The 6 Most Famous Mercenary Armies in History

In the countless bloody battles that have been fought throughout history, it is usually only two parts that are portrayed in the conflict. There is a specific type of combatant, however, who often engaged in wars, not to defend a flag or a nation, but to fight for the highest paid.

Mercenaries are still portrayed in many ways in books and movies - Deadpool, a recent success, is known as a "chatter mercenary" - and are usually related to an unethical attitude. However, these groups are far older than one might imagine and were frequently used in a variety of situations - including to protect the Pope.

Check out the 6 most traditional mercenary armies in history:

6 - The 10 Thousand

Perhaps the oldest group on the list, "The Ten Thousand" were Greek soldiers, veterans of the Peloponnese War, are cited in Xenophon's Anabase. In 401 BC they were hired by Cyrus the Younger, a Persian prince who wanted to take his brother Artaxerxes II, then king, from power.

With the death of Cyrus during the battle - and thus the end of the payment guarantee - the mercenary group was forced to withdraw from the war, but was harassed by the royal troops. Even so, they resisted heroically and managed to return to neutral territory with 70% of the original number of soldiers. The story was the inspiration for the movie "The Warriors".

5 - The White Company

A group of English, Germans, Breton and Hungarians, recognized for their extremely high ability with long-range spears and bows, The White Company became known as one of the leading mercenary armies that fought wars in Italy during the 14th century. In a divided country among medieval lords, the group always served the highest-paid - even if it meant battling those who had hired them earlier.

The great difference was that these soldiers liked to fight in adverse climates and at night when they benefited from their tactics which consisted basically of surprise attacks.

4 - The Swiss Guard

Those who visit the Vatican and see the Swiss Guard in their striped uniforms defending the Pope can hardly imagine that they began as a band of mercenaries who gained recognition during the Renaissance period, between the 15th and 19th centuries, participating in important events, like the French Revolution.

The troops pioneered the specialization of the use of spears and halberds - weapons used today by soldiers in the Vatican, who began providing papal protection in 1506.

3 - The Flying Tigers

Officially the group is known as the "American Volunteer Group", but it was impossible to escape the nickname "Flying Tigers" when US pilots decided to help the Chinese against the Japanese onslaught during World War II.

Before the United States effectively entered the conflict, some soldiers were released to make a paid participation in the fighting that took place on the other side of the Pacific. About 100 "mercenary" pilots popularized the famous shark painting on the P-40 fighters, shooting down 296 Japanese aircraft before the group's closure in 1942.

2 - The Great Catalan Company

With the end of the battles of the so-called "Sicilian Vespers", a revolt that occurred in 1282 against the reign of Carlos I, the Catalan soldier Roger de Flor became unemployed and decided to join a band to fight for Europe. The first client was the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II, who needed the help of the Great Catalan Company to contain the Ottoman invasion.

The erratic behavior of the mercenaries, however, caused the Byzantines to hire another group to ambush and assassinate de Flor's soldiers - which was done, including the death of the leader himself.

1 - The Varegu Guard

Direct descendants of the Vikings, the Varegian Guard served as the personal guard of the Byzantine emperors for a long time, defending Constantinople from eventual rebellions and revolts for nearly two centuries. The group originally consisted of soldiers who fought a lot and drank with the same intensity, but gradually English, Danes, and Norman soldiers began to join the troops.

As an extremely select group that demanded a large amount of money both for work and for potential recruits, The Variant Guard ensured that its soldiers concentrated real fortunes - and might as well, since one of the best-known members, Harold Sigurdsson, even be king of Norway.

* Posted on 4/29/2016