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Redneck/Commoner logic here: one of the advantages of brining animals with you to war is that they are mobile food. If times get tough then the ox that brought your stuff to the battle becomes dinner. I am sure that this has been done many times throughout history.
Seems you missed the absolutely accurate historical proof of bears used in warfare provided by Total War: Warhammer 3 - The 100 % historically accurate nation of Kislev uses a lot of bears in warfare... Edit: Kislev also has Snow leopard units. Edit 2: The equally entirely historically accurate High Elves have Lion chariots and war lions...
Matt, you mentioned falcons as hunting animals taken by nobles on campaign but you forgot their wartime anti-pigeon use. Yes, falcons were used to take out messenger & photo-recce pigeons during WW1, & may have been used for similar purposes earlier, even into the mediaeval period.
@@keithtorgersen9664 Well - the mumakil are more or less mentioned in the video because they are basically elephants^^ But the Witch King's fel beast...that is of course another 100 % historically correct animal worth mentioning...
In response to your query at 45:00, while I cannot show you any evidence of Moose Cavalry, I can provide evidence of Reindeer Cavalry. Among the reindeer-herding Lamut people of Siberia, some of the northern tribes who had less access to horses tried to imitate horseback combat using their reindeer, to some modest success. Reindeer-mounted Lamut soldiers would more often dismount to fight, but sometimes fought on reindeer-back. Their primary weapons were the bow and to a lesser extent the spear, and consequently they used both reindeer-back archery techniques and mounted use of bone-pointed spears and polearms (their regular utility knives attached to long wooden poles). The practise was not present among Lamut tribes with better access to horses, because they were only ever a substitute. Citation: Some Aspects of Warfare of the Reindeer Lamut in the 17th Century (Alexander K. NEFEDKIN 2013, tr. Richard L BLAND). I will enclose in a reply to this a link to a copy of the paper, which describes in modest detail the recorded panopoly (weapons both indigenous and foreign, armour and shields or lack thereof, and battle tactics) of the Lamut people and contrasts it with other Siberian peoples based on Russian documentation.
The aforementioned link, enclosed as a separate link in case UA-cam does not like people dropping links in comments: drive.google.com/file/d/1r1ALwApj7HvnCjLquBcx-1Wj0N8umFtE/view?usp=drive_link
There are some interesting details about War Elephants. For instance, the "human-like" intelligence of Elephants could be a disadvantage. Elephants can "count", so an enemy army having more elephants, might cause the smaller force to refuse combat. Similar accounts of Elephants sensing that their army might be losing, and running away. Many armies would give alcohol to War Elephants right before battle to reduce their fear, rationality, and instill aggression. Also, Elephants in the wild sometimes swat younger elephants with branches held in their trunk, so wielding a "weapon" is somewhat natural to them.
So, god really, so having wun wun being unarmed makes even less sense. I wonder if any armies taught elephants to throw boulders or use battering rams. Seems like a cool until idea for a low fantasy game
@@PJDAltamirus0425 as far as I know, no armies ever taught elephants to use battering rams, but the elephants themselves were definitely used as battering rams. Many fortress gates in India were built with iron spikes pointing outwards specifically as a counter-measure against elephants ramming the gates open.
Landmine detection rats are becoming a big thing. They're light enough that they don't set off mines, they have sensitive noses, they're very portable, and very trainable.
Rats can also be traded between handlers fairly easily. Dogs are certainly good at what they, but they're like prima donnas compared to rats. Dogs need a lot more attention and encouragement then rats. Rats just want to be paid in food, end of story.
i have heart about rats and ferrets experimented whit in mine detection and bomb/mine clearance, but have heart that it did not work,, so it was given up. but i think rats was used in some siege by the defender to spred diseases in the attacking forces camp. worth investigating closer
So…. Ratatouille sequel set in Lebanon, Ukraine, Taiwan? Talk about intense, from the kitchen a war zone. Makes sense, bomb disposal suits are extremely hot, heavy , uncomfortable and bomb guys are extremely vulnerable while disarming. Better a robot or sacrificial rat
Marine mammals (whales, dolphins and seal/sea lions) have been trained to search for sea mines and perform other duties by various navies around the world.
There is an ancient Greek drawing on the dishes of a warrior riding a dolphin. There are also stories about a boy riding a dolphin every day until the dolphin was offended by an official.Combat swimmers were in antiquity, but whether they used dolphins, there is almost no information.
Did you mention bats? In World War 2 the United States Army experimented with weaponizing swarms of bats by attaching small incendiary devices to them on timers. The concept was to use bombers or transport aircraft to release previously sedated bats over Japanese cities. The mostly wooden construction of building there would be quite flammable when the bats sought out perching locations and the devices would start fires. The first experimental run proved quite a failure as the aircraft flew too high and the released bats froze and fell quite dead to the desert below.
I also remember seeing documentry on the subject and the re-telling of an anecdote where they had a demonstration for the military high ups at an airbase. They set up some wooden buildings for the bats to fly into, droppped the bats that promptly flew into the main barracks and set them on fire.
45:15 the canaries/budgies didn't always die, they actually created oxygen resuscitation devices to keep the little birds alive because the miners felt bad about the birds dying.
The Dicken medal has been awarded to numerous dogs, horses and pigeons but only one cat. Simon was part of the crew of HMS Amethyst during the Yangtze incident. He was awarded the medal for gallantry under fire and for the disposal of many rats despite shrapnel injuries.
What a brave little boy! Cats are bizarre animals; one day they're terrified of a sneeze, the next they're launching themselves like a xenomorph at a predator multiple times their size! 😾🔪🦊
In Chess: The Bishops original name in Persian (Pil / Phil) is an elephant, as in Arabia, China, etc, and the Rook (Rukh) is a chariot. In quite a lot of India, though, the Bishop is a Camel, and Rukh is the Elephant with the Castle on the top.
It should probably be noted that canaries faint well before they die, and that if the miners get away from the dangerous gas fast enough the bird can survive too.
If you do an episode about horses, I'd love to see some info on "models" of horses. Thoroughbreds, Andalusians, Arabians, Mustangs, Icelandics, Mongols, Destriers, Draft Horses, etc. We make a big deal about different models of swords, guns and vehicles, but most people just see horses as horses, when they absolutely aren't. Part of the reason why the Norse didn't ride horses into battle was because Norse horses were basically large dogs. Mongolian cavalry was so effective because their horses were small, hardy, and could survive by eating grass (the Priuses of Horses). WWI required really specific breeds of draft horse to survive in the tough conditions of trench warfare.
I'm not certain if geese were used deliberately, but they are certainly credited in legend with alerting Rome to a Celtic invasion around the 4th century BC.
