Most elite fighting forces of history From the beginning of time-19th Century

[Tiberius]

Post the Most elite and "best" fighting forces of history in your opinion here.

I'll start it off with 3 of mine.

1. Roman Legions - Discipline and organisation ahead of their time.

2. Mongolian horde - A swarm of bad ass mongols who had a vast empire.

3. Spartan hoplites - Born for battle, these men lived for war.

[Hekko]

It's an impossible question to answer. Because technology and funding is so relevant. For instance you could argue that modern american sailors are the most elite, because I think a supercarrier beats pretty much anything.

[Tiberius]

True, thus making them an elite force. That would be immature though, so I am looking for answers pertaining to training, discipline, combat effectiveness, etc.. . These tell if they, as soldiers, are an elite force.

EDITED THE NAME BECAUSE HEKKO PROVES A VALID POINT

[Slick]

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[Rogov]

The Hetairoi (companion cavalry) and Pezhetairoi (foot companions) of Philip II of Macedon and his rather famous son come to mind.

Cataphracts (be they Scythian, Parthian, Sassanid, Byzantine, to name just a few...) were widely regarded as nigh unstoppable on the ancient battlefield and were the precursors to the Knights of medieval Europe (another military elite).

The Landsknechte were rather effective mercenaries, and their widespread use in early modern Europe attests to this.

Oh and an obvious one, the Japanese Samurai (prior to the Tokugawa Shogunate at least).

And I'd say that we're comparing these candidates to their peers, not the all time BEST fighting forces.

[Hekko]

Even when comparing wigh their peers funding and technology makes it impossible to say. A part of why the cataphracts were so unstoppable was their rather expensive equipment. Same with knights. And the technological advantage of stirrups or gunpowder also muddles it further.

[Rogov]

Fair enough, I suppose it is important to distinguish between those who were considered elite based on their training, tactics, experience, organisation, etc... and those who were elite simply due to technological superiority or social and/or economic status.

[Menelaos]

Ghengis Khan - was born in the saddle and was a result of hundreds of years of perfecting their army.

[TheBoberton]

Spanish partizans in the Peninsular War.

The fact that mere peasants could grind the French army almost to a halt without any training is astounding.

[rocknok2]

Waffen SS

*Danannana*

Waffen SS.

[Tali]

Waffen SS

*Danannana*

Waffen SS.

Hardly a elite force. It was made up of ideological sympatiers, not elite soldiers.

Spanish partizans in the Peninsular War.

The fact that mere peasants could grind the French army almost to a halt without any training is astounding.

Guerilla warfare agaisnt slow, static formations. Does not require much skill. The peasants took shots then retreated, as well as interfered messengers and killed lone stragglers.



The average mongol ought to be reckoned, seeing the damage they could lash out with minimal funding. Altough, to be fair, they practiced horsemanship and archery daily since they were young, so they did have some advantages over societies were warfare was considered a duty rather then a profession.

[Friedrich]

Cataphracts are NOT the ancestors of medieval heavy cavalry, they had no stirrups and holded their lances with two hands. But yes, definitly a special force. To mention here too is the Praetorian Guard.
Varangian Guard, the Janissaries, Landsknechte, Prussian heavy infantry and heavy cavalry during the Seven Years' War, Garde des consuls and Garde Impériale until 1812 and the Légion étrangère, the ancestor of any modern special force.
Just to name some.

[GoldenEagle]

I would say Jannisaries, but maybe because im Turkish. If not Jannisaries, I would go with the Vikings. Badass motherfuckers.

[Hekko]

Disregarding differences in funding and technology I would put down the mongols as one of the candidates for being crowned the best. However considering the number of horses they had one could argue that they were fairly well funded. Other than that I'd put down down he napoleonic french horse grenadiers as one of the most unstoppable units of it's day, especially since their opponents had similar technology and equipment.

[zac]

as much as it pain me to say it i would say that an elite force had to be the famed Polish lancers of Napoleons army

Waffen SS

*Danannana*

Waffen SS.

Ths SS is regared even by the American and british special forces as one of the best and most advanced "elite" foces of the 21st century, dont forget the Waffen SS werent the ones guarding the conecntration camps etc, as conventional historians teach us, the waffen ss was the elite of germanys armys, the had weapons such as the stg44 and the even better stg45 , the used the vampyre to devastating effect, early form of night vision. When we judge a units "elite" status we shouldnt look at the goverment or indeoly they served but at their fighting capabilities,they really only lost the war due to lack of men as their technology was more than 30 years ahead of the allies, the entire "american" space program was really a "german" space program and even the stealth technolgy in todays fighter was first experimented with the Horton flying win . this is not to say that they were nice people fighting for freedom etc but we should give credit were it is deserved.  An ex Royal marine/ parachutist told me this and this is also due to my own and my reenactment groups personal research.