Badass Army - Television Tropes & Idioms

NO FEAR! NO MERCY! NO REMORSE!

"Give them nothing, but take from them EVERYTHING!"

- Leonidas, 300

This is where the Badass Crew is taken the next logical step and turned into an entire army. The badass army is made of 100% badasses and there is absolutely nothing that can stop them short of overwhelming numbers or an even better Badass Army (or Badass One Man Army). There is not a single soldier who can not hold his own in a fight. They are extremely likely to be all, or mostly, Super Soldiers and have a high likelihood to have been raised in The Spartan Way and are very likely to be the Big Damn Heroes.

Count on them to boast many a Colonel Badass. Almost always commanded by one or several Four Star Badasses.

Often squared off against the Red Shirt Army to demonstrate exactly how hard they rock.

The Proud Warrior Race Guy is a common subversion where he thinks his army is this but said army might not actually be one. The Polar opposite of Red Shirt Army. A sub-trope of this, where an especially Badass Army is sealed in the can, is the Sealed Army In A Can. Compare Humans Are Warriors, where having a Badass Army is humanity's hat.

Examples:

Comic Books

The Sinestro Corps was portrayed this way in its initial appearance.

Film

300: The Spartans. Xerxes' Immortals (being dual-wielding masked undead ninjas) are also this trope; according to the narrator they had never been defeated before meeting the Spartans. It's merely one Badass Army meeting an even more Badass Army.
Non-human example. The film Destroy All Monsters features an army of monsters that are mind-controled by aliens to destroy the major cities of the world. They help destroy the evil aliens after being freed from their mind control. This army consists of Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Kumonga (Spiega), Gorosaurus, Anguirus, Manda, Baragon, Varan, and Minya. Oh, and the monster army has a truly epic Crowning Moment Of Awesome where they fight and ultimately kill pre-Badass Decay King Ghidorah.
In the film version of The Lord Of The Rings, the elven army is implied as being this trope, especially at the battle on the slopes of Mount Doom. Their discipline is showed off in The Two Towers: when they stand-to, they do so in perfect unison.
The Transformers movies are very big on portraying the US military this way. Transformers fans disliked the fact that this is the only continuity in which Decepticons routinely get trounced by Puny Humans, and Roger Ebert noted that he can't remember another movie in which advanced aliens were successfully repelled by humans with bullets. It also manages to portray the US Special Forces as pretty much the President's Death Commandos: "Simmons? I'd do what he says. Losing's really not an option for these guys."

Literature

The Malazan Book Of The Fallen has this in spades. Bridgeburners and later Bonehunters.
The Mobile Infantry of Starship Troopers. Many novel fans will argue this only applies to the Novel Cap troops.
Jedi and Sith armies in some of the Star Wars Expanded Universe material, when they aren't being a Redshirt Army after graduating from the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy.
The Draka military in the works of S.M. Stirling.
The Bloodguard in the Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant.
Frank Herbert's Dune series:
- The Sardaukar, until they met the Fremen.
- The Fremen, after Paul Atreides organized them. The Fremen merely gained the 'army' part of the Badass Army title, as they already were by any reasonable measure, Baddasses already.
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle: the Sauron Supermen and the Motie Warrior class in the Co Dominium universe.
The Dinochrome Brigade in the Bolo universe, created by Keith Laumer. When your individual "soldiers" are self-aware artificially intelligent super-tanks the size of a WWII battleship, with individual firepower measured in megatons per second, yeah, you've got an army of badasses.
The Orc/Goblin infantry in Arcia Chronicles is effectively indestructible on the battlefield, which is why they are inherently peaceful beings.
In the A Song Of Ice And Fire novels, the eunuch slave soldiers called Unsullied are considered the best fighting force in the world. They are raised The Spartan Way and conditioned with drugs and brainwashing techniques to make them robotically fearless and literally immune to pain. They somewhat subvert this trope by the fact that they are substantially less effective individually. Their castration limits their physical strength, and their combat skills specialize in phalanx tactics designed for large-scale battlefields. One character notes that they are soldiers, not warriors.
Special Circumstances: it's members are either HeroicSociopaths before they joined, or they are formed to become this. Some advenced civilizations which are on good terms with the Culture simply refuse to let TWO members of SC travel together within their sphere of influence: too much foreign badassitude in the same place being apparently dangerous even to powerful space traveling civilizations.
The Elenium: the four orders of Church Knights are examples of this trope. Not only do they generally tear equivalent secular armies apart in hand to hand combat, but (in an interesting shift from the Dungeons And Dragons cliché of warrior =/= wizard) can totally use magic as well. One of the Orders has such a fearsome reputation for what they do to prisoners that just about anyone they capture immediately spills the beans. Think about that for a minute. Of course, they spread that reputation themselves, specifically so they don't have to do anything.
The eponymous Lensmen may be SF's ur-example.
Ian Irvine's View From the Mirror quartet has the Whelm, a race of human-like creatures who - when finding a master they deem to be 'strong', will become the fearsome Garshard - an almost unstoppable force.
In Gordon R. Dickson's Childe Cycle, the Dorsai offshoot of humans have this as a hat. Five enemy officers willfully (practically) committed suicide by attacking one Dorsai officer.
This is Rider's strongest Noble Phantasm in Fate Zero. His shared Reality Marble is something like a reminder of the world from when he was basically king of the known world. It summons his entire army as low class Heroic Spirits, even his horse. This basically terrifies all the other Heroes when they find out about it, as it's EX ranked and, well, it's an army made of total badasses. It's also used to prove a point: Namely, Saber made a shitty king since she never inspired true loyalty no matter how good of a person or warrior she was.

