Top Ten Toughest Men to Have Ever Lived

[elektra]

Charlie Manson could be on the "tough" list. He overcame adversity to become a national figure and was certainly hard to kill. Maybe some characters that we characterize as "tough" are really mentally deranged.

Manson fits the profile for this OP

 

[eagle1462010]

 

[eagle1462010]

 

[Ridgerunner]

What started out as a really decent thread, took a very bizarre turn of events... Some peoples children...

 

[JimBowie1958]

What started out as a really decent thread, took a very bizarre turn of events... Some peoples children...

Some people just do not know how to play nice with others.

 

[Unkotare]

What started out as a really decent thread, took a very bizarre turn of events...

Right around the time elektra started fighting Navy Seals along side the ghost of Bruce Lee.

 

[Likkmee]

Teddy Roosevelt and Fidel Castro

 

[westwall]

By 'tough' I mean men who have overcome some diversity and class discrimination to achieve their goals and were personally hard to kill. I am not saying each of them could beat up anyone else in an MMA ring, but in real life with any tools at their disposal, I wouldnt bet against them in any normal situation.

10) Rocky Marciano - he boxed undersized all his career and beat the best of his time and avoided no one. Only Pro heavy weight to retire undefeated. Several fights he finished while badly injured, once with a split nose.

9) Desmond Doss - saved 75 lives in a major island battle in WW2 Pacific theater while under fire. Received Congressional Medal of Honor

8) Waverly Woodson - WW2 medic who treated 200 soldiers on D Day, before finally collapsing of his own wounds.

7) Cochise - Apache warrior who led one of the last major Indian wars against the USA. He excelled in desert warfare and was as rugged as they come.

6) Ghenghis Khan - He did not inherit his fathers position as cheif of his tribe and fought, ran and hid for years avoiding capture by a scoundrel who tried to cheat him of his position. Ghenghis developed such a reputation for cleverness, ferociousness and cunning he attracted a large following that helped him to defeat his tribes usurper and regain his leadership position. He then conquored most of Asia.

5) Alexander the great was a battle hardened warrior who often found himself isolated and surrounded by the enemy because he was too excited to take the attack to them. But he always fought his way out. In one seige, he fell off the wall and into the city he was trying to capture and was surrounded by about 20 men. Alexander fought his way out and went on to conquor the Persian Empire.

4) Audie Murphy -

"His first Silver Star came after he killed four and wounded three at a German machine gun position on 2 October at L'Omet quarry in the Cleurie river valley.[49] Three days later, Murphy crawled alone towards the Germans at L'Omet, carrying an SCR-536 radio and directing his men for an hour while the Germans fired directly at him. When his men finally took the hill, 15 Germans had been killed and 35 wounded. Murphy's actions earned him a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Silver Star.[58] He was awarded a battlefield commission to second lieutenant on 14 October, which elevated him to platoon leader.[59] While en route to Brouvelieures on 26 October, the 3rd Platoon of Company B was attacked by a German sniper group. Murphy captured two before being shot in the hip by a sniper; he returned fire and shot the sniper between the eyes. At the 3rd General Hospital at Aix-en-Provence,[60] the removal of gangrene from the wound caused partial loss of his hip muscle and kept him out of combat until January.[49] Murphy received his first Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart for this injury.[61][62]​

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"The Colmar Pocket, 850 square miles (2,200 km2) in the Vosges Mountains, had been held by German troops since November 1944.[63] On 14 January 1945, Murphy rejoined his platoon, which had been moved to the Colmar area in December.[64] He moved with the 3rd Division on 24 January to the town of Holtzwihr, where they faced a strong German counterattack.[65] He was wounded in both legs, for which he received a second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster for his Purple Heart.[66] As the company awaited reinforcements on 26 January, he was made commander of Company B.[67]​

