> Someone mentioned chariots in the succesor wars following Alexander.
...
> From what I've read various people tried "suicide" scythed chariots
> as shock vehicles.
Alfred Duggan's historical novel on the Successor King Demetrios Poliorcetes (the title escapes me) describes one such use. The Successors used all kinds of gimmicks in their battles and AFAIK there was only one attempt to use scythed chariots, which were regarded as long obsolete by then.
> It seldom seemed to really work, however.
Trained infantry just opened up lanes in their formation and allowed the chariots to charge straight through, to be flanked or mopped up by missile troops in the rear. Roman legionaries regularly dealt with Carthaginian elephants in the same way during the Punic Wars.
> They mostly seemed to be used by people who were short on elephants
Only the Seleucids among the successors had elephants in any quantity, because they had the easternmost parts of Alexander's empire and had a border with India. These were mainly successful when put against enemy cavalry, because most horses wouldn't go near them. Duggan has a vivid description of their first use - Demetrios was on the wrong end of that one.
The Carthaginians got their elephants from Africa. According to the Wargames Research Group these were a different sub-species (now extinct) from the African elephants of today, smaller and more docile than the Indian elephants.
The WRG also describes Indian armies as regularly containing both chariots and elephants.
Andrew
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