In the Netherlands geese were often used to guard farms, so wouldn't be surprised if the Romans used them for similar things, albeit not in a military role.
Hey Matt absolutley loved the video. I just wanted to add another very interesting and unkown fact as a Moroccan Dutchman i've loved Moroccan history as much as european but when I learned of the battle of Tondibi it absolutely became myt favourite. One of the great Sultans of Morocco Ahmed Al Mansur tried to secure more land to the south so that he could better control the trans sahara trade. THis lead to war with the Songhai Empire and they fought at Tondibi. The Songhai used a herd of cattle numbering in more than a 1000 animals. A tried tactic that would scare the camel cavalry. The subsequent stampede didnt go as planned though. The moroccans started firing their cannons and arquebusses and that caused the stampede to turn around. The enitre Songhai army (even tough they outnumbered the Moroccans) was destroyed and it also marked the end of the Songhai Empire.
Not used in war but had a war. Emu! The Australian army was tasked with emu elimination, conducted a small military campaign against them with machine guns & lost to the Emu. 😂
"The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month." Dominic Serventy, 1932.
Really fun and interesting video! Thank you! More animal videos please! Not only interesting but the use of animals really characterizes ancient people and helps to understand the times. Loved it!
50:32 You mentioned the Medici family having spotted cats, potentially cheetahs, but they were small. These cats were actually more than likely servals. These cats are a bit longer and taller than lynx but just a bit smaller than cheetahs. They are very adept at hunting ground birds such as grouse, quail, and pheasant.
11:20 Donkeys and mules are often used even in modern times to guard sheep and goats. They will bed down with goats, trample predators and make a loud noise providing an alarm if anything is amiss.
Project Pigeon actually worked, but it never saw adoption because it wasn't seen as being enough better than conventional bombs. Same thing with the fire bats with the added complications of burning down local infrastructure during testing.
Same thing with the infamous Soviet anti-tank dogs. It worked, but once the Germans started to shoot any dog that ran towards them, the project just wasn't cost effective anymore.
Messenger pigeons go back to the place they are from not a chosen target which seems to limit their use as a weapon. I've heard of them being weaponised once but that required getting the enemy city to give them the birds
@@alltat I've also heard that because Soviet bomb dogs were trained using soviet tanks, the dogs would (more often than) not, run back towards their own tanks when released because that was what they were used to seeing/hearing/smelling during their training O course, this could just be an urban legend, the Germans simply shootintg any dog running their way makes more sense to me.
Swiss Army had cavallry/ mounted infantry up to 1972 for field use, and messenger pidgeons into late 1990s ( 1995/97). German Mountain Troops/ Gebirgsjäger still have a company with transport mules.
Regarding hawks and falcons, I remember reading that Mongols used Eagles to communicate between two armies or different sections of armies, during their infamous campaigns. And effectively coordinated simultaneous "two-pronged" attacks with their help, which was quite groundbreaking for the time, being able to communicate relatively fast over vast distances. Yet, Of course, eagles in Mongolian culture are mostly known for being used as hunting animals.
@@RextheDragon881 They have a cool horse race in Kazakhstan, where a girl will ride her horse and the guy has to "catch" her and kiss her while going full speed. LOL.
What I find interesting about the hunting cheetahs with the greyhounds example is that in modern conservation programmes and zoos where one cheetah cub doesn't get along with the others or there just aren't other cheetahs around, they often get dog companions and tend to get on very well because the generally well-mannered dogs calm the jumpy cheetahs down. Pretty wholesome if you ask me. The point is, maybe that hunting scene in GB wasn't as outrageous as it sounds. Maybe they actually treated the cheetahs relatively well? One can always hope.
In ww2 (not sure which side) trained dogs, outfitted with explosives, to find their food under tanks. They underestimated the dog's intelligence. The dogs saw the difference, completely ignored the enemy tanks, and went straight for the tanks they were trained with. The project was quickly abandoned thereafter.
something I've also heard about war camels is that because they are taller, higher up, they give a better vantage point for observing the battle, which made them more desirable for commanders who are leading their troops. Basically, even if you have a flat desert battlefield, you can get up on your camel and see everything that's going on.
Chickens were also ready to be used in the Cold War. The Brits expected to have to fall back at the initial Soviet onslaught and had a plan to bury nuclear weapons at key points with timing devices. Those devices needed to be kept warm, so the plan was to bury live chickens with them to keep the device going with their body heat.
Other uses of animals in war come to mind, firstly the Finns using reindeer in the winter war (WWII) as pack animals and Winnie the bear, who was the mascot of the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps in WWI and was kept (and later donated) to London Zoo by Harry Colebourn. This is bear whom Winnie the Pooh is named after! I didn't know about the scorpions in pots or the use of bees!
I suppose a cheetah would probably be all right with greyhounds. In rescues and cheetah breeding progrmmes they often put a dog in the cheetah enclosure to make friends, because they're social but super neurotic and it keeps them calm and stops them panicking at everything. They look at the dog and if it's not bothered, they chill.
And greyhounds, in my experience, if there is no prey around and they were raised in a healthy setting, are the epitome of chill... Or maybe more like lazy. Sleeping seems like their default state.
They were the favored hunting companion of the Ganges plain in particular. But they would not breed in captivity and so had to be wild caught. This hunting to steal cubs was a significant part of why the Asiatic Cheetah is now so rare.
Rabbits, anyone? I have only seen one reference concerning their use in the time of Arthur. " We can't risk another fronal assault, that rabbit's dynamite!"
I mean, at the Battle of Monte Cassino Wojtek is said to have helped carry crates of 25-pounder artillery shells. So that's a bear helping with battle.
I remember from WW II that dogs have had mines strapped to their backs and sent under tanks. At least it is described in 'Unternehmen Barbarossa'. Mine-attaching dolphins also have been mentioned in different sources.
@@piotrp5668this is a myth they used captured german tanks, but did use the wrong fuel, the smell of which confused some dogs. They did blow up at least a dozen german tanks, but it's rather inefficient
@@jackalope07 Also the Germans would shoot at them so of course the poor things would run back to their lines, which in turn would make the Soviets shoot at them too.
I don't think you mentioned Llamas, which the Incan Empire used similar to donkeys. Fire and Water is a good book by Ralph D. Sawyer. It's about Chinese use of fire and water in warfare like setting fire to animals like oxen and birds.
To this day, the Chinese still use yaks as pack animals in Tibet, due the fact that you can't use vehicles in some areas. And on the point of modern people not being able to understand government led operations to eradicate animals, it still happens to this day in Australia. We even lost a war to emus, but rabbits, kangaroos, cane toads and crocs have all in one time or another come under government bounty systems. And as I type this, there is currently a mouse plaugue in New South Wales which is costing billions to the economy. So yeah, we understand. Great video, I actually learned quite a bit from this, so thank you.
