of Japan. Which warrior culture from history, were the fastest, deadliest and most adept

at killing? Who will take the crown? Let's find out.

Aztecs

First up is the ancient Mexican civilisation of the Aztecs. War was such an integral part

of Aztec culture. That when a new Aztec leader was elected it was expected of him to immediately

wage a military campaign against an enemy tribe to prove his worth. When Aztecs attacked

an enemy they had two goals, firstly to take their land and make it theirs and secondly

to take prisoners so they could sacrifice them to the gods. Making the Aztec warriors

a force to be feared, because unlike most fighting forces that will give you a clean

death the Aztecs were a lot more brutish when it came to disposing of their enemies.

Prisoners of war would often be strangled or stoned to death during religious ceremonies.

They were masters of fear and intimidation. In fact they designed a special musical instrument

that had the sole purpose of intimidating the enemy before a battle.

It was called the Aztec death whistle and it was in the shape of a skull; it produced

a truly horrific sound. This is the noise it made when you blew into it. That's just

one whistle. Now imagine a thousand Aztec warriors charging towards you whilst blowing

on a thousand death whistles in a bone-chilling symphony. I don't know about you but I'd be

off.

Mongols

The Mongols were an Asian army led by the revered Genghis Khan. They were focused on

one goal - destruction. They destroyed and conquered everything in their paths. They

took no prisoners and were widely considered as a bunch of barbarians and savages.

Their combat skills however, have been matched by few throughout history. They fought on

horseback and were masters of the bow and arrow. They specialised in shooting arrows

whilst riding their horses at high speeds, and they were bloody good at it.

They used a variety of different bows and arrows, such as the composite bow which specialised

in ripping through armour. They also used their so called "howling" arrows that would

emit a terrifying sound whilst flying through the air, this sound would disorientate the

enemy and cause panic. Their fearsome fighting prowess allowed Genghis Khan and his Mongol

army to conquer more of the world that any other empire in history.

Māori

The Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. They were well known for eating their

conquered foes, because they believed they would gain their mana. Mana was at the core

of the Māori's beliefs. Mana was believed to be spiritual power and prestige.

The Maori would intimidate their enemies by performing a special dance before a fight

called the Haka Peruperu. The same dance is still performed today by New Zealand's official

rugby team, the All Blacks, before every game, to intimidate their opponents.

Ninjas

Next up are the masters of stealth, the silent assassins known as Ninjas. They started off

as humble farmers, but unsatisfied with the way they were being treated by the samurai

military. They trained rigorously in the shadows to become silent, deadly killers and rose

up against the samurai.

But, being poor farmers, they couldn't defeat the samurai in open combat, because, unlike

the samurai they had no armour. So they devised ways to be unseen and kill the samurai when

the least expected it, in the most underhanded and devious ways. They were known for their

superior ability to kill and disappear in seconds.

Owning weapons was illegal in Japan for anyone expect the samurai military. So ninjas had

to fashion their weapons out of simple farming tools such as the sickle - which they turned

into the deadly kusarigama.

They also used a short sword called a ninjatō, similar to a Katana, but shorter. The ninjatō

was lightweight and fast.

They also had an arsenal of long range weapons such as the poisonous blowgun, the deadly

shuriken, or ninja star. As well as black eggs which were egg shells painted black and

filled with ground up shards of glass. Their purpose was to blind and disorientate the

enemy, ninjas would throw them into their opponent's face, blinding them and causing

agonising pain.

Persian Immortals

Next up is the Persian Immortals. They served as the imperial guard for the Persian Empire.

The immortals were a group of heavy infantry that stood 10,000 strong. They got their name

because they never seemed to die, every time an immortal died, fell ill, was injured or

died in battle, they were instantly replaced by another reserve immortal - so there was

always exactly 10,000.

Also, if an immortal died during combat their body would be immediately pulled from the

battle field by the other immortals, and replaced by a new immortal from the reserves. This

was done to maintain the impression that they were un-killable, hence the name.

They fought with shields and spears and also used a bow and arrow from afar. They weren't

particularly skilled with the bow, but it didn't matter because they would overwhelm

their enemies by firing thousands of arrows all in unison, leaving the enemy with nowhere

to hide.

Roman Legion

Next up is the foundation of the Roman army, the Roman legion. They were the infantry that

helped to conquer and create the most powerful empire in the history of the world, the Roman

Empire. The Roman Empire was large and wealthy and the Roman legion, therefore, had the best

armour, swords, shields and spears that money could buy. They went to the effort of covering

themselves in all that nice armour and then they wore sandals, seriously.

But sandals aside, they were masters of the shield and spear combination. But what made

the Roman legion and subsequently the Roman empire so successful was the fact that they

were constantly adapting. As soon as they found fighting practices and techniques that

were better than their own, they would instantly abandon their old ways in favour of the new

techniques. This enabled them to always stay ahead of their enemies and hold the Roman

empire for over 500 years.

