Quote Originally Posted by Elmar Bijlsma View Post
But to my knowledge oxen were not uncommon for heavy siege artillery. If you want something truly heavy to be moved, it's hard to beat oxen.
They might have been used on some occasions. But David Chandler has tables for equipment and number of animals used for artillery/siege trains (late 17th to mid 18th century) and only horses are mentioned. Late 17th century French supply services were handled by horse carts as mentioned by John A Lynn. Christopher Duffy's books on the Prussian and Austrian armies of the SYW only mentions horses for both artillery and logistics, even providing tables with number of wagons and horses hired for each year in the war. Mules could be used as pack animals in mountainous areas.

Oxen were used in the AWI but when I can find actual numbers it still seems horses were used more.

I know next to nothing about what happened in India but just going through some of the battles there seems to have been numerous cavalry involved. But from what I can find yes oxen were used in transport roles.

Now I admit I don't know that much about the advantages and disadvantages with the different animals but it is my understanding that oxen are rather slow and cannot work that long (and overheating easily because of lack of sweat glands)

It does seem oxen are better at living on grass only compared to mules and horses that need grain to sustain their weight. Mules are a bit slower than horses but more durable so less losses during a campaign.


CBR