History’s biggest Badasses

Warrior 200

Brotherhood 200

Ark of Heroes & Martyrs

Featured

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz

At Khotyn, the dying Hetman turned his own last breaths into orders, leading from the edge of death until victory arrived without him.
Rank - 101

Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky was a 13th-century Russian prince famed for defeating invading forces at the Battle on the Ice in 1242. He became a national hero and later a saint, remembered as both warrior and shrewd diplomat.
Rank - 115

Minamoto no Yoshiie

Yoshiie rode through the northern wars like a man collecting storms, turning mud, arrows, and clan feuds into family prestige. Later ages called him noble; the dead likely used rougher language.
Rank - 116

Gustavus Adolphus

The King of Sweden revolutionized European warfare with mobile artillery, disciplined infantry tactics, and aggressive battlefield coordination during the Thirty Years’ War. Called the Lion of the North, he died leading a cavalry charge at Lützen and became one of history’s most mythologized warrior-kings.
Rank - 117

Prince Eugene of Savoy

Prince Eugene of Savoy looked too slight for legend, then spent half a century humiliating empires. Rejected by France, he answered with cannon smoke, shattered armies, and victories that still smell faintly of gunpowder.
Rank - 118

Shaka kaSenzangakhona

Shaka forged a small Zulu chiefdom into a feared kingdom through brutal discipline, military reform, and relentless conquest. He remade war itself, then was killed by his own brothers after teaching everyone nearby how power really works.
Rank - 119

Featured

10th Mountain Division

They climbed what the enemy marked impassable and turned stone into a breach. The 10th Mountain Division does not attack the obvious road; it takes the ridge above it and makes gravity switch sides.

Group Rank - 171

Bavarian Leib-Regiment

They advance as if summoned by geometry, white crossbelts glowing in the smoke while grapeshot tears men out of the front rank and the rear rank steps forward without hesitation. For over two centuries, the Bavarian Leib-Regiment stood between a throne and the chaos that kept trying to erase it.

Group Rank - 172

French Artillerie Royale

The French Artillerie Royale moved as a single iron-breathed organism, crews drilled to load, sight, and fire with mechanical calm while kingdoms shifted around them. In their batteries, the state found its most articulate voice, speaking in calibrated bursts of smoke and bronze.

Group Rank - 173

Seljuk Ghulams

The Seljuk ghulams were elite slave-soldiers forged into a professional cavalry core, bound by pay, training, and proximity to power rather than blood or tribe. As a disciplined hinge of the Seljuk war machine, they delivered controlled violence that reshaped battlefields from Iran to Anatolia and left a template later empires would copy without apology.

Group Rank - 174

Escadrille Lafayette

The Escadrille Lafayette was a World War I fighter squadron formed in 1916 by American volunteer pilots flying for France before the United States formally entered the war. Celebrated as both a combat unit and a propaganda symbol, it helped shape early air combat doctrine while cementing the myth of the fighter pilot as a modern warrior.

Group Rank - 175

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga Brigades

The Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga brigades were decentralized mountain infantry formations that emerged as the dominant Kurdish fighting force during the 1991 uprising and later partnered with U.S. forces in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Shaped by guerrilla warfare, clan loyalty, and survival after genocide, they combined local terrain mastery with political fragmentation to secure and hold northern Iraq.

Group Rank - 176

Kurdish Peshmerga (Barzani & Talabani Forces)

The Kurdish Peshmerga are the armed forces of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, rooted in guerrilla traditions that emphasize mobility, local loyalty, and survival in mountainous terrain. Historically divided along Barzani (KDP) and Talabani (PUK) party lines, they have fought external threats and internal rivals alike while remaining central to Kurdish autonomy and defense.

Group Rank - 177

Palmach (Haganah Elite Strike Force)

The elite strike force of the Haganah, formed in 1941 to wage guerrilla war through sabotage, night raids, and rapid assaults during the final years of the British Mandate in Palestine. Hardened by scarcity and constant movement, its fighters helped shape the outcome of the 1948 war and left a lasting imprint on Israel’s military culture.

Group Rank - 178

Kriegsmarine U-boat Crews

They were a brotherhood sealed inside steel, waging a silent war of endurance and arithmetic against the Atlantic until the ocean and industry finally broke them.

Group Rank - 179

What People Are Saying

“Finally, a ranking system I didn’t have to invent to still come in second place. The Warrior Index makes me want to conquer Mars just to qualify.”
— Elon Musk, probably re-tweeting himself at 3:47 a.m.

“The Warrior Index is a cathedral built from blood and delusion. I read it and felt the cold breath of extinction whispering encouragement. Beautiful.”
— Werner Herzog, during an interview no one asked for

“When I said ‘You get a car!’ what I meant was: you get a sword, you get a vendetta, you get generational trauma! The Warrior Index… truly speaks to me.”
— Oprah, probably regretting this endorsement immediately

“It’s like if history, testosterone, and poetry had a group chat — and every message was yelling at you to get up earlier. Ten out of ten flexes.”
— Dwayne Johnson, allegedly between workouts

“I find it inspiring that so many men throughout history died trying to look as composed as I do while frosting a cake. The Warrior Index is… deliciously violent.”
— Martha Stewart, in a tone that made her publicist nervous

“Frankly, I’m rated higher than Alexander the Great. Everybody says so. Alexander didn’t even have buildings with his name on them — sad!”
— Donald J. Trump, inventing a new entry called “Bone Spurs of Destiny”

“Reading the Warrior Index is like watching evolution lose its patience. So many apex predators… and not a single one learned manners.”
— Sir David Attenborough, whispering from the safety of a bunker

“The Warrior Index is the only Western list I actually respect. It understands one simple truth: you can’t cancel conquest.”
— Vladimir Putin, while shirtless and misunderstood

“Peace is my calling. But I have to admit, after reading the Warrior Index, I did Google ‘how to forge a battle-axe.’”
— The Dalai Lama, probably kidding (probably)