As long as there have been civilizations, there have been unending wars for power and
land.
These wars have produced some of the fiercest warriors the world has ever seen.
Men who are not only exceptional at hand to hand combat but who were also great leaders
and brilliant strategists.
There were so many brave individuals who could fit on this list but I think these represent
warrior states from around the world and throughout the ages.
10.
Richard I (Lionheart)
Richard I was given the nickname Lionheart (or Coeur de Leon) for his exceptional fighting
ability and courage.
The duke of Normandy and the Count of Anjou, he ascended to the throne of England in 1198
after defeating his father Henry II with the help of his powerful mother Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Richard took the cross in 1188 when he heard of Saladin’s successful conquest of Jerusalem.
He raised funds by selling official titles, rights and lands to the highest noble bidder.
He left for the Holy Land in 1190 along with French King Philip II and most of the military
forces of Christendom.
After being waylaid first in Sicily and then in Cyprus, Richard and Philip arrived in the
Holy Land in June 1191.
The joint forces first took Acre and then moved onto Arsuf before fortifying Ascalon.
Arguments between who was to become King of Jerusalem escalated and Philip quit the Crusade
and returned to France.
Richard pressed on but when he realized he had no way of securing Jerusalem even if he
had managed to capture it, he signed a peace treaty with Saladin and returned to Europe.
He spent his final five years reclaiming his throne from his brother John and fighting
against Philip’s advances into Normandy.
9.
Spartacus
Born in Thrace in 109 BC, Spartacus is most widely known as the gladiator who led the
revolt against Rome during the Gladiatorial War.
It is not known for sure how Spartacus became a gladiator but the leading theory is that
he once fought for the Roman army but deserted and became a thief.
He was arrested and sold as a gladiator due to his strength.
In 73 BC he and seventy followers escaped from a gladiator school near Capua and fled
to Mount Vesuvius where they were joined by local slaves.
His army continued to grow until it was 90, 000 men strong and they began wreaking havoc
in southern Italy, defeating two Roman armies and plundering any city they came across.
From there they marched north into Gaul where he tried to free his men but they refused
to leave and they marched again into Italy for more plunder.
Spartacus was killed in a battle at Lucania in 71 BC and his men were crucified.
He has been remembered as a legendary commander not only for his successes in battle but for
his own courage strength and compassion.
8.
Saladin
Known to the western world as the antihero of the Third Crusade, he is revered in the
Middle East as the hero who returned Jerusalem into Muslim hands.
The Kurdish Sultan was born in 1138 in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and grew up during the First Crusade.
He was trained as a soldier by his uncle Asad al-Din Shirkuh and early in his military career
he worked on uniting Arab forces under his control first in Egypt then in Syria and Palestine.
He then set his sights on Jerusalem and conquered King Guy de Lusignan at the Battle of Hattin.
The battle was a tremendous success for Saladin as his army almost wiped out the Crusaders
in the Holy Land.
The city of Jerusalem fell into his hands when he came to terms with Balian of Ibelin
who defended the city after the capture of Guy.
His capture of Jerusalem influenced King Richard of England to join forces with King Philip
of France and set out for the Third Crusade to the Holy Land.
The Christian forces made their way to Ascalon when Richard fell ill and signed a peace treaty
with Saladin that left Jerusalem in Muslim hands as long as Christians would be able
to safely make their pilgrimage.
His reign of Jerusalem was short lived however as he died of a fever on March 4, 1193.
Saladin is most often recognized as much for his generosity and chivalry as he is for his
impressive military accomplishments.
7.
Lieutenant Audie Murphy
Born the son of a poor Texas sharecropper in 1924, Audie went on to become the most
decorated American soldier of World War II.
In an attempt to free himself of his hardships, he joined the army as a private in 1942.
After his basic training he was shipped to Casablanca, Morocco where he continued with
his training.
He saw action in North Africa, Sicily, France and Germany and was distinguished by his quick
thinking and bravery.
He not only destroyed several of the enemy’s machine guns in minutes but also jumped onto
a burning tank destroyer and turned its machine gun on the enemy as well as cutting off a
German counterattack of six tanks and 250 Infantry practically by himself.
For these acts of courage he has received countless decorations including the Medal
of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze
Stars, and three Purple Hearts; as well as the French Legion of Honor and two Croix de
Guerre.
He returned to America as a hero and turned his wartime fame into a successful film career.
With help from his friends, Audie penned an autobiography entitled To Hell and Back, which
was later made into a movie in which he played himself.
While on a business trip he died in a plane crash on May 28, 1971 and was buried at Arlington
National Cemetery with military honors.
6.
Miyamoto Musashi
The greatest sword fighter of his time, Miyamoto Musashi, also known as the Sword Saint, is
one of the best-known samurai in Japanese history.
Born in 1584 in Harima Province, Musashi was raised by his uncle in Shoreian temple.
By the time he was 13 he had already won his first duel against Arima Kigei, a student
of the Shinto Ryu school of military arts.
For the next 16 years he made a name for himself, fighting in more than 60 duels (including
against the Yoshioka School and his most famous duel against Sasaki Kojiro) in which he was
undefeated.
During this time he also enlisted in Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s army and although he was on
the losing side, he escaped, crawling among corpses and drinking from muddy puddles to
survive.
