War Elephant Wearing Armour

Leeds plays host to the Royal Armouries Museum, and it contains a remarkable collection of weapons of war and armour from around the world.

This shot shows a reconstruction of an armoured elephant.

Elephants played a significant part in warfare from 1000BC until the 19th century. They were mainly used in India and south-east Asia but occasionally in western Asia, north Africa, Spain and Italy.

Elephants were valued for their strength, intelligence and their ability to be trained. Their main role was as fighting animals but they were also used for moving heavy loads such as artillery pieces and forest timber. They could trample men and horses or pick up and throw a man and horse together. They could also wield swords attached to their tusks. The reputation of elephants was so fearsome that their true military value is difficult to assess. Most eastern accounts take their role for granted, while western accounts dwell on the occasions when these mighty creatures were defeated.

Armoured war elephants formed the shock troops of the Mughal Indian armies. The most impressive artefact associated with the war elephant is the bargustawan-i-pil or elephant armour. These are recorded in India during the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526) and Mughal Empire (1526-1707) and in Persia under the Timurids. This is the only example of an almost complete elephant armour in any public collection in the world.

The armour shown in this shot comes from Mughal, India, and dates from around 1600.

Ian

[Camille Bisson]

Looks very wonderful large on black, the colors and textures stand out. Good read, also.

[Claude Trew]

It sounds like a very interesting museum by the look of your photo.

[Sandy]

Wonderful reconstruction and capture of it, and I also very much enjoyed reading your commentary.

[gloria jones]

Great capture of this armoured elephant...very interesting information

[Kim Crisp]

How very interesting, thanks for sharing.

[Taffy]

Interesting narrative to go with the image. It's hard to imagine encountering an elephant in battle and not wanting to turn and run!

[Pyrrhula]

Great shot of the reconstruction and interesting info. Hannibal use them and tried to cross the Alps with them.

[Lynne Hart]

Good shot, impressive armour.

[Babs]

Great shot and really interesting information.

[Margo]

Amazing armour fav

[Tony]

Brilliant capture and most informative text. You visit some interesting places, never boring.

[Richard Sayer]

Fascinating history as always Ian... you do dig up the most interesting things.

[Cherrill]

Incredible. What we know about the sensitivity and family bonding of these creatures it was an amazingly cruel thing - lets hope we are living and learning.

[Casablanca]

Interesting to read the history. I'm with @taffy - I would open my mouth like a goldfish and then runnnnnnnnnnn

[Fisher Family]

@catsmeowb @claudiet @skstein @seattlite @kimcrisp @taffy @pyrrhula @lhart @onewing @777margo @tonydebont @vignouse @Cherrill @casablanca

Wow, thank you all for your comments and favs, which put this shot on the Popular page.

I was amazed to discover that my last visit to the Royal Armouries in Leeds was as long ago as 2008 - yet there is so much to see and learn there I doubt if there will be such a long gap before my next visit.

It seems very cruel to use animals in warfare - it's bad enough that people are forced to fight - but I agree with @taffy, seeing one of these impressive creatures comming towards me would have inspired terror!

Ian