Indian War Elephants: Tanks on the Ancient and Medieval Battlefield

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  • čas přidán 16. 07. 2020
  • Indian war elephants have long captured the popular imagination, in movies and video games alike. But few have tackled what it was "really like" to employ war elephants on the field of battle.
    In India, the use of armored war elephants continued through the medieval era, and even into the early modern era. Was this a foolish strategic decision, or was there still a use for war elephants in a time where the battlefield was dominated by horse archers?
    Enjoy!
    Non-Exhaustive List of Sources:
    "The Elephant in Ancient War" by Richard Glover
    "Elephants in Ancient Indian Armies" by B. P. Sinha
    "KANDULA: Elucidations on the Sinhala War Elephant" by Merlin Peris
    "Indian Elephant Corps Under the Ghaznavids" by S. Jabir Raza
    #warelephants #indianhistory #elephants
    --
    Music:
    Jalandhar Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
    creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Komentáře • 896

  • @OddCompass
    @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +175

    Hey everyone, hope you enjoy this latest video! It should be relevant not only to those interested in Indian history, but anyone who is interested in SE Asian history (where war elephants were employed into the early modern era as well).
    If you'd like some supplemental history tidbits, I encourage you to follow me on instagram: instagram.com/oddcompasshistory/

    • @jairiske
      @jairiske Před 3 lety +3

      We always hear about the European armor of knights or the samurai armor from Japan, but what did the armor of trained soldiers from India wear?

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +7

      It depends a lot on region, era, and class! In the medieval era, low-level peasant soldiers would likely wear folded, thick woven cloth (for light protection against arrows and blades, along with a large shield), while nobility and elite soldiers would wear chainmail.

    • @alishaik2087
      @alishaik2087 Před 3 lety

      Hello bro make video on sher sha sur

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +1

      Hey Ali, I'll keep it in mind -- a bit swamped with topics at the moment!

    • @babitasharma4816
      @babitasharma4816 Před 3 lety +1

      Love you like a teacher i never had🤣🤣 just waiting for the next video

  • @BronzeAgeMan1350
    @BronzeAgeMan1350 Před 3 lety +1137

    Fiction: Fire Dragons 🐉
    History: War Elephants 🐘

  • @Mid_b
    @Mid_b Před 3 lety +1311

    I feel like Indian history is pretty underrated after this video

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +155

      Haha yeah, it really deserves to be talked about more!

    • @Mid_b
      @Mid_b Před 3 lety +123

      @@OddCompass I am ethnically Swedish so I am usually into European history. This channel though has made me interested in Asian/Indian history. Your videos are so high quality, I am suprised you aren't famous yet.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +78

      Welcome to the channel! And thank you for the kind words. I think many people do not realize how much interesting Indian history there is, so the topics aren’t as “viral” - but the channel is slowly growing, so I’m hopeful there’s an audience for this content!

    • @lingnarzihary2492
      @lingnarzihary2492 Před 3 lety +56

      @@OddCompass yes sir there is an audience. Could you do more about North East India. EVEN INDIANS ARE CURIOUS ABOUT THAT part of the country. Views and followers guaranteed.

    • @oldworldblu3s305
      @oldworldblu3s305 Před 3 lety +30

      That’s what I’ve been saying for so long India would make the perfect assassin‘s creed

  • @trueblueclue
    @trueblueclue Před 3 lety +521

    Before this video: "Elephants are so cute"
    After the video: "That drunk and high elephant with poisoned sword tusks is going to bite your head off and toss you with its trunk."

    • @vagabondsoul1286
      @vagabondsoul1286 Před 3 lety +28

      They usually hold you down with one front leg and tear you in half with the trunk.

    • @kakalimukherjee3297
      @kakalimukherjee3297 Před 3 lety +10

      Indian kings often used elephants to execute people. The prisoner would and the elephant would be locked in an enclosure and the elephant would trample them to death

    • @abhishekbaba8084
      @abhishekbaba8084 Před 3 lety

      🤣

  • @EzioIlMentore
    @EzioIlMentore Před 3 lety +387

    Meanwhile, Indians in Age of Empires 2 have the worst elephant unit.

    • @surgeonsergio6839
      @surgeonsergio6839 Před 3 lety +37

      lol, so true, hopefully aoe4 will have better and viable elephants.

    • @scintillam_dei
      @scintillam_dei Před 3 lety +25

      I use Persians to represent Indians in The Conquerors expansion which is all I have, and I enjoy using India in my realistic map of Eurasia or my realistic map of the Spanish lake or the realistic map of the world. Check them out in my videos on each map. In Rise of Nations the Indians were cool, and I think I learned the word "mahout" from that game.

    • @---ko1dg
      @---ko1dg Před 3 lety +6

      AOE 2 didn’t have India but AOE3 did. And those elephants could turn the tides of a battle if used right.

    • @shubhamjadhav8530
      @shubhamjadhav8530 Před 3 lety +6

      @@---ko1dg Have you even played aoe 2?....it does have India

    • @shreyasmahangade3774
      @shreyasmahangade3774 Před 3 lety

      elephant archer.....

