Your favourite culture in warfare

[romeo_longsword]

I most enjoyed the Mongol and the Chinese, while the Mongolian is my favourite at the moment (yes I seems to find that my idea changes as time goes by).

Mongolian being coming form such as wild (natural) area, and the live style was mostly herding, kind of peaceful but show ability in war at the same time, while the Mongol army at the time was able to go on without eating for a day or two, plus they taken from Korea to Poland in around 25 years, hard bastards they truly were.

Also, they were happy to have muilt cultures and religions within their management, because they were mainly interested in trading, that to me show freedom!

Not to mention that they were able to take down fully armed troops in full metal armour while the Mongol in leather armour/jacket only. That idea make them really attractive.

Whats your thoughts?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Mongols, followed by Medieval Germans.

[Spartakus]

Favourite culture in warfare...well, I see the Mongols are admired by all. Yet I must admit I've never really been that keen on armies consisting mostly of horse archers and light cavalry, your typical steppe riders using hit-and-run tactics and feint retreats.

No, REAL warriors go hand-to-hand, I say!

That's why I like the knightly culture of warfare. I know charging in isn't always the smartest thing to do, not at all, but it is the most courageous. It takes guts to ride right into the heat of battle, willingly and intentionally putting your life on the stake, far more than firing an arrow from horseback and then galopping the hell outta there.

History bears witness to many hopeless knight's charges during the middle ages, where the knights charged in not because it was the most tactical manouver, but because their honour demanded it. I find that especially admirable.

So to me, it's not that important wether a battle is won or lost, but rather how it is fought. I think it is possible to lose a battle just as honourably as it can be won.

If I were to mention a particular people, it would probably be the Normans. They really owned Europe back then. Who didn't they defeat? Be it Franks, Anglo-Saxons, Bretons, Lombards, Greeks, Germans, Turks or Arabs, not one of them could stand against the Normans, who more often than not fought in far inferior numbers.

[Byzantine Prince]

I love the Greek culture the most. Surprised?

Greeks had all, horses, thureophroi, spearmen, archers, and everything you might ever want, including the incredible phalanx.

[Dooz]

This may be weird and worded or phrased innacurately, so I'll use quotation marks wherever necessary to cut myself some slack . I enjoy the "barbarian" and "rebel" "cultures" the most in warfare. I don't mean just in the game or whatnot of course. I'm no historian so I don't know too much about specifics of regions and names of cultures or factions all that good stuff, but just from what I have seen on, oh say, the History Channel, readings, and movies and such, I enjoy all the stuff about those cultures (I know movies aren't the most historically accurate things, but there are some elements that are). They were usually the ones always fighting for their lives and freedom and so it meant a whole lot more to them and they fought a lot more valiantly. They also had to resort to more clever tactics and little tricks here and there to overcome great odds. And the whole looser setting of their "armies" as opposed to strictly uniformed more organized nations' armies is more appealing to me. Random weapons and armor wherever they could find or make it, random clothing. Good stuff. And the best heroes always come from those folks.

[TonyJ]

For me it's definitely high Imperial Roman - the idea of massive disciplined armies, bringing civilisation to stinking barabrians, whether they want it or not: the route of choice for any empire builder

Yes the empire seriously lost it's way, but the sheer will and discipline of some
of the historical personlaities that made it what it was at its height demand respect

[Sinner]

I'd have to say the English. For such a small country it has punched well above its weight considering its list of conquests by battle, bribery, bullying, subterfuge and afternoon tea.

[RollingWave]

Chinese , not just because i'm Chinese but probably because it's the biggest warfare culture that people still know so little about. there is still much left to be debated and discovered.

[The_Emperor]

The Mongols certainly deserve respect for conquering the largest territorial empire the world has ever seen in such a short timeframe.

It is also truly a testament to their military tactics and adaptability that they have fought in some of the most varied conditions on this planet. They endured Russian winters, the mountains of Afghanistan, the jungles of modern-day Vietnam and Cambodia, and the deserts of Syria.

I also read that when the Mongols were conquering cities in China they took superior counter-weight trebuchets from Russia, rather than the traditional traction trebuchets.

While horse archery and cavalry warfare may not have that same heroic image that infantry warfare does, it certainly was very effective.

[Wishazu]

I love the Greek style of warfare, nothing looks more impressive than a shimmering wall of spearpoints marching ominously towards the enemy lines. Also the English/British, i may be biased but a tiny population from a small island nation created the largest empire in the world, EVER! I`ll drink to that

[Claudius Maniacus Sextus]

well.........the dark age romans.diciplend,tough infantry heavy cavalary too.all cultures from the british island(scotland for infantry;:;welsh for archers;:;and england for all-round).but the romans are the one that really get to me.

