British Longbowman are overrated. Longbow was not more powerful then conventional bow. It was cheaper, what allow to easily train large quantity of the foot soldiers. Here also worth to note that Medieval Archers absolutely could and fight with the short range weapons as light Infantry. Anyway, when famous Battle of Agincourt happen. Bows were already a obsolete weapons, with five years earlier Polish cavalry crossbowman clashing with German knights. And few years after that we see use of Czeh battlewagons armed in hand cannons. French were surprised because they under-counted threat of the British Archers. Not because they were actually that great.
The famous wings in Polish Huzar was initially introduced as protection from Turkish leashes. Presenting rider from being easily pulled from the horse. But it was later kept due to they noticed psychological impact on battlefield.
Let me provide a few more details about the Janissaries. The world's first military band was formed by the Janissaries. They had compositions to play during sieges and attacks to establish psychological dominance over the enemy. These compositions influenced many famous composers. Additionally, besides being elite soldiers, the Janissaries received high-level education in science and art. Thus, they were not only elite soldiers but also part of the educated class. This enabled them to take on various governmental roles after retiring from active duty, including positions such as pasha, governor, and even vizier.
the special privileges granted to the Janissaries is what enabled the Ottoman empire to fall in the later ages, but they were indeed a formidable force
there are too much exaggeration about Janissaries. they were just special force and do not play that much role in wars (except 1-2 wars). they join the wars mostly after the winner was clear...
@@XY-uc1tw Yes, thats what elite infantry is you can’t frontline your best units. They are not just for siege and attack also for defending. They literally won the constantinople siege, i wouldn’t say they are exaggerated. They’re educated, combat-hardened, bilinguals.
One correction. Only the hussars, who belonged to the royal guard, had red and white colors. The rest of the hussars wore colors depending on the color of a given family. The hussars under the command of the Poniatowski family wore light blue colors. Hussars serving under the Wiśniowiecki family wore red colors etc.
Shinobi weren’t a special class, they were just Samurai and rarely ever attempted assassination. The word ninja and the idea of Ninjutsu don’t show up in any Japanese records and were mostly created in pop culture. The kusarigama was never recorded being used as any kind of weapon, but rather as a farming tool. In general, shinobi didn’t really exist like how they’re made up to be.
Great video as always. I'd just like to add that hussar wings were most likely attached to the saddle, not to the back, as often depicted in media - it was simply more practical.
@@TheBasedPlatohello , can you make some video on Indian warriors such as Rajput, Maratha, Jaat,Sikhs ,Ahoms it will fetch you some more views and I will also enjoy it 😅
5:45 Small explanation, most winged hussars didn't wear wings and if they did, they had really small singular ones at the back of their saddle simply because those big wings were mostly for ceremonies and they were really inpractical at the battlefield. It was more of an icon which made the enemies realise that "oh hell, those are the hussars we are doomed". And exotic animal pelts weren't that much for a decoration although they look really cool and demonize hussars, but they were often really thick and hard to be cut through with any sword.
Feudal Japan is way too overrated. People seriously need to develop the critical thinking to distinguish between what is real history and what is modern soft power induced delusions.
Aku percaya para samurai jepang tanggauh walau pun aku bukan orang jepang .buktinya pernah perang lawan soviet ,menjajah korea ,china dan asia tenggara .dan mengalahkan invasi mongol
What an awesome serie! More! Please do more. Here are some recomendations I can give you: Aztecs -> cuachicqueh. Chile -> hussars of death. Vikings -> berserker. Eastern roman empire-> cathafracts. Eastern roman empire -> varangian guard. Persians -> immortals. Korea -> hwarangs. Teutonic order -> teutonic knight. UK -> gurkhas. Greetings from Chile 🇨🇱❤️
Kirisute Gomen was the "Right to Kill" at an extent. The catch to this being you could only do this if someone below your status dishonored/disrespected you in a way, and you could kill them only with one strike, too many strikes can result in being charged with assault, attempted murder, and those crimes can result in losing your privileges, status, imprisonment, or death.
Hi, I wanted to I appreciate you are using the voice over for foreign words like with Polish. That's good solution. I need to say I don't mind people butchering polish words if they tried and put enough effort to check pronounciation but sometimes people do not even try. Anyway, I just wanted to say I appreciate your approach, thanks :)
Fantastic video, but I’d like to add that longbowmen were often very well equipped for close combat as well, many being able to perform a light to medium infantry role by using falchions, cut down polaxes, hammers, short axes; and many having brigandines, strong helmets and some even with leg plates. These archers were fearsome both at range and up close
+2 Swiss Guard - An ellite infantry force for the Pope's personal protection using polearms, halberds, heavy to medium armor, musketes. Teutonic Order - The tipical noble templar knights wearing heavy armor, arming swords / longswords, axes, pike, shields, crossbows, effective on both horseback and infantry unit.
What you said about the shinobi is partially misinformed - they did wear all black along with masks but only when operating at night in cordinated assaults. So it wasn't like a standardized uniform, just another piece of kit, usually thrown together
@@muhammadakmal9693 more or less, which essentially sums up most covert guerilla units. Get in, cause chaos, and get out whilst making as little noise and mess can be managed
If I'm not wrong, the stereotypical "ninja costume" was their night camo kit for infiltration into well defended places and were usually some very dark color like blue or brown-gray, pure black is not really good for night camouflage.