  • @boogeymann6686
    @boogeymann6686 Před 3 lety +344

    I love Indian and South East Asian history and I'm so happy that I managed to come across a channel like yours.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +8

      Thank you so much! Stay tuned, lots more to come :)

    • @Iam-cx2vt
      @Iam-cx2vt Před 3 lety +3

      Read about North-Western India (Rajasthan) history ✌️

    • @Dr.Kraig_Ren
      @Dr.Kraig_Ren Před 2 měsíci

      ​​@@Iam-cx2vtno😂
      Jk

  • @ameygawade2752
    @ameygawade2752 Před 3 lety +299

    Elephants were also used to pull heavy artilery.

    • @31oannamphong66
      @31oannamphong66 Před 3 lety +8

      yes in vietnam war, you can find some footage

    • @astitvakumar8618
      @astitvakumar8618 Před 3 lety +3

      They were artillery,ndians had put about500 metal rockets with a range of 2km on them.

    • @nunyabiznes33
      @nunyabiznes33 Před 3 lety +2

      Don't they also have archers and cannons on them?

    • @astitvakumar8618
      @astitvakumar8618 Před 3 lety +4

      Yes,you are correct but whats more interesting,a war elephant with 5 archers on its back or a war elephant with about 500 rockets on its back

  • @rangan101
    @rangan101 Před 3 lety +108

    In the epic Mahabharata, there is description of famous king Bhagadatta, fighting on the side of the Kauravas, arriving in the battlefield on his legendary battle elephant Supratika. The behemoth caused sheer delirium and panic among the Pandava army and caused destruction of exorbitant proportion. Bhima,the strongest of the Pandavas,son of the Air God Pavana, was himself a demigod having power equivalent to 10000 elephants and yet was manhandled by the beast. Finally the elephant was somehow managed to be killed, but this video reminded me of that incident and how we're carrying on with the traditions of battle elephants ever since.

  • @RehanGarg62
    @RehanGarg62 Před 3 lety +336

    all dislikes r from those who were throttle by Indian elephants in their past life

  • @dv9239
    @dv9239 Před 3 lety +112

    Rome: We have great warriors on our side
    India: Hold my drunk riders

    • @Duck_The_Coloniser
      @Duck_The_Coloniser Před 3 lety +7

      Wtf lol drunk riders 🤣🤣🤣

    • @dv9239
      @dv9239 Před 3 lety

      @日本人 And? They legit lost everything now

    • @dv9239
      @dv9239 Před 3 lety +2

      @日本人 bro they had the world but now just confined to a tiny island where sun doesn't even rise anymore

    • @arunstalii3666
      @arunstalii3666 Před 3 lety +4

      @日本人 I think he meant that they've lost everything with regard to military. If am not wrong they're not even on the top 5 when their former colony(India) is in the fourth position in the military power ranking.

    • @arunstalii3666
      @arunstalii3666 Před 2 lety +2

      @日本人 It doesn't mitigate the fact that India is 4th in items of military power and uk is way below that India lol. Regardless of what they do Uk can never become a top military power in current scenario coz they no longer have their Indian soldiers to fight hehe.

  • @redmonkey477
    @redmonkey477 Před 3 lety +321

    Earlier today I had the question, "Were war elephants real?" as I've never really learned about them. I've looked it up and found your video, and I just need to say great work! I'm looking at the comments section and you seem to reply to nearly every comment which is commendable, I hope to see you grow because you deserve way more attention!

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +28

      That’s very kind of you - thanks! I hope you enjoy the rest of the channel :)

    • @Dingusdoofus
      @Dingusdoofus Před 3 lety +6

      Hannibal used war elephants to invade the Roman Republic during the second Punic War.

    • @creationsxl2979
      @creationsxl2979 Před 3 lety +2

      @@OddCompass seriously bro I must say the same thing, great work I’m absolutely loving your channel x

    • @Gamerking64210
      @Gamerking64210 Před 3 lety

      If you ever Read all The lord of the rings after finishing reading the Hobbit or just skip to the movies, you get to see some action of War elephants like Mûmakil (Oliphaunts)

  • @atriacharya2967
    @atriacharya2967 Před 3 lety +31

    My paternal grandfather was a vet in the Indian Army. He treated and performed surgery on the war camels in the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan. To this day, India is the only country that has used camels for warfare!

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +2

      Interesting!

    • @alphacompany4837
      @alphacompany4837 Před rokem +1

      Yes 1965 war I think

    • @user-vr8qd4hk6y
      @user-vr8qd4hk6y Před 5 měsíci +2

      What are you on... Of course camels were used in warfare by many forces, from ancient times

    • @wagwan2
      @wagwan2 Před měsícem

      @@user-vr8qd4hk6y He said "To this day"

    • @user-vr8qd4hk6y
      @user-vr8qd4hk6y Před měsícem

      @@wagwan2 Exactly. BS. India is NOT the only country 'to this day' that used camels in warfare. No idea what are you confused about.

