh conditions. The surviving elephants were successfully used in the battle of Trebia, where they panicked the Roman cavalry and Gallic allies. The Romans finally develop effective anti-elephant tactics, leading to Hannibal ‘s defeat at his final battle of Zama in 202 BC ; his elephant charge, unlike the one at the conflict of Tunis, was ineffective because the disciplined Roman maniples merely made way for them to pass .
rome [edit ]
Rome brought back many elephants at the end of the Punic Wars, and used them in its campaigns for many years afterwards. The conquest of Greece saw many battles in which the Romans deploy war elephants, including the invasion of Macedonia in 199 BC, the battle of Cynoscephalae 197 BC, [ 48 ] the battle of Thermopylae, [ 49 ] and the battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, during which Antiochus III ‘s fifty-four elephants took on the Roman coerce of sixteen. In by and by years the Romans deployed twenty-two elephants at Pydna in 168 BC. [ 50 ] The function of the elephant force at Cynoscephalae was particularly critical, as their quick charge shattered the unformed macedonian left fly, allowing the Romans to encircle and destroy the triumphant macedonian right. A alike event besides occurred at Pydna. The Romans ‘ successful consumption of war elephants against the Macedonians might be considered ironic, given that it was Pyrrhus who inaugural taught them the military likely of elephants. Elephants besides featured throughout the Roman campaign against the Lusitanians and Celtiberians in Hispania. During the second Celtiberian War, Quintus Fulvius Nobilior was helped by ten elephants sent by king Masinissa of Numidia. He deployed them against the Celtiberian forces of Numantia, but a falling rock hit one of the elephants, which panicked and frightened the lie, turning them against the Roman forces. After the subsequent Celtiberian counterattack, the Romans were forced to withdraw. [ 51 ] Later, Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus marched against Viriathus with another ten-spot elephants sent by king Micipsa. however, the lusitanian style of ambushes in pin down terrains ensured his elephants did not play an important factor in the conflict, and Servilianus was finally defeated by Viriathus in the city of Erisana. [ 52 ]
excellently, the Romans used a war elephant in their first invasion of Britain, one ancient writer recording that “ Caesar had one big elephant, which was equipped with armor and carried archers and slingers in its loom. When this unknown creature entered the river, the Britons and their horses fled and the Roman army crossed over ” [ 53 ] – although he may have confused this incident with the function of a exchangeable war elephant in Claudius ‘ final seduction of Britain. At least one elephantine skeleton with flint weapons that has been found in England was initially misidentified as these elephants, but subsequently dating proved it to be a gigantic skeleton from the Stone Age. [ 54 ] In the African campaign of the Roman civil war of 49–45 BC, the army of Metellus Scipio used elephants against Caesar ‘s army at the conflict of Thapsus. Scipio trained his elephants before the battle by aligning the elephants in battlefront of slingers that would throw rocks at them, and another telephone line of slingers at the elephants ‘ rear to perform the same, in order to propel the elephants only in one guidance, preventing them turning their backs because of frontal attack and charging against his own lines, but the writer of De Bello Africano admits of the enormous feat and time required to accomplish this. [ 55 ] By the time of Claudius however, such animals were being used by the Romans in single numbers lone – the last significant practice of war elephants in the Mediterranean was against the Romans at the conflict of Thapsus, 46 BC, where Julius Caesar armed his fifth numerous ( Alaudae ) with axes and commanded his legionaries to strike at the elephant ‘s legs. The numerous withstood the charge, and the elephant became its symbol. Thapsus was the concluding meaning consumption of elephants in the West. [ 56 ] The remainder of the elephants seemed to have been thrown into panic by Caesar ‘s archers and slingers .
Parthia and Sassanian Persia [edit ]
The parthian Empire occasionally used war elephants in their battles against the Roman Empire [ citation needed ] but elephants were of substantial importance in the united states army of the subsequent Sassanid Empire. [ 57 ] The Sasanian war elephants are recorded in engagements against the Romans, such as during Julian ‘s invasion of Persia. other examples include the Battle of Vartanantz in 451 AD, at which the Sassanid elephants terrified the Armenians, and the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah of 636 AD, in which a unit of measurement of thirty-three elephants was used against the intrude on Arab Muslims, in which battle the war elephants proved to be “ double-edged sword ”. The Sassanid elephant corps held primacy amongst the Sassanid cavalry forces and was recruited from India. The elephant corps was under a particular headman, known as the Zend−hapet, literally meaning “ Commander of the Indians ”, either because the animals came from that nation, or because they were managed by natives of Hindustan. [ 58 ] The Sassanid elephant corps was never on the same scale as others further east, however, and after the fall of the Sassanid Empire the use of war elephants died out in the region .