16:12 Hannibal did not use war elephants at the battle of Cannae, because most of them died in the alps, and he did not "break through the roman lines"
@@sunnyztmoney Lol no Roman Historians mentioned war Elephants being used at the Battle of Cannae and Hannibal was outnumbered at the Battle of Cannae, but he tricked the Romans into over extending and then he encircled them.
Small insight on the Elite of the Elite The Elites of the Samurai were often called Hatamoto or "Those under the Flag" who are the bodyguards or Retainers of the Daimyo, one of the most famous Hatamoto belong to the Oda Clan who called them Umamawari or Horse Guards, these are the Elite of the Elite who accompanied Nobunaga from the Battle of Okehazama, Battle of Anegawa and even to the Honnoji Incident though they weren't at their full force during that time. The elites of the English Longbowmen were the Yeomanry, who are basically Freeman/Tax Payers who has the wealth to arm and train themself and answer the call from the King, during the 100 years war the Longbowmen who are sent across the English Channel were the Yeomanry, which is the reason why during Agincourt the Longbowmen would fight the French Knight in hand to hand combat because these are the prime, trained and well equipped Longbowmen. Hoplites weren't that Elite as they're mostly a Citizen Militia even Spartan Hoplites are just Wealthy Citizen Militia who does have the time to train but mostly manage his lands rather than doing gymnastic 40 hours a day, the Elites of the Greeks were called the "Hippeis" which literally mean Horseman as those who are close to the King or the Elders would be the Wealthy Hoplites who can arm themself and keep a horse, the 300 Spartans during the battle of Thermophylae is thought of as former Hippeis as Spartan Hippeis are made up of Young men who are in their 20s, where the ones Leonidas Bring already have offsprings which in Spartan society meant they're married and 40+ Years old. Janissaries were mostly Professional Soldiers as the Elites of the Ottoman were actually the Sipahi and Kapikulu who are a Heavily armored Household Cavalry force, the Kapikulu were the Sipahi who serve and protected the Sultan in battle. The Elites of Carthage were the Sacred Band of Carthage, made up of the wealthiest Carthaginian Citizens which doesn't really make them Elite, but in Carthage's context where their armies are mostly consisted of Mercenaries commanded by Carthaginian Officers while the Navy is manned by Carthaginians Sailors, a Carthaginian force made up of the Wealthiest people who can afford the Equipment can be a form of intimidation or a magnet as the last recorded battle of the Sacred Band were during the Carthaginian-Syracuse War where the whole Sacred Band contingent made a last stand when their army is defeated where all of them perish and the returned bodies had all of the jewelries taken.
Hey, I love this series! Although there are still more elite units left to cover (more content!).. I would love to see the tercios viejos of spain, the swedish colored brigades, and even the carolean army! Nonentheless, love the content, keep it up!
There is no historical evidence of any of those weapon associate exclusively with the shinobi. As you said, they were spies, saboteurs and, occasionally, assassins. Kusarigama, shuriken, etc. were popular weapons used by samurai, bushi and commoners, but not specifically shinobi. In fact, their most used weapon was poison in food. All the primary sources about shinobi have been translated to English recently and edited by Anthony Cummins.
@TheBasedPlato Sorry to say that, but at the english longbowman topic, you made a few mistake. First you talked about a yew bow and then showed the picture of a modern laminated one. Second it wasn't encouraged but obligated for the peasants to practice with bow and arrow at every Sunday after church. You didn't mentioned that there were specific war longbows with higher poundage, and hunting longbows with lower poundage. Also, broad head arrows were not just dedicated hunting arrows, they were used in battles against unarmored, or lightly armored (only gambeson) enemies. Bodkin arrows had also different types in different time periods: when knights mainly used chainmail protection, they used needle bodkin arrows against them, when plate armours appeared they started to use shorter pointed bodkins such as Tudor-bodkin.
At agincourt, the British and Welsh longbowman did kill the French nobility...but not with their bows and arrows. The armor of the French would have been way to strong and dent. It did make sure the French had to charge. They made a small terain with lots of ditches, ditches and ditches with spikes in them. Also, it was very rainy and the ground was full of mud. The French heavy armed horseman coudnt fight that much, the armor was to heavy, and the horses slipped away true the mud. The English only had to finish them off with daggers.
Well about jannisaries:When Mahmud II disbanded them this is not like an offical end of an office.When they revolted in the city sultan ordered artillery fire and than with the help of people (becaude they also have growed anger against them) they captured and executed likely 15.000.Remaning ones like 5.000-7.000 flee thr city.So numbers are not big in this video.Because yes techicaly we have like 135.000 jannisaries om the paper.But 20.000 like them very loyal so they allowed to intagrate the newly founded army.Other just like joined because of ulufe maaşı (a pay occured every 3 months) basicly corruption in the armed forced.Some of them not even in the capital.Also officaly this corps just can have 40.000 trops in total but corruptions in the late period where so high they cant even detect the number of soldiers.