  • @takenbythewindNdrivenbythesea

    Fantastic information...
    War Elephants, the Indians Main Battle Tank.
    Yes I agreed, there’s an advantages and also disadvantages.
    It’s quite scary when your elephants are totally out of control. But anyway, the creation of more modern artilleries, Gatling gun totally changed the warfare.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +23

      Yeah -- a berserk elephant must have been a truly terrifying thing to behold! The increasing ubiquity of rifling (and high-caliber guns in general) definitely brought about an end to "traditional" modes of warfare in India. Thanks for watching!

    • @robertplanas6064
      @robertplanas6064 Před 2 lety

      Old + New = Gatling Gun Elephant

    • @ChandranPrema123
      @ChandranPrema123 Před 2 lety +1

      Yes Indians still use Elephant in Borders of Burma,China claiming Indian Territory and forestry Border.

    • @alexyoon-sungcucina7895
      @alexyoon-sungcucina7895 Před 10 měsíci

      Agreed. I remember seeing some British historian derisively speaking if them as crude terror weapons that would fail against "disciplined Western troops."
      I couldn't help but think if pachyderms had been native to the British Isles that doubtlessly they would have been employed and regarded by that same historian as "mobile weapons platforms combining mobility, armor and firepower. The forerunner of the tank."

  • @takedashingen4674
    @takedashingen4674 Před 2 lety +20

    Nothing is more terrifying than a trained, courageous War elephant

  • @Contractor48
    @Contractor48 Před 3 lety +130

    Great content. I feel bad for the poor beasts. Fight through so much chaos. They are one of the most gentle creatures.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +36

      I appreciate it! And yeah, it does make you wonder how much they had to suffer for the greed of mankind

    • @spaceexplorer5481
      @spaceexplorer5481 Před 3 lety +10

      You are wrong
      We worship Elephants
      They are like us in battlefield

    • @spaceexplorer5481
      @spaceexplorer5481 Před 3 lety +7

      I was stopped for 2 hrs in Kerela because elephants were crossing roads

    • @madhavsankarks3832
      @madhavsankarks3832 Před 3 lety +6

      @@spaceexplorer5481 in kerala we have elephant fans assosiation we worship them and if anyone touch them ur gone

    • @cole8834
      @cole8834 Před 2 lety +1

      I can't help but feel ten times worse for the human beings that had to be killed by them. People certainly come up with inventive and exhaustive ways to kill one another.

  • @gabrielgarcia7554
    @gabrielgarcia7554 Před 3 lety +93

    Hey just want to say that I am so glad to find a really good educational CZcams channel that almost exclusively focuses on South Asian history. I think this region of the world is unbelievably fascinating, and it’s great to be able to learn more through this platform. Please keep up the great work! You have earned another subscriber! 🙏

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +3

      Thank you Gabriel! That’s very kind. Looking forward to putting out some more content 👍

  • @alexanderphilip1809
    @alexanderphilip1809 Před 3 lety +49

    Less than 50k subscribers for a channel with this level of quality and indepth analysis of historic content .
    Where are my Indians.

    • @v.k5417
      @v.k5417 Před 3 lety +5

      I'm an indian.

    • @rgfromkl3594
      @rgfromkl3594 Před rokem

      I keep sharing these videos for better reach, indeed more people need to know about this channel

    • @rajas9803
      @rajas9803 Před rokem

      Indian only study engineering sadly

    • @Dr.Kraig_Ren
      @Dr.Kraig_Ren Před 2 měsíci

      ​@@rajas9803don't forget biology 😂😅

  • @abhinavneoharysvarma8551
    @abhinavneoharysvarma8551 Před 3 lety +102

    Search angry elephant noise, enough to make a grown man shit his pants

    • @abhinavneoharysvarma8551
      @abhinavneoharysvarma8551 Před 3 lety +40

      @Вхламинго I'm no history scholar but Alexander did fought Porus of India and was satisfied and returned home, later his general Necetar fought Chandragupta Maurya or Sandrokotos and was utterly defeated. Turks and Arabs had Gun powder and heavy canons with them and that was one of the major reasons how they managed to win with small numbers.

    • @shubhampreetsingh8630
      @shubhampreetsingh8630 Před 3 lety +17

      @@abhinavneoharysvarma8551 That too because silk road passed through them, so turks and central asians were one of the first people to lay they hands on Gunpowder after it was invented in China.

    • @PulkitDhiman
      @PulkitDhiman Před 3 lety +10

      @@abhinavneoharysvarma8551 They had better cavalry, Arab horses were finest and very crucial to win a battle. North Indian kingdoms were always at war with each other and never united. Moreover, they were petty kings, who did not possess large army to counter invaders.
      On a philosophical Note: It is observed throughout history that only those places with scarce resources and very hard life(Arabia, Afghanistan, Mongolia) produced tougher and battle hardened men whose primary occupation was raiding and looting the neighboring Settlements.
      While Indians were content with fertile land, monsoons, 3 crops in a year, these invaders were fighting for every scrap of food and drop of water.