You've missed flaming camels! There's one (in)famous instance of Timur the Lame invading the Delhi sultanate, and much like with pigs, he used flaming camels to scare the enemy elephants. Also I would say hawks and falcons do count, since they were used for hunting messenger pigeons.
You mentioned "bomb detection dogs", but don't forget the anti-tank dogs trained to deliver bombs to tanks. Makes more sense if you train them on *enemy* tanks, though...
The Poles had a bear in WW2, he was a mascot in an artillery unit, but he also hauled ammunition and other supplies so as much a gunner as the other lads feeding the guns!.
In the 2WW US Army tried to use Bats as Fire Bobs at the Japanese. The Russian and US marine used Delphins in the cold war .(placing mines ) Goose were used as an alarm device, guard .
The mentioned Becerillo was not a type of dog, or a breed of dog, but an individual dog of war who fought and killed several dozens perhaps even several hundreds of natives. The records say that on one occasion he killed 33 within half an hour.
Matt, sadly you did not mention naval warfare using seals, dolphins etc. for various duties, finding mines, reconnaissance etc. I did not make my research before writing the comment but you will certainly find more in this category, I am sure.
@@Barberserk ..how do dolphins go on land to trigger landmines? reverse scuba gear? DO seals roam the countryside to find them? No. this idea does not stand up to scrutiny.
That ramses lion thing got me thinking how cool it would be if we had 1200 lbs lion/tiger descendent domesticated battle cats bred to perfection for hundreds if not thousands of years! That're pretty docile but are ready to bare their fangs in hostile situations. Horses maybe even elephants would get smoked by them!
Even housecats that have domesticated us, are terrible to fight in battle. Imagine at night, a jet black 5KGs/11lbs xenomorph covered in blades, with shimmering eyes, launches itself at your face at 48KPHs/30MPHs. A domesticated lion or tiger would be utterly terrifying to face.
'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war'. Have to say I'd forgotten about the beasts of burden. Camels were superb; seen many a painting of 'camel corps' etc. I live in Sheffield and during WW1 we had Lizzie the elephant help transport Industrial machinery. Elephants historically whilst used for war were also used for executione,especially in India. Howdah hunting was very successful, hence the development of howdah pistols to deter big game fighting back, which was a possibility. Quite remarkable how other animals could mitigate the effect of others..also using such to spread disease etc. The Chinese seemed quite inventive generally. Although not deployed incendiary bat bombs were considered.. deploying bats over Japan at night which would roost over night and then burst into flames the next day.
Dogs were widely used as messengers in WW1. Basically the handler stayed in HQ and a soldier took the dog to the front trenches. When needed the dog would be released with a message and naturally wanted to get back to its handler (and to get fed). Orders had to be issued to keep the soldiers from feeding the dogs, to make sure they would return swiftly to HQ. Check out Brandon F.'s video The Goodest Boys of World War One.
In the winter of 1915, 200 Alaskan and Canadian sled dogs were secretly shipped to France to supply and relieve French troops trapped in the snow in the Vosges region. There are a couple of short videos on youtube of them pulling wounded soldiers. They were known by the French as 'les poilus d'Alaska' (poilu meaning hairy/furry as well as the general nickname for WW1 French soldiers)
46:13 Poison gas is terrible, I'm sorry your great grandfather went through that. My own great grandfather was a war-piper (literally a bard) in the Great War. He said that only two phrases terrified him. The first was "AFFIX BAYONETS!", and the second was "GAS, GAS, GAS!". They even had a whole process to make use of the soldiers urine, to soak into handkerchiefs and cover their faces to give them time to get to safety. Apparently my grandfather asked his dad "But what if you hear "GAS, GAS, GAS!" and you can't pıss?" His dad replied; "You. Will. Pıss.".
Pigeon homing missiles had nothing to do with the pigeon homing instinct, but with their eyesight and pecking. They were trained to peck a picture of the target in order to get food, and then the mechanism would measure if the pecking was not aligned with the way the missile was going and adjust accordingly to bring the pecking back to the center. I think a variant of this was used successfully in rescue missions of downed US pilots, as the pigeons were very good at seeing little orange lifeboats on the big expanse of the Pacific Ocean, so if the trained pigeon started pecking at one direction, that is where the rescue plane would steer. There were also plans of chicken-timed tactical nuclear devices. Well, not exactly, the chicken was there just to keep the electronics of the buried devices from freezing up, during the couple of days it would take for the Soviets to pour into West Germany.
The Royal Armouries in Leeds has a complete suit of armour for an elephant. There’s a reproduction of it somewhere in the US. Would be great to see it on a live elephant, not just a dummy or armature.
@@Lucius1958 Yes. I saw it both when it was at the Tower of London and in Leeds and can confirm it's the same one. It was moved up to Leeds when the Armouries Museum opened in 1996 (I think) and has remained part of its display collection since (except for a time when some refurbishment was being undertaken to the galleries). As far as I know, the Royal Armouries only has one suit of armour for an elephant.
I imagine they are also good for cleaning up the corpses of those who don't survive. Anyway, I hate the idea of eating such wonderful and incredibly intelligent creatures, as tasty as they are... Especially if we forced them to do our dirty work.
The problem of the bear is mainly his asocial behaviour along with overpowering strenght and clever mind, making the bear very moody and unpredictable. Bear also is one of the most intelligent non-primate terrestrial mammals of northern hemisphere and his behaviour can be quite complex (very dog-like as for the sharp mind but not very social and friendly). The bear-tamers probably always existed on the outskirts of settled areas, where reclusive man befriended reclusive bear (much like individuals today) and probably such unlikely couple could battle side by side, but generally unfit as a military unit.
If you are a nobelman you release the armored mastiffs onto the battlefield. Your pet cheetah and monkey stay safe at camp with their silk pillows. A nobelman might take exotic pets to war, but they don't get released on the battlefield.
Just to emphasise how deadly the black plague was, in Sweden (I know specifically about Sweden but it might be true for the rest of Scandinavia as well) the craft of making a type of roof was lost because the plague had killed so many people that no new houses needed to be built for generations. Think if that many people died today that there would be enough mattresses that making new ones would be such a low priority because there would be a huge surplus of them and after a few generations no one would know how to make that type of mattress anymore
Not just one, but two lions served as mascots to the American fighter squadron Lafayette Escadrille in French service during WW1. Their names were Whiskey & Soda. They never went into combat, but they were famous members of the unit.
