Among all "domesticated" animals the one which until now in all wars has aided man most in war is the horse. Today however, the horse has been replaced by the armoured cars and vehicles, and therefore among the animals which still remain useful to man in war is the dog, which can still be used for one's advantage as an auxiliary for various purposes. Until the coming of the firearms, a well trained dog behaved himself as a real warrior. Infiltrating itself into the enemy ranks, it can distinguish more easily an adversary than a horse or an elephant can; it can inspire disorder and panic with its canine ferocity and savageness; it is difficult to hit due to its high velocity and especially if it is armoured; and if wounded it becomes fiercer on account of its pain; besides the taste and smell of blood incites him. In many cases therefore the fight was won very frequently in Ancient times with the advantage of the dog over man who was very vulnerable especially in the legs. However, it became uncertain when both sides used dogs. Amon the first persons who trained dogs to attack in ordinary ranks was Aliatte, King of Lydia (618 B.C.5 who even ended up in forming battalions of these beasts. At the Battle of Thymbria, however these warriors were routed by the forefathers of the actual modern greyhounds, which belonged to Cyrus. These being better trained than the others threw themselves in mass against the dogs of Aliatte and routed them. How they managed to distinguish between dog enemy and dog friend, history does not tell us. Aliatte was probably the first person who appointed a regular administrative system to provide these dog troops with the necessary food and other requirements. Attila, in 451 A.D., liked to be accompanied by these running beasts which ran after the cavalry. While crossing Europe, these dogs used to arrive exhausted at camp, and Attila instead of using them in battle, used to spread them around the encampment as sentinels. It was with the help of dogs that Philip II of Macedon in 359 B.C. forced out of the forests, which were impenetrable to his cavalry, the Thracians who had dug themselves ill there. Even the Greeks trained dogs to fight in battle formations with discipline, and the dogs themselves sometimes, through their own courage, decided a battle which was hanging in the balance. A service in which they particularly distinguished themselves was that as carriers or messengers or orders. In this case the dog was made to swallow the manuscript which had to be taken beyond enemy lines; and this was then recovered by those to whom it was addressed by sacrificing the messenger. The Roman Consul Caius Marcus, at the Battle of Vercilli in 101 B.C. almost risked defeat on account of the hordes of dogs driven by women which were thrown at his army. Even against the Cimbres, his army was practically besieged by these hordes of beasts. The Roman Legionary soldiers however, masters in the art of warfare, usually put more trust on their shield and sword and; to hand-to-hand combat, and left their own dogs the problem of distracting and fighting their other canine counterparts. Caesar, invading Britain in 55 B.C., found that his troops were seriously impeded during the landing, as well as later on during his marches, by enormous hordes of huge beasts, the forefathers of the bull-dog, which had been trained by the islanders in the art of guerilla warfare, since they lid not have many arms with which they could oppose the Caesarian cohorts. Until the Assyrians, the dog fought unarmoured. It was the Assyrians who for the first time tried to find a good way of protecting these animals from sharp weapons. Strabo in 60 B.C. calls togs of war "pugnaces" and defined "giaco (?)" a sort of metailic coat which protected their body. The Gauls, c(,nquered by Caesar in 59-58 B.C., built authentic pieces of armour for these giant Auxiliaries, armour made up of pieces of metal put together and knotted in such a way as not to impede in any way the movement of the dog. Besides this the dog had a collar of sharpened nails and Jades. The Celts, also used to protect their animals in this way with full armour and prickly collars. They were accustomed to decorate the armour, and to the collar of the dog fix a long sharp thin sword much like a spear, and which projecting forwards was fatal to horses. Henry VIII of England in the 16th century loaned 800 bloodhounds to Charles V of Spain and Germany, in order to use them in war against Francis I of France, and it was these animals who at The Battle of Valencia, equipped with armour, and trained to fight against cavalry, defeated the French. Charles V, before this battle exhorted his men with these words: "I hope that you will behave yourselves against the enemy with as much courage as that of your dogs." However, man did not use dogs solely in battles against an armed foe. Queen Elizabeth I used hordes of these beasts to hunt down the Irish and other enemies of Protestantism; the Conquistadores also used dogs from the Isle of Cuba to hunt down natives, in Mexico and New Granada. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 155 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1975 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com