    • @abhinavneoharysvarma8551
      @abhinavneoharysvarma8551 Před 3 lety +5

      @@PulkitDhiman Yeah, but I'm talking about how gained upper hand in their initial conquests. No matter how fine and skilled they were they couldn't win against an army twice of their size without the help of gun powder. Also google marwari horses, they're a unique breed of horse. Rajput and even warriors from Punjab region were literal beasts, google Maha Rana pratap. Yes, I do agree that not all Indians were like them and both Turk and Arab armies had more local Indians than soldiers from their native land

    • @abhinavneoharysvarma8551
      @abhinavneoharysvarma8551 Před 3 lety +8

      @@PulkitDhiman Also traditional Indian conquests were very different, they would conquer a land and made king swear an oath collect revenue and leave. These foreign invaders would impose religion and in most cases dethrone and replace the king with their own or marry the king's daughter. They would also impose heavy taxes for religion and forcefully convert the local population while destroying temples or converting them. This helped tighten their hold on the regions

  • @hrishikeshbandari8777
    @hrishikeshbandari8777 Před 3 lety +42

    perhaps one of the best video on Indian elephants. While we've always seen the rather barbaric fights of African elephants amongst themselves on wildlife channels, a charging war elephant is a rare spectacle these days. Thankyou for this amazing presentation that brought this terrifying medieval tank back to life

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety

      Great comment, thanks for watching! I can’t imagine how terrifying it would have been to fight a charging war elephant 🐘

    • @pranavr9783
      @pranavr9783 Před 3 lety +3

      Hanibil used African elephant against Roman Empire. He took such elephant on a path that was very difficult to journey through. Just stating when britan used war elephant against Nepal at anglo Gurkha war. Britan elephant were unwilling to journey on (they were eithered left or killed). African elephant are not adapted to such difficult glacier and mountain yet hanibil determination moved such creature. Similarly Asian elephant are suppose to be more stable in such environment, stating for fact that Nepal have elephant as well, infact 12 elephants were given to neighbouring mugal empire from Nepali kingdom. training and being obident from young age and are the key reason for how hanibil could move such creature in the Alpine region. Don't think African elephant can not be trained. They have bigger tusk, size, and probably more scarier than Asian elephant. How you train them is the main factor relating to there effectiveness. It is true that war elephant are generally used by Asia. However hanibil used his African elephant as well.

  • @monotonexylophone1623
    @monotonexylophone1623 Před 3 lety +25

    Elephant with blade tusks: cyberpunk music starts
    Elephant with flail tusks: cyberpunk music entencifies

  • @sacheinc5014
    @sacheinc5014 Před 3 lety +50

    I'm commenting here for CZcams algorithm because this video deserves to be more popularity. And this channel deserves 1 million subscribers.

  • @a8uella
    @a8uella Před 3 lety +15

    Given how intelligent elephants are this is amazing. The skill it takes to train an intelligent life form to do such complex actions is incredibly impressive.

  • @duneydan7993
    @duneydan7993 Před 2 lety +4

    Knowing how elephant teeth work, imagining an elephant biting a man's head off is a horrifying thought

  • @gauravdhanraja1968
    @gauravdhanraja1968 Před 3 lety +137

    Elephants + music + alcohol and drugs in war, what could be more crazier?

    • @jayantasen2406
      @jayantasen2406 Před 3 lety +11

      Reminds me of some scenes from The newest Mad Max movie :P

    • @salmansingh66
      @salmansingh66 Před 3 lety +3

      Take them over the alpines

    • @cruelplatypus67
      @cruelplatypus67 Před 3 lety

      drugs in war?

    • @salmansingh66
      @salmansingh66 Před 3 lety +2

      @@cruelplatypus67 five shots of vodka for mother russia

    • @sv4647
      @sv4647 Před 3 lety +3

      @@salmansingh66 u mean Hannibal Barca's passage through the Alps in winter that led to ancient history's second world war or better known as The Second Punic war between Carthage and Rome🙂

  • @878sarath
    @878sarath Před 3 lety +63

    Where are you getting your data from ? Man ! I have never seen anyone explaining chola history in such an elaborate way. Thanks for your work!!
    I'm sharing the channel to everyone I know!

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +16

      Thank you for sharing, I genuinely appreciate it! My sources are in the descriptions (and in pinned comments for some videos). For a detailed explanation of medieval Chola empire and culture, I recommend reading “From Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa.” Enjoy!

  • @KunalSingh-kq9tk
    @KunalSingh-kq9tk Před 3 lety +6

    3 disastrous battles that sealed the fate of India involved Kings/Commanders mounted on Elephants -
    1008- Battle of Chaach when King Anandpal’s elephant scared by flying arrows ran amok, causing confusion and rout of own army
    1556- Second Battle of Panipat, King Hemu sitting atop his elephant was targeted by Mugal soldiers. Hit in his eye by an arrow he fell and was taken captive to be beheaded
    1761- 3rd Battle of Panipat. Invading Afghans shot the Maratha prince atop his elephant causing collapse of the Maratha reserve. His uncle’s frontal charge couldn’t get any backup.

  • @pranavr9783
    @pranavr9783 Před 3 lety +29

    When britan also used indian war elephants against Nepal during anglo Gurkha war. But these elephant were mostly hindersnce as they were not willing to travel in difficult Nepali Terain. Britan even had to make path for the elephant, so much so that they either had to kill or leave the elephants at nepal. They probably thoughts about how hanibil had taken African war Elephant to glaciers mountain and outsmarted Roman Empire with his powerfull war elephant. Nepal did have war elephant as well, it stated that Nepali kingdome gave 12 elephants anually to mugal empire. Elephant are just to costly from training from young age to looking after them, however they did give strategic advantage. There are advantages and disadvantages of all battlefield wepons.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +3

      Thanks for the excellent info!