Live Action TV

The Klingons from Star Trek wish they were these, but Honor Before Reason hurts their strategy and tactics, and their equipment isn't the best, likely because a Proud Warrior Race Guy society doesn't exactly reward being an engineer.
Starfleet is one of these. Minus the occasional curb stomping by foes like the Borg or the Narada from the new movie, Starfleet regularly goes toe to toe with the biggest and baddest and usually wins or forces a draw, even against foes with better tech. Starfleet even has certain ships that take whole fleets by themselves; these ships tend to be named Enterprise, though Defiant certainly earned her way into the ranks, and ''Voyager' counts for those who admit it exists. Technically, the Borg could be considered a Badass race.
The Sontarans from Doctor Who appear to have one of these, until UNIT figures out how their weapons are being disabled and rolls over them.
- Daleks.
- Classic Cybermen.
- UNIT, when they know what they're doing and have the equipment to shut the Doctor up. (Duct Tape?)
The Nietzschean's are another subversion where they wished they were these.
The Rangers from Babylon 5, who can be summed up as being part Jedi, part Ace Pilot.
When push comes to shove, every single SG Team will take off their red shirts and pull out all the stops just to rescue their own.

Manga & Anime

Balalaika in Black Lagoon commands one of these. Justified as they are all former Russian Special Forces. To highlight their level of awesome, they carried out a highly organized campaign that crippled and took control of the Japanese Underworld. Even Rock essentially said "These guys aren't just ordinary Mooks" when he first saw them.
Fullmetal Alchemist: The whole Briggs Division.
First Easter Mirage Corps, commonly called Mirage Knights or just simply Mirages, from The Five Star Stories. An elite knightly order of Kingdom of Grees, which serves as bodyguards and personal army to Emperor Amaterasu, Mirage.A.
Near the end of the first half of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the Badass Crew of Dai-Gurren-Dan is joined by an entire army in stolen Gunmen. Naturally, they're all Badass. Especially the scene where the entire force rallies around the Dai-Gurren and they takeoff into a huge melee.
The Whitebeard Pirates and their allies consist of about forty-two Badass Crews joined into a single force to take on the World Government, itself sporting its own Badass Army of Marine officers and privateer pirates.
And who can forget the Soul Society of Bleach? These people have a commander who can stop people by simply glaring at them. While just about all of the Squad Captains are badasses, not every Soul Reaper qualifies. That is except for the eleventh division, which is led by a Grade-A badass who defeats Bankai users and Espada despite not knowing bankai himself. Said Grade-A badass flat out says upon taking over the division through Klingon Promotion that the only requirements for being a member are loving to fight and being good at it.
Mai-Otome has the Aswad. A handful of them decide to take revenge on the kingdom of Cardair after said kingdom reneged on an agreement. Cardair feature a host of Otome, the ultimate weapon in Mai-Otome-verse. Result? Cardair in ruins. Dead top Otome. Dead king. One dead and one injured Aswad.
Sengoku Basara has Date Masamune's army of Bad Ass Delinquents. ARE YOU READY GAIZ??!!

