Page 26 - All About History - Issue 26-15

Animals & Man

THE

Anatomy DISCIPLINE
of APRODUCTOFYEARSOFTRAINING

Trainingelephantswasnoeasytask.Mostelephants
used in battle were captured from the wild, as they
took much longer to reach the maturity suitable
forbattleifbredincaptivity.Thewildanimals
APERSIANWARELEPHANT consumed a massive amount of food and water and
tookyearstotrain.Traitorsofthearmyandother
criminalswereusedintraining–fortheelephantto
practise crushing and executing enemies.
THE ANCIENT WORLD’S HEAVY TANK, PERSIA, 331 BCE

SOLDIER
ADEADLYTE
HOWDAH Soldiers and r
accompanied
NOTJUSTFORROYALTY battle. There w
Warelephantswouldcarryalargewooden threeorfour
towerontheirbackknownasahowdah. satinthehow
Thistowerhousedthesoldiers,who rider, called a
would fight from the castle-like structure. control the an
Fighting from the howdah had both carry a blade
advantagesanddisadvantages–itplaced used to cut th
thesoldiersatahighheight,butitalso spinal cord if
dangerously exposed them to enemies.

HUGESIZE
PERFECT FOR INTIMIDATION
Although they were powerful weapons,
the most effective function of war
elephants was to strike fear into the
enemy. Alexander the Great was so
intimidatedwhenfacingthemforthefirst
timethatheofferedsacrificestothegod
offearbeforetheBattleofGaugamela.In
reality, war elephants were very unreliable
and skittish. Having them on the field was
a great risk for both armies, as they were
known to panic and run amok.

GENDER
THE RIGHT GENDER FOR THE RIGHT TASK
War elephants used in battles were
exclusively male. It is commonly believed
that this is because they were faster and
more aggressive, but this is incorrect.
Males were more suitable as any females
in battle would flee from males – a very
unreliable and dangerous trait on the
battlefield. Instead, female elephants were
used for logistics work and transportation.

ARMOUR
EVEN ELEPHANTS NEED PROTECTION
Although elephants boast thick skin
that makes them formidable enemies
on the battlefield, they were also further
protected. Usually elephants would be
clad in thin plate armour, and in some
©KevinMcGivern war elephants even carried blades on
cases chain mail was also used. Indian
their tusks to make them extra deadly.
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