History’s biggest Badasses
Baldwin I of Jerusalem
Baldwin I of Jerusalem was the first king of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, a hard-edged Frankish warlord who turned conquest into governance. He secured and expanded the kingdom through relentless warfare, political pragmatism, and a clear-eyed understanding that survival mattered more than sanctity.
Rank - 150
Georgios Karaiskakis
Greek revolutionary commander of the War of Independence, famed for ruthless guerrilla tactics, obscene candor, and battlefield brilliance. A klepht turned national hero who fought the Ottoman Empire with ambushes, audacity, and a terminal disregard for authority.
Rank - 151
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the soldier-statesman who crushed an invasion at Gallipoli and then dismantled a collapsing empire to build a fiercely secular modern Turkey.
Rank - 154
Yusuf ibn Tashfin
Yūsuf ibn Tāshfīn carved an empire from the Sahara to al-Andalus with austere discipline, relentless cavalry, and a quiet ruthlessness that outlived every king who underestimated him.
Rank - 162
Stefan Dušan 'the Mighty'
Stefan Dušan rode through the Balkan smoke like a man convinced the world was one good conquest away from making sense, leaving empires, enemies, and common sense trampled under his horse’s hooves.
Rank - 165
Leonidas I
Leonidas I, the third son who was never meant to be king, died in a narrow pass at Thermopylae turning a doomed delay into a legend sharp enough to outlive the empire that killed him.
Rank - 169
Bernard Freyberg
A fearless New Zealand–born commander famed for leading from the front in both World Wars.
Rank - 173
Adrian Carton de Wiart
A walking catalogue of injuries, Adrian Carton de Wiart charged through the twentieth century’s worst battles with the attitude of a man personally offended by mortality.
Rank - 175
Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny (1908–1975) was an Austrian SS commando famed for his audacious World War II special operations.
Rank - 179
Pyrrhus of Epirus
Pyrrhus of Epirus won battles so costly they broke his empire, turning his name into the eternal warning that victory can be the most elegant form of defeat.
Rank - 191
Artemisia I of Caria
Artemisia I of Caria led her boat through the chaos of Salamis, proving that cunning could strike harder than any bronze ram.
Rank - 196
Zenobia of Palmyra
She turned a desert outpost into an empire, crowned herself against Rome, and rode into history as the queen who made rebellion look divine.
Rank - 197
Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix burned his world to save it—and when the ashes settled, even Caesar couldn’t put out the legend.
Rank - 198