Mongol was the greatest in histrory,there is nothing doubt
Romans and Greeks are nothing compared to the Mongols, Mongols had to kick a whoooollllee e lot of ass and did it with cunning tactics, and superior skills
compare to the Mongol Empire,Roma is just like a nut

Brits was not larger than Mongols,33.2 million km2 was just the satble period under Kublai Khan,but at its peak,the Mongol Empire covered 44.1 million km2 larger than the British Empire 36.6 million km2

All things being equal? Common equipment? Hands down, the Romans.

I don't remember who said it, but it went something like this:

Their training is bloodless war, their war is bloody training, or something like that...the discipline, the infrastructure...top to bottom, the best there ever was.

Not that the Mongols wouldn't have given them everything they wanted, though...

A commander of genius can make all the differance though. Does anyone seriously think Carthage would have been able to challenge Rome with out Hannibal and his brother?

I'm going to have to toss in a vote for the Romans as well. How many nations did they conquer? How many enemy advances did they thwart? How many years did they reign supreme by virtue of their military prowess?

Other armies have fought brilliantly throughout history, but no other military can claim the sheer number of victories as the Roman military.

for its time its hands down the mongols easy

In the 20th century the German Wehrmacht of WWII. They may have lost but only against overwhelming odds. Pound for pound they are the most effective. They always inflicted far more casualties than they received. In fact if they had committd any more than af fraction of their strength in France after D-Day the allies would have been thrown back into the ocean peice meal. It is intersting that they only ever committed no more than 20% of their strength fighting the western allies with the rest facing the Soviets.

the mongols were an extremely disciplined fighting force. people say that they swarmed over their enemies but how could they have done this with small horses that were unable to trample and up against other heavy cavalry?
Each Mongol warrior had incredible individual skill as well as complete loyalty to their leader.

the Romans, solely on technology.roman battlefield medicine alone was lightyears beyond anything seen before and after. the use of herbs and silver were lost after the fall of the empire, that's why it was called the dark ages. it's only in the last 20 years we are now understanding and getting back to the use of natural remedies that were common to the legion.

The roman empire for it's long reign. Same with the british.
The german army of WW2 conquered so much territory and people with so few resources in the shortest of time. The US overrunning Iraq in a month does not impress me as much. We spend 20 times more than the next country on military and we're still bogged down there? I would rate the US towards the bottom in a cost-benefit analysis. I'd rate the soviets higher, the fellows that beat germany for us. But there are constraints on us, such as the need for the illusion of democracy or having the moral high ground, that is definitely a major obstacle in terms of achieving goals efficiently.

the greatest fighting force ever
in terms of discipline, tech, organization, and leadership
the Wehrmacht of WWII
though they were the bad guys
they had the better kill ratio throughout the entire war
and the Luftwaffe aces were known as the best, no allied ace
got over 70 kills, the top 30 of the entire war were Germans
the panzer divisions were renowned for their efficiency as were
the infantry
just b/c they were the bad guys should not take away from the fact
that they set the standard for the modern fighting force

Well I beat the greeks on my Rome campaign in like 20 turns easy! But once the mongles come around things got really tough. I had to stay in Antioch for almost ten years before I could finally push them out of Jerusalem.

my vote would probably have to go to the jatt sikh empire of maharaja ranjit singh. jatt sikhs btw are descendants of indo-scythians. only non-muslim empire in the history of the world to rule over the muslim waziri and mehsud pashtuns around the peshawar area. british soldiers referred to the Wazirs as wolves, and the Mehsuds as panthers of the mountains. these are the same dudes who have been causing the americans so much trouble and have recently gained de facto independence from the pakistani regime. these pashtuns residing in the pakistani tribal areas are especially a thorny quarelsome lot.

also IMO, the greatest general to ever live would probably be Hari Singh Nalwa. quote from british newspaper about great generals of history..

"Some people might think that Napoleon was a great General. Some might name Marshall Hendenburgh, Lord Kitchener, General Karobzey or Duke of Wellington etc. And some going further might say Halaku Khan, Genghis Khan, Changez Khan, Richard or Allaudin etc. But let me tell you that in the North of India a General of the name of Hari Singh Nalwa of the Sikhs prevailed. Had he lived longer and had the sources and artillery of the British, he would have conquered most of Asia and Europe…."

that's my ethno centric point of view on the matter.

In the last couple of centuries i'm gonna say it's the British.

The world would be very different without us.

I can't believe we didn't make the list, but the yanks did. LOL