Tabletop Games

Warhammer40000: The Space Marines of this setting are an excellent example. This is an entire army of genetically enhanced 9-foot-tall super soldiers encased in 3-inch thick power armor carrying handheld grenade launchers as pistols and massive chainsaw-swords as close combat weapons. And did we mention that they are put through Training From Hell, where the survival rate is something insane like 1 out of every thousand. There's also every other army in the setting. The hilariously feral Orks, stoic and high-tech Eldar, the Evil Twin of the Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, and their demonic allies... even the Imperial Guard will march forward grimly until they grind you into dust, even if that generally causes them to being ground into the dust. And even then the only reason why the Imperial Guard is so weak is because everthing else is that insanely powerful. Think about it, the lasgun is more powerful than a .50 cal machine gun (blows off limbs and massive holes in humans), weighs 10 pounds, has 500-700 shots per pack (which can be recharged by sunlight) and can take more punishment than an AK-47, and this is the weakest gun in the game. Their body armour can take dozens of las shots without one going through(every part of it stops bullets unlike modern uniforms), they can face down all of the above horrors without fear (5ed codex they have Space Marine level leadership). Yeah, these guys are Fething badasses.
The Tech Infantry would be this, what with being an entire army of supernaturally strong and speedy Werewolves, Vampires, and Reality Warper Mages, all wearing Powered Armor and each one carrying enough heavy weaponry to level a medium-sized city. Unfortunately, they are usually incompetently led, spend half their time fighting each other instead of the alien enemy, spend the other half of the time trying to run away to avoid the draft, and their usual enemies are equally powerful fighters and far more numerous.

Video Games

Despite being frequently demolished by the Covenant in Halo, the Elites consider the human military this - after all, it's tough to fight a losing war against a bunch of 8-foot tall aliens that generate a lot of the game's difficulty to the Master Chief himself, who are supported by hordes of other smaller aliens, who generally has superior technology to yourself. In fact, many Elites were so impressed they wanted to ask the humans to join the Covenant. The SPARTAN-IIs themselves, as a more obvious example. Before them, there were also the ODSTs - Orbital Drop Shock Troopers that quite literally, dropped onto a planet from an orbiting battleship in space onto the surface of a planet in a droppod the size of a Jeep within just a few minutes - and, after them, the Spartan-IIIs.
The Krogan and Turians of Mass Effect are entire species of Badass Armies. The Turians get their reputation for having universal military service and the most disciplined army in the galaxy, while the Krogan got their status as a result of having evolved on the nastiest Death World in the galaxy, finding everything else the universe could throw at them to be an amusing game. Human soldiers can face larger numbers of Turians because of a greater emphasis on mobile warfare, adding humans to the list. Plus the humans are really creative. It's mentioned that the whole concept of a aircraft/spacecraft carrier was completely human in origin. Humans also went from being incapable of interstellar travel, to being good enough to kick Turian ass in only 9 years. A feat it took centuries for other races to do, if they have done it yet at all.
- The Amazon Brigade asari or the State Sec salarians. Sure, their armies are much, much smaller, but they're no less Bad Ass. Consider the fact, for instance, that each asari soldier is a highly trained psychic commando and that the Salarians are reputably the most badass spies in existence.
- Salvage Pirates Quarians, who practically define Nakama. Or the geth, especially once Legion makes his appearance. Come to think of it, pretty much every race in Mass Effect is a Badass Army.
Final Fantasy VIII has the See D mercenary army, which has 5 groups of three take on an army as their graduating test with minimal support. Additionally, most of the playable characters are recent See D's, and manage to fight the Sorceresses.
Final Fantasy VII has Shin-ra's SOLDIER units.
Quoting High Commander Halford Wyrmbane in World Of Warcraft : Through the valleys and peaks of Mount Hyjal, across the shifting sands of Silithus, against the Legion's dread armies - we have fought. We are the nameless, faceless, sons and daughters of the Alliance. By the Light and by the might of the Alliance, the first strike belongs to us and the last strike is all that our enemies see. We are 7th Legion.
The 501st Stormtrooper Legion —a.k.a., Vader's Fist.
In the Crusader series, the Silencer Corps definitely count. As far as can be told, they don't even care for mottos or creeds—the closest thing is a saying that has entered mainstream parlance: Silencers get the job done.
The Belkan Military (particularly their Air Force) in Ace Combat Zero, who, in about a week, almost took over one of it's neighbors and took took control of hundreds of miles of land from a US-equivalent superpower.
- The Estovakian Military in 6, who, after suffering under years of civil war, was able to quickly bounce back its military and almost took over its neighbor, Emmeria.
- The Erusean military could have had this had they done like the Belkans had (ten years before) and had a Badass Air Force... instead, their Badass Navy simply got cut off from supplies, trapped in harbor, then bombed to bits. Worse yet, their Air Force's Badassery was limited to a single (though elite) squadron and the effectiveness (to a point) of the Stonehenge Turret Network that had allowed them to deter ISAF air power, so when both of them were cut off, and the best of the rest probably fell at the satellite launch furball...
While you would expect this in a Real Time Strategy game, it's particularly noticeable in Commandand Conquer. The GDI has commandos who can massacre squad after squad of infantry while throwing out one great and memorable Bond One Liner after another, the Mammoth Tanks that grind entire armies under their massive treads, Powered Armor equipped special squads with railguns that can quickly shred even tanks to pieces, devastating Humongous Mecha artillery platforms, and the MARV◊, to name a few. The Brotherhood of Nod, on the other hand, has heavy armor-clad flamethrower wielding anti-infantry troops, cloaked tanks that can unload missile after missile into a target before it can react, soldiers armed with weapons that spew tiberium, and the attack bikes, heavy motorcycles with twin missile launchers. No wonder the Scrin had trouble invading.
Super Robot Wars essentially takes the Badass Armies of every faction, weeds out the lesser members through a Sorting Algorithm Of Evil, so by the end of the game you're fighting the biggest and baddest of them all.

