The History of Elementals

I know I heard somewhere that Elementals have some sort of history in Wc3. I'm not really sure and don't know where I can look, so does anyone know anything about them? I'm pretty much look for their history.

I'm pretty sure they explained how mages summon Elementals somewhere... *begins looking around*

technically mage water elementals aren't elementals because they aren't summoned from the elemental plane. They condense water from around them and animate it.

Very late edit:
Even in Warcraft 1, Water Elementals were created by gather water from the atmosphere and animating in, albeit in a slightly different manner.