Flaming Pigs and Anti-Elephant Tactics DOCUMENTARY
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- čas přidán 24. 06. 2020
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This history documentary covers the anti war elephant tactics used in antiquity. We cover a broad swath of ancient warfare and battles which is summarized into sections on ranged weapons, traps, formations, sights/sounds/smells, and specialist units like flaming pigs.
Each section includes specific examples plucked from greek, persian, or roman history to name just a few. This includes mention of the battle of Zama, the battle of Thapsus, the battle of Asculum, the battle of Gaza, and the siege of Megara.
Some of the most interesting and novel tactics was the practice of setting animals on fire to scare the war elephants. Flaming pigs for instance were used by the Greeks at the siege of Megara and possibly the Roman army at the battle of Maleventum against the war elephants of Pyrrhus of Epirus. These were featured in the game Rome Total War. Tamerlane is also reputed to have used flaming camels in his campaigns which show up in the game Age of Empires.
Bibliography and Suggested Reading:
War Elephants by John M. Kistler
War Elephants by Osprey Publishing
Animals in the Military by John M. Kistler
#History
#Documentary
#FlamingPigs
Check out our previous video on Carthaginian War Elephants: czcams.com/video/hDSRHGFCWEo/video.html
Video Time Stamps
[1:47] Ranged Weapons
[3:35] Traps
[6:12] Formations
[6:59] Sights Sounds and Smells
[9:54] Specialist Units
Don't forget chili condoms with firecrackers. They seem to work like a charm at driving away elephants.
Horse blood.
[12:56] TRAPS ARE SEXY
Certain armies in the 1600s mounted small portable cannons on top the elephants. These miniature grapeshot type cannons we’re light enough to mount on top of the elephant & had less recoil as to not knock the beast down when firing. The elephants would charge deep into the enemy formations while the crew atop would be firing grapeshot(shotgun) canisters down into the tight formations causing massive damage.
Have you mentioned Caesar’s legionaries equipipped with an axe to attack elephants? Don’t remember the batte during the civil war...
Built an entire army of incendiary pigs back in Rome: Total War and the amount of fire animations going off, crashed my computer.
o7
Reminds me of story from bible
Heh only used the pigs in a campaign once I lost
lmao
Must try now!
Flaming pigs. Routs enemy elephants & then provides dinner afterwards. Genius
Dinner for the enemy, bad idea. Unless they could be laced with poison.
Well you wouldn’t want to eat the pigs anyway since it’s got all it’s organs as it burns
So simple yet so sophisticated..
@@sebastian948 the organs of the pig are also eaten, there's a say: "no part of the pig gets wasted". The intestines are used for making sausages etc.
I agree it’s genius! just gotta make sure, you season them before you send them out 😂
11:21 it may be a legendary feat but …
_"That still only counts as one"_
Haha, love the reference.
Tell that to Gimli 😂😂😂
it was also about as mythical and not real as the Lord of the Rings.
The Legendary Iranian king story is total myth obviously.
Iranians/Persians and Indians are well known for such stories and myths.
It's like what Greeks wrote before Historians like Herodotus and his successors created the school of History.
Pretty much the whole world worked on myth before that.
Now you're talking about one of my favorite movies.
How is that guy's name pronounced? I tried to google him but I cant even tell what am I suppoused to write
Soldier: Sir, they are deploying war elephants!
General: Bring up the mice!
The army: Victory!
1 week later.
Soldier: My lord, I don't feel so good...
The best part about that idea is every city had them!
Not saying you don't know this, but in case anyone doesn't, elephants were never scared of mice.
It's just something folks wrongly believed, when they saw elephants avoiding stepping on them.
They're not scared, they just don't want to kill them.
Comedy, humorous drawings ?
@Ryder Steel I suspect a lot of it has to do with cartoons.
Having Rome total war flashbacks…
That game is the genesis of so many people’s love of history
The damn elephants were almost unstoppable in Rome 1. In Rome 2, a few volleys of missiles basically ends them. In Rome 2, I basically only sent them in after sweeping up almost all skirmishers, then I'd let them wreck house through the front lines.
