Who were the greatest defenders of all time?

[Dr Strangelove]

How about the Japanese vs. the Mongols?

On the whole though I would have to vote for the Spartans vs. the Persians at Thermopylae.

[Dauphin]

The BEF at Mons.

[Gangerolf]

France 1940

[SlowwHand]

March 6, 1836. The Alamo falls.

[Bosh]

Originally posted by Gangerolf
The Knights of St John vs the Turks, in the siege of Malta 1561-1565

Ya, they didn't do too bad in Rhodes either.

Also you've got to hand it to the Venetians for their 22 (IIRC) year constant defense of Crete against the Turks before giving in. You can't do much to beat that as far as time goes.

[Pekka]

Easy. Finns against Soviets.

[MrFun]

Re: Who were the greatest defenders of all time?

Originally posted by Ted Striker

5. The Vietcong versus USA - Of course some of you will vote for them to spite us Americans. But it can be said that Vietcong were extremely strong willed defenders, resisting 3 different global powerhouses and resisting them well. The Vietcong were well supplied by both Communist China and Russia, it was often said that Hanoi was the most dangerous place to fly in the world at the time. But it was their unbreakable will that kept them free. Military they got their azzes handed to them, but refused to surrender. It's easy to fight on when you are winning, but to keep on in the face of continuing defeats, knowing you are most likely going to die, is the sign of strong will.

I was down to a choice between Stalingrad of World War II, and the above choice.

So in the end, I voted for the Vietcong. They were a repressive regime in their own right, but in addition to the strengths you mentioned above, the Vietcong were able to effectively use political propaganda of anti-colonialism in connunction with their military strategy.

Many United States advisors also failed to grasp that this war could not be won by conventional means, and were unable to effectively counteract Vietcong's strategy.

[MrBaggins]

I voted other... for...

Nobby Stiles

[SpencerH]

The RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain 1940.

"Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few".

and you can quote me on that

[Guynemer]

The Justice League.

[GePap]

I voted Stalingrand and other-plenty of other good valiant stands-Thermopalyea and Malta are great choices-there is vienna against the turks as well, Massada (though the great thing there was the Romans building the ramp up)

I don;t agree at all with the Alamo-the defenders fell on the very first attack-yes, they were brave to decide to stay there, but plenty of defenders have been stubborn that way-they have been made myths but the actual defense was hardly astounding.

Why Stalingrad? It's one of the few battles were both sides were forced to defend themselves fanatically-first the Soviets, then the Germans after the Soviet counterattack. So both sides were besieged. Then there is scale-a single battle bigger than most wars.

[MrBaggins]

I can't believe that no-ones the creator of the poll hasn't mentioned the Spartans at Thermopylae.

That was like... 300 vs... quarter of a million. Admittedly they chose good strategic position, but they were facing the largest comparitive army ever.

[EDIT... ok... so GePap did... and some others too...]

[BeBMan]

Actually, others mentioned them too

[MrBaggins]

Thanks BeBro. Edited. Happy now?

[BeBMan]