First recorded use of the “English longbow” was by Welshmen vs Anglo-Norman (English) knights at the battle of Crug Mawr or the battle of Cardigan, in south Wales 🏴
Just a correction. The war elephants never used in the Battle of Cannae. The Carthaginians lost most of its elephants when they cross the Alps and there weren't any left when they began their campaign in the Italian peninsula.
Samurai didn't really follow busido. It was made just to justify their existence during long peace period. Katana was never primary weapon, especially with their smithing level, it acted as secondary weapon in case if primary was lost or broken. Most of time they acted as horse archers akin to mongols, once Portugal brought guns they switched bows for rifles.
A lot of these groups are regular soldiers, not elite units. Hoplites for example, were just the generic name for the most common type of infantry of the ancient Greek city states equipped with a spear and a shield.
I would like to add, hussars horse was crucial for charge to be effective. It was forbidden to sell polish hussar horses to foreign countries and they were veeeery expensive.
Sorry but are no accounts of Hannibal having any elephants at Cannae. Most of them died during crossing of the Alps and in battle of Trebia. Livy states that there was only one still alive at the time when battle of lake Trasimene was fought. And that was more than a year before Cannae. Even if that lone elephant somehow survived until Cannae we know that it didnt play any part in it. Also hoplites were by no means elite unit but standard citizen militia. Of course there were elite unites fighting as hoplites like sacred band of Thebes but that doesnt make all hoplites elite
also funnily that surviving single elephant was surus, syrian, and probally was a hybrid or the last remaining syrian elephant... of he simple named after spear :P but anyway he was the personal elephant of hannibal and indeed never saw direct warfare, he was used by hannibal to watch the battle rather than fight.
Just a nitpick but the wooden bow was around for much, much longer than “hundreds of years.” It’s an absolutely ancient weapon, both for war and hunting, probably about as old as the wooden spear.
Noticed there weren’t any chinese soldiers in this video and the last. I don’t know much of chinese history so i was wondering if there were any cool soldiers there.
@@dcjxd samurai are regular soldiers too, janisarries are not that elite but a slave army unit simillar to a mercenary company, hoplite also regular greek infantry, english longbow archers were also just regular archers, wing hussars are probly the only elite unit on this list cause they are elite cavalry of the polish armies..the medjay aint that elite so as the ninjas.
@@fmoa2541 Half of those you mention fought in armies, but were not the majority of regular troops - those were the levy. So Hoplites are indeed wrong on this list, but that doesnt change the fact that this video is about elite UNITS, not outstanding (standing) armies through history.
@@jamesg9468No, they used longbows because of faster fire rate and mobility. Also the fact that they would have to re-train their units when they are already proficient with bows.
I thought a bodkin was a knife - sharp like a stiletto. Good to learn also an arrowhead - both focused on penetration via sharp, thin point. I see someone already caught the slip re Hannibal's elephants, but good catch that they were the now extinct North African of forest Elephant (over such a range of periods and units one slip is excellent going). thanks for the videos!
An elite English unit, which is generally forgotten, is the "Billman", in which they used the weapon(or tool) called Bill-Hook, they became very popular in England due to their versatility(they were effective against both cavalry and infantry, ) and its use together with the musketeers, with the English preferring the Billmans over the Pikemans...
Im not sure if greek hoplites or shinobi are considered elite considering that hoplites are just citizen levy and shinobi are assasins who would usually run away in a straight up fight. Elephants are unique units not elite tho.
3:32 this is actually completely wrong?! No, the English king made it law to practice with the longbow like 2 days a week because it was so effective against him in Wales. You don’t need a 100+ lb war-bow to go hunting. Then, by the time of the 100YW, the bowmen were hired as professional archers rather than levied like a traditional feudal army.
Iirc, Bushido was only about honor, not about honor. Therefore, a Samurai acting in a cruel manner to ensure victory was still absolutely acceptable behavior under bushido. Moreover, the Naginata and Yari were also much more important for a samurai than a sword. A sword is a backup weapon, their actual weapon was either a polearm or a ranged weapon. I had many other corrections to make (like how archers were used for thousands of years in warfare, not hundreds), but they were about such minor things that I think making them would just be pedantic. Anyways, thank you for bringing attention to so many cool and interesting parts of world history!
Precisions on the english longbowman. It wasn't just encouraged but required by law that men between 15 and 60 years old should train at least once a week. It's probably the main reason why the english had supperioty at range, because then could raise trained and proficient troops in large number in any village when needed. The longbow was a great tool, but others had them, the mandatory training was the real deal.
1:15 this is inprecise. The Katana and Wakizashi were ceremonial weapons of the Edo period (after 17th to 19th century), which was a time of relative peace. In the period before, the Samurai would have use the longer Tachi together with the Tanto. The Katana was also not very long compared to European sword.