4:00 horses 7:00 dogs 11:10 donkys and mules, oxsan. (Did the inca use lamas? Probably not but please tell if anyone knows) 13:20 camals 16:15 elephants (look mr frodo. An elephant..) 23:53 pigeons (someone said the usa in ww2 used bats were also uses to drop charges) 25:10 pigs, 31:20 cats.. 32:20 bees, (used as projetiles, modern day are used as drug sniffers as well... Some use the hives as ambushes 34:30 flies and flys used to spread dieses 37:47 scorpions 39:33 monkys, 41:50 moose... (Simmer to cammel uses) 45:00 birds.. caneres (gass detection) 47:10 bears (sadly not used how you think.. just the one as a mascot) 49:10 very uncommon but, a lion was used... (And cheaters) Someone else said romans used goose as century's to alight them and are used in prisons because they are harder to tame then dogs (so prisoners cant make friends) and still very angry.
Don’t forget the country of Lao. Which is a shortcut for lang Xiang. Which means 1 million elephants. Lao was the kingdom of 1 million war elephants. Still to that day.
Hi Matt a fan from Sweden here, and I have learned about why moose cavalry didn't work because the moose became too scared to be used in war.Unlike a war horse that must be fed forage, an moose can eat both grass moss lichens fruit and berries Something that is good for logistics. And if I remember correctly, King Erik Segersäll used bulls/aurochs to smash the enemy's shield wall during the Battle of Fyrisvallarna
Elephants hauling artillery continued into the 21st C. When the Tamils were attacking Columbo and expressly the airport and northern part of the city (approx 2004) some of guns were pulled there via elephants...what % of that was elephant drawn vs truck (and how much was propaganda) is hard to say.
Following up on the bees dialogue, there was a subset of use in which Ancient Greeks and Romans used "mad" honey to cause their adversaries psychosis and subsequent paralysis by leaving pots of this poison honey behind.
52:55 apparently in the Battle of Tondibi and Henry Morgan's siege of Panama, both the Songhai and the Spanish respectively tried to use herds of oxen and cattle to both serve as meat shields against gunfire and to stampede against the enemy, but in both cases they ended up running away from the gunfire and charging through their own side, killing the soldiers that had set them loose. Speaking of Total War, someone made a mod that added Korea in Shogun 2 where you can field Koreans mounted on oxen, I wonder if there's any historical reasoning for that?
I always wondered why no one ever used cattle as cavalry. If you've ever seen rodeo bulls it is obvious that they would be devastating. Bigger and stronger than horses plus of course the horns.
Hannibal is supposed to have used clay pots filled with venomous snakes as catapult missiles in one naval battle. Harald Hardrada is said to have taken one city in Sicily in the 11th century by capturing birds which nested in the town, attaching flammable materials to them, setting them alight and then releasing them so that they flew back into their nests in the roofs and rafters of buildings and caught them afire. My father served in the 10th Mountain Division in Italy in WW2, in the mule trains moving supplies to the front. They rode horses and drove the strings of pack animals, which could go where trucks and even jeeps couldn't not.
43:00 ++ moose are not very good beasts of burden: they're weaker and more fragile than say a donkey, a working horse or an ox. They can be domesticated, but they are secondary to normal domesticated working creatures. UPDATE: I also discovered the opinion on the web that they are harder to domesticate.
Wow... Matt must be doing well, and soon, he is opening a new, private zoo! Buy two war elephants for very affordable price, and you will get a third one free of charge! Express shipping worldwide, even across the Alps!
Thanks to World Anvil for sponsoring this video - you can get 51% off any yearly subscription to World Anvil with code SCHOLA at www.worldanvil.com/?c=schola
Redneck/Commoner logic here: one of the advantages of brining animals with you to war is that they are mobile food. If times get tough then the ox that brought your stuff to the battle becomes dinner. I am sure that this has been done many times throughout history.
Seems you missed the absolutely accurate historical proof of bears used in warfare provided by Total War: Warhammer 3 - The 100 % historically accurate nation of Kislev uses a lot of bears in warfare...
Edit: Kislev also has Snow leopard units.
Edit 2: The equally entirely historically accurate High Elves have Lion chariots and war lions...
Matt, you mentioned falcons as hunting animals taken by nobles on campaign but you forgot their wartime anti-pigeon use. Yes, falcons were used to take out messenger & photo-recce pigeons during WW1, & may have been used for similar purposes earlier, even into the mediaeval period.
@@Hauke-ph5ui don't forget the Mumakil used by the Harad-rim.
@@keithtorgersen9664 Well - the mumakil are more or less mentioned in the video because they are basically elephants^^
But the Witch King's fel beast...that is of course another 100 % historically correct animal worth mentioning...
In response to your query at 45:00, while I cannot show you any evidence of Moose Cavalry, I can provide evidence of Reindeer Cavalry. Among the reindeer-herding Lamut people of Siberia, some of the northern tribes who had less access to horses tried to imitate horseback combat using their reindeer, to some modest success. Reindeer-mounted Lamut soldiers would more often dismount to fight, but sometimes fought on reindeer-back. Their primary weapons were the bow and to a lesser extent the spear, and consequently they used both reindeer-back archery techniques and mounted use of bone-pointed spears and polearms (their regular utility knives attached to long wooden poles).
The practise was not present among Lamut tribes with better access to horses, because they were only ever a substitute.
Citation: Some Aspects of Warfare of the Reindeer Lamut in the 17th Century (Alexander K. NEFEDKIN 2013, tr. Richard L BLAND).
I will enclose in a reply to this a link to a copy of the paper, which describes in modest detail the recorded panopoly (weapons both indigenous and foreign, armour and shields or lack thereof, and battle tactics) of the Lamut people and contrasts it with other Siberian peoples based on Russian documentation.
The aforementioned link, enclosed as a separate link in case UA-cam does not like people dropping links in comments:
drive.google.com/file/d/1r1ALwApj7HvnCjLquBcx-1Wj0N8umFtE/view?usp=drive_link
There are some interesting details about War Elephants. For instance, the "human-like" intelligence of Elephants could be a disadvantage. Elephants can "count", so an enemy army having more elephants, might cause the smaller force to refuse combat. Similar accounts of Elephants sensing that their army might be losing, and running away. Many armies would give alcohol to War Elephants right before battle to reduce their fear, rationality, and instill aggression. Also, Elephants in the wild sometimes swat younger elephants with branches held in their trunk, so wielding a "weapon" is somewhat natural to them.
So, god really, so having wun wun being unarmed makes even less sense. I wonder if any armies taught elephants to throw boulders or use battering rams. Seems like a cool until idea for a low fantasy game
Elephants can be trained to do so much, they can fly planes if they're taught from a young age.
