ISLAMIC HISTORY

How Damaging to Islamic Civilization were the Mongol Invasions

How Damaging to Islamic Civilization were the Mongol Invasions

This paper focuses on the Islamic history and its main focus will remain on the how demanding to Islamic civilization were the Mongol's invasions. Elephant training began in the Indus valley about 4,000 years ago, and thus the animals had been used in warfare in India for centuries before Timur's army encountered them while invading the Delhi Sultanate in 1398. The use of war elephants spread west, as western rulers discovered their use in India and brought them west for their own military purposes. In 264 BCE, the Carthaginian warlord, Hannibal, used war elephants against the Romans, and Alexander the Great also used them in his empire's wars in the same period. African elephants were also trained by civilisations in Ethiopia and Somalia, but in general, more Indian elephants than African were ever trained for warfare.

European military historians have often dismissed war elephants as ineffective and even dangerous, but in fact they were quite useful. They were strong beasts of burden once tamed, and thus they were of great assistance to travelling armies bearing heavy loads. They were also very useful in battle. They could charge at up to 25 kilometres per hour, and they had difficulty stopping once they reached that speed. The stampeding beasts therefore often crushed enemy armies. Elephants were also very difficult to kill, and thus opposing armies were often sent scrambling for safety when they charged. Additionally, war elephants had a frightening presence for armies that had never seen them before. Horses and camels unaccustomed to elephants were similarly spooked, and often ran off in fear. Indian armies did not simply rely on the elephants' physical presence to frighten their opponents into defeat, however. They also used the elephants' enormous size to their advantage by stationing armed soldiers atop the animals. Archers and javelin throwers atop war elephants had a distinct advantage over the army on the ground.

There were disadvantages to the use of elephants in war, however. Although they were difficult to kill, several wounds to an elephant, or the loss of the animal's driver, could cause the elephant to lose control and become dangerous to its own army. Also, with the invention and widespread use of gunpowder in warfare in the 16th century, elephants became easier to kill, and thus their effectiveness decreased.

In 1398, however, Timur was able to defeat the army of the Delhi Sultanate, and its elephants. Although it is difficult to say for sure how Timur got past the elephants, one tale says that after seeing the Delhi Sultanate's 120 war elephants, Timur offered a special prayer to Allah, then attached straw to the backs of the camels in his own army. When the camels got close to the elephants, Timur ignited the straw, thus encouraging the camels to run forward. The flaming camels racing towards them frightened the elephants, who ended up crushing many Indian troops in their haste to ...