Henri-Paul Motte (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi pɔl mɔt]; 13 December 1846 – 1 April 1922) was a French painter from Paris who specialised in historical subjects.
A pupil of French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme—whose works likewise included historical paintings as well as Greek mythology and Orientalism—Motte first exhibited his paintings at the Paris Salon of 1874, starting with the Le cheval de Troie (The Trojan horse), which was acquired by the Wadsworth Atheneum in 2011.
A war elephant is an elephant that is trained and guided by humans for combat purposes. Historically, the war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks, and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elephant-mounted troops.
War elephants played a critical role in several key battles in antiquity, especially in ancient India. While seeing limited and periodic use in Ancient China, they became a permanent fixture in armies of historical kingdoms in Southeast Asia. They were also used in ancient Persia and in the Mediterranean world within armies of Macedon, Hellenistic Greek states, the Roman Republic and later Empire, and Ancient Carthage in North Africa. In some regions they maintained a firm presence on the battlefield throughout the Medieval era. However, their use declined with the spread of firearms and other gunpowder weaponry in early modern warfare. After this, war elephants became restricted to non-combat engineering and labour roles, as well as being used for minor ceremonial uses.