The Legendary Warrior Cultures of History

Bearing in mind the vast scope of human warfare, choosing just ten of the greatest warrior cultures out of all of those that have punctuated history is certainly no easy task. The rise of a military culture depends on many things. Mostly it is a congruence of national mood, opportunity and leadership. The French would probably not rank among the greatest warrior nations in the world, certainly not in a modern context, but a combination of the French Revolution, a resurgence of national pride and the emergence of a great leader in the form of Napoleon Bonaparte set in motion one of the great military adventures of the age.

Another example, of course, is Alexander the Great, who combined great leadership with an extraordinary genius in military maneuver and tactics. Nothing like it has been recorded among the Macedonians before or since, so, in his case, as with Napoleon, the alchemy of great military achievement was momentary. A great military ‘society’, on the other hand, independent of individual ambition or leadership, is a different concept and is much more difficult to explain. A combination of long-held tradition with a sense of national superiority, and an aggressive, inbuilt character must all in some way contribute.

The ten warrior cultures that we have chosen for this list fall into the category of societies rather than national responses to a situation, or the inspiration of an individual leader, although in each case, great leaders have all played a part.