Elephants and Gunpowder

This booklet examines warfare in the Indochinese peninsula from the late 14th to the 17th centuries: a region where the elephant remained a prestigious war machine, at a time when firearms were progressively revolutionizing the art of war. The conflicts that periodically shook the region are presented chronologically. The author takes the opportunity to revisit combat tactics, the role and use of elephants and firearms, some of which were transported by and used directly from the pachyderms. The book includes numerous black and white illustrations and a central section of sixteen full-color plates. The whole constitutes an excellent study on a subject that is little known in our part of the world.

Stephen Turnbull took his first degree at Cambridge and holds two MAs (in Theology and Military History) from Leeds University. In 1996, he received a PhD from Leeds for his thesis on Japan’s ‘Hidden Christians’. In its published form, this work won the Japan Festival Literary Award in 1998.

Having lectured widely in East Asian Studies and Theology, he is now retired and holds the honorary positions of Lecturer Emeritus at Leeds University, Research Associate at SOAS, and Visiting Professor of Japanese Studies at Akita International University. His expertise, including an extensive picture library, has contributed to numerous media projects, including the award-winning computer strategy game Shogun: Total War. In 2010, he acted as Historical Adviser to Universal Pictures for the movie 47 Ronin.

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