[TheSilverKnight]

I'd have to say the Spanish Colonial Empire (1492-19th century). Why? They brought European civilisation, culture, religion, and customs to the natives in America and parts of Asia, and their impact on world culture and history is still felt today, just like the other great empires.

[Ghostmonkey]

I've gotta go with the Romans and Greeks too. There's nothing more impressive than discipline compined with lots of really pointy sticks.

[Papewaio]

Maori they made the largest, strongest colonial empire form a treaty with them because the British Empire had such a hard time fighting them in New Zealand. The British even had to resort to ambushes and sneak attacks on Sundays because the Maoris had been recently converted...

[Don Corleone]

Gosh, I don't think there's any timeframe that's not interesting from a military history standpoint. Thus far, there's been plenty of intersting eras raised.

I'm going to raise another people generally don't talk a lot about but I find fascinating... early Mespotamia. You had a cauldron with dozens of different cultures, all trying to eek out their existence, or possibly rub out their neighbors. Who wouldn't want to march down the processional way in Babylon with your fellow Assyrian conquerers?

Who wouldn't want to lead a squadron of Hittite war charriots into battle?

Who wouldn't want to bring all their plunder home on a slow boat down the nile, hearing your people line the banks and sing your praises all the way back down to Waset (or REALLY far back, Men-Nefer), where upon arrival, you immediately took a 3 day retreat into the temple's inner sanctuary with a few choice female captives to 'commune with Ra'.

I'd take a chance to be a commanding general in any of these cultures in a heartbeat.

[Currian]

The Scottish culture. Patriottism and honour were varied by brutal slaughter. Fighting against the English was varied by fighting eachother. And the scots have such a good culture and are such nice people. If I'd have to choose a medieval army to fight side-by-side with, it would be them.

[Colovion]

Though recently I've begun to tremendously enjoy all of the Steppe people's warfare and tactics, I'd have to say that I enjoy Alexander's Macedons and their re-worked Hoplite warfare. Lighter armour, smaller shields and longer pikes :D ---> coupled with the well bred cavalry and you have a killing machine.

The Romans have always interested me, but only to a point, because deep down I think I'd rather have an unruly mob of valiant compatriots dying for personal valour and glory than simply because your gov't asked for recruits.

[Watchman]

Mongolian being coming form such as wild (natural) area, and the live style was mostly herding, kind of peaceful but show ability in war at the same time, while the Mongol army at the time was able to go on without eating for a day or two, plus they taken from Korea to Poland in around 25 years, hard bastards they truly were.

"Kind of peaceful" ?!?!

Vous must be joking, milord. The main reason the steppe nomads were always such hard cases in war was that they practiced raiding and mobile warfare against each other and everyone else in the vicinity with gusto, and as often as possible...

In just about all settled societies the warriors formed, at best, about half of the adult male populace (this in "tribal warrior" setups, the rest being slaves or just too poor to own decent arms; other systems netted smaller but often much more efficient proportions). Among the steppe nomads, virtually every adult male (barring slaves, specialized craftsmen etc.) could carry his weight as a horse-archer already well versed in the ways of hit-and-run combat.

As a side note, I've never particularly liked those "warrior aristocracy" setups. They always end up producing a bunch of arrogant, pretentious boobs living off the toil of the peasants.

[romeo_longsword]

Yup, thats what they were. Herding is what I would consider as a peaceful life style. They herd, and kick ass at the same time.

[BAD]

I was gonna say the mongols for all the above reasons people listed, then I thought about the humble British, from the "Battle of Agincourt" (pwn3d ) to the empire they forged in latter days. But alas no it was neither. Who then. Has to be the Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. I think no nation has won a war with such numbers, technology and weapons massed against them. They won through with back to basics tactics, sheer grit and determination.

[Whoami88]

I've always been interested in the Japanese Samurai culture. I don't know why but I always been so interested in Samurai, there's just something about them I like I can't describe.

