The ultimate warrior of all time

[Soren]

WAR !, an all out conflict, one which has raged on this planet since the dawn of man, and through the centuries it has given birth to some truly outstanding warriors.

The question is however, who deserves the title The Ultimate Warrior Of All Time ? Who was the toughest, most disciplined, most skilled best equipped warrior of all time ?

What should the contenders be ? I can start out with two..

The Spartan Warrior

The Roman Legionaire

 

[ToughOmbre]

Lot's of contenders, but for me there is no doubt....

The citizen soldiers of the USA who have defended America for 231 years.

TO

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Those ten men teams of the B-17 always make great pictures.

Here's some other warriors.

The Knights of the First Crusade. The went through one of the toughest campaigns in history, and many couldn't survive it, but the most enduring left alive still took Jerusalem, and then defeated the Egyptians just a few weeks later.

Napoleon's Old Guard.

And to not make the British feel left out, the British Gunners at Trafalgar.

Green Beret, one of many US Army groups.

 

[SoD Stitch]

Those ten men teams of the B-17 always make great pictures.

Here's some other warriors.

The Knights of the First Crusade. The went through one of the toughest campaigns in history, and many couldn't survive it, but the most enduring left alive still took Jerusalem, and then defeated the Egyptians just a few weeks later.

Not only that, the Crusaders (which is actually a fairly modern term; back then they called themselves Pilgrims) had to fight in the desert, for the most part, in full armor in 100+ degree heat. I think most of us would've keeled over if we tried to do that. And, as you said, they not only took Jerusalem (and Acre and Tripoli and Antioch), but held it for almost 100 years.

 

[Soren]

In terms of 20th century soldiers it is IMO the battle-hardened German soldier of WW2, having seen both service in Russia, Afrika, and on the Western front, which is the toughest, most discplined (For sure), most skilled generally better equipped of his time. But since 20th century soldiers weren't subject to as brutal or barbaric forms of warfare as occurred in ancient times they IMO fall abit short in terms of toughness disciplin by comparison, however while this has been said war in the 20th century was very brutal as-well, most wars are.

The point however is that war before the widespread adoption standardization of guns was a very up close and dirty business, and also one which was more physically demanding. (SoD Stitch's point about the circumstances under which the crusaders often had to fight being a good example of this)

The Crusader is a good choice, but there was a special member which fought more fiercely than anyone in the crusade, the Knights Templar Hospitaller. And while were talking the medieval ages the Teutonic Knight needs to be mentioned as-well, a very fierce, disciplined, skilled very well equipped soldier.

 

[Maestro]

What about the Vikings ? They almost invented war, dammit.

 

[Graeme]

Alien Warriors.
The 'evil' Daleks.

 

[Soren]

The Vikings is a great choice !

 

[mkloby]

Soren - I love that image of the Teutonic Knights charging. Had it up as my wallpaper for some time.

 

[evangilder]

Ghurkas would be high on the list.

The Vietcong, very mobile, cagy and quick to improvise. They were never fully defeated by 2 vastly superior armies.

Native American warriors who taught us Yanks many things about guerilla warfare. Brave, quick and highly mobile. Their only downfall was having a liberal immigration policy...

Special Operations forces of most countries are all pretty bad-ass with the US Navy SEALs, USAF PJs, British SAS and Israelis to name a few. (I know there are many more).

And no, Rambo is not on the list.

 

[Konigstiger205]

The Templar Knights are a good choice and the article on wikipedia tells much about their contribution to many battles...Knights Templar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

How about the Stormtrooper?

 

[Soren]

Please guys take this seriously, jokes are always welcome but they need to b good !

mkloby,

Yes its a great painting, here it is in a bigger size (Where did you get the wallpaper version ?):

 

[The Basket]

Alexander TG.

Conquered the world.

 

[Thorlifter]

How about Genghis Kahn's Mongolian hordes?

This is a tough call.

 

[ccheese]

Lot's of contenders, but for me there is no doubt....

The citizen soldiers of the USA who have defended America for 231 years.
TO

I gotta agree with TO..... the American fighting man, citizen soldiers,
professional military men (read: "lifers").... whatever you wanna call them.

If they had been allowed to fight, Korea would have gotten it's clock
cleaned. But, no.... you can come into my yard, but I can't go into yours.
Remember the 38th parrallel ? BS ! Ditto with Viet Nam..... you can't bomb
Hanoi ! Politicians.... bah !

Charles

 

[mkloby]

Please guys take this seriously, jokes are always welcome but they need to b good !

mkloby,

Yes its a great painting, here it is in a bigger size (Where did you get the wallpaper version ?):

I'm sorry - it wasn't wallpaper size. That would be awesome if it was that size. I just adjusted it to fill the screen, with obvious negative effects on image quality.

 

[Parmigiano]

talking about Crusades, why not remember the great 'enemy' Salah-al-Din (Saladin) and his troops?

Beside being a great warrior ("By the time he died in Damascus in 1193, he had liberated almost all of Palestine from the armies of England, France, Burgandy, Flanders, Sicily, Austria and, in effect, from the world power of the Pope") , he was the one who taught Chivalry to everybody, first of all the crusader knights.

Even the ultra-christian Dante put him not in hell but among the 'virtuos Pagan souls' in limbo...

 

[drgondog]

I'm sorry - it wasn't wallpaper size. That would be awesome if it was that size. I just adjusted it to fill the screen, with obvious negative effects on image quality.

I have no idea what criteria would set the stage for 'best'.. but if it was to place your candidate in any time frame and give them a couple of months to adapt to the weapons and tactics - then give me SAS/SEAL/Force Recon/Special Forces/Spetnatz -

No question regarding ferocity and adaptability of the Viking, the Spartan, the Crusader, the Apache, the Mongol, the Marine, Roger's Ranger, Texas Ranger, Roman Legionairre.. so maybe the question is whether you could take a tough Viking and in six months turn him into a top SEAL? and vice versa?

 

[Marcel]

The Frisians? They were one of the few who could keep out the Romans.