@@jasepoag8930 i'd just use horse archers, run circles around em', if anybody gets close? RUUUUUUUN! then repeat
@@jasepoag8930 In Rome one, it was the same thing only it depended on what elephant type you had... God I miss that game
@@johnmorales6281 possible I'm misremembering I suppose. Haven't played Rome 1 since 2007 probably.
I was hoping there’d be stories of ancient soldiers wrapping rope around the legs of elephants like AT-AT’s from Star Wars
General: "Ok boys, grab this ropes and run among the legs of the elephant. That will stop them"
Soldier: "you say what, sir?"
That's why War Elephants need skirmishers in their unit to protect them from trickery and traps like that.
@jokesonu420 You wouldn't rely on power of soldiers but of rope/chain. For example if you made chain with hooks on ends, you could make single loop around elephant and hook the chain, which could hinder it's movement. I don't think it would be achievable on a battlefield though.
Killing wild elephants wouldn't be that hard, but war elephants had drivers who knew what was enemy trying to do, and how to counter it. I'd say kill the driver, than you can deal with elephants in many ways.
Yup, Romans tried using chariots+rope and did the AT-AT tactic versus Pyrssus’ troops. Didn’t work though, and they never bothered reusing that tactic when they later ran into Hannibal’s elephants.
yajurka dude before you can hook the chain the elephant flings it away...
3:26 “Thus I highly suggest this option to any commander thinking of going up against war elephants”
Me in a zoo: *_Ah yes, my time has come_*
I'm sorry......what
I also thought it was kind of an ominous advice to give lol
Who would win?
- The biggest terrestrial mammal selected and trained by humans.
- A Balearic slinger.
There are villages in Africa who use chili to keep wild elephants from destroying their crops. I always wondered if there have been armies that used chili powder, smoke or anything similar as a counter against war elephants? Elephants are extra sensitive to smells, so a cloud of chili powder could prove to be an effective measure against them, at the very least it could make them very irritated and run amok.
M8, there's a video out there of how chili flavoured condoms are helping some african... Tribes? Villages? Either way, it's out there
Chile was not known to Old World until the 16th century. The Caribs did use burning chili powder as a weapon, although I cant' find anything about how the Spanish horses and dogs reacted to it (I don't suspect they'd take it well)
It is still used in India, even in my state where elephants are very common. Lol.
We use self-defence chilli balls with a paintball gun to chase African elephants of our farm. We have a electric fence, but it doesn't help if the elephants are really hungry
Best comment.
A museum near me (I recommend it to anybody who has a chance) is called the Leeds Royal Armoury.
They have a stuffed war elephant wearing pristine Chinese [I got this wrong it's Indian] war armour.
It's fucking awe inspiring.
They keep the donated weaponry and armour collections previously owned by the military or UK royal family.
They have everything a fan of this channel would freak out about.
@@qus.9617 You are correct! I've corrected myself :)
Been a long time since I had a chance to visit.
They also have a youtube chanell
@Feldgrau Fox Nothing special.
Yes, that particular piece of armour is shown in this video.
@@GiordanoBruno42 "Owned by UK royal family" ???
It was probably 'stolen'...not owned
3:25
Okay, was just going to war with my neighbourhood Carthaginian. Thanks for the suggestion
IKR, damn Carthaginian immigrants coming to Sicily
Carthago delenda est
!
@@TimHornerWOP rofl
I have read somewhere that an Indian king had used female elephants to lure away male war elephants of the enemy, which was quite effective.
Bonus :
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It works on humans too.
Famously this was used on chariot horses
@@Tareltonlives Wow. Modern armies should use it on humans too. Lol.
That’s very clever
Why thats the most idiotic thing i...............wait..............are those double D's?????? Erhm......ill be ......uh back later fellas
@@60ritikanand69 they do and it's called "honey trap".
Incendiary Pigs, one of my favorite unit in Rome: Total War.
Haven’t watched the vid yet. So what do they do? Launch them on fire with a catapult like in Monty Python?