    • @rudraneupane4173
      @rudraneupane4173 Před 3 lety

      Total bollocks

    • @chch1959
      @chch1959 Před 3 lety +5

      Rashtrakutas conquered Himalayas of nepal to ceylon in sri Lanka
      The inscriptions says that
      The horse of govinda-3 drank from icy himalayan streams , and his war elephants tasted the sacred waters of the ganges
      And nepal king nanya deva of nepal is from Karnataka 🟨🟥

  • @saltycoins8835
    @saltycoins8835 Před 3 lety +5

    This is such a great channel. I’m so glad I found it. Thank you and please continue. This will blow up HUGE one day

  • @phantomwarlock5002
    @phantomwarlock5002 Před 3 lety

    This is the first channel I've seen dedicated to Indian history with quality videos, keep making these!

  • @jilukv2
    @jilukv2 Před 3 lety +4

    Amazing videos man... It's a real treasure of Indian history long forgotten

  • @DevPatel04
    @DevPatel04 Před 3 lety +1

    Thank you for making quality videos of Indian history !!!!

  • @remained1
    @remained1 Před 3 lety +9

    i am so glad that somebody has invested in Indian history with so much details. please tell us the source of your information also.

  • @Rajj854
    @Rajj854 Před 3 lety +68

    The history of war elephants in India is the triumph of tradition over experience.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +7

      Very true!

    • @anujagarwal7992
      @anujagarwal7992 Před 3 lety +8

      What makes you say that?if tradition was the major factor why did Mughals employ war elephants?which middle eastern tradition could they be using?

    • @Akon1998hell
      @Akon1998hell Před 3 lety +3

      @@anujagarwal7992 inspired from pre existing native tradition ofc

    • @anujagarwal7992
      @anujagarwal7992 Před 3 lety +8

      @@Akon1998hell exactly
      It was a triumph of experience that is why elephants survived in history of warfare in india,even foreign kingdoms who came to India continued to use war elephants for its continued usage in various forms of warfare.

    • @Birb728
      @Birb728 Před 2 lety +2

      Innovation would be better word instead of experience.

  • @MukulBhardwaj0
    @MukulBhardwaj0 Před 3 lety +1

    Such a great and very detailed video about Indian war elephants. Thanks for the content. You are doing great! Its also nice to hear correct pronounciation of indian names from someone who is from outside India.

  • @subhadramahanta452
    @subhadramahanta452 Před 3 lety +1

    Thanks a lot fpr making the video, you explained it so beautifully!

  • @tejasviangadi6097
    @tejasviangadi6097 Před 3 lety +40

    One more way the elephants could be beaten were pigs
    The elephants are scared of pigs, so when you were attacked by elephants you could send out pigs which would freak out the elephants.
    So armies raised their elephants with pigs in order to make them not afraid of pigs.
    Until someone had the bright idea of burning pigs, which the elephants didn't have experience of.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +4

      Thanks for the additional info!

    • @horsenuggets1018
      @horsenuggets1018 Před 3 lety +8

      Ah yes, the roast pork strat

    • @tylerdurden3722
      @tylerdurden3722 Před 3 lety +13

      Ah the Flaming War Pig. That would be the Romans against Pyrrhus who brought 20 Indian war elephants with him to Italy. Pyrrhus was given those as a gift from Ptolemy to help him take back his kingdom. Who in turn got elephants that used to belong to Seleucus. Who received 500 war elephants as part of a peace agreement from Chandragupta.
      Seleucus used those elephants in his battle against Antigonus. He kept them in the rear in reserve. Apparently, Pyrrhus was 16 years old and fought in the Antigonid Cavalry wing that managed to defeat their counterparts and was about to swing around and hit Seleucus in the rear in the typical hammer and anvil tactic of the Macedonians. Normally this would be the end. But the 400 elephants Seleucus placed in the rear were in the way and frightened the cavalry away.
      I sometimes wonder if Pyrrhus' 20 elephants were present on that battlefield.
      Those elephants had one hell of a life.😅

    • @JV-km9xk
      @JV-km9xk Před 2 lety

      @@tylerdurden3722 How empty must the land be of people and buildings that you could fit thousands of soldiers and hundreds of elephants on the battlefield. How many days do they even prepare to station them? Crazy times back then.

  • @SS55075
    @SS55075 Před 3 lety +24

    I did not expect this video coming, this was super amazing! Though, I feel particularly sad for elephants, because unlike horses, goats, and camels, they were never domesticated, only tamed. So, they must have really suffered from all the battlefield trauma(as a wild animal), even if they were trained to fight:(

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +5

      That is very true - in researching this video, it struck me how much trauma these poor elephants were subjected to for the ambitions of their human masters

  • @tathagatasinharoy3332
    @tathagatasinharoy3332 Před 3 lety +1

    Amazed by your detailed knowledge of Indian history. You earned a subscriber today, keep up the good work.

