Belisarivs Posted March 11, 2009 Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 No. They were soldiers as any other. Fact that they were hardened and disciplined while their foes had inferior equipment and usually also training made them shine.Any soldier of middle ages was seeking fame and fortune.And they were no exception. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lster Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalongzazhong Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 For Modern day, IRATalibanPKK - a militant group in northern iran/iraq and turkey that consists of ethnic kurds. They believe in socialism and want to establish a gender-equality reality for their people. Facing genocide and violence from Hussein's Iraq and turkey, the most interesting thing about this group is that women make up 30 percent of the fighting force and they carry out many of the attacks including terrorist attacks and full-on warfare (upon visiting the camps, western reporters reported women fully armed with grenades and ak's).They also received support from Greece for the purpose of ethnic secession, in the form of arms and training. The U.S. considers the group terrorists, yet we supplied them weapons during the iraq war (hmmm... funny), but Russia has still not joined most of the EU in blacklisting them - also not surprising, given their socialist history.it would be interesting to see the taliban and the pkk engaged in warfare - as they are both mountainous region fighters - relying on geography and caves to tip the battle in their favor (think vietcong is to jungle guerilla warfare as the pkk and taliban are to mountain guerilla warfare). Also, knowing how much the taliban hate the idea of feminist equality, it would be interesting to see how emotions and beliefs play out in the fight.kalash ethnic tribe of northern pakistan -non-violent group of ethnically segregate people living in northern pakistan. They are protected by the pakistan government as they are a minority numbering in the thousands that believes in animism rather than the conventional islam. They are also the subject of religious discrimination - what makes this group "hardcore" in my eyes is that they have managed to stay isolated to such a degree for such a long period of time that there are actually occasional occurences of blond hair/blue eyes within the population due to genetic drift. Another theory is that one of alexandar the great's generals who settled in the region was essentially the ancestor of the group which would explain the blond features of some of the population.The Sami ethnic group of northern sweden, who created the myth of santa claus by drinking reindeer piss after the reindeer had eaten a poisonous/hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita, inducing them visions of reindeer flying off into the sky.balinese animistspygmys of the amazonThe Mongolian/hunnic migrants throughout history - just the thought of traversing across the barren plains of russia and the harsh climate of the steppes - they had to drink their horse's blood and @#$% - they deserve the title of "hardcore."The aztec human sacrifices - hardcore!hopi/maya calendarists and astronomersWallace clanGenoese crossbowman - Hardcore in their reputation, skill, and reknownU.S. navy sealsPolynesian seafarers/navigators - who dared to navigate the pacific using only tides and the stars thousands of years before Europeans discovered America (though props must be given to leif erikkson)Tuareg nomads of the sahara - any group that has survived, and indeed, thrived in a harsh environment, many of them were nomads, I respect and I hope that you agree as well, deserving of the title hardcoremagyar/hunnic/turkish horsemen of the dark ages - post-dark ages culminating with the prime of the Golden horde - again, nomadic in origin, elite horsemen warriors. I don't know enough about this complex history yet but I would like to read more into the history of the horsemen of the steppe.Seminole indians of the florida swamps and indeed many of the native americans who defended their way of life to the deathUrumi warriors of india - again don't know much about this group but from AOE3 it seems that they were extremely hardcorekalaripayattu and the buddhist monks who practiced it in India and who introduced it to the shaolin monks of China. my history may be a little foggy here but from what I know indian monks brought buddhism and martial arts into China, and from kalaripayattu chinese monks derived shaolin kungfu - one of the deadliest and most disciplined martial arts ever, practiced by some of the most hardcore dudes ever.and that brings me to my second to last group, the chinese boxers of the boxer rebellion - who believed they could dodge bullets and actually charged fully armed british infantry lines with bare fists - and succeeded in their objectives on multiple occasions.finally,hungarian girls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 finally,hungarian girls!Care to add why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalongzazhong Posted June 10, 2009 Report Share Posted June 10, 2009 absolutely. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuroN2 Posted September 3, 2010 Report Share Posted September 3, 2010 (edited) Have you NEVER met a hungarian woman?---------------The Norse longboatsmen.Why? they got to america, BEFORE IT WAS POSSIBLE TO GET TO AMERICA! OR EVEN BEFORE AMERICA WAS WORLDWIDELY KNOWN! XD that in itself is BADASS.