History’s biggest Badasses
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
Shah Abbas I
He rebuilt the faltering Safavid Empire by crushing tribal warlords, reforming the military with gunpowder forces loyal to the crown, and reclaiming key territories including Baghdad from the Ottomans. He transformed Isfahan into a glittering imperial capital, but secured his rule with ruthless purges that weakened his own dynasty after his death.
Rank - 121
Francis Pegahmagabow
Francis Pegahmagabow was a quiet Ojibwe sniper who turned World War I’s chaos into a disciplined ledger of survival and fear. He came home decorated, unheard, and spent the rest of his life fighting a country that loved his kills more than his voice.
Rank - 126
Jack Churchill
A British Army officer in World War II who went into combat armed with a broadsword, longbow, and bagpipes, turning audacity and spectacle into battlefield weapons. He became legendary for leading commando raids and capturing enemy soldiers through sheer nerve in an age dominated by guns, tanks, and artillery.
Rank - 132
Mehmed II “The Conqueror”
Mehmed II “the Conqueror” was the Ottoman sultan who captured Constantinople in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire and reshaping the balance of power between East and West. A scholar-warrior with ruthless ambition, he fused gunpowder, centralized rule, and imperial vision to build the foundation of a world-spanning Ottoman state.
Rank - 140
Hari Singh Nalwa
Hari Singh Nalwa was a leading general of the Sikh Empire who secured its northwest frontier and halted repeated Afghan incursions into Punjab. Serving under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, he became a symbol of Sikh military power and frontier rule, remembered for his campaigns from Kashmir to the Khyber Pass.
Rank - 143
John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi (c. 1407–1456) was a Hungarian military commander and crusader who repeatedly halted Ottoman expansion into Central Europe. His decisive defense of Belgrade in 1456 delayed Ottoman advances for decades and cemented his reputation as the Balkans’ last great shield.
Rank - 144
Lê Lợi
Lê Lợi (1385–1433) was a Vietnamese patriot-king who led the Lam Sơn uprising and successfully expelled Ming Chinese rule from Vietnam in the early 15th century. He founded the Later Lê dynasty, securing Vietnamese independence and shaping the nation’s political identity for centuries.
Rank - 145
Mahmud of Ghazni
Mahmud of Ghazni (c. 971–1030) was a Turkic ruler and the first major sultan, renowned for his highly mobile cavalry campaigns that projected Ghaznavid power across Central Asia and deep into the Indian subcontinent. Both a fierce military raider and a calculated patron of Persian culture, he left a legacy shaped equally by conquest, wealth extraction, and enduring historical controversy.
Rank - 147
Tiglath-Pileser I
Tiglath-Pileser I was an Assyrian king of the 12th century BCE who expanded his empire through relentless military campaigns and the calculated use of terror as state policy. His meticulously recorded conquests turned violence into propaganda and set the template for later Assyrian imperial power.
Rank - 149
Bayinnaung
Bayinnaung rose from minor nobility to command an empire that dominated Burma, Siam, Lan Na, and Laos.
Rank - 158
Mahāpadma Nanda
He built an empire by removing every man who thought birth alone made him safe, and the silence he left behind still sounds like power sharpening its teeth.
Rank - 166