  • @abhimanit12
    @abhimanit12 Před 3 lety +2

    Best produced channel on unknown Indian history.

  • @nirupamakumar3917
    @nirupamakumar3917 Před 3 lety +42

    They kind of remind me of the AT AT walkers from Star Wars

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +4

      Haha, they are kinda similar!

    • @mazadancoseben4818
      @mazadancoseben4818 Před 3 lety +1

      Lucas was greatly influenced by eastern traditions, after all

  • @srikarnv9834
    @srikarnv9834 Před 3 lety +1

    Thanku for recognising our indian talent.

  • @DJShire_ATL
    @DJShire_ATL Před 3 lety +16

    Ever since I first played age of empires 2 and my civ was stuck next to the Persians and seen a horde of elephants trampling over my shit was when I first thought of these things as medieval tanks.

  • @dhanu_4539
    @dhanu_4539 Před 3 lety +17

    I appreciate you referring to some sri lankan history...as a sri lankan it makes me proud ...The story about the duel between two elephants was one that I heard from my grandfather when he was alive.

  • @Sandipan_Mondal_Indian

    Thank you for making videos on India.....,❤️❤️

  • @ogchirag
    @ogchirag Před 3 lety

    I like your content. The amount of love and effort you put in these videos is admirable.

  • @harshavardhana3895
    @harshavardhana3895 Před 2 lety +5

    An chinese traveller has written that Cholas had 60,000 war elephants.

  • @rockomax1491
    @rockomax1491 Před 3 lety +3

    Great quality content. Love it!

  • @instantkevlar4763
    @instantkevlar4763 Před 3 lety +4

    Felt a deep chill imagining these battles with raging mammoths

  • @TritiumCupcakes
    @TritiumCupcakes Před 2 lety

    Omg how do you not have millions of subscribers! Keep it up!

  • @memeguyTM
    @memeguyTM Před 3 lety +8

    Came here from playing Age of empires 3 definitive edition. Ended up staying because Indian history is truly amazing. Oldest history in the world 🌎

  • @rishi.girdhar
    @rishi.girdhar Před 4 měsíci

    Loved the graphics and story-telling. Well done and keep it up.

  • @dimitri3996
    @dimitri3996 Před 3 lety +1

    Great video again! I love it.

  • @pushkar28
    @pushkar28 Před 3 lety +19

    I really wish you would get more viewers, this is great content!
    Hope you can make a video on the Satvahana dynasty sometime

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +2

      Almost certainly will be covering the Satavahana Dynasty (hopefully sooner rather than later!). Glad you enjoyed the video 👍

  • @oceejekwam6829
    @oceejekwam6829 Před 3 lety +11

    That's true for the entire South Asian sub-continent, even today.
    I'm glad they are no longer used the battlefield.

  • @DMystif
    @DMystif Před 3 lety +7

    Thank you for your work ! I was wondering exactly that after reading about multiple indian battles where the whole war elephant thing went really wrong.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety

      You’re welcome! 👍🏽

    • @samratdas7590
      @samratdas7590 Před 2 lety

      It has 50% probability of wining and defeating battles

  • @jeyaramsathees6128
    @jeyaramsathees6128 Před 3 lety +66

    Just as I was wondering why he doesn’t post more vids,, thanks

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +8

      Haha yeah, this one took me awhile, been quite busy with work and some other things!

  • @sathyasayesh9914
    @sathyasayesh9914 Před 3 lety +13

    Commenting so that the algorithm would publicise this video more

  • @trishitmukherjee5552
    @trishitmukherjee5552 Před 3 lety +2

    Excellent video as usual. Great explanation.!! :-)

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +1

      Thanks for your comment, Trishit -- cheers!

  • @riseALK
    @riseALK Před 3 lety +1

    Really fantastic video, got a lot of new info. Although, a bit surprised to not see any mention of Timur's anti-elephantry tactics used against the Delhi Sultanate.

  • @callistine8559
    @callistine8559 Před 3 lety +4

    Another great incredible video and I expected no less! Fascinating how you talked about indigenous war tactics and the role of elephants!
    I saw that during the Vijayanagar Empire's conquest of South India, they left out a sliver of coast on the Western Coast of what is present-day Kerala, does this indicate the Kingdom of Cochin was never inculcated? If so how come this was the only territory they didn't manage to conquer, despite them having such a great army?
    Here in present-day Kochi, elephants are mostly seen in temple festivals and just last year, one of it crossed the road in front of my house as part of a temple procession nearby and its amazing thinking of how these mammoth beings were subjugated and employed as living tanks in ancient battles!

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +2

      What a wonderful comment - thank you! Regarding Cochin, its history with Vijayanagar is somewhat mixed, with some historical records pointing out that they were feudatories, and others pointing out that they were independent, but that the Cochin Kingdom always had a “cautious eye” towards Vijayanagar. It’s worth noting, also, that once Cochin came under the Portuguese sphere of influence in the early 1500s, Vijayanagar would have stepped away from any ambitions it had against it - as Vijayanagar depended heavily on the Portuguese horse trade.

