History’s biggest Badasses
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
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
John III Sobieski
John III Sobieski was the Polish king who thundered downhill at Vienna and changed Europe’s fate in a single charge.
Rank - 152
Haji Murad
Mountain warlord, double-crossing survivor, and nightmare of the Russian Empire. He fought for faith, power, and family in that order—then died doing all three at once, proving the Caucasus never belonged to anyone who wanted it neatly.
Rank - 153
Topa Inca Yupanqui
He conquered the Andes with mathematics, sunlight, and an unreasonable sense of direction.
Rank - 160
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
Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif
Moulay Ismail ruled Morocco like a furnace with a crown, forging unity through terror, the Black Guard, and a fifty-year rei gn where mercy was the only thing he never built.
Rank - 163
Askia Muhmmad I
Askia Muhammad I rose from seasoned commander to empire-shaping monarch, forging the largest realm in West African history through ruthless discipline, political precision, and relentless conquest.
Rank - 164
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
John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough
The general who won with charm, math, and other forms of subtle violence.
Rank - 167
Banda Singh Bahadur
Banda Singh Bahadur was a fearless Sikh revolutionary who rose from ascetic origins to lead a populist uprising that shattered Mughal power and redefined resistance in 18th-century India.
Rank - 170
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was a 17th-century English general and ruler who reshaped Britain through military victory, regicide, and authoritarian rule.
Rank - 174
Ernesto “Che” Guevara
Che Guevara was an Argentine revolutionary and guerrilla commander who became both a symbol of global rebellion and a cautionary tale of how conviction can burn a man alive from the inside out.
Rank - 181
John of Bohemia, the Blind King
Blind, defiant, and tethered to his men by reins, John of Bohemia spurred his horse straight into the storm of arrows—because dying blind in battle still beat living to see chivalry die.
Rank - 182
Charles Martel “The Hammer”
Charles Martel was the bastard-turned-kingmaker who stopped an empire with a hammer and accidentally built one of his own.
Rank - 183
Godfrey of Bouillon
Godfrey of Bouillon stormed Jerusalem with holy fire in his eyes and left it bathed in the kind of righteousness that smells like smoke and blood.
Rank - 184
Joan of Arc
A teenage peasant turned holy warlord, Joan of Arc burned her way from battlefield glory to martyrdom and sainthood.
Rank - 186