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Best army in history?

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To be fair it could be Genghis Khan and his army of insane mongolian horse dudes who literally rode over ~~the whole ****ing world~~

Reply 41

asdfg0987

Original post by dnumberwang

~~300~~ 120: the indian version

****ing losers they never win anything. Tbf Pakistan was fighting the Bangladeshis as well at the time, and they lost that war too.

(edited 13 years ago)

Chuck Norris.

Original post by Potiron

Chuck Norris.

Jack Bauer?

Away from one man armies, I would settle on the Mongols.

Reply 44

There will be Particles

The army led of Khalid Bin Waleed - officially the greatest army ever to grace this planet.

"Khalid is said to have fought around a hundred battles, both major battles and minor skirmishes, during his military career. Having remained undefeated, this fact makes him one of the finest generals in history."

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 45

jack06

British army. The SAS is second to none and has served as a model for the special forces for a whole bunch of other countries including the USA!

Reply 46

OceanSoul

Original post by 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

What was even better was the fact that they accepted to follow the orders of one certain leader. This kept them together. Well.. that was once upon a time.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 47

SkyNinja

I vote the early muslim army.

Reply 48

Mujeriego

Moozlims. Duh.

The Greeks [both Delian and Peloponnesian...] and the Germans were admirable too.

Reply 49

lukejoshjedi

The Roman legions (in general) at the height of the Roman empire, mid 2nd century BC or so when Rome had most of England, parts of North Africa, Gaul, Germania, Spain (back then) etc etc etc. SPQR!

You could also say Alexander the greats' army at the height of his conquest and sweeping of Saudia Arabia / Turkey / surrounding areas

Then again the best, most successful, largest and most feared single army in ancient history? Probably The Mongols, they had the largest single continuous empire (bigger than the British empire as it wasn't all connected) They invaded pretty much ALL of Russia, took ALL of China, India, modern day pakistan, Turkey and kept going west into Europe even, taking parts of Eastern Europe - historians say they could have taken all of Europe if they kept at that pace and just bulldozed everything the way

No army or country stopped them or beat them in a single battle during Ghenghis Khans' and his son (Ogedei Khan?) reigns respectively. (I may be wrong about that) but they were more or less undefeated

But just branding one specific army as 'the best' is a little... hard to say the least, so many factors contribute to a good army and we have no way of comparing the best against each other aside from just speculating to ourselves

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 50

Peace'n'loveman

Original post by Margaret Thatcher

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

salvation army for defo

The Roman Army?

Over all the Modern American military. The best trained was probably the British commandos in ww2.

The Barmy Army lol

The French:

Battle of Allia (387 BC)
Battle of Gergovia (52 BC)
Battle of Soissons (486)
Battle of Tolbaic (496)
Battle of Vouille (507)
Battle of Tours (732)
Battle of Pavia (773)
Battle for Paris (885-6)
Battle of Val-es-Dunes (1047)
Battle of Hastings (1066)
Battle of Dorylaeum (1097)
Battle of Ascalon (1099)
Battle of Montgisard (1177)
Battle of Bouvines (1214)
Battle of Morlaix (1342)
Battle of Ardres (1351)
Battle of Cocherel (1364)
Battle of Montiel (1369)
Battle of La Rochelle (1372)
Battle of Chiset (1373)
Battle of Roosebeke (1382)
Battle of Bauge (1421)
Siege of Orleans (1428-9)
Battle of Jargeau (1429)
Battle of Beaugency (1429)
Battle of Patay (1429)
Siege of Compiegne (1429)
Battle of Gerbevoy (1435)
Battle of Formigny (1450)
Battle of Castillon (1453)
Battle of Agnadello (1509)
Battle of Marignano (1515)
Battle of Ceresole (1544)
Battle of Rocroi (1643)
Battle of Nordlingen (1645)
Battle of Lens (1648)
Battle of Dunes (1658)
Battle of Fleurus (1690)
Battle of Beachy Head (1690)
Battle of Landen (1693)
Battle of Denain (1712)
Battle of Fontenoy (1745)
Battle of Roucoux (1746)
Battle of Lauffeld (1747)
Battle of Hastenbeck (1757)
Battle of Carillon (1758)
Battle of Yorktown (1781)
Battle of the Chesapeake (1781)
Battle of Valmy (1792)
Battle of Fleurus (1794)
Battle of Lodi (1796)
Battle of Castiglione (1796)
Battle of the Bridge of Arcole (1796)
Battle of Diersheim (1797)
Battle of Rivoli (1797)
Battle of the Pyramids (1798)
Battle of Mount Tabor (1799)
Battle of Abukir (1799)
Second Battle of Zurich (1799)
Battle of Marengo (1800)
Battle of Hohenlinden (1800)
Battle of Austerlitz (1805)
Battle of Jena (1806)
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (1806)
Battle of Friedland (1807)
Battle of Tudela (1808)
Battle of Ucles (1809)
Battle of Ciudad-Real (1809)
Battle of Eckmuhl (1809)
Battle of Wagram (1809)
Battle of Medellin (1809)
Battle of Ocana (1809)
Battle of Smolensk (1812)
Battle of Borodino (1812)
Battle of Dresden (1813)
Battle of Lutzen (1813)
Battle of Vauchamps (1814)
Battle of Ligny (1815)
Battle of Trocadero (1823)
Battle of Navarino (1827)
Invasion of Algeria (1830)
Battle of Balaclava (1854)
Battle of Malakoff (1855)
Battle of Solferino (1859)
Battle of Foochow (1884)
First Battle of the Marne (1914)
Togoland (1914)
Battle of Ypres (1914)
Battle of Verdun (1916)
Battle of Vimy Ridge (1917)
Second Battle of the Marne (1918)
Battle of Belleau Wood (1918)
Battle of Chateau-Thierry (1918)
Battle of Amiens (1918)
Battle of Maysalun (1922)
Battle of Koufra (1941)
Battle of Normandy (1944)
Operation Dragoon (1944)
Operation Desert Storm (1991)
Cote d'Ivoire (2003)

Probably more, but I can't find any more at the moment

Reply 55

lilaj

Seven Nation Army :2euk48l:

Reply 56

MickJB1989

It's impossible to state which army is "the best". For starters, you have to consider the type of combat involved. A guerilla war will absolutely hammer a conventional army through attrition and hit and run, as the past 60 years illustrate rather nicely. Of course, guerilla tactics can be countered, but generally doing so involves returning to "total war" scenarios, something that modern politicians (and generals) are unlikely to do, because it generally results in high short-term casualties among your own forces (unlike the drip, drip drop casualties of one or two a day we're used to in Afghanistan), and and lots of blood on your soldiers' hands. Both these consequences tend to be unpopular, as we civillians can't stomach it. Examples from history of armies good at combatting guerilla war: Germany in WW2 (see SS), Roman (Republican & early Imperial), Christian Crusaders (killing everyone doesn't leave many hiding places for guerilla resistance - it's a very effective remedy).

In terms of conventional warfare, it depends totally on the period and what leaders were present, tactics, weapons, fighting styles, training regimes, and troop types were in use at the time. For example, Greek Hoplites were amazing, when they were in their element, but they were only suitable for fighting on a nice flat battlefield in a straightline, and if the enemy got into your flanks, game over. This is why the Romans were able to dominate the Italian peninsula despite Greek opposition, pre-marian Roman military were better equipped to fight in the hilly terrain.

I will weigh in with my favourite underdog though. It's not Finland, they come second for me. The winner is Prussia under Bismarck, circa 1850-70, who gubbed (that's the technical military term :P) both Austria and France, the pre-eminent continental European powers at the time, to unify Germany.