---------------Btw im a decendant of the wallace clan Edited September 3, 2010 by AuroN2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L'ethu Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 Assyrian Empire, field the most cruel and efficient army in the Ancient times.They are fear incarnate before Persia, Greece, Rome and Mongolia rise to power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythos_Ruler Posted October 28, 2011 Report Share Posted October 28, 2011 Yeah, the Assyrians were some mean @#$%s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardlongshank Posted October 29, 2011 Report Share Posted October 29, 2011 Hittlers Germany for certain, they decided to attack the Russians while also fighting the Brits.. does not get any more crazy than that. Then the Americans came along and somehow most of the Germans still thought they had a chance. The 1200 Greek soldiers (300 Spartans + others) had more of a chance than the Germans did imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeta1127 Posted October 29, 2011 Report Share Posted October 29, 2011 Hitler's Germany for certain, they decided to attack the Russians while also fighting the Brits.. does not get any more crazy than that. Then the Americans came along and somehow most of the Germans still thought they had a chance. The 1200 Greek soldiers (300 Spartans + others) had more of a chance than the Germans did imo.When Hitler decided to stab Stalin in the back, his commanders thought he was nuts, because they knew about Napoleon's disaster during the Napoleonic Wars over a century earlier, but Hitler kept saying how different Germany was from France, and what happened, they failed just like Napoleon. Indeed, Thermopylae was better odds for the Greeks than Hitler's arrogance was for Germany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardlongshank Posted October 29, 2011 Report Share Posted October 29, 2011 The initial attack on Russia by Hitler was at first a great success due to a critical mistake by a Russian commander, but in the end the German soldiers were poorly equipped to deal with the cold and they lost the momentum, i guess Hitler felt his men were so superior to the Russian soldiers that they did not need coats or any other protection from the cold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfinn the Shallow Minded Posted October 29, 2011 Report Share Posted October 29, 2011 Sciritae, who were just as epic as the Spartans due to the fact that they took the left flank of any battle line and during marches were always at the front. The First Minnesota also was an incredible unit that showed exceptional discipline under the most dangerous circumstances. The First Minnesota never retreated without orders, and when they did so, they were very orderly. They also unfailingly were put at the end of any army due to the fact that they were considered to be one of the best regiments in the Army of the Potomac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeta1127 Posted October 29, 2011 Report Share Posted October 29, 2011 The initial attack on Russia by Hitler was at first a great success due to a critical mistake by a Russian commander, but in the end the German soldiers were poorly equipped to deal with the cold and they lost the momentum, i guess Hitler felt his men were so superior to the Russian soldiers that they did not need coats or any other protection from the cold The initial attack on Russia was so successful, because Stalin simply couldn't fathom Hitler stabbing him in the back. The initial success would have turned into victory if Hitler hadn't have been so indecisive in choice of objective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Historicity Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 If one removes their tarnished reputation due to atrocities committed during the war, the SS definitely stands within the top 10 of my list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardlongshank Posted October 30, 2011 Report Share Posted October 30, 2011 The Nazis certainly deserved the reputation they got, but they were not the only ones to commit atrocities during the war. The Russians massacred tens of thousands of refugees trying to flee from Prussia to Germany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Falcão Posted November 15, 2011 Report Share Posted November 15, 2011 Yeah, the Assyrians were some mean @#$%s.Yeah, the romans, who used to send slaves to their deaths in arenas were amateurs compared to Assyrians... When assyrian soldiers were bored, they'd get some prisoners, make them sit in a "special" chair, introduct a sharp stick on their anus and watch them bleeding to death! You have to admit: these are really sadistics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardlongshank Posted November 16, 2011 Report Share Posted November 16, 2011 If you were a Roman slave and became a gladiator you were really very lucky, the ones who were not fit enough to fight were sent to the mines where they had to work in absolutely horrendous conditions, had no chance of ever being freed and would eventually die from either a cave in or from smoke inhalation. Their main job was to carry firewood inside the mine and keep the fire burning strong, the smoke coming from the fire in the mine would of made being in there a complete nightmare, not to mention all the extreme physical work they had to do. Gladiators were probably more concerned about being sent to the mines if they did not fight well enough more