War Elephants

The battle of the Hydaspes by Andre Castaigne(1898-1899)

In June 326 BC Alexander fought his last great battle on the left bank of the Hydaspes against Porus, one of the most powerful Indian kings. Porus was powerful both as a man and as a king. He stood seven feet tall, a widely feared ruler and warrior. He fielded an army that was a match for the Greeks, but Porus army had an additional advantage: war elephants.

This marked the first real encounter with elephants in battle, and it terrified the Greeks. Worse yet, Alexander met Porus during the monsoon season and faced him across a river in flood. Alexanders army crossed the heavily defended river Hydaspes in dramatic fashion during a violent thunderstorm to meet Poruss forces. Porus set up 200 war elephants, 100 feet apart and in the space between the elephants, but a little behind them, he placed his infantry. The elephants were key because the horses in Alexanders cavalry were afraid of them. Alexander realized that he had to attack some area other than the elephants so he decided to go after the enemys cavalry and ordered his phalanx not to attack until his cavalry had sent Porus army into disarray. The enemys cavalry was surrounded and fled behind the elephants. Alexanders phalanx now advanced and were charged by the elephants which stopped the phalanx in its tracks. Eventually Alexanders light infantry gained the upper hand, as the elephants were stripped of their mahouts or hamstrung by axes. The Greek phalanx in lock shield formation advanced slowly in a solid wall of pikes causing the elephants to stampede the Indian infantry.

The Indian army broke and fled. Some 80 elephants were captured and many Indians were killed in the pursuit. The battle had raged for eight hours and the Macedonians suffered many casualties themselves, more than in any other campaign. Alexander captured Porus, who had been wounded in the battle, and, like the other rulers he had defeated allowed him to continue governing his territory as his vassal. He even subdued an independent province and granted it to Porus as a gift. In this battle Alexanders horse, Bucephalus, was wounded and died. Alexander had ridden Bucephalus in everyone of his battles in Greece and Asia, so when it died, he was grief stricken and founded a city in India in his horses name.