@@PJDAltamirus0425 as far as I know, no armies ever taught elephants to use battering rams, but the elephants themselves were definitely used as battering rams. Many fortress gates in India were built with iron spikes pointing outwards specifically as a counter-measure against elephants ramming the gates open.
@@user-wb7nv9ht1gA pilot elephant downed in enemy territory could live off of the vegetation.
Landmine detection rats are becoming a big thing. They're light enough that they don't set off mines, they have sensitive noses, they're very portable, and very trainable.
Apparently they also used ferrets for that.
Rats can also be traded between handlers fairly easily. Dogs are certainly good at what they, but they're like prima donnas compared to rats. Dogs need a lot more attention and encouragement then rats. Rats just want to be paid in food, end of story.
i have heart about rats and ferrets experimented whit in mine detection and bomb/mine clearance, but have heart that it did not work,, so it was given up.
but i think rats was used in some siege by the defender to spred diseases in the attacking forces camp. worth investigating closer
Portable 🥹🐀
So…. Ratatouille sequel set in Lebanon, Ukraine, Taiwan? Talk about intense, from the kitchen a war zone. Makes sense, bomb disposal suits are extremely hot, heavy , uncomfortable and bomb guys are extremely vulnerable while disarming. Better a robot or sacrificial rat
Wojtek helped with artillery ammo unloading and captured an spy, so he did more than just being a mascot😆
Wojtek, the Smoking, Drinking, Hard Fighting War Hero of a Bear.
I'm surprised a movie or show about Wojtek hasn't been made yet. If there were a Crunchyroll anime of it, I'd definitely watch it.
Marine mammals (whales, dolphins and seal/sea lions) have been trained to search for sea mines and perform other duties by various navies around the world.
Interesting.
There is an ancient Greek drawing on the dishes of a warrior riding a dolphin. There are also stories about a boy riding a dolphin every day until the dolphin was offended by an official.Combat swimmers were in antiquity, but whether they used dolphins, there is almost no information.
I was just thinking about this
I have heard the same thing.
Did you mention bats? In World War 2 the United States Army experimented with weaponizing swarms of bats by attaching small incendiary devices to them on timers. The concept was to use bombers or transport aircraft to release previously sedated bats over Japanese cities. The mostly wooden construction of building there would be quite flammable when the bats sought out perching locations and the devices would start fires. The first experimental run proved quite a failure as the aircraft flew too high and the released bats froze and fell quite dead to the desert below.
Yeh, they poured a bucket load of money into that project too.
Hadn't watched his vid yet, does he mention homing pigeons stuffed inside missiles?
Horrible. Humans should keep their wars to themselves and not sacrifice innocent bats.
I was hoping someone would mention the bomb-bats...hopefully, they will appear in a part 2 on this channel
I also remember seeing documentry on the subject and the re-telling of an anecdote where they had a demonstration for the military high ups at an airbase. They set up some wooden buildings for the bats to fly into, droppped the bats that promptly flew into the main barracks and set them on fire.
45:15 the canaries/budgies didn't always die, they actually created oxygen resuscitation devices to keep the little birds alive because the miners felt bad about the birds dying.
*miners
@@derstoffausdemderjoghurtis oh heck you're absolutely right. Thanks for the correction.
The Dicken medal has been awarded to numerous dogs, horses and pigeons but only one cat. Simon was part of the crew of HMS Amethyst during the Yangtze incident. He was awarded the medal for gallantry under fire and for the disposal of many rats despite shrapnel injuries.
What a brave little boy! Cats are bizarre animals; one day they're terrified of a sneeze, the next they're launching themselves like a xenomorph at a predator multiple times their size! 😾🔪🦊
In Chess: The Bishops original name in Persian (Pil / Phil) is an elephant, as in Arabia, China, etc, and the Rook (Rukh) is a chariot. In quite a lot of India, though, the Bishop is a Camel, and Rukh is the Elephant with the Castle on the top.
That does make a lot more sense than moving towers.
i'd watch a war dog video from schola gladiatoria
It should probably be noted that canaries faint well before they die, and that if the miners get away from the dangerous gas fast enough the bird can survive too.
If you do an episode about horses, I'd love to see some info on "models" of horses. Thoroughbreds, Andalusians, Arabians, Mustangs, Icelandics, Mongols, Destriers, Draft Horses, etc. We make a big deal about different models of swords, guns and vehicles, but most people just see horses as horses, when they absolutely aren't. Part of the reason why the Norse didn't ride horses into battle was because Norse horses were basically large dogs. Mongolian cavalry was so effective because their horses were small, hardy, and could survive by eating grass (the Priuses of Horses). WWI required really specific breeds of draft horse to survive in the tough conditions of trench warfare.
What about Geese… didn’t the Romans use geese to raise the alarm when guarding things?
We still use Geese today especially on farms in the North or West of England, they're scarier than dogs 😄
there great watch dogs ! they hate everybody! noisy 😂
I'm not certain if geese were used deliberately, but they are certainly credited in legend with alerting Rome to a Celtic invasion around the 4th century BC.
In the Netherlands geese were often used to guard farms, so wouldn't be surprised if the Romans used them for similar things, albeit not in a military role.
A jail (the Berga fängelset )in Helsingborg southern Sweden has geeses as jail Guards in the prison compound, to prevent the prisoners to escape.
Hey Matt absolutley loved the video. I just wanted to add another very interesting and unkown fact as a Moroccan Dutchman i've loved Moroccan history as much as european but when I learned of the battle of Tondibi it absolutely became myt favourite. One of the great Sultans of Morocco Ahmed Al Mansur tried to secure more land to the south so that he could better control the trans sahara trade. THis lead to war with the Songhai Empire and they fought at Tondibi. The Songhai used a herd of cattle numbering in more than a 1000 animals. A tried tactic that would scare the camel cavalry. The subsequent stampede didnt go as planned though. The moroccans started firing their cannons and arquebusses and that caused the stampede to turn around. The enitre Songhai army (even tough they outnumbered the Moroccans) was destroyed and it also marked the end of the Songhai Empire.
Not used in war but had a war. Emu! The Australian army was tasked with emu elimination, conducted a small military campaign against them with machine guns & lost to the Emu. 😂
"The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month." Dominic Serventy, 1932.
Really fun and interesting video! Thank you! More animal videos please! Not only interesting but the use of animals really characterizes ancient people and helps to understand the times. Loved it!
50:32 You mentioned the Medici family having spotted cats, potentially cheetahs, but they were small. These cats were actually more than likely servals. These cats are a bit longer and taller than lynx but just a bit smaller than cheetahs. They are very adept at hunting ground birds such as grouse, quail, and pheasant.
During the Burma campaign in WW2 elephants were also used for building wooden bridges and roadways for the British army.
