War Elephants (New Vanguard Book 150)

I have always been fascinated by war elephants. The fact that ancient civilizations used elephants as frontline shock troops is nothing short of incredible. And not only did the ancients use elephants as combatants, in many cases the elephants won their battles for them. Despite the obvious importance of this unique “weapon,” relatively little has been written about the actual role war elephants played in ancient armies (but see Kistler’s book also titled War Elephants).Nossov’s book sheds a shining light on War Elephants. He describes the different species of elephants, talks about how elephants were captured and trained (they were rarely bred in captivity), and describes the use of elephants in different ancient armies. The armies covered include those of Alexander’s successors, Pyrrhus of Epirus, Carthage, Rome, and southeast Asian countries. What emerges is the picture of a useful, but not necessarily dominant weapon system. Elephants were difficult and expensive to employ and didn’t always help their armies the way that was hoped. In some cases, the unpredictable nature of elephants actually ended up aiding the enemy more so than the owner’s army.The only short comings of the book were: 1) because the information was arranged thematically (e.g., the uses of elephants by different armies) rather than chronologically, it was hard to follow the evolution of elephant warfare. Instead, the information came across as an assortment of randomly assembled facts, 2) A minor issue, but some of the word choice was odd. Perhaps Nossov is not a native English speaker? If so, this wasn’t a problem in War Elephants. Everything was very clear. There were just some odd phrases that seemed strange and out of place.I would strongly recommend War Elephants to anyone interested in ancient warfare and those looking to learn more about this interesting and unique fighting animal.

The elephant was, along with the horse and the camel, the only animal that commonly played a role in ancient and medieval warfare, and it remains the only animal whose personal performance can influence the course of a battle. For centuries the elephant corps of India and southeast Asia formed the vanguard of their armies, while elephants appeared as something of an exotic terror unit in the contemporary armies of Rome, Carthage, and the Diadochi. The effect that these huge beasts had on morale was enormous, and many had been brutalized into being as ferocious as the imaginations of their enemies made them out to be. This book, a classic amongst Osprey books, is an excellent history of the role the elephant has played in man's conflicts over the course of over two-thousand years, and details the `recruitment', training, and armament of these `living tanks'.The author breaks the book down by nation, focusing on the elephants of India, the Successors, Pyrrhus of Epirus, the Carthaginians, the Romans, the southeast Asia states like Burma and the Khmer, and then a miscellaneous list of nations that are known to have used elephants one time or another - including Iron Age China and Sassanid Persia. In each of these sections he reveals the role the elephant corps of these respective nations and peoples played in their history and major battles. Then he tackles what little is often known of the armor worn by their elephants and the number of and kind of soldiers they had to carry. Some elephants got off easy - carrying one or two men bareback - while the largest of Indian war elephants found themselves carrying up to twelve men in howdahs. The author concludes the book by discussing the tactical ups and downs of using elephants in battle, including some brutal anti-elephant tricks used throughout history.Nossov makes a point of differentiating between the breeds of elephant used for war. The Indian elephant was the larger of the two and also tended to be more aggressive, and more desirable for rulers seeking to obtain elephants for war. The forest elephant of northern Africa, driven to extinction by Roman hunters in the 3rd Century AD, was smaller than the Indian elephant by a significant margin, carried lighter loads, and was not as combative. This latter type has gone down in history as the breed that Hannibal Barca brought across the Alps with his Carthaginian Army, though they saw little service against the Romans as all but one of them died, possibly due to disease, shortly after the arrival in Italy.Also discussed in the book's earlier pages are the various methods the ancients used to capture wild elephants - who were then starved to make them easier to train, and were forced to watch other animals be slaughtered so that they would get used to the sight of blood and killing. It was hard, if not impossible, to make a good war elephant out of a domesticated animal - domestic elephants were both extremely expensive to take care of in great numbers and also tended to have a more mild disposition; tamed elephants who were `drafted' into military service were likely to bolt at the first sight of blood and the sound of clanging weapons - as the hapless Roman emperor Didius Julianus learned in AD 193 when he attempted to use some circus elephants to make his green army look more threatening to that of his rival Septimius Severus.Elephants, then as now, were highly unpredictable animals who were not unknown to refuse battle with the enemy, or to go to the other extreme and attack any living thing without recognizing `sides'. Classical records mention elephants killing their own riders in their rage, and subsequently killing themselves in their grief - elephants are extremely intelligent and sociable animals who bond with their keepers. The fickle `emotions' of elephants, even single individuals, could decide the outcome of battles. It is rumored that Pyrrhus of Epirus lost Maleventum (275 BC) because of the havoc caused by a single female elephant who was distressed for the sake of her calf - after this incident it became something of a taboo to use female elephants in war.This book's rich text is a goldmine of information presented in a highly readable fashion, but the many photographs, illustrations, and color plates are the icing on the cake. Especially enjoyable are the brilliant color plates by Peter Dennis, depicting typical Indian war elephants, Hannibal's elephants at Zama, Burmese elephants at Ayutthaya, and, most interestingly, the clash between the rival Seleucid and Ptolemaic elephants at the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC. In this battle, one of the great battles in the Wars of the Successors, Antiochus' superior Indian elephants smashed the forest elephants of his Graeco-Egyptian enemies and secured the right flank for the Seleucid Army - but then Antiochus committed the cardinal sin of ancient warfare - so caught up in the pursuit of fleeing enemies, his cavalry and elephants abandoned his infantry, who were cut to pieces by the Egyptians. This battle is one of the few well-documented elephant battles (and the only one from the Classical World) in which the elephants of the respective armies fought each other, and this must have made an awesome and terrifying spectacle for their human comrades.This is probably on the best and most interesting Osprey books I have ever read, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in ancient and medieval warfare, especially the role played in it by the largest animals tamed by man.