In training they would focus on mastering the thrust of a sword or spear, instead of

the slash. The thrust was far more lethal when facing armoured opponents and meant the

Roman legion had higher kill rates than their enemies during battles.

Samurai

Next up is a fearless band of warriors bound by honour and duty, of course I'm talking

about the samurai. They mastered the sharpest sword that has ever been forged, the legendary,

the deadly, katana. The katana could easily slice a man in half in the right hands.

Samurai were highly trained and incredibly disciplined killing machines. They led their

lives by the code of Bushido, meaning the "way of the warrior". But by far what made

the samurai so unbelievably deadly was that they weren't afraid to give their lives for

their masters. They were trained to believe that, before all things, a samurai should

constantly keep in the forefront of his mind a simple, inevitable truth that "they had

to die". And if they didn't achieve their goals or their master's goals before dying

it was considered cowardly.

Because of these beliefs, if a samurai failed in battle they would commit ritual suicide,

often voluntarily, but sometimes as a punishment from their masters. This ritual suicide was

known as "seppuku", and involved the Samurai stabbing himself in his stomach with a short

sword then dragging the blade to the left or right to slice open his abdomen and disembowel

himself. That's pretty darn gruesome and it meant only those with the strongest minds

would become samurai warriors. This absence of a fear of death made the samurai the most

fearless warriors that ever lived.

The Vikings

Next up, the most feared fighting force in Europe between the 8th and 11th centuries,

the Vikings. Barbaric in nature, their attacks were fast and brutal. They effortlessly mowed

down everyone who dared get in their way. They raided and pillaged across almost all

of Europe, often grabbing what riches they could before returning to their homeland of

Scandinavia.

The battle-axe was the weapon of choice for these nordic brutes, who were often large

in size. Making them easily able to overpower their skinny little south-western European

counterparts. However, the rumours that they had horns on their helmets and they drank

out of the skulls of their enemies are complete myths. They were actually gentle giants.

No, just kidding they were violent savages. Even their religion was centred around war

and they believed that when a viking died they would go to Valhalla where they would

prepare for an enormous battle called Ragnarök. But they did do some good for Europe, they

were exceptionally good at trading with the rest of Europe, so we also have a lot to thank

them for.

The Medieval Knight

Next up is the medieval knight, a fully clad, battle-hardened warrior that was a force to

be reckoned with. Knights were the wealthiest and best trained warriors in the entire medieval

world. Often fighting on horseback with only the best armour, shields and tempered steel

long-swords.

Knights trained their entire lives, mainly because they were idolised and young boys

would often want to become knights from an early age. They were the upholders of piece

and fought by a strict code of honour. All knights had to swear by the "Knights Code

of Chivalry" which included lines such as "To protect the weak and defenceless", "To

fight for the welfare of all" and "Never to refuse a challenge from an equal".

That's right, knights were bound by law to always accept a duel, even if they happened

to be in the middle of taking a bath or some other equally uncompromising situation. For

this reason they had trusty squires who would always be by their side to have their armour,

sword and shield handy.

Spartans

And lastly are, arguably, the most skilled fighters to ever grace the ancient world,

the legendary Spartans. Spartans underwent brutal training their entire lives. At the

tender age of seven Spartan boys were ripped from their family home and began the "Agoge"

- the state-sponsored training programme. The Agoge was utterly relentless and violent,

which prepared them for real-life combat situations.

Unlike almost every other warrior in history, Spartans had no professions to distract them

from training, they were not smiths, bakers or candlestick makers. They were one thing

and one thing only: elite fighting machines, trained to kill and not to be killed.

When a child was born in Sparta the mother would instantly bathe it in wine, to ensure

it was strong. If the child was weak, it would die soon after. Later the elders would expect

the baby, if it was found to be deformed in any way the poor thing was thrown from the

top of a cliff into a chasm.

This horrifically brutal treatment produced the greatest legion of close combat fighters

the world has ever seen. They specialised in three main weapons: The spear which could

kill a man several feet away, with a single trust. The short-sword and finally the most

important part of their arsenal, the round Spartan shield, which was used just as much

offensively as it was defensively.

A spartan was covered in bronze from head to toe, they were like tanks - tanks that

could stab things. The Spartans are best known for their heroic performance at the Battle

of Thermopylae in 480 BC. When just 300 spartans, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, fought off

150,000 Persian soldiers for three days straight. The Spartans eventually lost the fight, but

their display of courage, resilience and amazing fighting ability against an army that so greatly

outnumbered them, has never been matched in all of history. For goodness sake there were

500 Persians for each Spartan, and they lasted three days, that's pretty damn impressive.

The Spartans had a powerful saying that their wives would tell them before leaving for battle,

"come back with the shield or on top of it." Which meant, don't come back unless you are

victorious.