Web Original

Open Blue's Precursors, the Jormungand Imperium, had the Servitus Arma, which was based off the Roman Legions and was hailed as the greatest professional army of its day. More badass than these were the Imperial Templar, who were a mere 700 out of the Imperium's million Legionaries. The only reason their civilization experienced a gotterdammerung was because they were spread too thinly across the borders, and were faced with, amongst other things, The Horde, combined with their god turning his back on them (or maybe even smiting them outright) out of jealousy.

Real Life

Erwin Rommel was a German in control of a single Panzer Division in the Second World War. They were nicknamed the "Ghost Division," because for long stints of the war no-one, not even the German high command, knew where they were. Under Rommel's command the division moved with unpredictable speed, to the point Rommel described his trips in a letter as a "Lightning Tour De France."
Note that all the U.S.'s special operations forces from all four services are part of the unified Special Operations Command (SOCOM) - A Badass Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The Army's Green Berets, Rangers, and a dedicated Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the Navy's S.E.A.L.s and Special Boat Squadrons, the Air Force's Pararescue Jumpers and Special Operations Wings, and (recently) Marine Special Operations Companies. Forget debating who is the most badass, and just remember that when push comes to shove they all work on the same team.
The Russian Spetznaz are big enough (about 10,000 strong) and bad enough to qualify. It doesn't hurt that they go through a Training From Hell where casualties during training are considered acceptable losses.
The Nazi Schutzstaffel, anyone? They weren't the textbook example of the Praetorian Guard for nothing. Nor were they the most feared of the German Wehrmacht for nothing, either. Some of the SS were elite, namely the 1st div. Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler, 2nd div. Das Reich, and 3rd div. Totenkopf. However, the entirety of the Waffen SS was not elite, some weren't even as well trained and equipped as normal Heer units. As for other World War II German badass units, look to Panzergrenadier div. Großdeutschland and Panzer Lehr.
The 332nd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps. Better known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Forget the fact they were Black fighter pilots in a time when Blacks could barely get library cards. They racked up one of the most impressive aerial combat records of any group of fighter pilots in any war and they did it against the Luftwaffe, who were a pretty Badass Army themselves. Especially when one of them took out a jet fighter using a P-51 Mustang. Badass indeed.
The Spartans again; this is a case of Truth In Television. The Spartans were centered around their army, so you better believe their army was one of these. Otherwise, they weren't doing it right. Of course, after a few centuries of relying on their reputation (and stripping their fighter class ever downward in numbers due to their own standards of eugenics) while the forces aound them fought constantly, learned Spartan tactics, and actually got good, they suffered Badass Decay and were overcome.
The Gurkhas. See for yourself!
The British SAS and SBS. The first thing anyone is likely to mention about the entry exam is the fatality rate.
The British soldiers stationed at Roarke's Drift during the Zulu War. 99 vs 4000. And the British won. Even leaving aside the fact the British had rifles and a volley discipline eminently suited to meeting charges by screaming, unarmoured Zulus, it was damn impressive. Interestingly, the commanding officer (albeit on seniority of four months) was a Badass Bookworm: Lt. John Chard, British Army Engineers. A large number of Victoria Crosses (Britain's highest honour for bravery) were awarded to individual soldiers at Roarke's Drift. The significance is as follows: there's only been 1,356 awards of the Cross since it was first created in 1856. In the entire fifty years since World War Two, it's been awarded only 13 times. There were 11 Victoria Crosses awarded at Roarke's Drift — the record for a single action.
The Imperial Japanese Army of World War Two is one of the few armies in history to have fought "to the last man, the last bullet, the last inch of ground" on a regular basis. This was after conquering much of Asia with what are almost universally acknowledged as crappy weapons. Unfortunately tarnishing this image somewhat in Manchuria when whole detachments dropped their guns and ran away at the sight of approaching Russian airborne units.
