As most of you know, Osprey provides a number of major topics for their books. One of my favorites is the New Vanguard series. This series concentrates on the weapons of war and provides a variety of subjects. Probably one of the more unusual subjects is this one on war elephants. I have to confess that it very much surprised me at first, but then I started to think about it and it made perfect sense that this be in amongst light cruisers, chariots and UAVs.

Unbeknownst to me, the most desirable elephants to use in this role are what we call the Indian elephant. They are more aggressive than the somewhat smaller African forest elephant and can be trained, unlike the much larger African bush elephant. Their training is long and seems to us to be quite cruel, however, one thing I have learned is that we should not judge history by modern standards.

The first to use elephants in this manner were those living in the Indus valley. There were animals aplenty available to them so it was natural that they'd be utilized. It was in battle with Darius of Persia that Alexander the Great first ran across them and brought the concept to the west. They were then used in battle during the reign of Pyrrhus as well as by the Ptolomys. This lead to their use by others, including the Carthaginians and even by the Romans.

However, their greatest and longest lasting utilization was by the peoples of India and Southeast Asia.  Here elephants were a mainstay of armies and used pretty much continuously even into the 20th century, though the latter usage was more in a utilitarian means to haul field artillery and supplies.

In his book, author Nossov describes the background of the subject, their training and equipment as well as how they were used by various peoples. This is shown by period illustrations and artifacts left over from those times. It is further enhanced by the artwork of Peter Dennis, making for a well rounded publication and a book that I can easily recommend to you for something interesting and a bit more unusual from the norm.

December 2008

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