ELEPHANTS AND GUNPOWDER

DISPONIBILE FINE GENNAIO 2025

Questo libro presenta una panoramica completa e riccamente illustrata della guerra nell'Asia sud-orientale continentale durante il primo periodo moderno, esplorando l’uso di elefanti da guerra e l'introduzione delle armi da fuoco nel XIV secolo.

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From Retinue to Regiment 1453-1618 #30

This book presents for the first time ever a chronological, detailed and richly illustrated account of the development of warfare in mainland Southeast Asia during the Early Modern Period. It begins by describing the region’s medieval military inheritance that was dominated by the use of war elephants. Firearms began to appear during the late fourteenth century and would be used alongside elephants and cavalry in a long series of wars between Burma (Myanmar) and Siam (Thailand). Exciting sieges and dramatic naval combat will also be discussed along with much fascinating material about beliefs in omens and divination and the impact of foreign mercenaries. While cannons fire around them elephants act as mounts for noble hand-to-hand combat, as living battering rams to use against city gates and, in the form of the precious and much coveted white elephant, as both an excuse and a pretext for war itself. The text is complemented by a large number of carefully selected photographs, maps and specially commissioned artwork that present the arms and armaments of the Southeast Asian warrior and his elephants in a way never seen before.