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"The Germans scored a direct hit on an M10 tank destroyer, setting it alight, forcing the crew to abandon it.[68] Murphy ordered his men to retreat to positions in the woods, remaining alone at his post, shooting his M1 carbine and directing artillery fire via his field radio while the Germans aimed fire directly at his position.[69] Murphy mounted the abandoned, burning tank destroyer and began firing its .50 caliber machine gun at the advancing Germans, killing a squad crawling through a ditch towards him.[70] For an hour, Murphy stood on the flaming tank destroyer returning German fire from foot soldiers and advancing tanks, killing or wounding 50 Germans. He sustained a leg wound during his stand, and stopped only after he ran out of ammunition. Murphy rejoined his men, disregarding his own injury, and led them back to repel the Germans. He insisted on remaining with his men while his wounds were treated.[68]​

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"For his actions that day, he was awarded the Medal of Honor."​

3) Andrew Jackson - the man engaged in many Indian wars, the War of 1812 defending New Orleans, and bore his wounds through life, becoming President later. He accidentally tore open an old dueling wound while going down the stairs at the White House and nearly died, but lived years more. He earned the nickname 'Old Hickory' from his men due to his legendary toughness and resilience.

2) Hugh Glass - The subject of the movie 'The Revenant', Glass was left for dead by his companions after being mauled badly by a grizzly bear (which he killed btw) and then crawled hundreds of miles back to his base where he regained his health and hunted down the men who abandoned him.

1) Rasputin - a tough old Russian peasant mystic, Rasputin was the subject of an attempted assassination.

On 12 July [O.S. 29 June] 1914 a 33-year-old peasant woman named Chionya Guseva attempted to assassinate Rasputin by stabbing him in the stomach outside his home in Pokrovskoye.[57] Rasputin was seriously wounded, and for a time it was not clear that he would survive.[58] After surgery[59] and some time in a hospital in Tyumen,[60] he recovered.​

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Guseva was a follower of Iliodor, a former priest who had supported Rasputin before denouncing his sexual escapades and self-aggrandizement in December 1911.[61][62] A radical conservative and anti-semite, Iliodor had been part of a group of establishment figures who had attempted to drive a wedge between the royal family and Rasputin in 1911. When this effort failed, Iliodor was banished from Saint Petersburg and was ultimately defrocked.[61][63] Guseva claimed to have acted alone, having read about Rasputin in the newspapers and believing him to be a "false prophet and even an Antichrist".[64] Both the police and Rasputin, however, believed that Iliodor had played some role in the attempt on Rasputin's life.[61] Iliodor fled the country before he could be questioned about the assassination attempt, and Guseva was found to be not responsible for her actions by reason of insanity.[61]​

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Death​

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Felix Yusupov (1914) married Irina Aleksandrovna Romanova, the Tsar's niece.​

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A group of nobles led by Prince Felix Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, and right-wing politician Vladimir Purishkevich decided that Rasputin's influence over the tsarina had made him a threat to the empire, and they concocted a plan in December 1916 to kill him, apparently by luring him to the Yusupovs' Moika Palace.[65][66]​

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Basement of the Yusupov Palace on the Moika in St. Petersburg where Rasputin was murdered​

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The wooden Bolshoy Petrovsky Bridge, from which Rasputin's body was thrown into the Malaya Nevka River​

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Rasputin was murdered during the early morning on 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916 at the home of Felix Yusupov. He died of three gunshot wounds, one of which was a close-range shot to his forehead. Little is certain about his death beyond this, and the circumstances of his death have been the subject of considerable speculation. According to historian Douglas Smith, "what really happened at the Yusupov home on 17 December will never be known".[67] The story that Yusupov recounted in his memoirs, however, has become the most frequently told version of events.[68]​

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Rasputin's body with bullet wound in forehead​

