The World's Most Powerful Mercenary Armies

[nick 779]

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.........

Dude ITBP is an Indian paramilitary force not tibetan refugee force, which of course is the SFF.

 

[Armand2REP]

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.

Um... no. Legionnaires do not swear allegiance to France but to La Legion. If a war erupts between France and their home country they do not have to fight. They will never be deployed on French soil.

 

[pmaitra]

BUT U DID'T COMMENT ON FRENCH LEGIONS are they best???

Not in my books, I would still hold the Gurkha Regiment above the French Foreign Legion.

 

[pmaitra]

Um... no. Legionnaires do not swear allegiance to France but to La Legion. If a war erupts between France and their home country they do not have to fight. They will never be deployed on French soil.

Ok, thanks for the correction, I was assuming what Mr. Ewald said, that they swear allegiance to France.

 

[pmaitra]

Dude ITBP is an Indian paramilitary force not tibetan refugee force, which of course is the SFF.

Depends how you look at it.

 

[Blackwater]

Not in my books, I would still hold the Gurkha Regiment above the French Foreign Legion.

its true that if u survive for 10 yrs in french foreign legion u will get french citizenship??

 

[pmaitra]

its true that if u survive for 10 yrs in french foreign legion u will get french citizenship??

No, that was during the WWII, when the French government offered French citizenship to a whole bunch of criminals, murderers, gangs from the regions they controlled, because they desperately needed manpower to overwhelm the Germans.

I don't know what the current situation is.

 

[pmaitra]

Gurkha Regiment vs. French Foreign Legion

Deadliest Warrior Season 3 Episode 9 -- French Foreign Legion vs. Gurkha (1 of 5) - YouTube

Deadliest Warrior Season 3 Episode 9 -- French Foreign Legion vs. Gurkha (2 of 5) - YouTube

Deadliest Warrior Season 3 Episode 9 -- French Foreign Legion vs. Gurkha (3 of 5) - YouTube

Could not find parts 4 and 5.

See the full episode here: http://www.deadliestwarrior.org/

 

[Armand2REP]

No, that was during the WWII, when the French government offered French citizenship to a whole bunch of criminals, murderers, gangs from the regions they controlled, because they desperately needed manpower to overwhelm the Germans.

I don't know what the current situation is.

You get French citizenship after 3 years of serving La Legion. You can't join if you have a criminal record.

How are they supposed to fight Germans if they can't fight on French soil? It was the policy before the war and after it. Only exception was liberation of France but then Free French were organised into Liberation Army, not Foreign Legion.

 

[pmaitra]

You get French citizenship after 3 years of serving La Legion. You can't join if you have a criminal record.

How are they supposed to fight Germans if they can't fight on French soil? It was the policy before the war and after it. Only exception was liberation of France but then Free French were organised into Liberation Army, not Foreign Legion.

I am not talking about today, but WWII. Yes, majority of those that joined FFL were criminals, at least that is what the video says.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Ok, thanks for the correction, I was assuming what Mr. Ewald said, that they swear allegiance to France.

After Armand2REP's correction I do recall reading about the oath of allegiance to the Legion. Legion of the Damned, now an old book, was written by Bennet J. Doty. It was fascinating to me.

Legion Antiques - LEGION BOOKS

 

[LalTopi]

Guys. Indians were the greatest mercenary force. For 150 plus years, we fought for the British to suppress our own people, to suppress other nations e.g. The Chinese in the Boxer rebellion and in both World wars. One of the key points of the British rule was that they had access to the world's largest mercenary army.

Just think if we were to unleash our hoards again, but this time fighting for India herself.

 

[mayfair]

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.

Actually the protagonist Cat Shannon was based on Welsh-born South Africa-raised Taffy Williams and his exploits in Katanga and Biafra.

 

[KS]

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.

They compensate that in heart...

 

[Ray]

Could AQ be taken as a powerful mercenary army?

 

[Ray]

Next in line are the Gurkhas but they don't have the armour and size of the FFL.

Gurkhas are not mercenaries and they cannot be taken to be so.

This is as per the Tripartite Agreement.

 

[Armand2REP]

Gurkhas are not mercenaries and they cannot be taken to be so.

This is as per the Tripartite Agreement.

Mercenary - a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army. Sounds like the Gurkha Regiment to me.

 

[Koovie]

Mercenary - a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army. Sounds like the Gurkha Regiment to me.

there are also ethnical ghorkas within India

 

[Chris Jude]

Mercenary - a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army. Sounds like the Gurkha Regiment to me.

"Gorkhas are trained by the Indian Army to be professional Soldiers but they are not trained professional soldiers when they join and its coluntary, so they are not mercenaries - a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army

 

[syncro]

Technically and practically the Legionnaires and Gurkhas are not mercenary, but civilians who join a foreign army and are trained as regular soldiers... and there are many countries that use this practice.

The peculiarity of the Legionnaires and the Gurkhas is that they are concentrated in specific regiments (with some strange rules), while in other countries the foreigners enlisted are distributed in the entire army.

They arent mercenary, but regular enlisted foreign soldiers.

And by the way the 1° and 2° countries as number of guys that have joined the Legion are Germany and Italy (more that 60,000 italians was in the Legion from the origin in the 1831 until today)... and the tradition continue... alot of Germans and Italians are in the Legion also today.