so than being afraid of their opponent. As gruesome as the the gladiator battles were, at least you would normally get a quick death if you did lose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugos Posted November 19, 2011 Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 For what? They were incompetents and some of them where stupid.lolwut? "Accompanied by about 11 ships, 500 men, 13 horses and a small number of cannons...". That vs. many, many, many natives. Screw the fact fact that they had a few cannons, the fact that they bluffed there way inland as far as Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), subsequently conquered it, and rode home to Spain in "glory" is proof of how badass Cortes was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Falcão Posted November 19, 2011 Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 lolwut? "Accompanied by about 11 ships, 500 men, 13 horses and a small number of cannons...". That vs. many, many, many natives. Screw the fact fact that they had a few cannons, the fact that they bluffed there way inland as far as Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), subsequently conquered it, and rode home to Spain in "glory" is proof of how badass Cortes was.Being "Badass" for them was the normal behaviour at that point of history. Cortés, as any man back those days, was ambitious for the gold the natives had and the laws of his country didn't apply to America, so he felt free to do anything he wanted, save betraying his country (else he could be hunted down and he was afraid of that). They had 500 men, ok. But don't forget they had heavy military training, superior weapon and armor, mercenaries, sicknesses brought from Europe, better strategy planning and the natives didn't know how to counter horses and feared them as if they were demons.As if not enough, the natives didn't knew to treat the wounded and how to prevent illness disseminating. Some of them were killed by envenomed rivers, too.The natives had what? They were great numbers, were familiar with the territory and had walls.Don't forget the spanish were "allies" at the beginning to spy them, and only then they had turned against them.I like to compare these massacres to the revolt of Boadicea in GB, where 10000 romans (under Caius Suetonius command) beaten over 10 times a larger celtic army with only 400 losses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirePowa8 Posted November 19, 2011 Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 (edited) How about the Maori? They were pratically born to be warriors, many started training at around age seven. Their martial skill was so powerful that they're one of the few indigenous peoples to never really be conquered by the invader.In Australia, 200 Kalkadoon warriors made a last stand against many better armed British and indigenous soldiers. After hours of fighting against superior weaponery, including a cavalry charge, they finally charged at the enemy with spears drawn and made the ultimate sacrifice. Edited November 19, 2011 by FirePowa8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythos_Ruler Posted November 19, 2011 Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 If you were a Roman slave and became a gladiator you were really very lucky, the ones who were not fit enough to fight were sent to the mines where they had to work in absolutely horrendous conditions, had no chance of ever being freed and would eventually die from either a cave in or from smoke inhalation. Their main job was to carry firewood inside the mine and keep the fire burning strong, the smoke coming from the fire in the mine would of made being in there a complete nightmare, not to mention all the extreme physical work they had to do. Gladiators were probably more concerned about being sent to the mines if they did not fight well enough more so than being afraid of their opponent. As gruesome as the the gladiator battles were, at least you would normally get a quick death if you did lose.And the aim of a gladiator match wasn't necessarily to kill your opponent, but to simply beat him. The crowd usually allowed a defeated gladiator clemency if he fought decently enough. And in certain matches it was not even up to the crowd. There were different ways to "win." So, really, you only had a 10% chance of dying in any given gladiatorial match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Falcão Posted November 20, 2011 Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 Mainly because slaves were expensive and not that easy to find... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythos_Ruler Posted November 20, 2011 Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 Mainly because slaves were expensive and not that easy to find...They were expensive to train as well. There were also rules for different gladiator events because of this. And gladiatores were guaranteed a certain percentage of their winnings. Like other slaves, they could buy their freedom at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Falcão Posted November 20, 2011 Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 They were expensive to train as well. There were also rules for different gladiator events because of this. And gladiatores were guaranteed a certain percentage of their winnings. Like other slaves, they could buy their freedom at some point.IF they survived! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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