Thank you for accurately representing the Medjay as Nubian. With the current hooplah and hate surrounding the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game featuring Yasuke, a black man, I like to remind people of Assassin’s Creed Origins. Origins - the game where they made the main character, a Medjay warrior, a racially ambiguous middle eastern/white dude. No one cared then. Nice to see there are some corners of the internet that examine history truthfully, not through Wikipedia and racist echo chambers. A few corrections - the Medjay weren’t tribal, the Kingdom of Kush was well established. Also, they were known for their skills in archery first and foremost, as Nubia was referred to as “Land of the Bow” Thanks for mentioning the Medjay in an unbiased manner.
Husaria jest oryginalną formacją Rzeczpospolitej. Od węgierskiej czy serbskiej kawalerii pochodzi jedynie nazwa, samo słowo " husaria" , w sensie wojskowym te formacje mają tylko tyle wspólnego, że były to jednostki konne.
High/Late English Longbowmen absolutely were professional career soldiers, rather than hunters... companies of them were often hired as mercenaries. Even the part time ones weren't really hunters per se, they were mostly drawn from the middle class 'yeoman' farmers, who were a social class above peasants but below nobles, and relatively wealthy 'free men' ... interestingly this tradition of a class of armed well-off commoners with political rights has direct links to the genesis of English and later American democracies. So if any history teachers out there want to set a fiendishly tricky question, try your students with "what links Agincourt with George Washington?" Be interesting to see what have to say.
Idk. Some of them required special conditioning,some were just a professional warrior caste,some were archaic version of military intelligence . So the idea that they're elite and specialist is not uniform as such when applied to them. And then you have longbowmen whose training was long and arduous. But that's all they weren't extraordinary that way as every bowman had preparation like this,the only difference is that their training was sanctioned by law . The real difference is the bow itself in this case.
Samurai: *Proceeds to properly name the weapons in its native language and intricately describe its functions with unquestionable admiration* Janissaries: *bOwS, sHiElDs and sWoRdS...* Me: Ah yes, I too enjoy my daily dose of bias 😂😂😂
As much as I love the Greek Hoplites. Some of them were simply citizen soldiers. The Sacred Band of Thebes or the Silver shields would have been better choices for "Elite units"
Agree with everything except the longbowmen, they were the opposite of elite units. They were drafted from the populace, the reason rhey were veey good is that they underwent bow training since they were kids.
No mention of the Celtic Champions? They were so fierce and so skilled that the Romans had to outlaw dueling with them because their generals kept getting killed.
![True Size of a Samurai Army [c. 1600] 3D DOCUMENTARY](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/deV34RTyPO8/mqdefault.jpg)
Part 1 here: ua-cam.com/video/H2b6vzmA9tc/v-deo.html
Let me know what units you'd like to see next.
I prefer the light mode, it's more visible.
Landsknecht - Doppelsöldner with the dread Zweihänder
yo don’t forget Cossacks
British Longbowman are overrated. Longbow was not more powerful then conventional bow. It was cheaper, what allow to easily train large quantity of the foot soldiers. Here also worth to note that Medieval Archers absolutely could and fight with the short range weapons as light Infantry.
Anyway, when famous Battle of Agincourt happen. Bows were already a obsolete weapons, with five years earlier Polish cavalry crossbowman clashing with German knights. And few years after that we see use of Czeh battlewagons armed in hand cannons. French were surprised because they under-counted threat of the British Archers. Not because they were actually that great.
The famous wings in Polish Huzar was initially introduced as protection from Turkish leashes. Presenting rider from being easily pulled from the horse. But it was later kept due to they noticed psychological impact on battlefield.
Immediately went through the timestamps to make sure the Winged Hussars made the list, wasn't disappointed... keep making incredible content man! ;)
same here 😁
AND THEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED
Let me provide a few more details about the Janissaries.
The world's first military band was formed by the Janissaries. They had compositions to play during sieges and attacks to establish psychological dominance over the enemy. These compositions influenced many famous composers.
Additionally, besides being elite soldiers, the Janissaries received high-level education in science and art. Thus, they were not only elite soldiers but also part of the educated class. This enabled them to take on various governmental roles after retiring from active duty, including positions such as pasha, governor, and even vizier.
the special privileges granted to the Janissaries is what enabled the Ottoman empire to fall in the later ages, but they were indeed a formidable force
nope, the Tercios were better allways
there are too much exaggeration about Janissaries. they were just special force and do not play that much role in wars (except 1-2 wars). they join the wars mostly after the winner was clear...
@@XY-uc1tw Yes, thats what elite infantry is you can’t frontline your best units. They are not just for siege and attack also for defending. They literally won the constantinople siege, i wouldn’t say they are exaggerated. They’re educated, combat-hardened, bilinguals.
@@tahakeske6904 "hey literally won the constantinople siege" wrong...
One correction. Only the hussars, who belonged to the royal guard, had red and white colors. The rest of the hussars wore colors depending on the color of a given family. The hussars under the command of the Poniatowski family wore light blue colors. Hussars serving under the Wiśniowiecki family wore red colors etc.
Shinobi weren’t a special class, they were just Samurai and rarely ever attempted assassination. The word ninja and the idea of Ninjutsu don’t show up in any Japanese records and were mostly created in pop culture. The kusarigama was never recorded being used as any kind of weapon, but rather as a farming tool. In general, shinobi didn’t really exist like how they’re made up to be.
