History WorthyOpponent / RealLifeCombat

* The Battle of Borodino during the French Invasion of Russia. Both sides suffered vast casualties but neither achieved a decisive victory. Napoleon's own description of the horror of this "clash of Titans" is particularly apt: "Of the fifty battles I have fought, the most terrible was that before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy victors, and the Russians can rightly call themselves invincible".

* When Roman general Pompey the Great lost the Battle of Pharsalus against UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar he was forced to retreat to Egypt, where the current pharaoh Ptolemy had him executed. Upon arriving in Egypt, Caesar was greeted with Pompey's severed head and signet ring in a basket as an offering. Caesar was so offended by this offering of his former friend and worthy opponent that he had the parties responsible for it executed. Part of this was probably political calculation,[[note]]Not only did it look good for Caesar to pay tribute to his foe in this way, Ptolemy's actions deprived Caesar of the opportunity to show mercy to Pompey. Caesar was almost certainly intending to spare Pompey if he ever had the opportunity, reckoning that if he did so, Pompey's supporters were less likely to try and undermine his victory. Whether this would have worked we'll never know, since Ptolemy took that decision out of Caesar's hands, so Caesar had to make do by honoring Pompey posthumously. Caesar was probably also offended at this foreign intervention into Roman affairs--it's likely that to Caesar's mind, Pompey's fate was for Romans to decide, not some Greek king.[[/note]] but most historians agree that he really did respect Pompey and really was offended by the Egyptians' actions.

* The various Muslim (Arab and Turk) empires who battled the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire were this to both each other and the Byzantines, particularly when comparing themselves with the European Crusaders that all factions involved generally saw as unwashed fanatical savages. Unlike the European Christians the Muslim empires acknowledged the Byzantines as the heirs of Rome (and in fact called them Rome, unlike the Europeans who would generally call them Greek), while the Byzantine Empire was fine with returning royal families to Turkish rulers. This respect in name and person also extended to a long period of battle: the first conflicts between the empires was in the 600's. The final capture of Constantinople as fortold at the very start of Islam itself was in ''1453'', eight hundred years later.

* The Roman Emperor Aurelian viewed his one of his opponents, RebelLeader and self-proclaimed successor to UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII Queen Zenobia, in this way. It may have been a contributing factor in his decision to spare her life.

** Exemplified by Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox. To quote the other wiki: "Dressed in an immaculate uniform, Lee waited for Grant to arrive. Grant, whose headache had ended when he received Lee's note, arrived in a mud-spattered uniform; a government-issue flannel shirt with trousers tucked into muddy boots, no sidearms, and with only his tarnished shoulder straps showing his rank. It was the first time the two men had seen each other face-to-face in almost two decades. Suddenly overcome with sadness, Grant found it hard to get to the point of the meeting and instead the two generals briefly discussed a previous encounter during the Mexican-American War." Grant was surprised that Lee, a cavalry colonel from a famous military family, remembered who he was, as at the time, he was a very junior infantry lieutenant.

* When Roman general Pompey the Great lost the Battle of Pharsalus against Caesar, he was forced to retreat to Egypt, where the current pharaoh Ptolemy had him executed. Upon arriving in Egypt, Caesar was greeted with Pompey's severed head and signet ring in a basket as an offering. Caesar was so offended by this offering of his former friend and worthy opponent that he had the parties responsible for it executed.

* During the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union astronauts and cosmonauts alike apparently viewed each other this way, seeing and appreciating the similar risks each took in the frontier days of manned space exploration. They've even sent expressions of mourning for when spacemen from either side died in the course of their work. Similarly, a lot of scientists and engineers often felt honest admiration and some envy for when their counterparts in the other program figured out or achieved something they hadn't quite gotten around to first.

* During the SpaceRace astronauts and cosmonauts alike apparently viewed each other this way, seeing and appreciating the similar risks each took in the frontier days of manned space exploration. They've even sent expressions of mourning for when spacemen from either side died in the course of their work. Similarly, a lot of scientists and engineers often felt honest admiration and some envy for when their counterparts in the other program figured out or achieved something they hadn't quite gotten around to first.

