Most macho soldiers and warriors of all time?

All of these types of Great Warrior listings always fail to include several that should be and include at least one that seems absurd. I've seen one that included violent environmentalists fer Crissake.

It's possible you should establish some sort of Criteria. Most disciplined, most innovative, toughest as individuals, etc, but then you always end up leaving out one or another of your favorites.

Very interesting is the fact that Spartans are the only one that show as a clear winner, yet they weren't. I forget the actual battle but there was one time in their latter history when they totally screwed their clients through outright cowardice. In the end though, it seems they died out because they were just too damned hard on themselves, nobody, no matter how tough they were, could stay a Spartan in good standing for very long

 

This could be interesting. The first recorded attack by Vikings on the British Isles is Lindisfarne in 793, about 400 years after the Romans withdrew from Britain and about 300 years after the Roman Empire had disintegrated. In the late 8th century the major power in Europe were the Franks under Charlemagne. There are records Vikings raiding southern Italy, Sicily and up and down the Italian coast. This happened from the late 10th century and on wards. Paris was also attacked and placed under siege a few times by Vikings in the 9th century.

I doubt very much any Roman legion met and fought Vikings.

 

Fabulous TV series. I started watching Vikings on Netflix then the remainder on free to air TV.

 

Roman sources say that they knew of, "men from the north, who were fierce in nature", which most historians speculate to mean the vikings. The Roman source I speak of is Pilney the Elder, a Roman Historian of around 100AD.

So not necessarily the vikings but their ancestors.

 

I suggest history books for teaching and learning. The Germans were stalemating the entire combined armies of their enemies, being outnumbered 4-10 to 1, and causing more casualties. For years it was a stalemate, then with Russia out of the picture, they started to win, reaching close to Paris, and then the situation deteriorated about the same time as the Americans intervention.

 

Ya, Gurkhas would be the first ones to come to mind.

 

It is interesting that the Spartans are the clear winners of this poll. The sole reason being Thermopylae.

I'm surprised Spetznaz got no votes.

 

When exactly did these two groups meet?
The so-called Wester Roman empire came to an end after its last emperor Romulus Augustulus was sent into retirement by a Roman officer probably of German heritage called Odoacer in 467 AD who then became the king of Italy.
That was a few centuries before European coastlines ever saw a Viking boat approaching (793 AD). In historical science, the Viking Age is dated between 800 to 1050.
No Roman ever met a Viking.


Edit: Lizarddust already addressed this.

 

Roman sources say that they knew of, "men from the north, who were fierce in nature", which most historians speculate to mean the vikings. The Roman source I speak of is Pilney the Elder, a Roman Historian of around 100AD, about people north of then Germania.

So not necessarily the vikings but their ancestors.

 

Men from the North, fierce in nature (if it comes from a Roman author) is most probably, if not certainly a reference to the Cimbri and Teutones who defeated the Romans several times in today's Austria, Northern Italy and South-East France before Roman consul Marius annihilated them completely in 102/101 BC.
It's extremely unlikely that Roman authors referred to the Vikings.
If you want to make the Cimbri and Teutones ancesters of the Vikings, fine.
I'd like to see/hear/read the historian(s) who interprets this whole things as "Romans and Vikings."

 

It is not fine that he wants to make them the ancestors of the vikings since it was written around 800 years earlier.
Furthermore it was not Pliny who wrote about the Germans but Tacitus.
The book Germania by Tacitus is available for free here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7524/7524-h/7524-h.htm

Damn you fail a lot Germania.

 

You can get Both the Agricola and Germania here:
https://archive.org/details/tacitusagricolag00taciiala

 

That's because the Spetzna doesn't really have that impressive of a track record.

 

Alexander The Great and the Macedonians.

 

They lost at the Lions Den against Bin Laden's force of 60 and their force of 200.
They are known as a dangerous force though, when they swarmed Crimea they were not toyed with. They did great in Chechnya and Georgia, and in other Afghan battles.

I wish I could pull up the video but a large crowd took down a force of like 200-400 riot police, a priest leading the riot, in I think the Soviet Ukraine . They got beat up so they called in Spetznaz. The guy on the video says, spetznaz means buisness, and the Spetzanz riot police beat up the priest and walked literally into the crowd like they weren't even there- they just continued walking into the crowd like it was nothing, just pommeling everyone in their way. They did not even stop their walking advance into the crowd for half a second. They looked DEBO as they advanced towards the crowd, you could tell fear in the crowd just knowing it was Spetsnaz, and everyone had a look of "We're in trouble".

 

I'm not talking about the Germans. The source I read (I think Pilny), which one can not outright say he meant the proto-vikings (though he mentioned their canoes and them being fierce of nature), is speculated to be the proto-vikings.

 

What are you talking about? Did you read Pliny's lost work History of the German Wars? If so you could be a rich man.
Tacitus is as far as I know the only one from that time period we have a book from about the Germans and northern Europe.

"I think I read a Roman author writing about proto-vikings" is hilarious.

 

I enjoy your occasional historical references but the thread the generally poor in evidence.

For example what evidence is there at all for American soldiers being macho? What great deeds have they done that others haven't done?

 

I didn't create this thread. I think it is a ridiculous poll as my comment says in one of the first pages.

 

I enjoy your occasional historical references but the thread the generally poor in evidence.

For example what evidence is there at all for American soldiers being macho? What great deeds have they done that others haven't done?

 

First of all, there's no doubt that the Spetznaz aren't some bad mofo's. I sure as hell wouldn't want to tangle with them. That being said, like most Special Forces the Speptznaz have had a minimal impact on the conflicts they've taken part in. But, then again the Russian forces' have been bumbling at best.
You mention Ukraine, and Crimea. Wow, they preformed well against Ukranian conscripts. That's like bragging about Delta going agains Panimanian Defense Forces, or the Rangers in beating commies in Grenada.
Spetznaz had little impact on Chechyna. I'd suggest you look up the battle of Hill 776. Spetznazs fought bravely, and killed a bunch of Islamist, but they still lost. The Russian military performance in Chechyna was bumbling at best.
Look at the anti- terrorist operations by Spetznaz in Beslin, and the Moscow Theater. They were disasters, more civilians died than bad guys.

Like I said, the Spetznaz are some bad mofo, like any Special operations forces they're elite, but they just don't have a great track record.