You do know there are historically recorded assassinations?
Great video as always. I'd just like to add that hussar wings were most likely attached to the saddle, not to the back, as often depicted in media - it was simply more practical.
Good to know. I saw some conflicting stuff on the web. Thanks for the context!
I agree it Is more practical but there were also Wings atached to the armor
@@TheBasedPlatohello , can you make some video on Indian warriors such as Rajput, Maratha, Jaat,Sikhs ,Ahoms it will fetch you some more views and I will also enjoy it 😅
5:45 Small explanation, most winged hussars didn't wear wings and if they did, they had really small singular ones at the back of their saddle simply because those big wings were mostly for ceremonies and they were really inpractical at the battlefield. It was more of an icon which made the enemies realise that "oh hell, those are the hussars we are doomed". And exotic animal pelts weren't that much for a decoration although they look really cool and demonize hussars, but they were often really thick and hard to be cut through with any sword.
Feudal Japan is way too overrated. People seriously need to develop the critical thinking to distinguish between what is real history and what is modern soft power induced delusions.
Aku percaya para samurai jepang tanggauh walau pun aku bukan orang jepang .buktinya pernah perang lawan soviet ,menjajah korea ,china dan asia tenggara .dan mengalahkan invasi mongol
@@masrurr3259 mongol gak jajah jepang karena badai kalau tidak abis lah mereka
Same for the ottomans. Turks stealing children for centuries is never condemned.
They look cool tho bro
Jealous? Your country never had this kind of cultural history. Keep crying. 😂
What an awesome serie! More! Please do more. Here are some recomendations I can give you:
Aztecs -> cuachicqueh.
Chile -> hussars of death.
Vikings -> berserker.
Eastern roman empire-> cathafracts.
Eastern roman empire -> varangian guard.
Persians -> immortals.
Korea -> hwarangs.
Teutonic order -> teutonic knight.
UK -> gurkhas.
Greetings from Chile 🇨🇱❤️
Kirisute Gomen was the "Right to Kill" at an extent. The catch to this being you could only do this if someone below your status dishonored/disrespected you in a way, and you could kill them only with one strike, too many strikes can result in being charged with assault, attempted murder, and those crimes can result in losing your privileges, status, imprisonment, or death.
Hi, I wanted to I appreciate you are using the voice over for foreign words like with Polish. That's good solution.
I need to say I don't mind people butchering polish words if they tried and put enough effort to check pronounciation but sometimes people do not even try. Anyway, I just wanted to say I appreciate your approach, thanks :)
Informative video but not all of these are "elite", they are just famous units.
dont know about others but janissaries were elite
@@ErichVonMeinstein Winged hussars were elite - they were noblemen.
Fantastic video, but I’d like to add that longbowmen were often very well equipped for close combat as well, many being able to perform a light to medium infantry role by using falchions, cut down polaxes, hammers, short axes; and many having brigandines, strong helmets and some even with leg plates. These archers were fearsome both at range and up close
+2
Swiss Guard - An ellite infantry force for the Pope's personal protection using polearms, halberds, heavy to medium armor, musketes.
Teutonic Order - The tipical noble templar knights wearing heavy armor, arming swords / longswords, axes, pike, shields, crossbows, effective on both horseback and infantry unit.
What you said about the shinobi is partially misinformed - they did wear all black along with masks but only when operating at night in cordinated assaults. So it wasn't like a standardized uniform, just another piece of kit, usually thrown together
So, Shinobi is like covert agent and cleaning team at the same time?
@@muhammadakmal9693 more or less, which essentially sums up most covert guerilla units. Get in, cause chaos, and get out whilst making as little noise and mess can be managed
If I'm not wrong, the stereotypical "ninja costume" was their night camo kit for infiltration into well defended places and were usually some very dark color like blue or brown-gray, pure black is not really good for night camouflage.
16:12 Hannibal did not use war elephants at the battle of Cannae, because most of them died in the alps, and he did not "break through the roman lines"
Thats what they want you to think
@@sunnyztmoney Lol no Roman Historians mentioned war Elephants being used at the Battle of Cannae and Hannibal was outnumbered at the Battle of Cannae, but he tricked the Romans into over extending and then he encircled them.
"Hmmm?" 🤔
Small insight on the Elite of the Elite
The Elites of the Samurai were often called Hatamoto or "Those under the Flag" who are the bodyguards or Retainers of the Daimyo, one of the most famous Hatamoto belong to the Oda Clan who called them Umamawari or Horse Guards, these are the Elite of the Elite who accompanied Nobunaga from the Battle of Okehazama, Battle of Anegawa and even to the Honnoji Incident though they weren't at their full force during that time.
The elites of the English Longbowmen were the Yeomanry, who are basically Freeman/Tax Payers who has the wealth to arm and train themself and answer the call from the King, during the 100 years war the Longbowmen who are sent across the English Channel were the Yeomanry, which is the reason why during Agincourt the Longbowmen would fight the French Knight in hand to hand combat because these are the prime, trained and well equipped Longbowmen.