Aksumite empire [edit ]
The Kingdom of Aksum in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea made use of war elephants in 525 AD during the invasion of the Himyarite Kingdom in the arabian peninsula. The war elephants used by the Aksumite army consisted of African savannah elephants, [ 59 ] [ full citation needed ] a importantly larger and more moody species of elephant. war elephants were again put to use by an Aksumite united states army in the class 570 in a military expedition against the Quraysh of Mecca. [ 60 ]
Middle Ages [edit ]
A Romanesque paint of a war elephant. Spain, 11th century The Kushan Empire conquered most of Northern India. The empire adopted war elephants when levying troops as they expanded into the amerind subcontinent. The Weilüe describes how the population of Eastern India ride elephants into struggle, but presently they provide military service and taxes to the Yuezhi ( Kushans ). The Hou Hanshu additionally describes the Kushan as acquiring riches including elephants as separate of their conquests. The emperor Kanishka assembled a capital army from his subject nations, including elephants from India. He planned on attacking the Tarim Kingdoms, and sent a vanguard of amerind troops led by white elephants. however, when crossing the Pamir Mountains the elephants and horses in the avant-garde were unwilling to advance. Kanishka is then said to have had a religious disclosure and rejected violence. [ 61 ] The Gupta Empire demonstrated across-the-board manipulation of elephants in war and greatly expanded under the reign of Samudragupta. Local squads which each consisted of one elephant, one chariot, three armed cavalrymen, and five foot soldiers protected Gupta villages from raids and revolts. In times of war, the squads joined together to form a potent royal army. The Gupta Empire employed ‘Mahapilupati ‘, a position as an officer in charge of elephants. Emperors such as Kumaragupta struck coins depicted as elephant riders and lion slayers. [ 62 ]
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Harsha established hegemony over most of North India. The Harshacharita composed by Bāṇabhaṭṭa describes the united states army under the rule of Harsha. much like the Gupta Empire, his military dwell of infantry, cavalry, and elephants. Harsha received war elephants as tribute and presents from vassals. Some elephants were besides obtained by forest rangers from the jungles. Elephants were additionally taken from get the better of armies. Bana additionally details the diet of the elephants, recording that they each consumed 600 pounds of fodder dwell of trees with mangos and sugarcanes. [ 63 ] The Chola dynasty and the western Chalukya Empire maintained a large act of war elephants in the 11th and twelfth century. [ 64 ] The war elephants of the Chola dynasty carried on their backs fighting towers which were filled with soldiers who would shoot arrows at long range. [ 65 ] The army of the Pala Empire was noted for its huge elephant corporation, with estimates ranging from 5,000 to 50,000. [ 66 ] In 1526, Babur, a descendant of Timur, invaded India and established the Mughal Empire. Babur introduced firearms and weapon into indian war. He destroyed the army of Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat and the army of Rana Sanga in 1527 at the Battle of Khanua. [ citation needed ] The big Moghul Emperor Akbar ( r. 1556–1605 AD ) had 32,000 elephants in his stables. Jahangir, ( reigned 1605–1627 A.D. ) was a bang-up connoisseur of elephants. He increased the number of elephants in avail. Jahangir was stated to have 113,000 elephants in captivity : 12,000 in active voice army avail, 1,000 to supply fodder to these animals, and another 100,000 elephants to carry courtiers, officials, attendants and baggage ( Lahiri Choudhury, 1988 ). King Rajasinghe I laid siege to the portuguese garrison at Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1558 with an united states army containing 2,200 elephants, used for logistics and siege work. [ 67 ] The Sri Lankans had continued their gallant traditions in capturing and training elephants from ancient times. The officer in appoint of the royal stables, including the capture of elephants, was called the Gajanayake Nilame, [ 67 ] while the post of Kuruve Lekham controlled the Kuruwe or elephant men. [ 67 ] The train of war elephants was the duty of the Kuruwe kin who came under their own Muhandiram, a Sri Lankan administrative post. In Islamic history there is a meaning event known as the ‘Am al-Fil ( Arabic : عَـام الـفـيـل, “ year of the Elephant “ ), approximately equating to 570 AD. At that time Abraha, the Christian ruler of Yemen, marched upon the Ka ‘ bah in Mecca, intending to demolish it. He had a bombastic army, which included one or more elephants ( adenine many as eight, in some accounts ). however, the ( single or lead ) elephant, whose list was ‘ Mahmud ‘, is said to have stopped at the limit around Mecca, and refused to enter – which was taken by both the Meccans and their Yemenite foes as a unplayful omen. According to Islamic tradition, it was in this class that Muhammad was born. [ 68 ] In the Middle Ages, elephants were rarely used in Europe. Charlemagne took his one elephant, Abul-Abbas, when he went to fight the Danes in 804, and the Crusades gave Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II the opportunity to capture an elephant in the Holy Land, the like animal later being used in the capture of Cremona in 1214, but the manipulation of these person animals was more symbolic than practical, particularly when contrasting food and water consumption of elephants in foreign lands and the harsh conditions of the crusades .