The author is a Russian historian expert on Russian history - this is an unusual shift into study of elephants in warfare. It has all the usual excellent Osprey features including illustrations and text. Scullard and others wrote about war elephants in classical - Greek and Roman - warfare - this book expands the subject very well

A subject not much covered about anywhere. This books talks about the animal and it character during training and where each type of elephant came from either asia or africa. Very interseting to see a few armies use such an animal and the reason why the decline in such animals is also covered. Very intersting book

Great book covering the history of elephant warfare. I really liked that the book touches on civilizations that are not typically associated with the use of elephants. The comparisons between Indian and African Elephants was informative. I would have liked more information on the use of elephants during the Mauryan Empire.

Outstanding book on this subject. There are few illustrated books about war elephants. I have 25mm elephants to paint for other people, this will be a great help.

A book on some thing that has not been done like this

I bought it for my father, a retired marine corps colonel He loved it

This is a well written and informative book. As a wargamer for more than 30 years, I found that it told me everything I needed to know about elephants in warfare. The section on elephants in Roman warfare was interesting, as the writers I have read recently on Roman Warfare have ignored them completely - apparently they were extensively used, and made an important contribution to the battles of Cynoscephalae and Pydna; "The honour of achieving victory is usually ascribed to the superiority of mobile Roman legions over an inert Macedonian phalanx. Yet it is forgotten that none other than elephants gained the Romans victory on the flanks in both battles - without them final victory could not have been achieved". Caesar also had at least one elephant with him in Britain. Highly recommended.Contents:Introduction - p4The Elephant - p5.Types of elephant and their peculiarities.Catching elephants.Taming and trainingIndian War Elephants - p10.Historical outline.Equipment and armament.The crewWar Elephants of Alexander's Successors - p19.Historical outline; equipment, armament and crewWar Elephants of Pyrrhus of Epirus - p24.Historical outline; equipment, armament and crewCarthaginian War Elephants - p26.Historical outline; equipment, armament and crewWar Elephants in the Roman Army - p30.Historical outline; equipment, armament and crewWar Elephants in South East Asia - p32.Historical outline; equipment, armament and crewWar Elephants Elsewhere - p35.Historical outline; equipment, armament and crewWar Elephants in Action - p39.The functions, merits and demerits of war elephants.Deployment of elephants on a battlefield.Countermeasures against elephantsConclusion - p44Glossary, Bibliography, Further Reading - p45Index - p48Colour plates:A: Ancient Indian War Elephants.1. Armed driver with three crew2. Armoured elephant with archer and standard bearerB: Medieval Indian War Elephants.Two armoured elephants attacking a castle; one elephant attacks the gate, one pulls down the merlons from the wall; elephants with towers in the background giving covering fire.C: War Elephants of the Great Mughals, India, 16th -18th centuries. Two armoured elephants.D: Indian War Elephants of Antiochus III and African War Elephants of Ptolemy IV in the Battle of Raphia, 217 BC. A spectacular big battle sequence of armoured Indian elephants versus the smaller unarmoured forest elephants.E: Carthaginian War Elephants at the Battle of Zama, 202 BC. A ¾ bird's-eye view of elephants, harassed by Roman light infantry, panicking and running for the `elephant lanes' in the Roman ranks.F: Battle between the Thai and Burmese armies at the Walls of Ayutthaya, 1549. A spectacular 2-page scene.G: War Elephants of South East Asia, 19th century. Burmese elephants, in the background elephants with basket howdahs fitted with `jingalls' - swivel guns; foreground, elephant with tower housing musketeer, with light infantry supportsWith many colour and monochrome illustrations, this is an interesting, comprehensive and readable account of the war elephant.

It has all of the details you would expect on this topic with very informative sections replete with technical vocabulary like caparison, howdah and castle. The differentiation between African and Indian elephant cavalry traditions and the insight into the training regimes of these animals made for a very rewarding read.

Great art work , up to the minute subject matter, as always from osprey. Would reccomend all the Osprey series

Interesting little book that takes you through the history of the War Elefant.From types of Elefant over capture, taming and training to the famous battles these behemoths took part to shape.Plates very well done. Osprey trying to better themselves with this number.Over priced for what you get though as always.