How powerful was Elephant in real battle..?

[katank]

Indian eles are bigger and also easier to train IIRC.

the lord of rings stuff look more like wooly mammoths.

[lars573]

Ok i have to interject here. African bush elephants are the biggest elephants they are about half a meter taller than indian elephants on the average. I've heard it put this way a cow african bush elephant is a hair bigger than a bull indian elephant, although the term indian elephant is misleading as it is found all over south east asia from india all the way down to thailand and vietnam and into the indonesian islands. Elephants aren't now nor ever were bread in captivity, they just won't do the deed so to speak. This is because male elphants are the most disagreable ornery creatures you've ever met, well maybe not but they are generally solitary. Female elephants form social groups. And in lord of the rings those are oliphaunts . Peter Jackson did incorperate all the easy ways to dispatch elephants/oliphaunts, kill the mahout, wound it enough for it to go ape-shit, or just kill the animal itself. He didn't however put in the creative ways to get rid of them, that is using pigs. Pigs you say yes pigs, pigs that were covered in lamp oil set a-fire and pointed in the general direction of the elephants.

[Papewaio]

Considering the size of Oliphants you would have to dip dwarves in grease and set them alight to get the same size ratio and rage going...

[lars573]

Considering the size of Oliphants you would have to dip dwarves in grease and set them alight to get the same size ratio and rage going...

Nah horses would do the job up proper. But if PJ had put the flaming pig anti- oliphaunt trick in LOTR rings PETA would have had his ass in a sling right some quick.

[Shoraro]

Nice to hear the small African ele's are still going

Rome may not have used elephants for war, but they apparently didn't like other people using them. They were normally banned in peace treaties by the Republic and any kept despite this might be hamstrung by Roman weapon inspectors.

[Sociopsychoactive]

The elephant was a shock unit, almost exactly the same way heavy cavalry is. If you know what they will do and can prepare, they are near useless, if they catch you unawares and especially the first time you see them, they are devestating.

In battle itself, an elephant can be relied upon to do only one thing. Panic. Elephants can be trained to some extrent, and trained to charge, but never trained not to stamp on people in THAT unifiorm, while being allowed to stamp on people in THIS uniform.

Therefore, what an elephant will do in battle is run around alot stamping on things. Elephants can;t see very well, especially in broad daylight, so they will just pick out green and head for it, whether that be the forest or the generals command tent....

When nations got used to using elephants in abttle, especially smaller ones with the trainer actually directing it in combat, the trainer was provided with a chisel. He would drive this into the basde of the elephants skull if it ran amok or threatened freindly troops, killing it instantly.

As to LOTR, well, firs tof all they were Oiliphants, as said, and much larger and more agressive than anything real since the donosaurs. They did not show all the anti-elephant tactics however, and I'm not talking pigs.

Elephants have very soft, tender soles to their feet. It is like supple leather and not nearly as tough as the rest of their hide. Therefore one of the main anti-elephant tactics was to lay down Caltrops (small wooden devices with 4 or more spikes, so it always lands with a spike facing up). While elephants are exreamly strong they were therefore almost uselss in sieges, as the beasiged would just lay caltrops around vulnerable area's.

Romans found the best tactics to combat elephants were to take them down from a distance with ranged weapons, or kill the crew (or trainer) and then get the hell out of the way. Also, they do scare horses to some extent, but have vulnerable legs and cutting these with swords would force the elephant to the ground, without killing it.

Elephants are therefore not tanks, they are far to unreliable. once wounded an elephant will either panic or lie down, niether of which are usefull in battle. As to pigs, well, it wasn;t the fact that they were burning that scared the elephants, it was the noise. The squeel of a pig will send an elephant running in fear, like the smell of a camel is to horses. They set light to the pigs in order to ensure they would squeel loud and clearly, plus you get some crispy fried bacon out of it.

[Lonewarrior]

I found that the Elephants in the game only did a good inicial damage after their charge, later on, the troops that went down, basically got up again.

[Kali]

Elephants aren't now nor ever were bread in captivity, they just won't do the deed so to speak. This is because male elphants are the most disagreable ornery creatures you've ever met, well maybe not but they are generally solitary. Female elephants form social groups. .

Just interjecting because I've read this bit of info on several threads. Having spent some time on an Elephant breeding project in Chitwan National Park in Nepal and visited breeding projects in India and Thailand. I can say that Elephants, will and do breed in captivity. In fact male wild elephants have displayed a taste for bondage and visited there restrained female friends during the night.......(The females were on long tethers in open ground) Meaning we often didn't know who the father was. The male ele's in the sanctuary could barely be restrained when a female was in season, a site to put any man to shame. There were several babies to testify to the succes of the project.
ahhh, so cute,