Hoplites weren't that Elite as they're mostly a Citizen Militia even Spartan Hoplites are just Wealthy Citizen Militia who does have the time to train but mostly manage his lands rather than doing gymnastic 40 hours a day, the Elites of the Greeks were called the "Hippeis" which literally mean Horseman as those who are close to the King or the Elders would be the Wealthy Hoplites who can arm themself and keep a horse, the 300 Spartans during the battle of Thermophylae is thought of as former Hippeis as Spartan Hippeis are made up of Young men who are in their 20s, where the ones Leonidas Bring already have offsprings which in Spartan society meant they're married and 40+ Years old.
Janissaries were mostly Professional Soldiers as the Elites of the Ottoman were actually the Sipahi and Kapikulu who are a Heavily armored Household Cavalry force, the Kapikulu were the Sipahi who serve and protected the Sultan in battle.
The Elites of Carthage were the Sacred Band of Carthage, made up of the wealthiest Carthaginian Citizens which doesn't really make them Elite, but in Carthage's context where their armies are mostly consisted of Mercenaries commanded by Carthaginian Officers while the Navy is manned by Carthaginians Sailors, a Carthaginian force made up of the Wealthiest people who can afford the Equipment can be a form of intimidation or a magnet as the last recorded battle of the Sacred Band were during the Carthaginian-Syracuse War where the whole Sacred Band contingent made a last stand when their army is defeated where all of them perish and the returned bodies had all of the jewelries taken.
Man, I love learning about history. Keep up the good work.
Hey, I love this series! Although there are still more elite units left to cover (more content!).. I would love to see the tercios viejos of spain, the swedish colored brigades, and even the carolean army!
Nonentheless, love the content, keep it up!
I think you can put "Akıncılar", Mongols and Spartans too.
I think war elephants were also used against the Portuguese siege of Malacca, 1,700 years after the second Punic war.
I thought they were extinct by then.
@@daswordofgork9823I'm pleased to inform you that elephants are still quite alive and well.
There is no historical evidence of any of those weapon associate exclusively with the shinobi. As you said, they were spies, saboteurs and, occasionally, assassins. Kusarigama, shuriken, etc. were popular weapons used by samurai, bushi and commoners, but not specifically shinobi. In fact, their most used weapon was poison in food. All the primary sources about shinobi have been translated to English recently and edited by Anthony Cummins.
And "shinobi" was a profession, not a social class or a warrior order, some samurai were shinobi too.
@TheBasedPlato Sorry to say that, but at the english longbowman topic, you made a few mistake. First you talked about a yew bow and then showed the picture of a modern laminated one. Second it wasn't encouraged but obligated for the peasants to practice with bow and arrow at every Sunday after church.
You didn't mentioned that there were specific war longbows with higher poundage, and hunting longbows with lower poundage. Also, broad head arrows were not just dedicated hunting arrows, they were used in battles against unarmored, or lightly armored (only gambeson) enemies. Bodkin arrows had also different types in different time periods: when knights mainly used chainmail protection, they used needle bodkin arrows against them, when plate armours appeared they started to use shorter pointed bodkins such as Tudor-bodkin.
At agincourt, the British and Welsh longbowman did kill the French nobility...but not with their bows and arrows. The armor of the French would have been way to strong and dent. It did make sure the French had to charge.
They made a small terain with lots of ditches, ditches and ditches with spikes in them. Also, it was very rainy and the ground was full of mud. The French heavy armed horseman coudnt fight that much, the armor was to heavy, and the horses slipped away true the mud.
The English only had to finish them off with daggers.
Well about jannisaries:When Mahmud II disbanded them this is not like an offical end of an office.When they revolted in the city sultan ordered artillery fire and than with the help of people (becaude they also have growed anger against them) they captured and executed likely 15.000.Remaning ones like 5.000-7.000 flee thr city.So numbers are not big in this video.Because yes techicaly we have like 135.000 jannisaries om the paper.But 20.000 like them very loyal so they allowed to intagrate the newly founded army.Other just like joined because of ulufe maaşı (a pay occured every 3 months) basicly corruption in the armed forced.Some of them not even in the capital.Also officaly this corps just can have 40.000 trops in total but corruptions in the late period where so high they cant even detect the number of soldiers.
First recorded use of the “English longbow” was by Welshmen vs Anglo-Norman (English) knights at the battle of Crug Mawr or the battle of Cardigan, in south Wales 🏴
Just a correction. The war elephants never used in the Battle of Cannae. The Carthaginians lost most of its elephants when they cross the Alps and there weren't any left when they began their campaign in the Italian peninsula.
Samurai didn't really follow busido. It was made just to justify their existence during long peace period.
Katana was never primary weapon, especially with their smithing level, it acted as secondary weapon in case if primary was lost or broken.
Most of time they acted as horse archers akin to mongols, once Portugal brought guns they switched bows for rifles.
A lot of these groups are regular soldiers, not elite units. Hoplites for example, were just the generic name for the most common type of infantry of the ancient Greek city states equipped with a spear and a shield.
I would like to add, hussars horse was crucial for charge to be effective. It was forbidden to sell polish hussar horses to foreign countries and they were veeeery expensive.