The Khmer united states army waged war with elephants against the Cham in the twelfth century. The Mongols faced war-elephants in Khorazm, Burma, Vietnam and India throughout the thirteenth century. [ 69 ] Despite their unsuccessful campaigns in Vietnam and India, the Mongols defeated the war elephants outside Samarkand by using catapults and mangonels, and during the Mongol invasions of Burma in 1277–1287 and 1300–1302 by showering arrows from their celebrated composite bows. [ 70 ] Genghis and Kublai both retained capture elephants as contribution of their cortege. [ 71 ] Another cardinal asian invader, Timur faced like challenges a century later. In 1398 Timur ‘s army faced more than one hundred indian elephants in struggle and about lost because of the fear they caused amongst his troops. historic accounts say that the Timurids ultimately won by employing an clever strategy : Timur tied flaming strew to the second of his camels before the blame. The smoke made the camels run ahead, scaring the elephants, who crushed their own troops in their efforts to retreat. Another report of the campaign reports that Timur used outsize caltrops to halt the elephants ‘ charge. [ 72 ] Later, the Timurid leader used the get animals against the Ottoman Empire .
In the Southeast Asia, the mighty Khmer Empire had come to regional laterality by the ninth century AD, drawing heavily on the use of war elephants. uniquely, the Khmer military deployed double cross-bows on the top of their elephants. With the crash of Khmer ability in the fifteenth hundred, the successor region powers of Burma ( nowadays Myanmar ) and Siam ( now Thailand ) besides adopted the widespread use of war elephants. In many battles of the time period it was the drill for leaders to fight each early personally on elephants. One celebrated battle occurred when the Burmese army attacked Siam ‘s Kingdom of Ayutthaya. The war was concluded when the Burmese crown prince Mingyi Swa was killed by siamese cat King Naresuan in personal combat on elephant in 1593. [ 73 ] Anyway, only the thai royal history account says there was a conventional elephant duel between Naresuan and Swa. Per Terwiel ‘s analysis of the ten accounts, Swa and Naresuan both fought on their war elephant in the struggle but no conventional duel probably ever took station. [ 74 ] In Thailand, the king or general tease on the elephant ‘s neck and carried ngaw, a long terminal with a saber at the end, plus a metallic hook for controlling the elephant. Sitting behind him on a howdah, was a signaler, who signalled by waving of a copulate of peacock feathers. Above the signaler was the chatras, consisting of increasingly stacked round canopies, the number signifying the rate of the rider. last, behind the signaler on the elephant ‘s back, was the helmsman, who steered via a long pole. The helmsman may have besides carried a brusque musket and a sword. [ 75 ] : 40–41
elephant troops ( “ tượng binh ” ) is an authoritative part of the vietnamese Nguyen dynasty army. The chinese continued to reject the use of war elephants throughout the period, with the luminary exception of the Southern Han during the tenth century AD – the “ only nation on chinese dirty ever to maintain a line of elephants as a regular function of its army ”. [ 76 ] This anomaly in Chinese war is explained by the geographic proximity and close cultural links of the southern Han to Southeast Asia. [ 76 ] The military officer who commanded these elephants was given the entitle “ Legate Digitant and Agitant of the gigantic Elephants ”. [ 77 ] Each elephant supported a wooden tugboat that could allegedly hold ten-spot or more men. [ 78 ] For a brief time, war elephants played a full of life function in Southern Han victories such as the invasion of Chu in 948 AD, [ 78 ] but the Southern Han elephant corps were ultimately soundly defeated at Shao in 971 AD, defeated by crossbow fire from troops of the Song Dynasty. [ 78 ] As one academic has put it, “ thereafter this alien insertion into chinese culture passed out of history, and the tactical habits of the North prevailed ”. [ 78 ] however, equally late as the Ming dynasty in as far north as Beijing, there were placid records of elephants being used in Chinese war, namely in 1449 where a vietnamese contingent of war elephants helped the Ming Dynasty defend the city from the Mongols. [ 79 ]
Modern era [edit ]
