Best army in history?

Regardless of technology, which do you think was the best army in history - in terms of training, discipline, strategy, synchronisation, etc.

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Reply 1

lovely_me

Maggie, it's Christmas Day.

Give yourself a rest and return tomorrow.

Gawd bless everyone! :h:

Reply 2

Jackthevillain

German army - took over most of western Europe in about 6-8 weeks while it took Britain, America and the rest of the commonwealth about 9 months to get into Germany from France post d day landings. Also Germany got to Moscow in 6 months from central Poland while it took the Russians 2 and a ahlf years to get to Berlin and weeks to take Berlin even though at the end they were fighting 12 year olds who they outnumbered 20 to 1. Also remember Tannenberg the greatest battle victory in the world wars.

Finland in the 1939-40 Winter War:

Reply 5

HEDM22

The current one. We have the best weapons.

Reply 6

President_Ben

Simo Hayha is the one man army.

Reply 7

Captainmal

Original post by nuodai

Finland in the 1939-40 Winter War:

Can't beat men on skis :biggrin:

Reply 8

ColonelMoore

Macedonian army during the reigns of Philip and Alexander the Great. Phenomenal training, phenomenal leadership.

Mongol army.

Alexander and the Macedonian army

Reply 11

~Sanctified

I would say the Muslims back in their Early Age.

Reply 12

4TSR

Original post by ~Sanctified

I would say the Muslims back in their Early Age.

yea right!

Reply 13

KayK

Oh ****, what was that documentary called which tests out the weapons of different armies and they rate which are the best at the end of the show? They did one of the Samurai and Vikings and the Taliban and IRA?

Reply 14

TheCount.

spartans? didn't you see 300! True story, bro.

Mongolian or British? two biggest empires in the world. Imperiallists wouldn't get very far without an army.

Reply 15

Lou_Ferrigno

Original post by nuodai

Finland in the 1939-40 Winter War:

no. finland's army was helped by a confluence of favorable circumstances - extremely rugged terrain (good for defending), winter season (very difficult to conduct offensive operations), an uncommonly weak russian army (decimated by 1937 purges).

plus in the beginning the russians had few tanks, their forces consisting mainly of infantry. however when eventually the russians were persuaded to take the finns seriously and brought all their tank forces from all over the empire together for an offensive, they smashed the finns' defensive network (so-called Mannerheim line) and the finns had no choice but to sue for peace.

so it wasn't the finnish army itself that was so amazing - although they fought incredibly bravely - so much as it was the confluence of favorable circumstances. furthermore the finnish army was not equipped for offensive operations, so that right there disqualifies it from being the greatest army in history.

greatest armies in recent history: prussian army under freddy the great, nazi army to 1942-43, napoleon to 1807, american 1944-45

Reply 16

looking

The Gurkhas of the british army??? Check out the wiki page:

Gurkhas are best known for their history of bravery and strength in the Nepal's Gorkha regiments and the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas. The Gurkhas were designated by British officials as a "Martial Race". "Martial Race" was a designation created by officials of British India to describe "races" (peoples) that were thought to be naturally warlike and aggressive in battle, and to possess qualities of courage, loyalty, self sufficiency, physical strength, resilience, orderliness, the ability to work hard for long periods of time, fighting tenacity and military strategy. The British recruited heavily from these Martial Races for service in the British Indian Army.[3]

They've won loads of VC's I think.

Reply 17

omer94

i like how were all so quick to dismiss the muslim army,
general khalid bin waleed never once lost a battle

the muslims beat the quraish 300 muslims vs 1000 quraish at battle of badr
in uhud they beat them 700 to 3200

and dont even mention tabuk where the byzantines (basically romans) where scared to fight a muslim army of 30000 when they numbered 100,000!!

the thing about the muslim army was, there was no weakness, the men were strong and they awaited death eagerly, not one other arm in the world can claim that, not even the japanese kamikaze

Reply 18

freddy2222

Original post by nuodai

Finland in the 1939-40 Winter War:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4

simo hayha the greatest marksman of all time, rambo is a boy scout after this guy.

He took out 500 to 800 russians in 100 days.

Reply 19

Dharp

Romans

They were governed properly, the troops were well trained, they had large armies. They had strict rules of discipline. Their generals had amazing battle strategies and plans. And to top it all of instead of killing prisoners of war they turned them into slightly equipped cheap warriors in individual battalions.
Hell i cant remember the exact details. but Ceaser made a deal to meet the leader of an opposing army with just cavalry. he mounted 2000 foot soldiers :wink:

now that's ingenious

Wouldn't really call the Mongol an "army" more like a barbarian horde. all respect to Genghis khan though. An amazing tactician, but the Mongol s didn't really rule the lands they "Conquered" They just destroyed everything and left. Which is why the mongols under Genghis khan were always effectively at wa