Love the Historical military videos. Keep up the great work!
Small correction for @1:03. Mounted archery is not kyujutsu. It is Yabusame.
Sorry but are no accounts of Hannibal having any elephants at Cannae. Most of them died during crossing of the Alps and in battle of Trebia. Livy states that there was only one still alive at the time when battle of lake Trasimene was fought. And that was more than a year before Cannae. Even if that lone elephant somehow survived until Cannae we know that it didnt play any part in it. Also hoplites were by no means elite unit but standard citizen militia. Of course there were elite unites fighting as hoplites like sacred band of Thebes but that doesnt make all hoplites elite
also funnily that surviving single elephant was surus, syrian, and probally was a hybrid or the last remaining syrian elephant... of he simple named after spear :P but anyway he was the personal elephant of hannibal and indeed never saw direct warfare, he was used by hannibal to watch the battle rather than fight.
Could you provide a source for elephants being at cannae? Thought they all would have been dead at this point of his campaign
lets goooooo 🔥
great video! but how can you talk about hoplites without talking about the most elite soldiers of all time.. the Spartan warriors
seeing the medjay here was a welcome suprise! great work on these individuals!
Can we get Hwarangs of Silla
Loved them too
I am lover of Korean history too
No mention to the Spanish Tercios who were able to defeat both samurai and jannisaires?
Just a nitpick but the wooden bow was around for much, much longer than “hundreds of years.” It’s an absolutely ancient weapon, both for war and hunting, probably about as old as the wooden spear.
Hundreds of years can mean, 2 hundred and also 20 hundred or more, nothing wrong with the use of the phrase.
Please make a video about assassins of alamut and masyaf
You should do the worst historical military units.
My personal favorite are the Samurais. They are cool.
We remember, in September, WHEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED
Mongol horseback archers were the deadliest soldiers in history
Noticed there weren’t any chinese soldiers in this video and the last. I don’t know much of chinese history so i was wondering if there were any cool soldiers there.
Well i guess i must fulfill my duty... POLAND MENTIONED?!?!?!?! 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🦡🦡🦡🦡
This dude be providing the coolest historical military videos
Napoleonic imperial guard, Alexander's companions and the Sacred Band of Thebes next! ✌️
where the roman legion and the macedonian phalanx
All in due time my friend :D
@@TheBasedPlato they should have been the first to mention on the list..medjay and ninjas..lol..really.
@@fmoa2541 Elite units is the focus. The roman legions were the regular army of the roman republic.
@@dcjxd samurai are regular soldiers too, janisarries are not that elite but a slave army unit simillar to a mercenary company, hoplite also regular greek infantry, english longbow archers were also just regular archers, wing hussars are probly the only elite unit on this list cause they are elite cavalry of the polish armies..the medjay aint that elite so as the ninjas.
@@fmoa2541 Half of those you mention fought in armies, but were not the majority of regular troops - those were the levy. So Hoplites are indeed wrong on this list, but that doesnt change the fact that this video is about elite UNITS, not outstanding (standing) armies through history.
You should add the spanish tercios
Why so less people talking about samurai’s in the comment section ?
I rarely see any comments about samurai
Can you do imperial guard of achamadians
In the uk it is still completely legal to carry a long bow and use it in public, but not at the public,lol
The English continued to use longbows when other European states were using crossbows, as they saw crossbows as cheating and un-Christian.
@@jamesg9468No, they used longbows because of faster fire rate and mobility. Also the fact that they would have to re-train their units when they are already proficient with bows.
need Bhayangkara from Javan 🗿
Anyone see that the medjay in the thumbnail is from For Honor
I thought a bodkin was a knife - sharp like a stiletto. Good to learn also an arrowhead - both focused on penetration via sharp, thin point. I see someone already caught the slip re Hannibal's elephants, but good catch that they were the now extinct North African of forest Elephant (over such a range of periods and units one slip is excellent going). thanks for the videos!
Now do one about the French Old Guards
im not turkish, but is ataturk ? 12:00
Atatürk used to attend a costume party in his Janissary costume.
And you miss the “official” introduction of the Marines, used for the first time with succes at the raid on Medway.
hmmm no one. I see, then it falls to me.
(clears throat)
THEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVE
Amazing video, can’t wait for more military unit history
Hi
Bro you are fast. 20 seconds thats gotta be a record!
Random question. Any chance of covering war elephants used in other armies?
An elite English unit, which is generally forgotten, is the "Billman", in which they used the weapon(or tool) called Bill-Hook, they became very popular in England due to their versatility(they were effective against both cavalry and infantry, ) and its use together with the musketeers, with the English preferring the Billmans over the Pikemans...
Im not sure if greek hoplites or shinobi are considered elite considering that hoplites are just citizen levy and shinobi are assasins who would usually run away in a straight up fight. Elephants are unique units not elite tho.
Where are the musketeer boah?
French reclaims their rightfull special unit
3:32 this is actually completely wrong?!
No, the English king made it law to practice with the longbow like 2 days a week because it was so effective against him in Wales.
You don’t need a 100+ lb war-bow to go hunting.