The relatively small Australian military similarly managed to hold out against vastly larger Japanese forces in the Second World War. And the North Vietnamese army, at the Battle of Long Tan. 108 versus 1,500, which the Australians won.
Remember that little place that the Spartans occupied called Thermopylae? Well, in 1941, the Australian and New Zealand army did it again. It's true.
On that note, the Papua New Guinean soldiers who fought with the Australians to resist the Japanese in WWII. Nicknamed the "fuzzy wuzzy angels", in a typically Australian display of affectionate racism.
Current Australian SAS. They cross-train with the British (who are a Badass Army unto themselves) and have, in recent years:
- Made life very difficult for the warlords in East Timor.
- Participated in both Gulf Wars behind the lines, in quite unsung but significant endeavours
- Were en route to the Solomon Islands to deal with the warlords there. The warlords heard they were on the way. They surrendered.
The Mongol Horde of Genghis Khan.
Nelson's Royal Navy was pretty much a Badass Fleet.
The Roman Legions. Remember those Spartans listed above? The Romans conquered them. And turned Sparta into a tourist theme park where rich Romans could go on vacation and watch Spartan babies being tossed onto rocks for not being tough enough infants.
The Spartans had superb discipline; the Roman Legions by the time they faced the Spartans had not only discipline, but flexiblity, superb officers who had learned to lead in the Punic Wars while fighting the greatest general of the age, and reserves; while the phalanx wore itself out on the first line of a legion, the legion had two more lines in reserve. Also, from Marius forward, Roman legions that weren't stationed in a fortress, carried one on their backs! Each soldier, in addition to a hundred and fifty odd pounds of gear and supplies, carried part of a fort with them. They'd stop marching an hour or so earlier than other armies would, so they could BUILD A FORT from scratch! Then, before dawn the next day, they'd take the fort apart and march hundreds of miles down the road with it. Not only did that let them be better on defense than any other mobile unit, but go ahead and arm wrestle someone who can carry that much stuff while marching for 6-8 hours at a time.
The French Foreign Legion, as well as the French Army for most of post-Roman Empire history. Their current reputation stems from the fact that their army has lost the Franco-Prussian War, WWI, and WWII, as well as their National Stereotypes. Of course the French Army's failure to defend it's own territory (justifiable or not) also marks the rise of La Resistance. The French won WWI, actually (with help, of course), though they took very heavy losses.
Swiss mercenaries. For hundreds of years, Swiss mercenaries were considered the best soldiers of the western world. They fought in deep columns with long pikes and halberds that served well against infantry or cavalry. After a string of victories against Austria and Italy to establish their credentials, professional Swiss soldiers became a hot commodity throughout Europe. France at the time considered it impossible to wage a war without a strong contingent of Swiss pikemen in their center. The Vatican hired Swiss mercenaries so often that they eventually created the permanent Pontifical Swiss Guard, the only Vatican guard unit that remains today. The Swiss dressed in brightly colored uniforms to identify themselves and leverage their reputation on the battlefield. Though other nations eventually imitated their tactics, the Swiss held their elite reputation for about two centuries. If you like to know why only the Vatican Swiss remain, because it's a warcrime to use Swiss Mercenaries
Ragtag bunch of Italian and French Immigrants and former slaves meet Crazy Awesome former school master who gives them red shirts. They spend the next 30 years screwing with dictatorship armies on two continents. And yes, It really did happen.