Too bad they spent so much time fighting eachother instead of focusing on foreign countries

[repone]

Northen People (from Sweden for exemple.. I know they were quite a numbers of tribes, but can't remember their names right now).
Let's summarize: they beat the crap outta everybody they ever encountered, including the terrible scots (several times I might add), even occupied all of Britany (main island) and just sat back and ransomed the city of London for a coupel of years before leaving... no battle, tons of cash ... brillant. They went far in the south, as far as Constantinople (as all players of MTW know already ) and were and elite force of Bodyguard for the Emperors for more than a century. They established long routes of trade, sending and expeditions form time to time to suqash any rebellions treathening the trades (and succeding each time, even against the notorious bad-a***** of the time). They had the finest craftmanship, especially in weapons and precious metal. They, apparently, were the first to set foot on the new continent, on Newfoundland .... I mean .. what more do you want?

PS If I forgot something or made some terrible mistakes, feel free to correct me, as I'm a) tired b) not writing in my native langage .. some names elude me

[Watchman]

Eh, the Vikings are overrated as warriors. They were fierce and belligerent like all "barbarian" peoples tended to be, true, but they mostly went after "soft" targets. Much of their success came from nothing else than their naval mobility - they could swoop in, pillage some town or monastery, and get out before the local army could muster against them in force. Like all raiders they preferred to avoid serious fighting if possible. After all, what's the point in risking your neck storming a fortified town or duking it out with the local army on the field if you can instead loot some defenceless monastery or persuade the local baron it's cheaper and more reliable for him to pay you off than fight you off ? Very few people went Viking to get killed; they did it to aquire fame and, above all, wealth (which bought you status and prestige) which were in fairly short supply back home.

'Course, Scandinavia was also running short of arable land at the time so no small amount of settlement and conquest was also done, and naturally such expeditions were more willing to take risks. Flat out greed could also inspire some downright foolhardy bravery, and no few forays found themselves in dire straits after trying to bite more than they could chew. The ones who succeeded in pulling off high-risk high-return gambles, though, could well sail home with enough loot and fame to literally make the leader a king and the rank and file rich for the rest of their lives, or find themselves the new masters of some nice plot of land.

[amritochates]

I would say the Imperial German Armies in the Period 1870-1918, followed by the Wehrmacht in WWII and in more recent years the Israeli Defence Forces in 1956, and the 1967 Six Day war.

However historically speaking my vote would go to the Japanese, they being the only non-european nation to avoid any form of subjugation by any Europaen Colonial Power before 1945 and my personal favorites- the Byzantines for surviving so long against the odds with every factor against them.

[mfberg]

Pre-colonial Aztec (okay, I like the feather armour and obsidian swords)
Mongol
Viking raider
Imperial -era English naval warfare

mfberg

[Stlaind]

I'd say the Irish - The Vikings kept getting beaten of the island when they fought for things but after they settled and traded things were fine.

[ChaosPunisher]

I like Sippi Roman faction the best.

Punisher

[Koolhan]

I am a fan of the Japanese-era warfare of ancient Japan and to some extent early modern Japanese warfare(bansai charges, kamikaze, etc.). I just like the whole code of honor and way of the warrior, bushido, and all that stuff.


I also like the Early Modern Germans(WW1, WW2 somewhat). In WW1, towards the end, they were taking on practically the whole world and it was basically a stalemate that would have lasted for some time, and Allied casulties to German casulties was some outrageous ratio of like 10:1. I'm not positive, but it was something like that. Anyways, Just talking about the soldiers/ fighting styles, not neccesarily the leaders of said soldiers.

[Crazed Rabbit]

I'd say Irish, but Celtic, Greek, and the Turks are nice too.

Who then. Has to be the Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. I think no nation has won a war with such numbers, technology and weapons massed against them. They won through with back to basics tactics, sheer grit and determination.

But mainly one of the best PR machines known to man, and incompetent opposing leadership.

Crazed Rabbit

[Rank Bajin]

The Scottish culture. Patriottism and honour were varied by brutal slaughter. Fighting against the English was varied by fighting eachother. And the scots have such a good culture and are such nice people. If I'd have to choose a medieval army to fight side-by-side with, it would be them.

Thanks.

The feeling is pretty mutual. The Dutch historically have always had a good relationship with my country. Long may it continue.

A funny fact you should know that during the negotiations in the Scottish parliament, for our union with England, a Scottish politician made the argument that why not make a union with the Dutch rather that the English. Many of them actually considered it!

Also you should know that much of the popular Scottish history is actually a load of crap, written by either Anglophone historians or British Unionists. The image of us Scots fighting each other all the time while not fighting the English is a bit overrated.

The truth is that during the 12th to 15th Centuries, Scotland was actually quite peaceful internally when compared to the likes of more "civilised" countries such as England or France. There was no Scottish equivalents of the Wars of the Roses or the French\Burgundian civil wars and any of the peasant revolts that these countries suffered.