@@bradleyweiss1089 They set the pig on fire and let them running amock charging enemy unit. It's quite funny.
@@auradzrts691 Flaming pigs are in Wasteland 3 too lol. Had no idea that they were real
Diner and a show.
They forgot a valiant warrior in the pig ranks. His name was Christopher Percivel Bacon. Better known to his comrades as Chris P Bacon. Let his triumphs on the battlefield continue to be known and heralded by all of humanity!
He's honored every morning at breakfast :)
All hail Chris P Bacon and his legendary feats, tasty too!
" Chris P Bacon was born without the use of his bac- *WHEEZE* " XD
Thanks for the genuine laugh, Mr. White
Sounds like Elephants need some Elephant horseshoes. Elephantshoes. And elephant earplugs.
Elephant stilts and head visors.
Oh no the elephants cannot hear you, they got airpods in!
Flash Gordon the anti AT-AT strategy really would work then haha
Ok. Do you know why elephants paint there toenails red?
So they can hide in cherry trees!
From the flaming hogs...I presume.
Elephant blinders maybe?
Don't forget about the mighty General Yosemite Sam whos war elephant was stopped by a clever rabbit who unleashed a mouse that scared the elephant who in turn bucked and flattened his rider Yosemite Sam into a pancake.
"Anyone who has owned Legos know how powerful this can be"
Yeah, thats actually true
Soldiers! Deploy boxes of Lego!
it made me feel really bad about the elephant trap. must be really bad pain
That is nothing compared to the plastic Goblin Spearmen miniatures from the Warhammer 4th edition starter box... Those things drew blood...
Honestly, I'm just sad hearing about all the ways elephants were hurt for some random battle they couldn't care less about. Poor elephants.
I agree with you
and the camels and pigs too.. fucking humans..
Agreed, though the same goes for other animals, like horses, falcons, camels, and teenagers.
Whether you understand it or not, a massive death toll with all forms of animals to include humans is actually a good thing. If war was never a thing, Earth would not exist as we know it today. War and death is a form of checks and balances. Just like a plague. In fact, we needed the coronavirus to wipe out a much larger percentage than what it did. I'm sure another plague will be engineered again some time in the near future. So that mother nature can try and replenish herself again with all of the resources that all of its inhabitants have ravaged from her. If it's anyone you should feel sad for, it should be mother nature. And not a tiny little speckle of existence. Mother nature is who you should feel sad and worried about.
@@Zebo12345678lol teenagers
You had me at flaming pigs
CrIsPy
After you drive off the Carthaginians, you can eat the pigs straight away
@@SamSimaX if you like em' well done...
You had me at Hello.
"You'll be in the path of the elephants, so here is your spikey gear. I think it's my greatest technological innovation. When they step on you, it'll hurt their foot!"
Something you would expect to hear from Blackadder or General Melchett.
Very interesting, thank you. Could you consider making a new video on war dogs in Roman legions. I know that Spanish conquestadors used them in the New World but it will also be interesting how Romans made use of war dogs.
I'd love a video about the life of Cincinnatus or Scipio Africanus.
Both
Would love one
About Cincinnatus or Marcus Attilius Regulus
i wish they'd teach us more about vikings
Mithradates : Send the elephants
Roman : Send flaming pigs
Would it possible to train the elephant to go blindfold in battles??
The mahout will be the driver..hahahaa
Actually not a completely horrible Idea
But it means the elephants would lose their ability to properly gorge soldiers on their tusks and lift up soldiers for their riders to stab.
I thing its the squealing that scares the elephants. Giant ear muffs maybe.
@@WellBattle6 The Mahout will control the blindfold-trained elephants ( with giant earmuffs) and go on a blind stampede towards the enemy frontlines......
I guess it would be possible to do so. They would be immuned to flamming pigs, but very fragile to every other units.
Wonder if any of the armies ever developed iron shoes for the elephants to counter the spike traps.
My idea exactly. I mean, if you have war elephants in your army one should invest in their usage and equipment.
Yes they did!