The Filipino guerrillas led by Captain Juan Pajota in WW 2, who were instrumental in the Raid at Cabanatuan that rescued hundreds of American POWs. While the American Rangers they were helping took the Japanese POW camp, Pajota and his men held a choke point against Japanese reinforcements. Pajota and his men bore the full brunt of the Japanese counterattack and despite being heavily outnumbered they were able to hold their ground. One Filipino soldier trained in the use of a bazooka was even able to take out four Japanese tanks during the battle. The Japanese sustained 523 casualties total while the total casualties (killed and wounded) of the Filipino guerrillas and the American Rangers numbered under 30. As Cpt. Robert Prince of 6th Ranger Battalion, US Army put it:
"The Guerrillas were our flanking protection at the Cabu River, which was no more than a mile from the camp... there was a sizable force of Japanese, but Pajota and his men just killed everything in sight that came up that river and across the bridge. They were the ones that kept this thing from being a tough deal for us."
The Philippine Scouts, Filipinos attached to the US Army from 1901 to World War Two, had a reputation for being fierce fighters and damn good shots. This was probably partly because they had something to prove to their US Army bosses who flatly refused to grant them equal pay and benefits with white soldiers. According to the Other Wiki, survivors of the Battle of Bataan, to a man, describe the Philippine Scouts as the backbone of the American defense there. In fact, President Franklin Roosevelt awarded the U.S. Army’s first three Medals of Honor of World War II to Philippine Scouts (although, two of those were given to American officers assigned to the Scouts). American officers serving with the Scouts also described them as making the Japanese Army pay a terrible price for every inch of ground they took. After the fall of Bataan, many refused to surrender and took to the hills, forming the backbone of several anti-Japanese guerrilla groups. You know what the sad part is? Despite their faithful service the Filipinos attached to the US Army were never given the equal rights and benefits they so rightly deserved. Even today what few veterans of the Scout that are still alive are still fighting for compensation and recognition on par with that of their American compatriots.
The Israeli Defense Forces, all branches. Surrounded on all sides by hostile countries, they've managed to defeat their foes every single time. Once, they defeated a coalition of several enemy countries in six freakin' days. For all the talk that they have numerous strategic and logistical advantages, fact is....what Badass Army doesn't?? They're generally considered some of the baddest ass soldiers in the world. Their pilots, doubly so.
The Canadian Expeditionary Force of World War I. What was so badass about them? They took Vimy Ridge, a virtual fortress that the Germans successfully defended against both the British and the French forces, while inflicting severe casualties on them. The Canadians came along and straight up took back Vimy Ridge in roughly a week. This American troper will never again mock the badassitude of the Canadians.
Juno Beach on D-Day. The tactical situation was every bit as bad as the one faced by the Americans at Omaha. The Canadians smashed through the beach defenses in under an hour and were the only British force to actually reach their D-Day objective line inland. Joint Task Force 2. Canada's special forces unit has been everywhere, including various operations in Iraq, Haiti, and Afghanistan. More importantly though, they are known to be the only foreign unit allowed to join up with the Delta Force and Seal Team 6 in special operations in Afghanistan. And that's from what we know.
Back in WWII, the Allies decided to create a Special Forces unit that could take out well defended German strategic targets with minimal men, maximum speed, and plausible deniability. So, they form up a battalion made up of half Americans and half Canadians, gave them custom-weapons, gave them training in the dead of the Montana winter, and sent them to fight. The Devil's Brigade kicked five kinds of Nazi ass in three short years. They also formed the basis for several post-WWII Special Forces outfits. Seriously, maybe it's time that Badass Canadian becomes a trope.
The British army at the Battle of Balaclava: Their commanders had a major miscommunication, which led to the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, where a bunch of guys on horse with swords charged through a valley filled with cannon fire from three sides, massacred the crew of one of the cannon groups, and charged back the same way they had come. This so impressed the military leaders that Balaclava is the only battle honor given for a strategic defeat in the history of the British army.
