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The Parthian Empire occasionally used war elephants in their battles against the Roman Empire, [64] but elephants were of substantial importance in the army of the subsequent Sassanid Empire. [65] The Sasanian war elephants are recorded in engagements against the Romans, such as during Julian's invasion of Persia.
Persians used war elephants at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. The battle raged between king Alexander the Great of Macedon and king Darius III of Persia.The Persians had 15 Indian-trained war elephants, which were placed at the centre of the Persian line, and they made such an impression on the Macedonian troops that Alexander felt the need to sacrifice to the God of Fear the night before ...
The fearsome 6,000 war elephants of the Nanda Army led to mutiny among Alexander the Great’s battle-weary troops. Horrifically, elephants were also used to crush captured enemies, spreading ...
Due to the Roman focus on infantry and its discipline, war elephants were rarely used. While the Romans did eventually adopt them, and used them occasionally after the Punic wars, especially during the conquest of Greece, they fell out of use by the time of Claudius, after which they were generally used for the purpose of demoralizing enemies instead of being used for tactical purposes.
A medieval Armenian miniature representing the Sasanian War elephants in the Battle of Vartanantz. The backbone of the Spâh in the Sasanian era was its heavy armoured cavalry, known since Classical antiquity in the west as Cataphracts. This was made up of noblemen who underwent extensive exercises in warfare and military maneuvers through ...
Meanwhile, the Delhi sultans never had more than 3,000 elephants at any time, the Mughals were much more interested in maintaining war elephants than their predecessors. [262] They fully supported changing their war tactics to also include elephants as Akbar is known as the biggest proponent of elephant warfare in the Mughal Dynasty. [262]
The bulk of the troops marched through the valley path with light infantry at the front, and war elephants and the heavy infantry, a Greek phalanx armed with sarissas, behind. The light infantry could remove any obstacles found in the elephant's path, and slow any surprise attack on the formation. The war elephants unnerved Judas's troops.
Those from Greece and the mercenaries were led by Echecrates the Thessalian. Ptolemy's force was accompanied by 73 elephants of the African stock. According to Polybius, Ptolemy had 70,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 war elephants and Antiochus 62,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 102 elephants. [3]