* Captain Hellmuth Heye of the German Kriegsmarine recommended his fallen opponent, Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roppe of the Royal Navy, for a posthumous Victoria Cross. It was awarded.

** The destroyer HMS ''Glowworm'' fought the much larger German cruiser ''Admiral Hipper'', ramming the larger vessel before being sunk. The captain of ''Glowworm'', Lieutenant Commander [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Broadmead_Roope Gerard Broadmead Roope]], received the Victoria Cross in part at the urging of the commander of the ''Hipper'', who wrote to the British via the Red Cross of the courage displayed by the skipper of the much smaller Royal Navy vessel.

** [[http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/609/815/941.png Summed up quite touchingly in this Polandball strip.]] And more recently, in real life, during an England-France friendly match scheduled at Wembley Stadium (home of English football) a couple of days after the Paris Gun Attacks of November 2015. Usually, they're hard fought, heated affairs, and fans (even players) sometimes come to blows. This time, the French motto of 'Liberté, égalité, fraternité' was emblazoned on the side of Wembley, the arch was lit up in the colours of the French tricolore, the usual vast St George's Cross made up of cards held up by fans was replaced with a French tricolore, a minute of silence was impeccably observed by all of the 70,000 plus fans present, and the words of ''La Marseillaise'' were shown on the big screens, allowing the English fans to join in - which they did. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Loudly. And when Lassana Diarra, a French midfielder whose cousin had been killed in the attack, was brought on in the second half, he received a standing ovation from the entire stadium.]] When England won 2-0, there was absolutely no gloating whatsoever, a drastic departure from the usual practice. Moreover, barely two weeks later, a motion to bomb IS in Syria was proposed in Parliament. A couple of years before, this motion had been resoundingly defeated. This time, it passed by a landslide and RAF bombers were in the air within the hour.

* The various Muslim (Arab and Turk) empires who battled the ''UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire'' were this to each others, particularly when comparing themselves with the European Crusaders that both sides saw as unwashed fanatical savages. Unlike the European Christians the Muslim empires acknowledged the Byzantines as the heirs of Rome (and in fact called them Rome, unlike the Europeans who would generally call them Greek), while the Byzantine Empire was fine with returning royal families to Turkish rulers. This respect in name and person also extended to a long period of battle: the first conflicts between the empires was in the 600's. The final capture of Constantinople as fortold at the very start of Islam itself was in ''1453'', eight hundred years later.

* All elite forces, but especially paratroops, consider each other as worthy opponents.

* The prison warden of the Vietnam prison John McCain was held in respected his former inmate.

** During the Battle off Samar in WWII, a powerful force of Japanese battleships and cruisers (including the ''Yamato'', the biggest battleship ever built, the most powerful battleship the Axis had, and the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy) stumbled upon the American task force "Taffy 3", consisting of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts (jokingly called "The Tin Can Navy") as the Japanese closed to attack the American landing beaches on Luzon Island. With Taffy 3 outgunned almost immediately, was a real life DavidVersusGoliath battle, in which the American escorts closing to almost-point blank range with the Japanese heavies, launching torpedoes, dodging return fire, and firing so many 5-inch shells some ran out of ammunition [[DelayingAction in a desperate attempt to fend off the Japanese fleet and allow the slower, unarmored escort carriers to escape]]. The destroyer USS ''Johnston'' was finally sunk after nearly sinking a Japanese cruiser and setting several other ships aflame (''Johnston's'' commander was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his daring). As she was going down, a Japanese destroyer passed close by, her captain standing out on the open bridge, saluting. The crew manned the rails in salute.

