Elephants in Warfare

Elephants were until recently, a highly effective weapon of war. They caused horses to flee in fear of the Elephants. The Elephants easily trampled men and smashed fortifications with their massive strength and weight. Their main disadvantages was they panicked easily (one Greek city state took advantage of that by lighting pigs on fire and sending them the the War Elephants), and when panicked Elephants trample friend, foe, and neutral indiscriminately in their path. This forces their drivers to kill them in order to stop their uncontrollable rampages. Elephants were used in warfare allover the old world. The major uses of War Elephants were the Classical Mediterranean and Southeast Asia. Elephants were used in battle as recently as 1893 by the Siamese. Soon, the invention of the cannon reduced the usefulness of the Elephant in combat. However, they were still useful for beasts of burden. In WW2 in the Burma theater, Elephants were used extensively for heavy labor, because motorized vehicles were absolute useless in the harsh jungle terrain. They were used for heavy labor as recently as the Iran Iraq War for transporting artillery shells. Sadly for environmentalists, today Elephants are more useful for their ivory in today's wars.