Pigs have won many wars in history; even one for Alexander the Great!

These animals were used for many reasons, they were turned into weapons, used as a transportation for personnel and equipment, as well as a 'mascots' to boost troop's morale during the time of wars. But would you believe that even pigs were used as a war weapon in ancient times?

Saima Siddiqui
Published on: 11 Dec 2019 10:04 AM GMT
Pigs have won many wars in history; even one for Alexander the Great!
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Lucknow: Wars have given us many great stories and have changed the course of human history. To win a war against an enemy not only human were trained and deployed to battle fields but many animals like horses, elephants, cats, dogs, monkeys and even Rhinos were used to defeat the opponent.

These animals were used for many reasons, they were turned into weapons, used as a transportation for personnel and equipment, as well as a 'mascots' to boost troop's morale during the time of wars. But would you believe that even pigs were used as a war weapon in ancient times?

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Wars still interest us and a major part of our history is glorified with heroic battles fought with the help of Pig. Such a great battle was won by India's Porus against one of the greatest conquerors of his time, Alexander the Great. This same trick also helped defeat the army of Antigonus II Gonatas.

According to a legend, Alexander used pigs against the army of the Indian king Porus, who used war elephants. To make Porus's war elephant run away and destroy its own army, Alexander used pig squeal.

Interestingly, Pigs as a war weapon in ancient Roman warfare appeared about 240 BC. They are reported to be used mostly as a countermeasure against war elephants.

What made the pigs useful in a war was their ability to terrify elephants. Their high pitched squeal could easily put this gargantuan animal into a state of uneasiness. Backed up by Pliny the Elder, “elephants are scared by the smallest squeal of the hog.” Also a historian by name Aelian, confirms that in 275 BC the Romans exploited squealing pigs as a counter-measure against the war elephants of Pyrrhus.

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The pigs were mostly covered in tar and a flammable substance and then would be lit on fire, when the advancing or defending come close. The pigs were expected to run uncontrollably into the ranks of the opposing force, causing a certain level of confusion among the opponents. Flaming pigs would create panic among the elephants, while, squealing pigs bolted them into terror, thus, leading confused and terrified Elephants into killing great numbers of their own soldiers by trampling them to death.

In “The wars of Justinian” historian Procopius writes about the use of pigs in the battle. When Khosrau I, king of Persia, besieged the Mesopotamian city of Edessa in 544 A.D., one of his war elephants nearly overpowered the enemy and got into town. It was Pigs that saved the day for Mesopotamia. “But the Romans,” wrote Procopius, “by dangling a pig from the tower, escaped the peril. As the pig was hanging there, he naturally squealed, and this so irritated the elephant that it, stepping back little by little, withdrew.”

Later, elephant trainers would keep their young elephants with baby pigs to accustom these large animals to the squealing sound thus making the future generations unafraid of its squeal. By doing this they robbed their opponents of their battle tactics.

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Saima Siddiqui

Saima Siddiqui

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