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Yusupov claimed that he invited Rasputin to his home shortly after midnight and ushered him into the basement. Yusupov offered Rasputin tea and cakes which had been laced with cyanide. Rasputin initially refused the cakes but then began to eat them and, to Yusupov's surprise, he did not appear to be affected by the poison.[69] Rasputin then asked for some Madeira wine (which had also been poisoned) and drank three glasses, but still showed no sign of distress. At around 2:30 am, Yusupov excused himself to go upstairs, where his fellow conspirators were waiting. He took a revolver from Dmitry Pavlovich, then returned to the basement and told Rasputin that he'd "better look at the crucifix and say a prayer", referring to a crucifix in the room, then shot him once in the chest. The conspirators then drove to Rasputin's apartment, with Sukhotin wearing Rasputin's coat and hat in an attempt to make it look as though Rasputin had returned home that night.[70] They then returned to the Moika Palace and Yusupov went back to the basement to ensure that Rasputin was dead.[71] Suddenly, Rasputin leapt up and attacked Yusupov, who freed himself with some effort and fled upstairs. Rasputin followed and made it into the palace's courtyard before being shot by Purishkevich and collapsing into a snowbank. The conspirators then wrapped his body in cloth, drove it to the Petrovsky Bridge, and dropped it into the Malaya Nevka River.[72]​

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Aftermath​

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News of Rasputin's murder spread quickly, even before his body was found. According to Douglas Smith, Purishkevich spoke openly about Rasputin's murder to two soldiers and to a policeman who was investigating reports of shots shortly after the event, but he urged them not to tell anyone else.[73] An investigation was launched the next morning.[74] The Stock Exchange Gazette ran a report of Rasputin's death "after a party in one of the most aristocratic homes in the center of the city" on the afternoon of 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916.​

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Two workmen noticed blood on the railing of the Petrovsky Bridge and found a boot on the ice below, and police began searching the area.[75] Rasputin's body was found under the river ice on 1 January (O.S. 19 December) approximately 200 meters downstream from the bridge.[76] Dr. Dmitry Kosorotov, the city's senior autopsy surgeon, conducted an autopsy. Kosorotov's report was lost, but he later stated that Rasputin's body had shown signs of severe trauma, including three gunshot wounds (one at close range to the forehead), a slice wound to his left side, and many other injuries, many of which Kosorotov felt had been sustained post-mortem​

Interesting topic. One of the toughest would have to be Andi Hug. A Swiss mixed martial artist who was fighting competitively right up till he died of leukemia. This fight was two months before he died of the disease.

 

[elektra]

Right around the time elektra started fighting Navy Seals along side the ghost of Bruce Lee.

Thank you for letting me into your head. I am happy to know that weeks later my posts still rattle around in there.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Kit Carson
Sam Brady
Lewis Wetzel

Those were tough men in a world of tough men.

 

[whitehall]

Citing class discrimination doesn't make you tough. It makes you whiny.

 

[zaangalewa]

Toughest man of history? Diogenes.

Thereupon many statesmen and philosophers came to Alexander with their congratulations, and he expected that Diogenes of Sinope also, who was tarrying in Corinth, would do likewise. But since that philosopher took not the slightest notice of Alexander, and continued to enjoy his leisure in the suburb Craneion, Alexander went in person to see him, and he found him lying in the sun. Diogenes raised himself up a little when he saw so many people coming towards him, and fixed his eyes upon Alexander. And when that monarch addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, "Yes," said Diogenes, "stand a little out of my sun." It is said that Alexander was so struck by this, and admired so much the haughtiness and grandeur of the man who had nothing but scorn for him, that he said to his followers, who were laughing and jesting about the philosopher as they went away, "But truly, if I were not Alexander, I wish I were Diogenes."

Source: Diogenes and Alexander - Wikipedia

 

[whitehall]

Marine Sgt. John Basilone was a tough guy from the streets of N.J. even before Pearl Harbor. He was billed as Manila John in inter-service boxing matches. Basilone was also a skilled machine gunner in charge of a Marine machine gun squad on Guadalcanal when the Navy was in trouble and Marines were holding out by a thread and supplies were thin and Japanese were landing on the island without opposition. The shit hit the fan one night and Basilone's machine gun squad was pretty much all there was to hold the island. The citation says that Basilone encouraged his men, repaired guns under fire and held his position throughout the night. Basilone was awarded the MOH and was used as a stooge in the the unrelenting Hollywood bond drive at the time. His good looks could have made him a star but he had enough and requested the Marines to send him back so he could take care of his men. He was killed in action on Iwo Jima by mortar fire.