* During the Battle of Verdun, the longest and largest battle of WorldWarOne, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Vaux Fort Vaux]] was one of the French forts standing in the way of the German offensive aiming to strike at Paris. The garrison of 600 soldiers led by Major Sylvain Eugène Raynal (who himself had already been badly injured and [[ReassignedToAntartica assigned to fort duty]] because he [[HandicappedBadass couldn't walk properly]]) were surrounded and unable to be supplied, relieved or reinforced; his last message via avian carrier famously quipped "This is my last pigeon". Yet in an epic LastStand they managed to hold out against thousands of attackers for six days, even calling in friendly artillery on their own position when the Germans took the top of the fort, surrendering only when they were literally dying of thirst. Raynal was presented with a French officer's sword on his surrender to replace his own by Crown Prince Wilhelm himself, who praised him for his heroic defence.

** [[http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/609/815/941.png Summed up quite touchingly in this Polandball strip.]] And more recently, in real life, during an England-France friendly match scheduled at Wembley Stadium (home of English football) a couple of days after the Paris Gun Attacks of November 2015. Usually, they're hard fought, heated affairs, and fans (even players) sometimes come to blows. This time, the French motto of 'Liberté, égalité, fraternité' was emblazoned on the side of Wembley, the arch was lit up in the colours of the French tricolore, the usual vast St George's Cross made up of cards held up by fans was replaced with a French tricolore, a minute of silence was impeccably observed by all of the 70,000 plus fans present, and the words of ''La Marseillaise'' were shown on the big screens, allowing the English fans to join in - which they did. [[{{Understatement}} Loudly.]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming And when Lassana Diarra, a French midfielder whose cousin had been killed in the attack, was brought on in the second half, he received a standing ovation from the entire stadium.]] When England won 2-0, there was absolutely no gloating whatsoever, a drastic departure from the usual practice. Moreover, barely two weeks later, a motion to bomb IS in Syria was proposed in Parliament. A couple of years before, this motion had been resoundingly defeated. This time, it passed by a landslide and RAF bombers were in the air within the hour.

* UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel, the Wehrmacht Field Marshal in World War II and known as the Desert Fox by his enemies, was similarly praised by his opponents, especially his legendary archrival, George S. Patton. Both the Red Baron and the Desert Fox were the living {{Magnificent Bastard}}s of their time (in fact, the trope MagnificentBastard was ''named'' after Rommel). Rommel, while not a member of the Nazi party, was still under the command of Adolf Hitler and was deeply loyal to him, as well as being a prominent admirer of Hitler. However, he had Jewish friends and consistently defied orders to execute both Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners of war. In fact, his Africa Korps was well known for being fairly humane and were not charged with any war crimes under his command. Though not directly involved, he knew enough about the July 20th plot to kill Hitler to become entangled in the aftermath and was given the choice of suicide over execution, the former which he chose to spare his family. The fact that he managed to become the only German general from the Second World War with his own museum just shows how well he exemplified both Magnificent Bastard and Worthy Opponent.

** Richard the Lionheart was apparently this back to Saladin, as he was in general. In fact, he ordered the crossbowman who had mortally wounded him to be pardoned and set free. Unfortunately, after Richard died, a certain mercenary captain in his army, named Mercadier, said screw it, Richard won't argue, and had the poor kid flayed alive.

** Adolf Hitler and the rest of the Wehrmacht commanders, of all people, respected Patton even more than his colleagues. Mainly because he was using their blitzkrieg tactics against them and winning. Hitler called Patton "the crazy cowboy general."[[note]]Hitler, being a [[{{Creator/Karl May}} Karl May]] fan, deeply admired anything coming from [[TheWildWest the Old West]][[/note]] Erwin Rommel certainly returned his archenemy's remarks to him, saying that he executed "the most astonishing achievement in mobile warfare." General Alfred Jodl compared him to General Heinz Guderian, who conquered France, Poland, and parts of the USSR. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, who fought, delayed, and harassed Patton at Sicily, noted that "Patton had developed tank warfare into an art, and understood how to handle tanks brilliantly in the field. I feel compelled, therefore, to compare him with Generalfeldmarschall Rommel, who likewise had mastered the art of tank warfare. Both of them had a kind of second sight in regard to this type of warfare." German officer Fritz Bayerlein said that, unlike the cautious British General Montgomery, "I do not think that General Patton would let us get away so easily." and in an interview conducted for Stars and Stripes (American Military newspaper) just after his capture, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt stated simply of Patton, "He is your best. Indeed, German command's high opinion of Patton was so well known that (much to the General's annoyance) Allied Command placed him in charge of the (fake) [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_United_States_Army_Group First United States Army Group]] during a deception campaign leading up to D-Day, since they knew that the Germans were paying close attention to ''anything'' Patton was doing so involving him directly would greatly risk exposing the real D-Day plans.

