Legendary Mercenary Groups
In ancient history, the most feared fighting forces were made up of freelance warriors who weren’t aligned with any particular nation or king. Here are the more famous ancient mercenary groups:
The Ten Thousand
The Ten Thousand were an assortment of Greek warriors contracted by Cyrus the Younger to help oust his brother King Artaxerxes II from the Persian throne. These soldiers for hire were mostly hardened veterans of the Peloponnesian War. In 401 BC, they fought alongside Cyrus and his rebel army in a clash with the king’s forces near Baghdad.
The White Company
The White Company was one of the so-called free companies, which were bands of mercenary soldiers who got the lion’s share of warfare during the fourteenth century in Italy. When they fell under the command of Sir John Hawkwood, an Englishman knighted for his service in the Hundred Years’ War, the White Company became known as one of the most elite mercenary armies in Italy. They were composed of English, German, Breton, and Hungarian adventurers and were renowned for their skill with the longbow and the lance. They terrified their enemies with their surprise attacks and doing battle even during harsh weather or at night.
The Swiss Guard
These days the Swiss Guard is known as protectors of the pope in the Vatican, but back then they were bands of mercenaries that flourished during the Renaissance. These Swiss adventurers fought in Europe’s armies between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the 1400s, their revolutionary tactics and sheer ruthlessness made them best contract troops.
In 1506, a contingent of 150 Swiss soldiers of fortune began to serve as the pope’s bodyguards and has continued until today.
The Flying Tigers
The Flying Tigers were fighter pilots who fought with the Chinese against the Japanese during World War II. They were organized in early 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who directed Claire Chennault, a US military officer, to recruit fighter pilots from the US Army Air Force.
The Flying Tigers earned between $600 and $750, along with a $500 bonus for each Japanese aircraft they shot down.
The Catalan Grand Company
Organized in 1302, the Catalan Grand Company was primarily composed of rugged Spanish veterans of the War of the Sicilian Vespers in Italy. The Catalan Grand Company, under Roger de Flor, contracted themselves to the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II, who wanted them to fight off the invading Ottoman Turks. They succeeded in sweeping the Turks away from Constantinople, but were despised for their wanton sacking and looting. In 1305, De Flor and some of his men were ambushed and killed by another group of mercenaries.
The Varangian Guard
The Varangian Guard were Viking mercenaries that were paid to serve as the personal bodyguard of the Byzantine emperor. In the late tenth century, they were contracted by Emperor Basil II, who preferred them than to his own countrymen. For over two hundred years, they served as the protectors of Constantinople.
Modern-Day Mercenary Groups
These modern-day mercenaries, now known as private military company (PMC), are found throughout the world fighting conflicts for governments that are reluctant to use their own troops.
G4S
G4S is the world’s largest security company that focuses on routine bank, prison, and airport security. G4S are also present in crisis-zones around the world. They offer government agencies and private companies heavily-armed security forces, land-mine clearance, military intelligence and training.
Unity Resources Group
Unity Resources is Australian-owned and consists of veterans from Australia, the US, and Great Britain. Its presence grew in Iraq when sovereign armies withdraw. Outside Iraq, Unity was contracted to assist with security during the parliamentary elections in Lebanon. They also helped evacuate private oil companies from crisis zones in Bahrain. They also operate throughout Africa, the Americas, Central Asia, and Europe.
Erinys
Erinys’s biggest mission recently protecting key oil pipelines and other energy assets around the country. They also have a presence in Africa, the traditional focus of their operation. Also recently, they were awarded two contracts in the Republic of Congo for security at major iron ore and oil and gas projects.
Asia Security Group
Asia Security Group is a major local force in the war-torn nation of Afghanistan. It is formerly owned by Hashmat Karzai, the first cousin of then Afghan president Hamid Karzai; has about six hundred guards in its employ; and is headquartered in Kabul. They are contracted by the US military to protect Coalition supply convoys traveling in the south of Afghanistan.
DynCorp
When the American forces pulled out of Iraq, the United States Department of State awarded DynCorp a contract to train, equip, and build the capacity of the police forces in Afghanistan. DynCorp is headquartered in Virginia and has more than ten thousand staff.
DynCorp is also active throughout Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Its soldiers fought rebel groups in Columbia and engaged in antidrug operation in Peru. They were also sent to disarm fighters in Somalia, Liberia, and southern Sudan.
Triple Canopy
Triple Canopy is another PMC recruited to replace the US forces in Iraq. It has about 1,800 troops in the country that are mostly from Uganda and Peru. But it also employs another three thousand personnel around the world.
Contracts include guarding the US embassy in Haiti and providing personal protective services for the US State Department in Israel.
Aegis Defense Services
Aegis Defence Services is a British private security company that has overseas presence in Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Somalia, and Mozambique. It is contracted to do emergency response and risk assessments services. It is also contracted to protect private oil interests.
Defion Internacional
Defion Internacional sources and trains private military personnel from Latin America for jobs around the world. It is headquartered in Peru but has offices in Dubai, Iraq, Philippines and Sri Lanka. The company contracts and trains bodyguards, drivers, static guards and logistics specialists from developing countries.
Academi
Formerly known as Blackwater, Academi is an American private military contractor founded in 1996 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. Academi runs one of the biggest and most complex private military training grounds in the world. The training center is found in the North Carolina-Virginia border. This facility has produced twenty thousand troops, twenty aircraft, and a fleet of armored vehicles. These were shipped to Iraq and Afghanistan on US government contracts.
Sources:
Andrews. Evan. “6 Legendary Mercenary Armies from History.” Last modified May 9, 2023. https://www.history.com/news/6-legendary-mercenary-armies-from-history.
Fratus, Matt. “Soldiers of Fortune: The 5 Wildest Mercenaries in American History.” Last modified August 25, 2022. https://coffeeordie.com/5-wildest-american-mercenaries.
McKenna, Luke and Robert Johnson. “A Look at the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Armies.” Last modified February 26, 2012. https://www.businessinsider.com/bi-mercenary-armies-2012-2