The elephant Battery in Peshawar. With the advent of gunpowder war in the late fifteenth century, the balance wheel of advantage for war elephants on the battlefield began to change. While muskets had limited impingement on elephants, which could withstand numerous volleys, [ 80 ] cannon fire was a different topic entirely – an animal could easily be knocked down by a individual shoot. With elephants distillery being used to carry commanders on the battlefield, they became even more tempt targets for enemy artillery. however, in southeast Asia the function of elephants on the battlefield continued up until the end of the nineteenth hundred. [ 81 ] One of the major difficulties in the region was terrain, and elephants could cross unmanageable terrain in many cases more easily than sawhorse cavalry. burmese forces used war elephants against the Chinese in the Sino-Burmese War where they routed the chinese cavalry. The Burmese used them again during the Battle of Danubyu during the foremost Anglo-Burmese War, where the elephants were well repulsed by Congreve rockets deployed by british forces. The thai Army continued use war elephants armed with jingals up until the Franco-Siamese War of 1893, while the Vietnamese used them in battle equally late as 1885, during the Sino-French War. During the mid to late nineteenth century, british forces in India possessed specialised elephant batteries to haul large siege weapon pieces over labor unsuitable for ox. [ 82 ] [ 83 ] [ 84 ] [ 85 ] Into the twentieth hundred, military elephants were used for non-combat purposes in the irregular World War, [ 86 ] peculiarly because the animals could perform tasks in regions that were baffling for motor vehicles. Sir William Slim, commander of the XIVth Army wrote about elephants in his introduction to Elephant Bill : “ They built hundreds of bridges for us, they helped to build and launch more ships for us than Helen always did for Greece. Without them our withdraw from Burma would have been even more arduous and our advance to its liberation slower and more difficult. ” [ 87 ] military elephants were used adenine deep as the Vietnam War. [ 88 ] Elephants are now more valuable to many armies in failing states for their bone than as transport, and many thousands of elephants have died during civil conflicts due to poaching. They are classed as a compact animal in a U.S. special Forces sphere manual issued deoxyadenosine monophosphate recently as 2004, but their habit by U.S. personnel is discouraged because elephants are endangered. [ 89 ] The last recorded use of elephants in war occurred in 1987 when Iraq was alleged to have used them to transport clayey weaponry for use in Kirkuk. [ citation needed ]
tactical use [edit ]
A scene from the 1857 amerind Rebellion ( note the sharpshooter on the elephant ). There were many military purposes for which elephants could be used. In struggle, war elephants were normally deployed in the center of the agate line, where they could be utilitarian to prevent a appoint or to conduct one of their own. Their sheer size and their terrify appearance made them valued heavy cavalry. [ 90 ] Off the battlefield they could carry heavy materiel, and with a top rush of approximately 30 km/h ( 20 miles per hour ) provided a utilitarian means of transport, before mechanize vehicles rendered them largely disused. [ 91 ]
The elephant Citranand attacking another, called Udiya, during the Mughal campaign against the rebel forces of Khan Zaman and Bahadur Khan in 1567 In addition to charging, elephants could provide a condom and static chopine for archers to shoot arrows in the center of the battlefield, from which more targets could be seen and engaged. The driver, called a mahout, was responsible for controlling the animal, who frequently besides carry weapons himself, like a chisel -blade and a hammer. Elephants were sometimes farther enhanced with their own weaponry and armor a well. In India and Sri Lanka, heavy iron chains with steel balls at the end were tied to their trunks, which the animals were trained to swirl menacingly and with great skill. numerous cultures designed specialized armor for elephants, like horn swords and a protective tugboat on their backs, called howdah. The late sixteenth hundred saw the introduction of culverins, jingals and rockets against elephants, innovations that would ultimately drive these animals out of active voice serve on the battlefield. [ 92 ] Besides the dawn of more effective means of transportation and weaponry, war elephants besides had clear tactical weaknesses that lead to their eventual retirement. After sustaining painful wounds, or when their driver was killed, elephants had the leaning to panic, often causing them to run amuck promiscuously, making casualties on either side. Experienced Roman infantrymen much tried to sever their trunks, causing