LadyAnn
11-01-2003, 01:05
The domestication of elephants quickly introduces the large beasts to warfare. First, let's examine why some ethnic group used elephants and why others won't.
Geography
It is hard to breed elephants in captivity. Even in modern day, breeding elephants is quite rare. The best method of domestication is to capture young elephants and "break" and "tame" them. Therefore, only places where elephants are seen in the wild used elephants in warfare.
- North Africa: African elephants are abundant;
- Asia: From India to Burma, Laos and Vietnam, Asian elephants could be seen.
Advantage of elephants
- Elephants are large beasts, of height that could be twice as high as a man. It provides those sitting on top clear view and out of reach of those standing on the ground.
- It is hard to stop an elephant.
- Elephants would also terrify horses and men;
Disadvantage of elephants
- When elephant pannicks, they ran back or around and is a hazard to anyone standing close;
- Elephants pannick easily: when wounded, when hear too much of loud noises, see fire burning, strong smells.
- Elephants are slow.
- Elephants eat a lot.
Elephants in History
- Hannibal brought elephants in his invasion of Italian peninsula. "Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants" was the news of the day. However, it was not clear Hannibal used elephants at all in his victory over Romans. Some sources said the elephants were dead (for lack of proper food, as an elephant eat hundred pounds of vegetation a day), except a few.
- Alexander the Great saw Indians used elephants. In a key battle, the elephants were useless as they pannicked and ran away, but not before running over indian formations.
Elephants in India also play pschological role as well: as elephants are worshipped as an incarnation of a God, elephants in battlefield meant the God is on their side. Plus, nobles are carried around on elephants, a practice still used until very recently.
- Viet used elephants against Han in 40 AD.At first, the practice was a success. But when Han came back three years later for the Viet re-conquest, the Han put striped cloths over horses (to make them look like tigers) and made a lot of noises with fire crackers and gongs. Perhaps it was not a decisive factor (professionalism and armors/weapons were perhaps the decisive factors), but elephants were never reused again in warfare by Viet afterward.
- Laos and Champa used elephants against Viet, but Laos were defeated and were under Viet influences many times. Champa was slowly chipped away;
- The Khmer Kingdom (1300 AD) still saw widespread use of elephants. However, it was not known by this author how they used in warfare, if at all.
- Burmese used elephants against Mongol in 13th century, with not much of success.
In conclusion
Elephants could be a fun unit to use. Since it was once used in real warfare, I guess it was correct that elephants should be effective against lose formation and un-trained soldiers. The elephants disappeared on battlefield the way horses disappeared after internal combustion machine was invented. It was useful against a group of tribesmen, but when mass infantry with pointed spears and swords advanced on the elephant, it is no longer useful.
I would be upset if I see 16 units of elephants running around terrorized everyone.
Annie
Geography
It is hard to breed elephants in captivity. Even in modern day, breeding elephants is quite rare. The best method of domestication is to capture young elephants and "break" and "tame" them. Therefore, only places where elephants are seen in the wild used elephants in warfare.
- North Africa: African elephants are abundant;
- Asia: From India to Burma, Laos and Vietnam, Asian elephants could be seen.
Advantage of elephants
- Elephants are large beasts, of height that could be twice as high as a man. It provides those sitting on top clear view and out of reach of those standing on the ground.
- It is hard to stop an elephant.
- Elephants would also terrify horses and men;
Disadvantage of elephants
- When elephant pannicks, they ran back or around and is a hazard to anyone standing close;
- Elephants pannick easily: when wounded, when hear too much of loud noises, see fire burning, strong smells.
- Elephants are slow.
- Elephants eat a lot.
Elephants in History
- Hannibal brought elephants in his invasion of Italian peninsula. "Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants" was the news of the day. However, it was not clear Hannibal used elephants at all in his victory over Romans. Some sources said the elephants were dead (for lack of proper food, as an elephant eat hundred pounds of vegetation a day), except a few.
- Alexander the Great saw Indians used elephants. In a key battle, the elephants were useless as they pannicked and ran away, but not before running over indian formations.
Elephants in India also play pschological role as well: as elephants are worshipped as an incarnation of a God, elephants in battlefield meant the God is on their side. Plus, nobles are carried around on elephants, a practice still used until very recently.
- Viet used elephants against Han in 40 AD.At first, the practice was a success. But when Han came back three years later for the Viet re-conquest, the Han put striped cloths over horses (to make them look like tigers) and made a lot of noises with fire crackers and gongs. Perhaps it was not a decisive factor (professionalism and armors/weapons were perhaps the decisive factors), but elephants were never reused again in warfare by Viet afterward.
- Laos and Champa used elephants against Viet, but Laos were defeated and were under Viet influences many times. Champa was slowly chipped away;
- The Khmer Kingdom (1300 AD) still saw widespread use of elephants. However, it was not known by this author how they used in warfare, if at all.
- Burmese used elephants against Mongol in 13th century, with not much of success.
In conclusion
Elephants could be a fun unit to use. Since it was once used in real warfare, I guess it was correct that elephants should be effective against lose formation and un-trained soldiers. The elephants disappeared on battlefield the way horses disappeared after internal combustion machine was invented. It was useful against a group of tribesmen, but when mass infantry with pointed spears and swords advanced on the elephant, it is no longer useful.
I would be upset if I see 16 units of elephants running around terrorized everyone.
Annie