    • @callistine8559
      @callistine8559 Před 3 lety

      @@OddCompass oh that makes sense! I also read a bit about how the Kingdom of Cochin became the only South Asian protectorate of the Ming Empire. That was pretty fascinating to learn and explains about how there's a lot of Chinese influence here from our Chinese fishing net (Cheena-vala) to our language and words like Cheena Chatti, a type of pot to cook that's there in every household. I'm not sure if the Ming Empire was a contemporary of the Vijayanagara one but being the only protectorate of a foreign power, along with Portuguese ties could also balance powers. Its incredible how all of these history exists and how so little we know of em! Thanks for providing a platform to learn more about these!

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +1

      Oh that’s really interesting - I had no idea that it was also a Ming protectorate! I’ll definitely research more into that. The Ming were contemporaries of Vijayanagar so that makes a lot of sense. And I’m glad to provide a platform for this history, thanks for watching 🙏

    • @vigneshorthodoc
      @vigneshorthodoc Před 3 lety

      @@OddCompass it was after Zheng ye landed there with his treasure fleet... Cochin was in war with zamorin of Calicut He also mitigated a peace between them by making them a Ming protectorate!!

    • @ManjunathKamathKochi
      @ManjunathKamathKochi Před 3 lety

      @@OddCompass do read up a blog named Maddy's Ramblings which are rich with the history of Kerala

  • @kannadakabba7306
    @kannadakabba7306 Před 2 lety +17

    Thank you for mentioning kannada empires like chalukyas, rashtrakutas and Mysore..most of the indian historians ignore the glorious history of Deccan plateau and concentrate only on north india
    Please make more videos on other kannada empires as well.

  • @daedalus2726
    @daedalus2726 Před 3 lety +11

    I just found this channel from Useful Charts, loving the production quality for such a small channel! Out if curiosity, which of the sources did you get the info on elephant weaponry (flails, rams, etc.) from? I'm interested in doing a bit if research into it myself since I haven't seen much on the topic before.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +1

      Hey, thanks for checking out the channel, glad you’re enjoying it! I don’t recall which of my sources specifically talks about those weapons, but I’d probably start with the Sri Lanka and Ghaznavid ones. There are additional citations there that are more general and will give you a nice intro into armor and arms!

  • @bat2485
    @bat2485 Před 3 lety +1

    That was very interesting looking for to more history videos.

  • @braunarsch
    @braunarsch Před 3 lety +2

    this is awesome! as an indian it's awesome to see history through the eyes of a non-indian :) cheers dude! subsrcibed!

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +5

      Thanks! I'm actually Indian-American, but I suppose that gives me a different perspective as well haha. I appreciate the kind words!

    • @braunarsch
      @braunarsch Před 3 lety +1

      @@OddCompass nice! It's good to see some fresh videos on some of the lesser mentioned kingdoms like the cholas and vijayanagara. Good stuff dude! Keep it comin, we need more south Indian representation in CZcams videos 😁

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +1

      @MisterBraun Haha, will do! I'm excited for all the different topics that I still have to cover -- and agreed, South India deserves proper representation

  • @harshagrawal1000
    @harshagrawal1000 Před 3 lety +5

    This video actually explained alot of defeats suffered by Indian kings ....Against Ghuri army entire allied north Indian just because war elephant went berserk after taking arrow...entire allied army thought commander is running away..so ran too !

    • @Varun37251
      @Varun37251 Před rokem

      It’s a classic example. War elephants were great, but relying on anything too much will backfire

  • @anantharamashok9501
    @anantharamashok9501 Před 3 lety +2

    Underrated channel❤️❤️❤️

  • @malikshabazz2065
    @malikshabazz2065 Před 3 lety +4

    great video

  • @IndoManiac90
    @IndoManiac90 Před rokem +2

    Its also worth pointing out that indian people were the first in the entire world to tame elephants, thats pretty damn impressive

  • @abbasdedanwala7734
    @abbasdedanwala7734 Před 3 lety

    Liked and subscribed! Great channel

  • @shashankshekhar3753
    @shashankshekhar3753 Před 3 lety +1

    Great Stuff!

  • @puviyarasu_
    @puviyarasu_ Před 3 lety +13

    aright I've found a new channel to binge.

  • @solomonmathi4860
    @solomonmathi4860 Před 3 lety +2

    Another Great Video!!!

  • @babitasharma4816
    @babitasharma4816 Před 3 lety

    Thanks for the new video sir!🎩🎩 Hats off to you

  • @nitishmysore
    @nitishmysore Před 3 lety +12

    Love from Mysore. Here we still use elephants in festival called Dasara

  • @tbj1972
    @tbj1972 Před 3 lety

    Great video thanks 👍

  • @prakashrao8420
    @prakashrao8420 Před 3 lety +1

    Great video, keep up the good work.
    An another fact, most of the south Indian kingdoms had mastered anti elephant tactics in the field. They were highly trained group of Soldiers whose work was to kill elephants using Broad spear as you had mentioned and also they used broad swords with relative long handle to chop off the elephants trunks.

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety

      Thanks! And I appreciate the additional history info, I did read about soldiers using broadswords to chop off trunks - seems like a daring maneuver!