But sadly the elephants were never able to lace them :(
@@iopklmification was it because the elephants were too heavy? I mean even medieval metal/steel couldn't withstand arrows very well, imagine a 8 ton beast!
@@_sky_3123 they did, with armor, and elephants the themselves are expensive to upkeep, imagine the biggest animal on Earth, now picture how much food it'd need in order to survive a mere week! Not only that, those things likely had to charge their enemies, which means more callories being burned, which means even more food after the battle.
Feeding the massive beasts was expensive enough. Finding custom armor smiths who had the skill to craft custom elephant armor must have been very rare.
It's interesting how there's a lot of crossover between these and anti-cavalry tactics.
Age of empires 2 definitive edition : gets Flaming camels
Age of empires 1 : Were are our flaming pigs?
At Thapsus it was said that a roman legionary was picked up by an Elephant, which grabbed him with its trunk. The legionary then hacked at said trunk till it let go.
I'd believe that ;)
I love how many of these tactics are just "set random animal on fire to scare the elephant"
To he honest, it was really cruel
@@_semih_ oh no doubt, not to mention horrifying, but being some 2200ish years separated from the events, I find it hilarious that some madman thought "you know what will scare those big grey things with spears on their faces? Flaming pigs"
Yeah. Why didn’t they tie oil soaked ropes around their necks or chests and set it a blaze as well. That would take a soldier off his feet and maybe tangle the elephants.
Or use chains. That noise of rattling with the squealing and the fire. Wow. Madness.
@@_semih_ nope... animals kill each other and eat each other in the wild. maybe they should stop being cruel to each other too😂😂
You didn't mention that flaming pigs drop cooked porkchops when killed
Man this makes me emotional, I love all the animals listed here
Anti-elephant tactics in Eastern Asia: "The front-line elephant corps was successful in battle against Chu in 948, but Song Dynasty crossbowmen defeated them in 971. 'Chinese archery was an effective anti-elephant tactic, as Liu Fang found.' As for Liu Fang, he conquered north and central Vietnam from 602 to 605 AD. His Sui army came under attack by Champan (Vietnamese) troops mounted on war elephants. Fang had pits dug and covered the holes with grass, then feigned a retreat to lure some of the beasts into the traps. Using crossbows in combination with the traps, the enemy elephants stampeded. With a timely counterattack behind the fleeing pachyderms, the Champan army collapsed. " -p. 206 of War Elephants
By John M. Kistler (2007). This book has numerous other references to elephant warfare and anti-elephant tactics in eastern Asia and other parts of the world.
Chinese are lucky they are protected by all sides from nature or else they would be speaking hindi in modern times
@@pinkyfinger9851 How would China be speaking Hindi when most of India doesn't even speak Hindi as their first language? Less than half of Indians speak Hindi as their first language, and all Hindi speakers combined (1st, 2nd, and 3rd language speakers) still only make up ~57% of the Indian population.
Also want to point out that Champa is not Vietnamese, they are a other ethnic people
@@Randomvietnamdude The Kingdom of Champa existed in what is now modern day southern Vietnam. They may not be the same ethnic groups as the northern Vietnamese (who are a mix of Southern Chinese and Northern Viet Austronesian ethnicities and Han Chinese ethnicities), but many modern Vietnames still have a decent claim as their descendants.
@@Intranetusa Yes
Anyone from PETA would have a hear attack watching this video.
So very true...
pay them a sum and they will look the other way.
They would want to take the elephants out of the army and put them all down. :D
@@justinkong9954 Ptolemy paying PETA just to allow him to deploy spikes... RIP.
Nah they watch how we torturer our farm animals, which is way more graphic then some drawn pictures.
The spike armor in fantasy has a historical basis. Cool!
