Who were the greatest defenders of all time?

[Heavy and Happy]

Originally posted by Ignorance
Finns against the soviets

YES! YES! YES!

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
(..) but it was about one Finnish soldier with inferior equipment and not even a uniform against two Russian soldiers with a huge material advantage, plus reserves.

Naked Finns scared the Soviets away!

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by Heavy and Happy


YES! YES! YES!

[Frankychan]

[Ted Striker]

Good additions.

How could I forget the Finns.


And Spartans! Those guys were insane, an entire society built around fighting!

I'd like to see IJA versus Spartans.

There would be like nobody left afterwards.

[Ted Striker]

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Dick Butkus

Good answer!

[Ted Striker]

Mean Joe Green was pretty bad azz though

[Drake Tungsten]

So was Ray Nitschke.

[Ted Striker]

Although Rocky Balboa was a pretty damn unbeatable defender.

Drago: "He is like steel."

[Sikander]

I voted for Byzantium. They held out against a severe strategic disadvantage despite frequent revolts and concentric attacks and two-front wars. Most of the rest had some serious advantages which somewhat reduce the glory of their feats at arms.

The Germanic tribes for instance regularly lost battles of annihilation, just not all at once. Further, they had strategic depth and very good intelligence due to the fact that they often had relatives amongst the legions deployed against them in the later days of the empire.

The Persians had size and terrain to their advantage. They could fight on plains and kick infantry heavy Roman armies around, or they could retreat into mountains and wear the enemy down with large forces of their own.

The Viet Cong were all but wiped out by the U.S. by 1969-1970, so I can't really even agree that they won the war, which was actually won by the NVA. Though the NVA was fighting at a serious technical disadvantage to the U.S., they were never outnumbered and never had to defend their homeland.

Though the Japanese were outgunned 10-1, they tended to defend heavily built up fortifications and only at Tarawa did they manage to inflict more casualties than they sustained against the Marines. Their casualty rates tended to be about 10-1 (against them) in comparison to the U.S., which isn't really very impressive at all.

[Drake Tungsten]

Well, if we're all going to give serious answers, I'm going to have to go with...

WOLVERINES!!!

[Ted Striker]

I thought that guy was going to shoot down that helicopter with the AK. But then when Ali Sheedy's friend got capped it was all overwith.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Sikander
I voted for Byzantium. They held out against a severe strategic disadvantage despite frequent revolts and concentric attacks and two-front wars. Most of the rest had some serious advantages which somewhat reduce the glory of their feats at arms.

The Germanic tribes for instance regularly lost battles of annihilation, just not all at once. Further, they had strategic depth and very good intelligence due to the fact that they often had relatives amongst the legions deployed against them in the later days of the empire.

The Persians had size and terrain to their advantage. They could fight on plains and kick infantry heavy Roman armies around, or they could retreat into mountains and wear the enemy down with large forces of their own.

The Viet Cong were all but wiped out by the U.S. by 1969-1970, so I can't really even agree that they won the war, which was actually won by the NVA. Though the NVA was fighting at a serious technical disadvantage to the U.S., they were never outnumbered and never had to defend their homeland.

Though the Japanese were outgunned 10-1, they tended to defend heavily built up fortifications and only at Tarawa did they manage to inflict more casualties than they sustained against the Marines. Their casualty rates tended to be about 10-1 (against them) in comparison to the U.S., which isn't really very impressive at all.

Good points.

I didn't know about the German spies in the legions. Makes perfect sense though.

[bipolarbear]

I'd have to give it to Ho Chi and the Vietcong. Screwing th Frnech at Dien Bien Phu, and then resisting Kennedy's "advisors" not to mention the forces of Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando, Lawrence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, and Johnny Depp.