Then, by the time of the 100YW, the bowmen were hired as professional archers rather than levied like a traditional feudal army.
Iirc, Bushido was only about honor, not about honor. Therefore, a Samurai acting in a cruel manner to ensure victory was still absolutely acceptable behavior under bushido. Moreover, the Naginata and Yari were also much more important for a samurai than a sword. A sword is a backup weapon, their actual weapon was either a polearm or a ranged weapon.
I had many other corrections to make (like how archers were used for thousands of years in warfare, not hundreds), but they were about such minor things that I think making them would just be pedantic. Anyways, thank you for bringing attention to so many cool and interesting parts of world history!
Precisions on the english longbowman. It wasn't just encouraged but required by law that men between 15 and 60 years old should train at least once a week. It's probably the main reason why the english had supperioty at range, because then could raise trained and proficient troops in large number in any village when needed. The longbow was a great tool, but others had them, the mandatory training was the real deal.
1:15 this is inprecise. The Katana and Wakizashi were ceremonial weapons of the Edo period (after 17th to 19th century), which was a time of relative peace. In the period before, the Samurai would have use the longer Tachi together with the Tanto.
The Katana was also not very long compared to European sword.
This is semantics. Also, the oldest known katana is from the 14th century, and the word itself was used even before that.
I see that For Honor Medjay on the thumbnail!
some Mahuts came all the way from India to train the Elephants!. some participated in many Battles around the Mediterranean.
11:56 haha heyy this man is not janissary. He is Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He is Türk and he not janissary.
Thank you for accurately representing the Medjay as Nubian. With the current hooplah and hate surrounding the upcoming Assassin’s Creed game featuring Yasuke, a black man, I like to remind people of Assassin’s Creed Origins.
Origins - the game where they made the main character, a Medjay warrior, a racially ambiguous middle eastern/white dude. No one cared then. Nice to see there are some corners of the internet that examine history truthfully, not through Wikipedia and racist echo chambers.
A few corrections - the Medjay weren’t tribal, the Kingdom of Kush was well established. Also, they were known for their skills in archery first and foremost, as Nubia was referred to as “Land of the Bow”
Thanks for mentioning the Medjay in an unbiased manner.
Where is xerxes immortals
In Part 1 my friend :D
Also the napoleonic old guard and German ss
I learned in school that jannisaries were light infantry from ottoman colonies, not elite
Husaria jest oryginalną formacją Rzeczpospolitej. Od węgierskiej czy serbskiej kawalerii pochodzi jedynie nazwa, samo słowo " husaria" , w sensie wojskowym te formacje mają tylko tyle wspólnego, że były to jednostki konne.
Bro put akali nihangs too they were created in mediaeval india and exist even today
High/Late English Longbowmen absolutely were professional career soldiers, rather than hunters... companies of them were often hired as mercenaries. Even the part time ones weren't really hunters per se, they were mostly drawn from the middle class 'yeoman' farmers, who were a social class above peasants but below nobles, and relatively wealthy 'free men' ... interestingly this tradition of a class of armed well-off commoners with political rights has direct links to the genesis of English and later American democracies. So if any history teachers out there want to set a fiendishly tricky question, try your students with "what links Agincourt with George Washington?" Be interesting to see what have to say.
14:20 ok, this is some fantasy bullshit right here.
U missed the Catalan Company mercenaries
And we Dutch have the traders, a very sneaky, effective worrier who followed the money. If you can’t beat it, just buy it.
Am I dumb or aren’t those Spartans?
Nothing on Cossacs or Musketeers?
Please tell us in the next part about the Byzantine cataphracts and the Russian Oprichniks
There was not enough space in film for Composite Bow in Winged Hussars weaponry:).
Idk. Some of them required special conditioning,some were just a professional warrior caste,some were archaic version of military intelligence . So the idea that they're elite and specialist is not uniform as such when applied to them. And then you have longbowmen whose training was long and arduous. But that's all they weren't extraordinary that way as every bowman had preparation like this,the only difference is that their training was sanctioned by law . The real difference is the bow itself in this case.
Another absolute banger - let's go!!
Spartan and Zulu Impi.
Samurai: *Proceeds to properly name the weapons in its native language and intricately describe its functions with unquestionable admiration*
Janissaries: *bOwS, sHiElDs and sWoRdS...*
Me: Ah yes, I too enjoy my daily dose of bias 😂😂😂
Where's varangian guard
Where are Landsknechte?
As much as I love the Greek Hoplites. Some of them were simply citizen soldiers.
The Sacred Band of Thebes or the Silver shields would have been better choices for "Elite units"
Agree with everything except the longbowmen, they were the opposite of elite units. They were drafted from the populace, the reason rhey were veey good is that they underwent bow training since they were kids.
No mention of the Celtic Champions? They were so fierce and so skilled that the Romans had to outlaw dueling with them because their generals kept getting killed.
Everything is elite, it's become a meaningless word from overuse/misuse, like awesome and iconic.
My gramps went MIA during this war. For all i know, he jumped ship and started a whole new family there.
Would have been better to mention hwacha of korea, they are basically missile launchers made of rocket fueled arrows.