10 Ridiculous War Weapons You Won't Believe Were Developed

10. Incendiary Camels (Mongolian Chieftain Timur, 1398)

It may look harmless now but wait until it's on fire.

How do you terrify a war elephant? Obviously that's not a dilemma you're faced with usually but if you ever end up waging war in 14th century India, this may be of use to you. The answer is that you set as many camels as you can find on fire and send them out towards the elephants.

Not the most ethical of stratagems but victory comes at a price and it just so happens that sometimes that price is taking a bunch of harmless beasts of burden and setting them on fire. As demonstrated by Mongolian chieftain Timur during his 1398 invasion of India when he proved definitively that size doesn't matter. Being on fire does. Timur's army marched on Delhi only to find themselves confronted by Sultan Mahmud Khan and his forces, which included 120 armoured war elephants with swords attached to their tusks. When some of Timur's army started to desert out of fear, he did the only sensible thing. Got a group of archers to shoot the elephants in the head and bring them down before they could get too close. Actually that's what someone who wasn't a twisted maniac would do. The actual plan was to cover some camels in straw and oil, set them alight, and send them into battle. And as horrible as it might be, the Incendiary Camels were a rousing success. Understandably, the sight of burning camels barrelling towards them scared the living daylights out of the elephants and they went on a terrified rampage, crushing most of the soldiers on their own side. Once the burning camels entered the fray, the Indians were routed in a matter of minutes, Timur added the elephants to his army, and went on to brutally conquer Delhi. Burning Camels are undoubtedly an insane tactic but they sure as hell got the job done.