** Adolf Hitler and the rest of the Wehrmacht commanders, of all people, respected Patton even more than his colleagues. Mainly because he was using their blitzkrieg tactics against them and winning. Hitler called Patton "the crazy cowboy general."[[note]]Hitler, being a [[{{Creator/Karl May}} Karl May]] fan, deeply admired anything coming from [[TheWildWest the Old West]][[/note]] Erwin Rommel certainly returned his archenemy's remarks to him, saying that he executed "the most astonishing achievement in mobile warfare." General Alfred Jodl compared him to General Heinz Guderian, who conquered France, Poland, and parts of the USSR. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, who fought, delayed, and harassed Patton at Sicily, noted that "Patton had developed tank warfare into an art, and understood how to handle tanks brilliantly in the field. I feel compelled, therefore, to compare him with Generalfeldmarschall Rommel, who likewise had mastered the art of tank warfare. Both of them had a kind of second sight in regard to this type of warfare." German officer Fritz Bayerlein said that, unlike the cautious British General Montgomery, "I do not think that General Patton would let us get away so easily." and in an interview conducted for Stars and Stripes (American Military newspaper) just after his capture, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt stated simply of Patton, "He is your best."
** Indeed, German command's high opinion of Patton was so well known that (much to the General's annoyance) Allied Command placed him in charge of the (fake) [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_United_States_Army_Group First United States Army Group]] during a deception campaign leading up to D-Day.

** During the Battle off Samar in WWII, a powerful force of Japanese battleships and cruisers (including the ''Yamato'', the biggest battleship ever built, the most powerful battleship the Axis had, and the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy) stumbled upon the American task force "Taffy 3", consisting of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts (jokingly called "The Tin Can Navy") as the Japanese closed to attack the American landing beaches on Luzon Island. With Taffy 3 outgunned almost immediately, was a real life DavidVersusGoliath battle, in which the American escorts closing to almost-point blank range with the Japanese heavies, launching torpedoes, dodging return fire, and firing so many 5-inch shells some ran out of ammunition in a desperate attempt to fend off the Japanese fleet and allow the slower, unarmored escort carriers to escape. The destroyer USS ''Johnston'' was finally sunk after nearly sinking a Japanese cruiser and setting several other ships aflame (''Johnston's'' commander was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his daring). As she was going down, a Japanese destroyer passed close by, her captain standing out on the open bridge, saluting. The crew manned the rails in salute.

** In the late 1500s, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_Sun-sin Admiral Yi Sun-sin of Korea]] earned the nickname "[[TheRedBaron The Martial Lord of Loyalty]]" from his countrymen due to his achievements against the incredibly powerful Japanese navy of the time and naval innovations he himself pioneered. Yi eventually died during the final battle to a stray bullet, but gave instructions to not inform his crew of his death until the fighting was over. Yi also ordered his nephew to wear his uncle's armor and continue beating the war drums, which the nephew did to keep morale up. When Admiral Togo Heihachiro was compared to both [[UsefulNotes/HoratioNelson Admiral Nelson]] and Admiral Yi roughly 300 years later, he had this to say.

* Many of the old guard in the United States military regarded the Soviet Union as having been a fine and worthwhile adversary -- at least when the prospect of nukes wasn't involved. The two superpowers stood toe-to-toe for decades without managing to get into a [direct] shooting war with each other, and often copied each others' tactical doctrines and combat innovations. Especially among the United States Navy and double among the submarines, now largely without a job, it's not unknown for senior American officers to lament the fall of the Soviet Union - fighting terrorists just isn't the same, and mileage varies on the idea of China as a replacement adversary.