The best mercenaries

Who do you think were the best mercenaries?

The Greeks in the service of Cyrus the Younger against Artaxerxes II?
The Greeks in the service of Xerxes I during invasion of Greece of 484BC?
The Greeks in the service of Darius III during Alexander the Great's invasion of Persia?
The Varangian Guards in the Byzantine?
The Italian condottiero?
The Swiss mercenaries?
The Landsknechts?
The Cossacks (Kazak)?
The Gurhkas?
The Sepoys?
The various auxillaries of the Roman legions?

I won't create a poll because the list is not exhaustive and my own knowledge is limited.

Please submit your choice and explain what made you choose them.

A guideline for determining what constitute as a good mercenary is this: gives the employer his money's worth.

This of course excludes those who were so good that they usurp the government for themselves.

Slaves warriors such as Mameluks and Janissary excluded unless you are referring to a particular group which were not slaves but receive payment (such as Napoleon's Mamluks).

My own choices:

Number 1. The Gurkhas in the service of the British during WW1 and WW2.  Too many battles to list their bravery and fighting capabilities.

Number 2. Swiss Guards in the employ of French Monarchy and died in the defence of Tuileries Palace in 1792.

On a side note, anyone knows who were the most well-paid mercenaries in history?

Edited by snowybeagle

Irish soldiers

Originally posted by Paul French Foreign Legion are pretty good, so was the US army in Gulf War I.

Cute, but if you include them, then the US Navy who paid people to protect them were better.

The Erulis. Definately. They were the most feared tribe in whole of northern Europe circa 300-400 AD, until the Danes conquered their lands. This ment the Erulis were in exile from their homeland, and became one of the most feared mercenaries in that time. Before their exile they already had carved a reputation of berserk-like fighting, mentioned in the Beowulf for example. Eventually they managed to get back to their homeland, the island Fyn in Denmark, but they still remained as mercenaries. The term "Erulian" comes from this tribe. 

The Swiss mercenaries circa 1400-1500. Only able to campaign during the time of year farming was not possible in their agriculturally poor homeland, they fought fiercly. Relying heavily on resolving the campaign early on so they could return home during farming months, they often pushed for a decisive engagement early on. As a rule they took no prisoners, a soldier who broke this military standard found himself executed for disobedience. Able to smash many conventional armies through a mixture of good tactics, the use of the polearm and sheer battlefield enthusiasm, they were revolutionary and battle winning units.

I am a little surprised no one has mentioned the Catalan Grand Company. Their numbers only a couple of thousands, they were able to defeat the Turks in Anatolia and the Byzantines in Thrace and Macedonia. 

Turkish mercenaries were the best ever,They were born to fight in first they served Abbasid and later Saladin they defeated Byzantine,Crusader and retake Jerousalem they formed their state in Egypt ,Syria and Hijaz(Saudi province now)They defeated mongols at Ain Jalut 1260 A.D.

Originally posted by Ahmed The Fighter Turkish mercenaries were the best ever,They were born to fight in first they served Abbasid and later Saladin they defeated Byzantine,Crusader and retake Jerousalem they formed their state in Egypt ,Syria and Hijaz(Saudi province now)They defeated mongols at Ain Jalut 1260 A.D.

They were appreciated in Hungary too. King G�za II was a known "fan" of them. He used them both foreign and native muslims a lot.

I think the swiss mercenarys,

mercenarys are usually not very ordered

but the swiss had pretty good tactics.

Originally posted by Belisarius I am a little surprised no one has mentioned the Catalan Grand Company. Their numbers only a couple of thousands, they were able to defeat the Turks in Anatolia and the Byzantines in Thrace and Macedonia.

There, there: the Almogavars were the best

There wasn't just a Catalan company but also a Navarrese company that maybe was more time fighting in Greece - (initially they went there to try to conquer Albania for Sicily).