Asian elephants were first taken into war by the Indians around 1,000 BC, after which their use spread westwards, says Steve Harris.
The Persians, for instance, deployed Asian war elephants against Alexander the Great in 331 BC; they so impressed him that he incorporated the creating the post of elephantarch to lead those specialist units. Around that time some empires in the eastern Mediterranean kept thousands of Asian war elephants.
With the increasing use of such animals in war, it is believed that the Carthaginians and Egyptians, among others, started to train the African forest elephants then found in the Atlas Mountains.
However, being smaller than their Asian cousins, these animals were less intimidating. Though the evidence for the use of African war elephants is not conclusive, a Carthaginian coin shows Hannibal on one side and an African elephant on the other, however, the elephant is not being ridden, nor is it equipped for war.
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Hannibal may have used both species in the Second Punic War against the Romans. It's known that his favourite elephant was a large and impressive animal called Surus, possibly an Asian elephant, but it is likely that the majority of the ones used by Hannibal were of the now-extinct North African forest species.
Did you know war elephants were reportedly used by Siamese and Vietnamese armies well into the 19th century?
Top image: Painting from the 1700's in The Bundi Palace In Rajasthan, India © Getty images