moment distress, and hopefully leading the elephant to flee back into its own lines. Fast skirmishers armed with javelins were besides used by the Romans to drive them away, a well as flaming objects or a portly line of pikes, such as Triarii. other methods for disrupting elephant units in authoritative antiquity was the deployment of war pigs. ancient writers believed that elephants could be “ scared by the smallest squeal of a bull ”. [ 93 ] Some warlords however, interpreted this expression literally. At the siege of Megara during the Diadochi wars for model, the Megarians reportedly poured anoint on a herd of pigs, set them ablaze, and drove them towards the enemy ‘s mass war elephants, which subsequently bolted in terror. [ 94 ] The value of war elephants in battle remains a contested issue. In the nineteenth hundred, it was fashionable to contrast the western, Roman focus on infantry and discipline with the eastern, exotic use of war elephants that relied merely on fear to defeat their enemy. One writer commented that war elephants “ have been found to be skittish and easily alarmed by unfamiliar sounds and for this cause they were found prone to break ranks and flee ”. Nonetheless, the continued manipulation of war elephants for several thousand years attests to their enduring respect to the diachronic battlefield commander. [ citation needed ]
cultural bequest [edit ]
Elephants in manipulation by indian cavalry. The use of war elephants over the centuries has left a cryptic cultural bequest in many countries. many traditional war games incorporate war elephants. Chaturanga, the ancient Indian control panel game from which modern chess has gradually developed, calls its bishop Gaja, meaning elephant in Sanskrit ; it is calm called an elephant in chinese chess. besides in Arabic – and derived from it, in spanish – the bishop patch is called al-fil, Arabic for “ elephant ” ; in Russian, besides, the bishop piece is an elephant ( Слон ). In Bengali, the bishop is called hati, Bengali for “ elephant ”. In the japanese game shogi, there used to be a firearm known as the “ Drunken Elephant ” ; it was, however, dropped by arrange of the Emperor Go-Nara and no longer appears in the interpretation played in contemporary Japan. elephant armor, primitively designed for use in war, is nowadays normally only seen in museums. One peculiarly all right set of indian elephant armor is preserved at the Leeds Royal Armouries Museum, while indian museums across the sub-continent display other fine pieces. The architecture of India besides shows the deep impact of elephant war over the years. War elephants adorn many military gateways, such as those at Lohagarh Fort for exercise, while some spike, anti-elephant gates still remain, for model at Kumbhalgarh garrison. Across India, older gateways are constantly much higher than their european equivalents, in ordering to allow elephants with howdah to pass through underneath. War elephants besides remain a popular artistic trope, either in the Orientalist painting custom of the nineteenth hundred, or in literature following Tolkien, who popularised a fantastic rendition of war elephants in the form of ‘oliphaunts ‘ or mûmakil .
In democratic culture [edit ]
Hathi from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling is a erstwhile indian war elephant who pulled grave artillery for the british indian Army. Kala-Nag from Toomai of the Elephants performed similar duties during the first Anglo-Afghan War. [ 97 ] numerous strategy video games feature elephants as extra units, normally available lone to particular factions or requiring special resources. These include Age of Empires, [ 98 ] Celtic Kings: The Punic Wars, [ 99 ] the Civilization series, the Total War series, Imperator: Rome, and Crusader Kings III. In the 2004 film Alexander picture of the Battle of Hydaspes depicts war elephants fighting against the macedonian phalanx. [ citation needed ] In the 2017 video recording crippled Assassin’s Creed Origins, they are distributed around the map as boss fights. [ 100 ] [ 101 ] In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Mûmakil or Oliphaunts [ 102 ] are fictional giant star elephant-like creatures used by the Witch-King, Sauron and his Haradrim and the Orc army to fight against Theoden, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli, Legolas, the Hobbits, Merry and Pippin and his Rohan and the King and his army of the Dead in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and Minas Tirith. [ 103 ]
See besides [edit ]
Notes [edit ]
References [edit ]
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