War elephant
Elefante de guerra
- Date
- 326 BCE (uso documentado; origen indio anterior) · confidence low
- Place
- Jhelum River (Hydaspes), Punjab, Pakistan
- Credited to
- Indian kingdoms (Porus), later the Seleucid and Carthaginian empires
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Use of the domesticated Asian elephant as a combat mount, carrying archers in a tower, to break infantry and cavalry formations. Alexander the Great faced them at the Hydaspes and the Diadochi made them widespread.
Use in war goes back to India, but Vedic and epic texts do not allow its start to be dated with confidence; the date given is that of the first well-documented clash in Greek sources (the Hydaspes, 326 BC; 15 were already present at Gaugamela, 331 BC).
What it led to
- elephant corps of the Hellenistic kingdoms and Carthage (Hannibal)
- anti-elephant tactics such as fire and light infantry
- spread of elephant warfare to Persia and Southeast Asia