After the war, he turned his attention to teaching swordsmanship and he is credited
with creating the nitoryu technique in which you fight with two swords.
Later in his life, he became a master painter and writer.
His most famous written work is The Book of Five Rings, which covers the sum of his experience
as a sword fighter including strategy, tactics and philosophy.
At the age of 62, Musashi died of thoracic cancer in Reigando Cave (the same cave where
he lived as a hermit while writing The Book
of Five Rings).
5.
Gaius Julius Caesar
The greatest general in Rome’s history, Caesar came to power first as a quaestor and
praetor before being elected as consul and proconsul in 59 BC and organizing the First
Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus.
He distinguished himself by leading campaigns in Gaul, Britain and Germany but his growing
power scared the senate and he was asked to disband his forces.
Not only did he refuse this request, he marched on Rome.
He started an outbreak of civil war that lasted until December 49 BC when he held a dictatorship
in Rome for eleven days while he was elected as consul.
He then chased Pompey to Egypt where he remained living with Cleopatra for several years.
On his return to Rome he improved the living conditions of his people and drew up elaborate
plans for consolidation of the empire.
In 44 BC he became dictator for life, a title that was short lived because on the Ides of
March (March 15th) 44 BC, he was stabbed to death by a group of his friends and protégés
including Cimber, Casca, Cassius and Brutus.
4.
Hannibal Barca
A Carthaginian General, Hannibal was a master strategist who developed outflanking tactics.
Dubbed the father of strategy by military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge, he grew
up with a fierce hatred of the Romans.
After the death of his brother-in-law Hasdrubal, he took command of the Gaulo-Cathaginian army
and set his sights on Rome.
He set out in the spring of 218 BC and fought his way through the Pyrenees and the Alps
with a force of 46,000 soldiers and 37 war elephants.
When he was in Roman territory, he ravaged hundreds of towns leaving complete destruction
in his wake.
Some of his greatest victories were at Trebia, Lake Trasimenus and Cannae, even turning some
Roman cities against his enemies.
Scipio eventually defeated him in his homeland at the Battle of Zama, after which he signed
a peace treaty in 201 BC.
After several years as a suffete, he was accused by his political enemies of conspiring with
King Antiochus of Syria.
At the threat of a Roman investigation, Hannibal fled to the court of King Prusias of Bithynia
where he poisoned himself before the Romans could force him to surrender.
3.
Sun Tzu
A Chinese General, Sun Tzu was the author of the first and most sophisticated book on
military theory ever written, The Art of War.
While not much is known about the man, it is generally accepted that he was an accomplished
General who served the King of Wu in the period of the Warring States in the 4th century BC.
It was at this time that he wrote The Art of War, which covers logistics, espionage,
strategy and tactics with a deep reliance on philosophy.
The main points it stresses are the high cost of war, the unpredictability of battle, the
correlation between political and military policies and the ineffectiveness of setting
hard and fast rules.
Not only has it influenced Asian military thinking for centuries, but it has also formed
the base of the military strategies of Napoleon, Mao Zedong, General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.
and Henry Kissinger.
In more recent times, The Art of War has been adopted by business students in Tokyo, New
York and London as a text on business strategy.
2.
Leonidas I
Best known for his heroic last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae, Leonidas’ early years
have barely been documented although legend has it that he was the descendant of Heracles.
His reign began somewhere around 490 BC and he shared control with Leotychides, as was
Spartan custom of the time.
The Persian army, led by King Darius, had been conquering Greece for close to ten years
when Leonidas became King.
When Darius died in 481 BC his son Xerxes continued his father’s expansion into the
Greek mainland.
In an attempt to stop the advancing army in their tracks, Leonidas (despite warnings by
the Oracle of Delphi that told of his death) went to meet Xerxes with 7000 troops including
the famed 300 Spartans, at the Pass of Thermopylae (aptly nicknamed the Hot Gates).
Xerxes sent in wave after wave of troops including his Immortals who were in turn slaughtered
by the Greeks.
After a few days of fighting a Greek traitor told Xerxes of a mountain trail which he could
use to outflank his enemy.
Leonidas learned of the betrayal and sent away most of his men keeping only the 300
Spartans that made up his personal guard.
Leonidas’ 300 valiantly fought off the advancing Persians down to their last man.
Leonidas was killed and his body was beheaded and crucified which only served to anger his
fellow Spartans who expelled the Persians from Greece a few months later at the Battle
of Plataea.
1.
Alexander the Great
Arguably one of the greatest generals of antiquity, Alexander’s conquests extended the Macedonian
kingdom from Greece to India, almost the entire known world at the time.
Born in 356 BC his early years were spent under the tutelage of the philosopher Aristotle.
His early military career was spent releasing Greece from the grasp of the Persians.
From there he moved through Syria, Egypt (where he founded the city of Alexandria and visited
the oracle of Ammon and claimed his divinity), and Asia Minor before his final conquest into
India.
He then returned to the west and began making preparations to invade Arabia but before he
could achieve this conquest, he fell ill and died in June 323 BC.
Throughout his reign, the casualties of his troops compared to those of his enemies were
considerably less, mostly due to his quick tactical thinking and his love for the men
who fought under him.