There are a couple of Polish cavalry formations that make Light Brigade look like a band of amateurs. Even setting aside the famous Winged Hussars, there were the guys from Napoleon's Polish Chevaux-Légers of the Guard, who (not even the whole unit, just 125 men) ran into the Somosierra Pass and captured four batteries of cannons, causing the rout of Spanish militia of 8,000 people. Some claim that Bonaparte said "Leave it to the Poles, there's nothing impossible for them".
The Mamluks were once a class of Islamic slave that were able to form powerful military units. So great were their abilities that they were actually granted more freedom (remember, they're slaves) than freeborn Egyptians. They went on to form the Mamluk Dynasty from 1250 to 1517.
An 18-man US Army Intelligence and Reconnaisance platoon of the 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division managed to inflict somewhere around 400 - 500 German casualties during their defense near Lanzerath, Belgium. When what was left of the platoon was captured after they ran out of ammo, the German lieutenant in charge of the paratroopers that had captured the I&R Platoon demanded to know where the rest of the brigade was. Apparently, the platoon's defense was so fierce the Germans thought that it had to be at least a brigade-sized force that they had faced.
The Sacred Band of Thebes. With them at the forefront, the Thebans -beat the Spartans-. Repeatedly. The unit was annihilated fighting to the last man when Phillip II of Macedon invaded Greece.
The Caroleans, the army of Charles XII of Sweden. There weren't that many of them, so they compensated with strict discipline and very aggressive tactics; the musketeers were not allowed to shoot until they "could see the whites of the enemy's eyes".
The United States Marines. From 1775 to now they still kick ass: In WW 1 while the French retreated the Germans push toward Paris in their last offensive of the war the newly arrived Marine Corps along with a small detachment of US Soldiers both fought and halted the Germans at a place called Belleau Wood. In WW 2 they fought the Japanese (Guadalcanal, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa to name a few) everywhere and nearly always won and remember they came in on the beaches no cover against manchine guns and won. Imagine D-Day for nearly every battle in the Pacific. Speaking of D-Day the USMC helped plan the Normandy Invasion. In Korea they conducted the first amphibious landing since WW 2 at a place called Inchong which was a decisive part of the Korean War, The Chinese on entering the war put a actual hit out on the First Marine Division 30,000 Marines and Soldiers and 900 Royal Marines fought 60,000 Crack Chinese in below 0 temperatures. They fought theyre way out carrying ALL the dead and wounded AND their equipment. In Vietnam they battled it out with the NVA and VC in the jungles including a battle Called Khe Sahn (6,000 Marines vs 30,000 NVA)where the Vietnamese tried to defeat them like they did 20 years before to French at Dien Bien Phu then after the Tet Offensive who cleared them out of Hue and other cities while killing all the VC who tried to smash their way into the US Embassy, yep the Marines, Who fought Hue without any air support until the very end of the battle, street by street, house by house, room by room, To today with Battles like Fallujah and right now in Helmand with the British. Semper Fucking Fi boys.
- As if that resumé wasn't impressive enough, they even tear up pirates. The Marine Hymn commences with the line "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli." The shores of Tripoli refers to one of the Marines' earliest campaigns against the Pirates of the Barbary Coast. Most other countries so feared the pirates they simply paid up ransoms and bribes to keep the pirates off their shipping. The United States basically said "Screw you" and sent the marines in. They wiped the pirates out.
The United States Coast Guard provided a lot of the small boat operators who landed the Marines for those WWII battles. The only Coast Guardsman to win the Congressional Medal of Honor did so pulling 400 or so Marines off a beach under heavy Japanese fire. Plus, on their days off (I.E. when they're not busy saving Marine's asses) they save everyone else's asses, regulate shipping, guard the US's coasts and do basically every other damn thing involving US littoral waters.