To be honest putting large spikes on walls, fortifications and gates like what they did in India against Elephant battering rams would only make sense in a setting with abundant "monster units" that fantasy worlds seem to have and many an army within such settings employ. Imagine seeing ranks of soldiers likely spread out in loose formations decked in spiky armor and wielding either heavy shields that cover an entire man along with soldiers just behind these shields with (ideally) super long (for a pole arm weapon) *"anti-monster pikes"* or spears that would stap deep into a huge beasts hide without getting caught or stuck in. (maybe some kind of guard to stop it from sinking too deep) Then have ranks of regular infantry between these spiked, anti-monster units that cover their comrades flanks from advancing enemy infantry since the anti-monster weapons, shields and armor are so Unwieldy and impractical for regular infantry fighting. The spiky anti-monster infantry would essentially protect the regular infantry from being crushed by monsters like say trolls, ogres, and maybe even drakes (if they can used effectively in a fantasy army, depending on the setting's laws and developments) and the regular infantry in between would cover them from being easily flanked by enemy regular infantry. (as I said before)
Could be a cool way of handling the presence of many types of conventional monsters in many fantasy worlds if they are regularly used in warfare without necessarily having to come up with some arbitrary rules or some plot magic to explain why armies still duke it out inspite of huge war beasts and the taming of monsters being things in such settings, basically a of logical, clever, maybe even mad (that is desperate or crazy but effective methods) development and response to such a problem and tackling the implications as monster units in war and other such large would or could have.
Though I'd imagine those spiky soldiers would have to be careful not to poke out any eyes with their pointy bits, lol. Wouldn't be practical for anything else but warding off most monsters or atleast giving them a good sticking before being crushed to death.
Love your work, its simple and soothing yet interesting and full of information.
Since I'm first I'd just like to say thanks for another great video. Always excited for these notifications!
Just build giant Lego’s big enough for elephants
the one that comes off the top of my head was used on thailand, having way longer than usual spears that they would stick in the floor coming up and when the elephant charged at it would impale itself
Only possible issue, would be if they break, but... Then again, if that happens you're just not competent enough to make a pointy stick sooo....
Pits with spikes in them worked for the English in the Hundred Years War and for the Vietnamese against the Mongols
@@Tareltonlives hence the name Elephant trap.
@@Tareltonlives not only the mongols but 'muricans too in the 1960's
@@Cx10110100 Indeed, in both cases the invaders were able to penetrate deep into Vietnam but their logistics failed them and the Vietnamese kept fighting. Like the Americans, the Mongols were fighting in terrain and in circumstances that were against their weapons and fighting style.
I've just found this channel and I'm in love with it!
Wow, that was an Amazing Video! Thank you for this Content!
I feel like Age of Empires 2 got the feel of battle elephants right. They're incredibly dangerous against standard troops. But, if you have time to prepare, they are countered VERY hard by specialist troops.
That LEGO’s joke was epic.
The Legolas joke was cringe.
Its funny because its true.
it also hurt😨
I love history and your videos. Thank you for your work.
Generally those tactics only worked on a small scale.You can achieve similar effect with rocket-men vs tanks. However, as Lutwalk notes, facing 10,000 tanks with thousands of rocket-men will not work because the enemy can break through and attain the initiative relatively easy using sheer mass. See: "Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace" .
It's incredibly sad to think how animals have suffered so much for our wars. Madness
Yeah, it's really quite heart-breaking. I mean obviously a lot of soldiers suffered horribly, too, but at least there was some element of choice involved there; whereas horses and elephants weren't really asked about their opinion.
@@antred11 i dont think herbivores are really asked about their opinion when being killed and eaten by carnivores😂😂especially the ones eaten alive by wild dogs or hyenas
its incredibly sad to think how herbivores are killed and eaten by carnivores some of them torn to pieces first or eaten alive. it is sad indeed😂😂😂
Well done; informative as well as entertaining. Many thanks.
"On my command, unleash........."
*"MICE!"*
Kinda like that one bronze age battle where a persian (?) general unleashed thousands of flaming cats upon the egyptians
What would be even better are BURNING mice!
Would've been much less cruel than spikes.
Luan R. Moura Or Samson with the foxes tails tied together and on fire.
I guess it’s not that unusual.
@@bradleyweiss1089 i think we may be seeing s pattern here....
If you say no then the war elephants couldn't trample you without consent, but I guess they didn't think of that in ancient times.