Cry havoc, and let slip the Hogs of war!
11:20 Donkeys and mules are often used even in modern times to guard sheep and goats. They will bed down with goats, trample predators and make a loud noise providing an alarm if anything is amiss.
You forgot to mention sheep. The battering ram comes to mind.
Is this a pun or fact?
Project Pigeon actually worked, but it never saw adoption because it wasn't seen as being enough better than conventional bombs. Same thing with the fire bats with the added complications of burning down local infrastructure during testing.
Same thing with the infamous Soviet anti-tank dogs. It worked, but once the Germans started to shoot any dog that ran towards them, the project just wasn't cost effective anymore.
Shame. It would have been Chicken feed to impliment, unlike the Manhattan Project :D
Messenger pigeons go back to the place they are from not a chosen target which seems to limit their use as a weapon. I've heard of them being weaponised once but that required getting the enemy city to give them the birds
@@alltat I've also heard that because Soviet bomb dogs were trained using soviet tanks, the dogs would (more often than) not, run back towards their own tanks when released because that was what they were used to seeing/hearing/smelling during their training O course, this could just be an urban legend, the Germans simply shootintg any dog running their way makes more sense to me.
What's this about fire bats?
Sheep/chicken entrails divination was used in ancient Greece/Rome to make important tactical decision, like if it was good day to fight. 😵💫
Yes! A video on war dogs in history would be great!
Swiss Army had cavallry/ mounted infantry up to 1972 for field use, and messenger pidgeons into late 1990s ( 1995/97). German Mountain Troops/ Gebirgsjäger still have a company with transport mules.
The Austrian Army still uses Haflingers (small mountain horses) for it's mountain troops. They have around 50.
@@TheZinmo : German Mountain Troops perhaps also have some, don' t know exactly.
@@TheZinmo : Don' t know exactly, German Mountaintroops
No fire bats or battle dolphins?
Edit: thanks for this video, it was really fun and I learned a bunch. 🙂👍
Can you give info of those?
I’m curious.
Regarding hawks and falcons, I remember reading that Mongols used Eagles to communicate between two armies or different sections of armies, during their infamous campaigns. And effectively coordinated simultaneous "two-pronged" attacks with their help, which was quite groundbreaking for the time, being able to communicate relatively fast over vast distances.
Yet, Of course, eagles in Mongolian culture are mostly known for being used as hunting animals.
Used for hunting yes. Communication probably not.
Mongol falconry with eagles is awesome. That's all I have to say
@@RextheDragon881 Still done today. As is Archery, horse archery + racing and wrestling.
@@blahblahblah8583 yea I've seen some videos, very impressive
@@RextheDragon881 They have a cool horse race in Kazakhstan, where a girl will ride her horse and the guy has to "catch" her and kiss her while going full speed. LOL.
What I find interesting about the hunting cheetahs with the greyhounds example is that in modern conservation programmes and zoos where one cheetah cub doesn't get along with the others or there just aren't other cheetahs around, they often get dog companions and tend to get on very well because the generally well-mannered dogs calm the jumpy cheetahs down. Pretty wholesome if you ask me.
The point is, maybe that hunting scene in GB wasn't as outrageous as it sounds. Maybe they actually treated the cheetahs relatively well? One can always hope.
In ww2 (not sure which side) trained dogs, outfitted with explosives, to find their food under tanks. They underestimated the dog's intelligence. The dogs saw the difference, completely ignored the enemy tanks, and went straight for the tanks they were trained with.
The project was quickly abandoned thereafter.
Attack ferrets, trained to run up the enemy's trouser leg and wreak havoc. A particularly nasty weapon used mainly in the north of England.
something I've also heard about war camels is that because they are taller, higher up, they give a better vantage point for observing the battle, which made them more desirable for commanders who are leading their troops. Basically, even if you have a flat desert battlefield, you can get up on your camel and see everything that's going on.
Chickens were also ready to be used in the Cold War. The Brits expected to have to fall back at the initial Soviet onslaught and had a plan to bury nuclear weapons at key points with timing devices. Those devices needed to be kept warm, so the plan was to bury live chickens with them to keep the device going with their body heat.
Other uses of animals in war come to mind, firstly the Finns using reindeer in the winter war (WWII) as pack animals and Winnie the bear, who was the mascot of the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps in WWI and was kept (and later donated) to London Zoo by Harry Colebourn. This is bear whom Winnie the Pooh is named after! I didn't know about the scorpions in pots or the use of bees!
I've heard of rats being used to detect landmines. Apparently they can smell the explosives and locate them to be deactivated or avoided
I suppose a cheetah would probably be all right with greyhounds. In rescues and cheetah breeding progrmmes they often put a dog in the cheetah enclosure to make friends, because they're social but super neurotic and it keeps them calm and stops them panicking at everything. They look at the dog and if it's not bothered, they chill.
And greyhounds, in my experience, if there is no prey around and they were raised in a healthy setting, are the epitome of chill... Or maybe more like lazy. Sleeping seems like their default state.
@@andresmorera6426 my friend has one and it does EXACTLY that. Absurd creature.
They were the favored hunting companion of the Ganges plain in particular. But they would not breed in captivity and so had to be wild caught. This hunting to steal cubs was a significant part of why the Asiatic Cheetah is now so rare.
What a species we are! Capable of wonderful acts of altruism and amazing creativity: simultaneously capable of incredible malice and cruelty!
A dog's greater senses makes it invaluable in asymetric warfare. It is easy to sneak up to a man, but a man and dog is a much much tougher prospect.
Rabbits, anyone? I have only seen one reference concerning their use in the time of Arthur. " We can't risk another fronal assault, that rabbit's dynamite!"
Great video Matt, love your content
I mean, at the Battle of Monte Cassino Wojtek is said to have helped carry crates of 25-pounder artillery shells. So that's a bear helping with battle.
Sampson and the foxes?
If it helps, falcons have been tested as anti drone defense in modern times.
I remember from WW II that dogs have had mines strapped to their backs and sent under tanks. At least it is described in 'Unternehmen Barbarossa'.
Mine-attaching dolphins also have been mentioned in different sources.
They were trained on T-34 tanks, so instead going after German tanks, they returned to Soviet lines and blow up T-34. 😋
@@piotrp5668this is a myth they used captured german tanks, but did use the wrong fuel, the smell of which confused some dogs.
They did blow up at least a dozen german tanks, but it's rather inefficient
@@jackalope07 Also the Germans would shoot at them so of course the poor things would run back to their lines, which in turn would make the Soviets shoot at them too.
The problem with war carnivores, is that when you teach them to kill humans, they... kill humans.
Where is my rhinoceros cavalry?
