The World's Most Powerful Mercenary Armies

pmaitra

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LTTE was the most powerful mercenary guerrilla force....
Nope. They were Sri Lankan Tamils fighting for a Tamil homeland. They were fighting for their own land. They were not mercenaries.

P.S.: I am not an LTTE supporter. I am very much against them.
 

KS

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I cant say the word mercenary for them as they have no Military training from Military, But tango themselves, there are Serbian and Russian Mercenary though..
Me too thinks they cannot be called mercenary as they are not money motivated but rather faith motivated. They fight for 72 virgins ,not greenbacks.

Regarding LTTE they were not fighting for money, but for their rights,dignity and a homeland. They might have been the most powerful guerilla force in their time and for a long time to come, but they are not mercs.
 
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pmaitra

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During the Azeri-Armenian War over Nagorno-Karabakh, there were Russian mercenaries fighting on both sides.
 

Kunal Biswas

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There is large involvement of Russian origin Mercenary in European conflict zones area and above..
 

Kunal Biswas

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Nope. They were Sri Lankan Tamils fighting for a Tamil homeland. They were fighting for their own land. They were not mercenaries.

P.S.: I am not an LTTE supporter. I am very much against them.
Adding to this:

Definition of Mercenary: A mercenary is anyone who serves merely for wages but usually a professional soldier.
 

Bangalorean

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Great photos and articles! :thumb:

The book by Frederick Forsyth, "The Dogs of War", is based on the life of mercenaries. Though it is fiction, it is very detailed and contains a lot of information on the life, ways, etc. of the mercenaries. It is based upon a true story, the life of a French mercenary operating in Congo.
 

Tshering22

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He said Probably..

Swiss majority population have military background and they are very different and nice people..
French, Belgian, US, UK & German, Russian, other east Block have larger business in Mercenary thing..


Besides Swiss, Denmark and other Nordic countries are small and there part is very less in this business..
Mercenaries are more about Russians, east Europeans and Americans, more than any other countries. Rest all like to maintain a "police" role for their armies.
 

Singh

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Pakistan Army is the world's most powerful mercenary army. Some of their prominent employers

1. Jordan - to kill Palestinians
2. Bahrain - for putting down Shiites (although not all were Pak army regulars)
3. KSA - recruited in the military and as bodyguards of the royal family,
4. UAE - recruited in the military
5. USA - to whoop Soviets
6. China - to pressurise India
7. Arabs - yom kippur war
etc
 

methos

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Pakistan Army is the world's most powerful mercenary army. Some of their prominent employers

1. Jordan - to kill Palestinians
2. Bahrain - for putting down Shiites (although not all were Pak army regulars)
3. KSA - recruited in the military and as bodyguards of the royal family,
4. UAE - recruited in the military
5. USA - to whoop Soviets
6. China - to pressurise India
7. Arabs - yom kippur war
etc
You not liking the Pakistanis doesn't make them greedy dishonourable people. By your argumentation the U.S. army would also be a merceneray army.
 

sesha_maruthi27

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I think I.T.B.P. comes under the mercenaries as they were used during the 1971 war to get of the guerrilla terrorists.........

As they TIBETANS they may termed as mercenaries.........
 

pmaitra

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You not liking the Pakistanis doesn't make them greedy dishonourable people. By your argumentation the U.S. army would also be a merceneray army.
BlackWater is mercenary, but not the US army. Gurkha Regiment (UK) is mercenary army. So was the French Foreign Legion. Nothing dishonourable about being a mercenary. A Nepali subject in the Indian Army will also be a mercenary, but we won't look down upon them because they are de facto, our own soldiers.

Again, many Pakistanis fight for a cause, i.e. Jihad, so one canot call them mercenaries either.

Regarding Tibetans, well, they (not all) are indeed refugees or children thereof, but if they are Indian citizens, they are no longer mercenaries.
 

Armand2REP

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If you are going to call the FFL a merc Army than it has to be the most powerful. Ex-Blackwater doesn't have the kind of hardware a formal army has. Next in line are the Gurkhas but they don't have the armour and size of the FFL.
 

W.G.Ewald

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Correct me if I am wrong, but do not Legionaires swear allegiance to France, and would that not remove them from category of mercs?
 

pmaitra

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Correct me if I am wrong, but do not Legionaires swear allegiance to France, and would that not remove them from category of mercs?
Technically, yes, but then, FFL were former criminals, murderers, terrorists, insurgents who were offered money and French citizenship if they agreed to fight for France. That swearing in ceremony was just that, ceremony. The primary motivation for FFL troops to fight was surely not their appreciation of French painting, music or history, but rather, greed, IMHO.

Anyways, there was a History Channel show that called the FFL a mercenary army, so I went by that.
 

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