No wonder all of those ancient civilisations are long gone. Couldn't think of that one simple trick!
@@Gman240 "Elephants hate him"
@@IamHueGraves See how he counters the mightiest war animal of his time with this one simple trick!
Jokes about rape are so hilarious... 😒😒😒
@@tweaker1bms First of all, yeah they are really funny I agree, secondly, you must be fun at parties
So useful! I’m gonna dm a d&d session that includes war elephants tomorrow,thank you so much!
Oh wow that's awesome! What setting are you using? Is the world modeled after antiquity or is it the more typical D&D setting with an elephant in it?
Me too. I sent a bull mammoth against the party, and they just tamed him, so I'm trying to think of ways to spook the elephant. I've managed to have some success with undead, dragons and gunpowder.
Invicta I chose the latter
Super stoked about the world settings coming, I want to learn to DM eventually but combining real world history with D&D is a super badass way to get people interested in the other, not to mention makes DM prep waaay cooler
Hey Invicta, would love it if you made a video on the history of the Antigonid Peltasts. Most modern historians agree that they were some sort of professional multi-purpose unit, with some of them arguing that they were equipped to fight like Alexander´s Pezhetairoi in field battles, as opposed to other Phalanx units, who during the war of the Successors had gotten equipped with longer Sarissai and bigger shields.
Amazing story thank you so much for this story
Anti Elephants are the equivalent of Anti Tanks
precisely, it is equivalent as modern day infantry with MILAN or Vampyr RPG's
But very different, we wish we could defeat tanks with caltraps or flaming pigs.
What would their insignia look like, I wonder...
Or an IED for the mobility kill
@@LuisAldamiz- Mines and molotovs
I would assume the locust swarm was a lucky coincidence rather than an act of "using insects in warfare".
Great video, thank you
Certain armies in the 1600s mounted small portable cannons on top the elephants. These miniature grapeshot type cannons we’re light enough to mount on top of the elephant & had less recoil as to not knock the beast down when firing. The elephants would charge deep into the enemy formations while the crew atop would be firing grapeshot(shotgun) canisters down into the tight formations causing massive damage.
thailand in the late 19th century deployed gatling mounted elephants against rebels.
Very interesting video! I feel really sorry for the war animals tbh, we're a cruel species sometimes. Must have been extremely intimidating to face a whole wall of war elephants though.
Honestly incredibly tragic to hear what some of these animals throughout time had to go through in terms of stress and sheer terror
Generally, in war, human suffering far outweighs the suffering of all the other animals. Animals do not fear the eve of battle nor mourn the loss of comrades (although, elephants do mourn but that may be limited to close family rather than a greater sense of loss for just any old elephant). Still bad, though.
Back in those times it was kill or be killed. It's like if a massive army was abt to ravage my city I dont think I'd be that concerned abt the animals they have with them, I'd be pretty concerned on how to keep those animals away from my home.
Deployable spikes are definitely the best method I think. Put them on horseback and you got a pretty OP combo.
Imagine a spiked shield on horse back. When the elephants start to charge, rather than predict where they are heading as that can be difficult, you send in cavalry who intercept them in front and throw down the spiked shields right ahead of the elephants.
Thank you for this great work
Did they try bribing the elephants to switch sides?
😆😆😆
no but they played the card change of heart and won the battle
You know what is a best way to counter elephants?
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Elephants. Just imagine thousands of fully armored war elephants clashing their tusks with one another, while human armies keep watching from sides.
Excellent video
Terrific video!
Starts at 1:47
Doin God's work this one is.
I'm not an elephant and even I would be tempted to run from a stampede of flaming pigs, but that smell must have been delicious. These are the tough dilemmas we humans must face.
I know it's like a meme to say that would smell good, but burning flesh is burning flesh. In no universe does that smell good. I can not imagine having to fight in the ancient times and having to hear those animals scream.
@@MrMarsh263 Absolutely right, except at meal times. Free bacon sandwiches all round!
@@flashgordon6670 We ain't had nothing but maggoty bread for three stinking days!