In fiction I suspect
with the Holy Purple Rhino Knights
In Wakanda
"Early warning via the medium of death" sounds like a fantastic concept album
I don't think you mentioned Llamas, which the Incan Empire used similar to donkeys. Fire and Water is a good book by Ralph D. Sawyer. It's about Chinese use of fire and water in warfare like setting fire to animals like oxen and birds.
To this day, the Chinese still use yaks as pack animals in Tibet, due the fact that you can't use vehicles in some areas.
And on the point of modern people not being able to understand government led operations to eradicate animals, it still happens to this day in Australia. We even lost a war to emus, but rabbits, kangaroos, cane toads and crocs have all in one time or another come under government bounty systems. And as I type this, there is currently a mouse plaugue in New South Wales which is costing billions to the economy. So yeah, we understand.
Great video, I actually learned quite a bit from this, so thank you.
10:15 Becerrillo (not pronounced like that at all :P) is not a breed, but the name of Ponce de Leon's dog (discoverer of Florida and the Gulf stream).
You've missed flaming camels! There's one (in)famous instance of Timur the Lame invading the Delhi sultanate, and much like with pigs, he used flaming camels to scare the enemy elephants.
Also I would say hawks and falcons do count, since they were used for hunting messenger pigeons.
You mentioned "bomb detection dogs", but don't forget the anti-tank dogs trained to deliver bombs to tanks. Makes more sense if you train them on *enemy* tanks, though...
In case people thought this was an urban legend: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog
I feel like Matt and Jason had a conversation about animals recently lol
With Jason having the video about medieval pets just a couple of days ago
_SPECKLED JIM !!_
The Poles had a bear in WW2, he was a mascot in an artillery unit, but he also hauled ammunition and other supplies so as much a gunner as the other lads feeding the guns!.
In the 2WW US Army tried to use Bats as Fire Bobs at the Japanese.
The Russian and US marine used Delphins in the cold war .(placing mines )
Goose were used as an alarm device, guard .
1 hour long video? Hell yeah!
World Anvil is a great get for a sponsor.
The mentioned Becerillo was not a type of dog, or a breed of dog, but an individual dog of war who fought and killed several dozens perhaps even several hundreds of natives. The records say that on one occasion he killed 33 within half an hour.
Awesome video about terrible deeds of history. Matt continues to be the best historical combat UA-camr out there.
Matt, sadly you did not mention naval warfare using seals, dolphins etc. for various duties, finding mines, reconnaissance etc. I did not make my research before writing the comment but you will certainly find more in this category, I am sure.
marine animals finding landmines?? How do they recon and report findings? Research matters.
@@rowbearly6128 Perhaps they simply trigger them? I don't know.
@@Barberserk ..how do dolphins go on land to trigger landmines? reverse scuba gear? DO seals roam the countryside to find them? No. this idea does not stand up to scrutiny.
@@rowbearly6128 Haha, sorry, I meant sea mines, obviously.
@@Barberserk THERE we go!
That ramses lion thing got me thinking how cool it would be if we had 1200 lbs lion/tiger descendent domesticated battle cats bred to perfection for hundreds if not thousands of years! That're pretty docile but are ready to bare their fangs in hostile situations. Horses maybe even elephants would get smoked by them!
Even housecats that have domesticated us, are terrible to fight in battle. Imagine at night, a jet black 5KGs/11lbs xenomorph covered in blades, with shimmering eyes, launches itself at your face at 48KPHs/30MPHs.
A domesticated lion or tiger would be utterly terrifying to face.
'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war'. Have to say I'd forgotten about the beasts of burden.
Camels were superb; seen many a painting of 'camel corps' etc.
I live in Sheffield and during WW1 we had Lizzie the elephant help transport Industrial machinery. Elephants historically whilst used for war were also used for executione,especially in India. Howdah hunting was very successful, hence the development of howdah pistols to deter big game fighting back, which was a possibility.
Quite remarkable how other animals could mitigate the effect of others..also using such to spread disease etc.
The Chinese seemed quite inventive generally.
Although not deployed incendiary bat bombs were considered.. deploying bats over Japan at night which would roost over night and then burst into flames the next day.
Dogs were widely used as messengers in WW1. Basically the handler stayed in HQ and a soldier took the dog to the front trenches. When needed the dog would be released with a message and naturally wanted to get back to its handler (and to get fed). Orders had to be issued to keep the soldiers from feeding the dogs, to make sure they would return swiftly to HQ.
Check out Brandon F.'s video The Goodest Boys of World War One.
An army of "Moose-men" is absolutely terrifying and hilarious in equal measure.
Oh God; pigs, and flaming pigs! I'm dying😂
In the winter of 1915, 200 Alaskan and Canadian sled dogs were secretly shipped to France to supply and relieve French troops trapped in the snow in the Vosges region. There are a couple of short videos on youtube of them pulling wounded soldiers. They were known by the French as 'les poilus d'Alaska' (poilu meaning hairy/furry as well as the general nickname for WW1 French soldiers)
46:13 Poison gas is terrible, I'm sorry your great grandfather went through that. My own great grandfather was a war-piper (literally a bard) in the Great War. He said that only two phrases terrified him. The first was "AFFIX BAYONETS!", and the second was "GAS, GAS, GAS!".
They even had a whole process to make use of the soldiers urine, to soak into handkerchiefs and cover their faces to give them time to get to safety.
Apparently my grandfather asked his dad "But what if you hear "GAS, GAS, GAS!" and you can't pıss?"
His dad replied; "You. Will. Pıss.".
The other thing about gas in WW1 is that early on gas masks were useless; it took time to learn to make them.
Dolphins for reconnaissance were a cool idea
Batista elephants sound bad ass. 😍
Pigeon homing missiles had nothing to do with the pigeon homing instinct, but with their eyesight and pecking. They were trained to peck a picture of the target in order to get food, and then the mechanism would measure if the pecking was not aligned with the way the missile was going and adjust accordingly to bring the pecking back to the center. I think a variant of this was used successfully in rescue missions of downed US pilots, as the pigeons were very good at seeing little orange lifeboats on the big expanse of the Pacific Ocean, so if the trained pigeon started pecking at one direction, that is where the rescue plane would steer.
There were also plans of chicken-timed tactical nuclear devices. Well, not exactly, the chicken was there just to keep the electronics of the buried devices from freezing up, during the couple of days it would take for the Soviets to pour into West Germany.
The Royal Armouries in Leeds has a complete suit of armour for an elephant.
There’s a reproduction of it somewhere in the US. Would be great to see it on a live elephant, not just a dummy or armature.
Is that the same one that used to be in the Tower? I saw that on a family trip to the UK over 50 years ago.
