Indian fighting elephants: description, history and interesting facts

For a long time in the East fighting elephants were one of the arms. And these troops were very traditional and went into oblivion only with the arrival of a new time.

History of the appearance of battle elephants

For the first time fighting elephants were tamed for military use in India. And it happened a very long time, presumably in the first millennium before the new era. The Phoenicians, with the help of Hindus, tamed the animals inhabiting northern Africa. It should be noted that the elephants of the ancient armies belonged to the now extinct North African species. They were much smaller than the famous Indian animals. In general, it is difficult to imagine that on the back of the elephant was placed three-seat tower. Elephants were used in those times both for workers and for combat purposes. For military operations, the largest individuals were selected.

Who faced the elephants?

In ancient India, elephants were released against the cavalry, as horses are very afraid of large animals. The elephants were built in one line with an interval of thirty meters from each other. Following them in the intervals was the infantry. The whole structure looked like a wall with turrets. I must say that the animals were not protected by any adaptations. But they were richly decorated with all sorts of metal ornaments and red blankets.

And all the same, fighting elephants were very dangerous opponents. Under good circumstances, they could cause considerable damage to the enemy. But if the enemy himself turned out to be clever and clever, he could confuse the animals, and then chaos and chaos began. In this situation, elephants could trample each other. That is why the skill of driving and controlling this animal was highly appreciated. Indian princes certainly taught the basics.

Battle elephants of India

The elephant was a whole fighting unit of himself and three other people. One of the members of such a crew was a driver (in fact, a driver), the second - a gunner, and the third - an archer or thrower darts. The driver was on the animal's neck. But the arrows on the back hid in the shelter of light shields. The driver had to ensure that the enemy did not approach the animal from the flanks. The shooter led a throwing fight.

However, the main weapon was still an elephant. He himself was terrifying the enemy. In addition, the animals were able to trample people, killing powerful trunks and soul trunk.

Armament of animals

The main damaging factor in the elephant attack was the fear that animals were overtaking people with their appearance. Their huge power played a big role. Sometimes Indian war elephants armed with swords. However, giving them a trunk to hold cold steel was a very bad idea. Since the trunk is not a hand, animals could not cope with swords. But elephants used other weapons skillfully. On short tusks they were put on iron sharp points, thereby extending them. That's the kind of weapon animals used with great dexterity.

To the Hellenes, along with the elephants and their leaders, were tactics of constructing animals in battle, as well as fashion for their magnificent decoration. To all this ammunition, the Macedonians and Hellenes added a turret, covered with shields, for a crew armed with bows and spears. After the Hellenistic states disappeared under the blows of the Parthians and Romans, the Europeans almost never met on the battlefield with the battle elephants.

The use of war elephants in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, fighting elephants were used practically throughout Asia - from China to Iran, from India to Arabia. However, the tactics of their application gradually changed. In the era of the early Middle Ages, Indian and Persian war elephants made their way to the enemy by whole formations, then later, in the second millennium AD, animals rather played the role of mobile fortresses.

In the surviving descriptions of the battles of those times with the participation of elephants, there are no bloody scenes of massive elephant attacks. As a rule, elephants built a barrier line and released only the most critical moment for a short attack. Increasingly, combat elephants performed transport functions, carrying large propellers or riflemen. Such scenes are depicted in great detail on the reliefs of the twelfth century. There were elephants and a very honorable function.

The use of elephants as transport for noble commanders

All military leaders (Burmese, Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese), as a rule, sat on animals. But the Mongol khan, having conquered Korea in the thirteenth century, was seated in a turret, which was immediately on two elephants.

Of course, the elephant was very convenient for the commander, because from a height he could have surveyed the field far enough, and even he could be seen far away. In the case of failure in combat, a strong animal could easily carry its passenger out of the landfill of people and horses.

During this period, the equipment of elephants did not change at all, rather, it was an ornament, rather than a defense. And only in the sixteenth - eighteenth centuries the Indian masters began to make shells for animals, consisting of steel plates, connected by rings.

In Southeast Asia, they invented a special platform for the crew, and so the soldiers could not only sit on the back of the animal, but also stand. Muslim soldiers from Iran and Central Asia also built similar platforms, supplementing them with turrets with shields and even a canopy.