@@MrMarsh263 Yeah. Why can't we have some meat?
Does not smell good at all.
This was a wonderful and very informative video, revealing much history that I never knew before now! And, I must tell you, I have a B.A. degree in history...We can never learn enough!
Best history birthday gift ever
This is why War Elephants must be part of a larger unit, with skirmishers and cav to cover their weakness. :D Combined Arms is the key to victory!
Elephants don't have arms. If they did we'd be their subjects.
I love the history of warfare, but I have to admit that the treatment of elephants and other animals can be really cruel.
That's war for ya mate. It's sad but you got to do what you got to do
Considering how cruel warfare was and probably still is for humans, I don't see why commanders would treat animals better.
good points.
@@commandere2475 at least humans know why they're dying (even if the reasons are usually along the lines of powerful people wanting more/maintaining power).
humans included
thats war for you
You had me at Elephant Battering-Ram. Thumbs up.
Nice video, Oakley!
Novel idea: Mice. An episode of Mythbusters examined the idea that elephants are afraid of mice or at least would make a concerted effort to avoid them. Myth: confirmed. Baskets full of mice would be easier to handle than insects and wouldn't need the intervention of God.
Use mangonels to send these mice into enemy.
I bet an elephants see mice like how we see insects
What if the other side has a... ahem... Catapult?
@@piterok8957 I had the same idea, u beat me to it!
Yea, well, they are untrained elephants. Trained war elephants are a whole different thing! These ideas work against untrained & small group of elephants. But, they don't work against trained elephants in large numbers like 500. Then, the only way to deal with the situation is to have elephants to counter elephants. Elephants are like ancient tanks... if deployed small numbers (less than 100), they are vulnerable to all sorts of infantry tactics. But, when deployed in large numbers, the only way to deal with them is to have your own tanks.
Iranian soldier to the Iranian king who killed the Elephant: "That still only counts as one!"
Really nice video! I hope the next part will be about modern uses of war elephant, such as XIX century Indian cavalry, mounted guns and current uses in Myanmar area.
Man I just feel bad for the elephants. A good video once again!
In some parallel world humans had to think of Anti War Giraffes tactics.
We better start thinking about some right the frigg now, but don't tell anyone! We must prepare for the revolution!
you idea has you really sticking your neck out
Or anti-troll tactics and gear for generic European-esque fantasy worlds. Also specialist units that flank spellcasters behind enemy lines and mitigation of effectiveness army formations against AOE spell spaming by battle wizards in enemy armies.
Probably just something I saw in Rome Total War, but I found it interesting that elephant riders may have been trained to kill their own elephants if they began to run amok through their own troops - I can’t imagine how distressing that must have been for someone who’d spent years training a specific elephant, I guess it’s better than the elephant being slowly killed by volleys of javelins and spear pokes though
Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely remember it the next time I have to face war elephants.
As A.A. Milne, famous war tactics consultant wrote: "Where should they dig the Very Deep Pit? Piglet, not wanting to be set on fire and stampeded towards the War Heffalumps, said that the best place would be somewhere where a Heffalump was, just before he fell into it, only about a foot further on."
I think anti-elephant operations would be perfect for light infantry. While cavalry with lances (along with armor heavy enough to mostly survive the weapons of the soldiers on the elephant) would be nice, for the speed and flexibility of such a unit, horses and elephants don't mix well, so they're out. A second choice (assuming a unit that's not completely on the defensive) would be peltests/javelin throwers- they'd have a shield, but be light enough to dodge most enemy troops, while presumably have a weapon heavy enough to do damage to an elephant.
Problem with using skirmishers though is that they are easily susceptible to ranged weapons from the enemy crew firing from atop the elephant. Usually commanders using elephants would also position 30-50 troops in between each elephant to ward off enemy skirmishers. The skirmishers would have to be guarded by some type of infantry unit or they would quickly be annihilated.
@@michaelweston409 I think it depends on the situation; however, I believe that light infantry can do the job.
