War has shadowed humanity since antiquity, but a few cultures made it the backbone of their institutions. “Warlike” here means not glorifying violence, but a combination of discipline, training, and organizational and technological innovation that produced outsized results. Their methods forged doctrines still studied by officers and historians.

Spartans
Spartan boys entered the agoge at age seven, learning endurance, formation fighting, brevity, and absolute obedience to law. Heavy infantry hoplites fought in the phalanx, where cohesion mattered more than individual prowess. In 480 BCE at Thermopylae, 300 Spartans and allies held off vastly superior Persian forces for three days, becoming a symbol of discipline and duty. Spartan society prioritized equality among citizens-in-arms and state over private life.

Mongol Empire
After 1206, Chinggis Khan forged history’s largest contiguous land empire—about 24 million km². Its core was mobile horse archers, strict discipline, and a decimal structure (arban 10, zuun 100, mingghan 1,000, tumen 10,000). Mongol archers could deliver effective fire at hundreds of meters, avoided frontal attrition, and used feigned retreats. Relay posts and intelligence made command fast; engineer corps borrowed and improved siege arts from China and Persia.

Ancient Assyrians
The Neo-Assyrian state (9th–7th centuries BCE) fielded one of the first professional armies. They systematically used siege towers, rams, sapping, and mass deportations to manage a vast realm. Combining chariots, cavalry, and infantry with robust logistics, they crushed revolts swiftly. Their fearsome image was a deliberate psychological weapon to deter resistance.

Romans
After Marius’s reforms (107 BCE), Rome relied on career legions with roughly 20–25 years of service. A legion of about 4,800–5,500 men excelled through cohort coordination, engineering, and camp routine. An 80,000+ km road network and efficient supply kept garrisons from Britain to Syria. Roman tactics and law underpinned European statecraft and military organization.

Vikings
From the late 8th to the 11th century, Norse seafarers mixed raiding with trade and settlement. Shallow-draft longships sailed seas and rivers, striking deep inland by surprise. Key moments include Lindisfarne (793), the Danelaw in England, Varangian service in Byzantium, and settlements from Iceland to Normandy. Initiative, shipborne mobility, and small-unit leadership defined their edge.

Japanese samurai
The bushi estate matured from the Heian era, with the Sengoku period (15th–16th c.) as a crucible of tactics. Nagashino (1575) saw roughly 3,000 arquebusiers use rotating volleys against Takeda cavalry. Sekigahara (1600), with about 160,000 combatants, ushered in Tokugawa rule and long peace, while samurai ethics shaped culture. Japan integrated firearms early with traditional drill and formations.

Zulu
Under Shaka (early 19th century), Zulu forces became organized impis with age-based regiments. The short stabbing spear iklwa and large isihlangu shield stressed close combat; the “buffalo horns” envelopment seized flanks. Fast barefoot marches and hard training yielded operational overmatch. Despite poorer weaponry, Zulu aggression and organization defeated neighbors and challenged industrial-age armies.

Ottomans and the Janissaries
The Ottomans institutionalized gunpowder—artillery and muskets—early. In 1453, Constantinople fell after coordinated bombardment, engineering, and assault broke walls that had stood for centuries. The Janissaries, a permanent infantry raised via devshirme, embodied discipline and firepower of the early modern era. By the 17th century they numbered in the tens of thousands, supporting domination across the Balkans, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Swiss pikemen
In the 15th century, Swiss cantonal militias forged a reputation with 4–5 m pikes in dense squares. Victories over Burgundy—Grandson and Morat (1476), Nancy (1477)—proved disciplined infantry could shatter knightly cavalry. Swiss mercenaries set Europe’s infantry standard until firearms shifted the balance.

Aztecs
The Triple Alliance centered on Tenochtitlan (15th–early 16th c.) mobilized large forces and elite “jaguar” and “eagle” orders. “Flower wars” maintained training and political pressure. A capital of hundreds of thousands enabled rapid levies of tens of thousands for nearby campaigns. The 1521 fall owed as much to Spanish alliances with local foes as to European weapons.

What makes a people “warlike”
Common threads are systems, not savagery: early training, clear organization, logistics, technological adaptation, and a warrior’s social status. Victory follows method—discipline, communication, supply, intelligence, engineering—from the phalanx to the tumen to gunpowder corps.

Legacy and lessons
These cultures left not only ruins and legends but manuals on governance, organization, and responsibility. Their stories warn that power without measure destroys, and discipline without purpose hollows out. History serves best when its lessons prevent new wars and preserve human dignity.