Disadvantages of battle elephants

I must say, as a fighting animal, an elephant had one very serious flaw. It was difficult for them to manage. Unlike horses, they did not want to blindly follow their superiors. An elephant is a reasonably intelligent animal. He will not jump into the abyss, like, for example, a horse for his leader. This intelligent animal will think hard before doing something.

The elephant obeyed the driver not out of fear, but rather from a friendly relationship. These animals do not have the concept of totalitarianism. In addition, each elephant was guided not only by the driver, but also by his own leader. Therefore, the animals fought quite deliberately, they distinguished, where their own, and where the strangers. But at the same time, these intelligent animals did not seek to risk unjustifiably.

They could effortlessly pass through the ranks of the infantry, but they did not do it without special need. It was very difficult to set the elephants on the infantry, if people did not part in front of them, then the animals just stopped, trying to somehow clear their way. It turns out that the fighting animals, rather, had an awesome effect, rather than causing real damage. There was no way to train elephants to fire or armed people.

It is believed that the Indian war elephants, whose history is interesting enough and unusual, attacked only from the desire to do something very pleasant to the driver, but they never had any fighting excitement. And, nevertheless, this desire did not imply to go to an unjustified risk, endangering himself or his rider. The elephants considered the best protection possible as soon as possible to take their driver away from danger.

There is evidence that before the battle the animals were given wine or beer, pepper or sugar for courage. Although, on the other hand, it is unlikely that this way could be influenced by the already unmanageable animal. Most likely, the combat merits of elephants are greatly exaggerated, but the fact of using animals for unusual purposes is interesting. Such ingenuity of man can not but delight.

How did they confront fighting elephants?

How long the fighting elephants were used as a military force, as long as the search for methods to counter them. In the Middle Ages all the same Hindus who lived in the Marwar region brought out a special breed of horses. Such an animal was used against combat elephants. There was such a fighting trick when fake trunks were worn on a fighting horse. Elephants took them for a little elephant and did not want to attack. Meanwhile the trained horses with their front hooves stood on the forehead of a large animal, and the rider killed a driver with a spear.

The Assyrians were not at all afraid of fighting animals, they developed their own technique of neutralizing them. A special breed of fighting dogs was brought out, which went out to the battlefield in armor. One such animal disarmed the rider on horseback, and three dogs could neutralize the elephant.

The Greeks in general very quickly learned to neutralize the mighty animals, cutting their trunks and tendons on their legs. So they completely disrupted them. The fact is that one wounded leg of an animal makes him completely lie on his stomach. And in this state it can finish, anyone. In order to avoid such injuries in Thailand, special soldiers guarded the legs of the animal. The role of such a fighter was taken by those who were not noble enough to fight on a horse, but smart enough to protect the animal.

Battle elephants of Hannibal

More than two thousand years ago, the famous commander (Carthaginian) Hannibal crossed the Alps with his army and invaded Italy. Interesting is the fact that his forces included elephants. True, the researchers are still arguing as to whether the animals were in real life or is just a beautiful legend. One of the questions is the origin of these animals from the Carthaginians. Presumably, these could be extinct elephants from North Africa at the moment.

In the records of historians, information about how Hannibal's troops sent elephants across the river was preserved. To do this, they built special rafts, rigidly fixing them on both sides of the shore. They poured earth to imitate the path, and drove the animals there. However, some animals were still frightened and fell into the water, but were saved thanks to long trunks.

In general, the transition was difficult for the animals, because it was difficult for them to walk, and in the mountains there was no necessary food. According to some reports, only one animal survived. However, this is unconfirmed data.

End of the fighting career of elephants

Very tightly fighting elephants had to in the time of the appearance of firearms. Since then they have turned into big live targets. Gradually they were used more as a traction force.

They finally stopped using them for military purposes since the Second World War. The airplane raids turned the animals into a heap of bloody meat. Perhaps the last in 1942 used elephants in Burma as part of the British troops. Since then, the animals have gone on a well-deserved rest.

Instead of an afterword

These heroic animals are reflected in the famous game "Battle for the throne." The battle elephant is immortalized in the form of an army unit. This idea came to the creators of the game, as it turns out, for good reason, because behind the shoulders of animals is really a serious military past.