The troops I'm imagining are inspired by the peltasts of Iphicrates. They'd have linen armor (such as the lino-thorax), while carrying round shields (probably a Parma, but with some influence from a 'Pelte'). A helmet (something similar to a Pilos or a Montefortino/Coolus) and a sword would complete the kit, with the primary weapon(s) being used like pila (i.e. like spears or javelins as the situation warrants).
I also used 'light infantry' and not 'skirmishers' because the latter is a specific type of light infantry that has connotations of a soldier with very little to no armor, that may or may not have a shield (and if they do it's usually made of a light material like wicker), and are mainly used to soften up the enemy before a battle, or chase them down after one. I'm looking for infantry with more flexibility.
So between the armor and shield, I think that the troops I put forward would last just as long as other forces that aren't clad in heavy armor with big shields slowly moving in to attack. As far as the soldiers guarding the elephants go, if they're light infantry (skirmishers or otherwise), then my troops would be able to take them on relatively easily; if they're heavy infantry it gets trickier, but I think they can handle them long enough for others to engage the elephants, though that is probably the worse case scenario. Also, as for how my troops would be grouped, they'd number in between skirmishers and line infantry, while being more packed together than skirmishers, but much more loosely than line infantry.
I saw somewhere of a specialized use of anti-elephant chariots dragging ropes behind them or possible spikes to tangle up the elephants feet and legs, reminiscent of luke skywalker on Hoth. I tried to find the source but am unable to, so I may have dreamt it up. Either way that's probably how I'd do it, were I Scipio.
The chariot wont have enough force & possibly collapse when the big beast start moving & pulled the rope with their leg, often times these war elephant are also supported by infantry nearby, possibly couples of peasant with cheap spears & shield. Horse dont like running to pointy sharpstick
This video is very well made
Sweet was some of those pics from the royal armoury in Leeds?
Anti-Elephant Wagons? So basically proto-tanks? Nice
Flaming pigs, flaming camels....these animals must be thinking "you humans are not very nice to us are you"?? lol
"But hey, those elephants don't look nice either"
No wonder they spit on us.
I would love to see you guys do a segment on Barbary Lions
I don’t think any army was ever able to tame lions for battle. They’re to wild. Only used for wild free for all matches in the coliseums.
I remember reading about this!
India: War Elephants
Me, an intellectual: *releases mouse*
War Elephants: gone
CAMELS 🐫, brother. Their scent disturbed elephants 🐘. Some generals put wool on camels 🐪, lit it on fire 🔥, and sent the “flaming camels” towards elephants.
Worked against horses too
Tamerlane did that in India against the Delhi sultanate
I love this content
8:33 I read of something similar in a Chinese document. It said, that during the war between China and Vietnam, a Chinese general suggested soldiers stab pigs and make them scream on the battlefield to scare the war elephants of the Vietnamese army. It never mentioned if such tactics worked in reality.
Nice video, really liked it.
Tho Animals used as cannon fodders... makes me feel very sad.
They say elephants are afraid of mice. If this is true, like insects and other vermin they should be plentiful, though difficult to control once released.
I'm not sure how you'd store them though
I have not heavely researched this but I once read that the Romans had a diferent type of scermisher that was replaced by velites during the secount punic war, and that velites, as a unit were specificly equiped to deal with eliphants.
Thanks a lot for your work!
Just few ideas against elephants:
1. Hose + Pump + Boiling Water (not for ancient world)
2. Moats and ditches (full line) full of flammable material, that can be set ablaze when the first line of elephants comes to it
3. Battle mice ;-) (elephants are afraid of mice)
"Big Shoutout the the Reasearchers and Writers (...) that made this Video possible"
Research: Invicta
Script: Invicta
Narration: Invicta
Lol
RIP to all those elephants! :`(
rip to wild animals being killed and eaten by other animals😂😂
Hi invicta can you cover war dogs in future?
Surin Thailand has an elephant festival every year which includes a mock battle.
10:06 "Regions like India"
-Shows picture of Khmer and Dai Viet war elephants.
(Don't worry, not meant as a jab. I love these documentaries)
Before that, he clearly mention "in Asian history"