@@Lucius1958 Yes. I saw it both when it was at the Tower of London and in Leeds and can confirm it's the same one. It was moved up to Leeds when the Armouries Museum opened in 1996 (I think) and has remained part of its display collection since (except for a time when some refurbishment was being undertaken to the galleries). As far as I know, the Royal Armouries only has one suit of armour for an elephant.
On the use of pigs: They are good for mayhem, and whoever survives the battle has bacon afterwards. That's a plus.
I imagine they are also good for cleaning up the corpses of those who don't survive.
Anyway, I hate the idea of eating such wonderful and incredibly intelligent creatures, as tasty as they are... Especially if we forced them to do our dirty work.
The problem of the bear is mainly his asocial behaviour along with overpowering strenght and clever mind, making the bear very moody and unpredictable. Bear also is one of the most intelligent non-primate terrestrial mammals of northern hemisphere and his behaviour can be quite complex (very dog-like as for the sharp mind but not very social and friendly). The bear-tamers probably always existed on the outskirts of settled areas, where reclusive man befriended reclusive bear (much like individuals today) and probably such unlikely couple could battle side by side, but generally unfit as a military unit.
I've heard of some places using rats to sniff out mines.
Absolutely a dedicated video on war dogs.
If you are a nobelman you release the armored mastiffs onto the battlefield.
Your pet cheetah and monkey stay safe at camp with their silk pillows.
A nobelman might take exotic pets to war, but they don't get released on the battlefield.
Don't forget reindeer. Used to pull sleds and other equipment.
Yeah i remember that. The Great Christmas War. General Santa Clause fought valiantly.
I'm a burgeoning novelist, and dadgummit I want to write something featuring moose riders! Hell yeah🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻!🫎🫎🫎🫎🫎
Just to emphasise how deadly the black plague was, in Sweden (I know specifically about Sweden but it might be true for the rest of Scandinavia as well) the craft of making a type of roof was lost because the plague had killed so many people that no new houses needed to be built for generations. Think if that many people died today that there would be enough mattresses that making new ones would be such a low priority because there would be a huge surplus of them and after a few generations no one would know how to make that type of mattress anymore
Not just one, but two lions served as mascots to the American fighter squadron Lafayette Escadrille in French service during WW1. Their names were Whiskey & Soda. They never went into combat, but they were famous members of the unit.
I'm all for the dedicated dog video. The Great Pyrenees were used to carry munitions over the mountains in WWII
I just love the idea of sending pigs at the enemy to cause chaos
4:00 horses
7:00 dogs
11:10 donkys and mules, oxsan. (Did the inca use lamas? Probably not but please tell if anyone knows)
13:20 camals
16:15 elephants (look mr frodo. An elephant..)
23:53 pigeons (someone said the usa in ww2 used bats were also uses to drop charges)
25:10 pigs,
31:20 cats..
32:20 bees, (used as projetiles, modern day are used as drug sniffers as well... Some use the hives as ambushes
34:30 flies and flys used to spread dieses
37:47 scorpions
39:33 monkys,
41:50 moose... (Simmer to cammel uses)
45:00 birds.. caneres (gass detection)
47:10 bears (sadly not used how you think.. just the one as a mascot)
49:10 very uncommon but, a lion was used... (And cheaters)
Someone else said romans used goose as century's to alight them and are used in prisons because they are harder to tame then dogs (so prisoners cant make friends) and still very angry.
Don’t forget the country of Lao. Which is a shortcut for lang Xiang. Which means 1 million elephants. Lao was the kingdom of 1 million war elephants. Still to that day.
Hi Matt a fan from Sweden here, and I have learned about why moose cavalry didn't work because the moose became too scared to be used in war.Unlike a war horse that must be fed forage, an moose can eat both grass moss lichens fruit and berries Something that is good for logistics. And if I remember correctly, King Erik Segersäll used bulls/aurochs to smash the enemy's shield wall during the Battle of Fyrisvallarna
I have a dog at war with me now in 2024. he makes a good artillery and intruder alarm.
Elephants hauling artillery continued into the 21st C. When the Tamils were attacking Columbo and expressly the airport and northern part of the city (approx 2004) some of guns were pulled there via elephants...what % of that was elephant drawn vs truck (and how much was propaganda) is hard to say.
Good video. Small correction (maybe), I think you may mean Cimmerians, rather than Sumerians.
Thanks for the video 🐺
Following up on the bees dialogue, there was a subset of use in which Ancient Greeks and Romans used "mad" honey to cause their adversaries psychosis and subsequent paralysis by leaving pots of this poison honey behind.
52:55 apparently in the Battle of Tondibi and Henry Morgan's siege of Panama, both the Songhai and the Spanish respectively tried to use herds of oxen and cattle to both serve as meat shields against gunfire and to stampede against the enemy, but in both cases they ended up running away from the gunfire and charging through their own side, killing the soldiers that had set them loose. Speaking of Total War, someone made a mod that added Korea in Shogun 2 where you can field Koreans mounted on oxen, I wonder if there's any historical reasoning for that?
I always wondered why no one ever used cattle as cavalry. If you've ever seen rodeo bulls it is obvious that they would be devastating. Bigger and stronger than horses plus of course the horns.
Seems like Matt has never heard of the war-beaver sappers.
Hannibal is supposed to have used clay pots filled with venomous snakes as catapult missiles in one naval battle.
Harald Hardrada is said to have taken one city in Sicily in the 11th century by capturing birds which nested in the town, attaching flammable materials to them, setting them alight and then releasing them so that they flew back into their nests in the roofs and rafters of buildings and caught them afire.
My father served in the 10th Mountain Division in Italy in WW2, in the mule trains moving supplies to the front. They rode horses and drove the strings of pack animals, which could go where trucks and even jeeps couldn't not.
Reindeer as draft animals. Bats to carry fire into house roofs of straw. Geese as watch animals.
Donkeys and semi-wild onagers were also used as far back as ancient Mesopotamia, wherein they were used to tow Sumerian war carts and chariots.
No fighting rhinos? They're like armored tactical assault unicorns
Too hard to domesticate
43:00 ++ moose are not very good beasts of burden: they're weaker and more fragile than say a donkey, a working horse or an ox. They can be domesticated, but they are secondary to normal domesticated working creatures. UPDATE: I also discovered the opinion on the web that they are harder to domesticate.
Matt, my own grandfather was gassed in WWI and met my grandmother who treated him as a nurse after his return to the States.
Wow... Matt must be doing well, and soon, he is opening a new, private zoo! Buy two war elephants for very affordable price, and you will get a third one free of charge! Express shipping worldwide, even across the Alps!
The debut of the Sloth cavalry was a noble but misguided