    • @prakashrao8420
      @prakashrao8420 Před 3 lety

      @@OddCompass They were truly daring men, it's scary to imagine facing a charging elephant. Sometimes they opened their ranks just enough to get out of harm's way and just kill the elephants.

  • @musirhythm
    @musirhythm Před 2 lety +3

    Fun fact- damascus steel is from India

    • @raghuls1515
      @raghuls1515 Před 6 měsíci +1

      Especially from tamil country..

  • @parshowjyotiphukan8445

    I hope your channel continues to grow.

  • @chiranjitsaha3140
    @chiranjitsaha3140 Před 3 lety +39

    You described Indian war tactics better than Indians.

  • @rgatekeeping8240
    @rgatekeeping8240 Před 3 lety +1

    Only 19k views !
    This deserves more.

  • @lintoppthomas
    @lintoppthomas Před 3 lety +7

    WoW great explanation with details....Indian empire history retold like never before...

  • @LairdErnst
    @LairdErnst Před 3 lety

    Informative. Well done.

  • @cabwap
    @cabwap Před 3 lety

    awesome video. Thanks.

  • @knightplays9037
    @knightplays9037 Před 3 lety +1

    Do not underestimate Indian history. Nice video keep going

  • @FakeDelTaco
    @FakeDelTaco Před rokem +2

    The problem was that they were overused. They should have been deployed as a small, but important part of larger formations, with defined roles, interlocking tactics and layers of redundancy.

  • @Daylon91
    @Daylon91 Před 3 lety

    Fantastic job mate

  • @bobshen7425
    @bobshen7425 Před 3 lety +1

    Keep it going!

  • @sumedhdhoni8666
    @sumedhdhoni8666 Před 3 lety

    Loved it ❤️❤️

  • @dolly5316
    @dolly5316 Před 3 lety

    Best video on indian elephant s

  • @chipslejonet8840
    @chipslejonet8840 Před 3 lety

    Really good work

  • @TheJAIHIND101
    @TheJAIHIND101 Před 3 lety

    This channel is extremely underrated.

  • @paxonite-7bd5
    @paxonite-7bd5 Před 3 lety

    Amazing channel, subbed.

  • @MrWiskerboots
    @MrWiskerboots Před rokem +1

    holy shit dude , this is a good video!

  • @KunalSingh-kq9tk
    @KunalSingh-kq9tk Před 3 lety +2

    Worth studying war horse manoeuvres vis a vis battle elephant. Battle of Haldighati, where Rana Pratap’s horse charged his cousin Man Singh’s elephant.

  • @EnoughSaid302
    @EnoughSaid302 Před 3 lety +1

    Incredible!

  • @qus.9617
    @qus.9617 Před 3 lety +1

    Great video. I liked that the video primarily focussed on India. Makes the video narrative succinct.
    Hey I have an idea. But maybe it is considered too ambitious or dull to other viewers. Would love a video going through Indian historiography or record keeping itself or the primary texts that greatly influenced Indian culture and history. E.g. Arthashastra ? Another person also mentioned military logistics?

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety

      Thanks for noticing! I tried to limit it to India (and more specifically, to the medieval era) to avoid a clunky and excessively long narrative.
      I appreciate the topic recommendation -- actually, I have an interest in exploring some lesser known texts (poetry from commoners and women through the ages), as well as mathematical texts from the famed "Kerala School," among other texts. For example, many people don't realize that Krishnadevaraya was the "Marcus Aurelius" of India and that -- during his reign -- he wrote about his philosophies, among other topics.
      It's definitely a topic I'd like to explore!

    • @qus.9617
      @qus.9617 Před 3 lety

      @@OddCompass Nice

  • @rajeshwardevrathod869
    @rajeshwardevrathod869 Před 3 lety +1

    Superb analysis sir 👌.

  • @abhishek_sikarwar
    @abhishek_sikarwar Před 3 lety +1

    You do good research, history buffs in India are although growing but still very less currently. Make some videos on European, Middle eastern history so that your channel can grow. All the best ✌️

    • @OddCompass
      @OddCompass  Před 3 lety +3

      Thanks Abhishek! My channel is about Asian history actually, so I will be covering topics beyond India, too (I did a video on the Fall of Malacca, for example).

  • @jagannathrajagopalan921
    @jagannathrajagopalan921 Před rokem +1

    I loved the presentation. It was very informative. The story telling could have started with the info on how foreign invaders felt when they really saw elephants in battleground for the first time. Rather you choose to pick battles in which the opponent just used an archer to kill an elephant. Surely they must have studied the warfare to achieve this as it is not so easy. I felt such info would have been more interesting.
    Also how the elephant export took place from south Asia to Rome would also be nice.
    It would have also worked charms if you could have associated this with the game of chess which was invented in India and which has elephant or rook in it.
    The topic mentions tanks but you also failed to mention how elephants were used to break open fortresses.
    You could have also spoken about mahouts who are a special breed of elephant trainers who spoke the language of the elephants.
    So overall very good video kudos but with the info left out which I mentioned above, it would have been perfect for me.

  • @Kaustubhdasdehlvi
    @Kaustubhdasdehlvi Před 3 lety

    Fascinating