Greatest Warriors of All Time

No, sorry. I’m not him.

I think you’re confusing the conquest of the Incas with the conquest of the Aztecs. Cortez had Indian allies, Pizarro didn’t,

Pizarro did ( to cite one example ). One cite claims 30,000 auxillaries with Pizarro at the siege of Cuzco, but that is probably as suspect as the numbers cited for most campaigns. Here’s an interesting archaeological examination of this issue.

The question is whether he had any with him at Cajamarca. And on that, I am uncertain.

Do you have any examples of marines who became noted world champions in any combat sport?

“He also kept snow in his mouth so that when breathing the steam would not reveal his position.”

Awesome!

  • Unnecessarily snarky, doesn’t add anything to the discussion, and really doesn’t belong in general questions. Retracted.*

The surviving accounts of him and his men say that he didn’t.

Nope. And if the OP had asked about the greatest combat sport champion of all time, I would have kept quiet.

Combat Warriors are not always about size, strength, quickness, or the like. Audie Murphy was not a large guy, would not have done well in MMA at all. But he is considered one of our country’s best warriors. He had guts and bravery and shooting skill and leadership skill. The two categories (Combat and MMA) may overlap a bit, but are generally quite different.

Yeah, I don’t get the obsession with labeling sport-fighters as the greatest warriors. Sport-fighting isn’t war, even sport-fighting done to the death. In both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire there are scattered accounts of gladiators being used as auxiliary troops in desperate times and by and large it was considered a desperation move because gladiators were not much fit for real warfare. Mainly because their training focused on showmanship and specific match ups that weren’t guaranteed to happen in real. Additionally even 2,000 years ago there was a need for warriors to operate collectively, gladiators were mostly trained in 1v1 combat (although obviously large mock battles were staged from time to time.)

Both ancient Greece and ancient Rome had violent combat sports. The gladiatorial games in Rome and the pankration in Greece, by and large I don’t believe established fighters in either discipline were considered super-warriors outside of their respective venues.

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, alias El Cid Campeador. The name Cid is a deformation of Sidi, “Lord” in Arabic, he was called that by a captive that he released without asking for a ransom, after his first large battle; Campeador comes from his skill at jousting. Warrior, mercenary, and winner of a battle… single-handed and after death.

His troops had just (and barely) conquered Valencia, but he’d been wounded by an arrow and died. The city was sieged by Muslim troops, who had taken courage from hearing that Meu Sidi was badly hurt. His wife Jimena (whose ovaries were a match for her husband’s own balls, all four being brass) ordered his body dressed up in his armor and tied to his horse. When the Muslims saw Meu Sidi astride his horse, slowly leading his troops out the gates, they left camp so fast they didn’t bother pick up their blankets.
The city was later regained by the Muslims, and conquered by the final time by Jaime I el Conquistador / Jaume I el Conqueridor / James I the Conqueror of Aragon; as you can tell by the nickname, this one wasn’t exactly a weenie either.

Gene Tunney

Ken Norton.

Take your pick from several hundred. I give you Operation Chariot

I’ve read “The Attack on St. Nazaire” by R.E.D. Ryder and the the facts and the characters are astonishing. I’d have cacked my pants 5 minutes in.

I kill millions daily.

Welcome to the boards diarrhea!

From 2 Samuel 23:
Adino the Eznite, killed 800 in one battle
Eleazar, son of Dodo: Killed till his arm was too tired to hold a sword
Abishai, brother of Joab: 300 men in one battle
Best wishes,
hh

nebermint.
hh

Personally I consider someone who is raised from birth in a martial culture as a warrior, rather then someone who takes up the job as an adult for a set length of years.

That person I consider to be a soldier, a very different kettle of fish.

Also I think that someone using stand off weapons only, as in firearms is also not a warrior.

A warrior I.M.O. kills with weapons used hand to hand against his enemy.

My candidates are Edward the First (Hammer of the Scots) , Richard the Third and Richard the LionHeart who though kings were renkowned for their courage and skill at arms in face to face fighting.

Why is this a question - by any account I’ve read he had a small force of about 168 men at the Battle of Cajamarca This is part of the reason that the Inca ruler let them come for a meeting into an area he had stationed with his 80,000 man army. Incidentally, the Inca ruler probably was planning on killing the Spanish. Unfortunately for him the Spanish got around to killing first.

If there are any cites showing the Spanish had help I’d be really interested in seeing them.

Crud - some of mine have been posted, but I have a couple more from Cracked:

Badass Soldiers

6 Soldiers Who Survived Shit That Would Kill a Terminator