 

[TheParser]

Daniel Inouye

As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, coming within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade, a German soldier inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade, which struck his right elbow, nearly severing most of his arm and leaving his primed grenade reflexively "clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore". Inouye's horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. While the German inside the bunker reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. The German soldier had just finished reloading and was aiming his rifle to finish him off when Lt. Inouye threw his grenade through the narrow firing slit, killing the German. He stumbled to his feet and continued forward, silencing the last German resistance with a one-handed burst from his Thompson before being wounded in the leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge

Inouye went on to serve as the Senator from Hawaii for 50 years

And when he returned to the States, he was once refused service by a barber because of his ethnicity.

 

[rightwinger]

Daniel Inouye

As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, coming within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade, a German soldier inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade, which struck his right elbow, nearly severing most of his arm and leaving his primed grenade reflexively "clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore". Inouye's horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. While the German inside the bunker reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. The German soldier had just finished reloading and was aiming his rifle to finish him off when Lt. Inouye threw his grenade through the narrow firing slit, killing the German. He stumbled to his feet and continued forward, silencing the last German resistance with a one-handed burst from his Thompson before being wounded in the leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge

Inouye went on to serve as the Senator from Hawaii for 50 years

And when he returned to the States, he was once refused service by a barber because of his ethnicity.

He was also denied a Medal of Honor because of his ethnicity
Bill Clinton fixed the snub

 

[TheParser]

World War II soldiers were truly the "Greatest Generation."

As a lifelong coward, I stand in awe of those war heroes.

And as other posters have pointed out, the adjective "tough" can be applied to many people in other positions.

Last year, during the most horrific months of the pandemic, those health workers who worked tirelessly in the hospitals to save lives were certainly heroic, too.

If anyone deserves a bonus (and a reception at the White House), it is they!

 

[westwall]

Daniel Inouye

As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, coming within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade, a German soldier inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade, which struck his right elbow, nearly severing most of his arm and leaving his primed grenade reflexively "clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore". Inouye's horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. While the German inside the bunker reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. The German soldier had just finished reloading and was aiming his rifle to finish him off when Lt. Inouye threw his grenade through the narrow firing slit, killing the German. He stumbled to his feet and continued forward, silencing the last German resistance with a one-handed burst from his Thompson before being wounded in the leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge

Inouye went on to serve as the Senator from Hawaii for 50 years

And when he returned to the States, he was once refused service by a barber because of his ethnicity.

And General Frederick was attacked by cops in San Francisco because they thought he looked too young to be a General officer.

He was white as can be.

Huh, assholes act like assholes no matter who they attack.

Whoda thunk it.

 

[rightwinger]

Daniel Inouye

As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, coming within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade, a German soldier inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade, which struck his right elbow, nearly severing most of his arm and leaving his primed grenade reflexively "clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore". Inouye's horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. While the German inside the bunker reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. The German soldier had just finished reloading and was aiming his rifle to finish him off when Lt. Inouye threw his grenade through the narrow firing slit, killing the German. He stumbled to his feet and continued forward, silencing the last German resistance with a one-handed burst from his Thompson before being wounded in the leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge

Inouye went on to serve as the Senator from Hawaii for 50 years

And when he returned to the States, he was once refused service by a barber because of his ethnicity.

And General Frederick was attacked by cops in San Francisco because they thought he looked too young to be a General officer.

He was white as can be.

Huh, assholes act like assholes no matter who they attack.

Whoda thunk it.

What a stupid response

 

[westwall]

Daniel Inouye

As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, coming within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade, a German soldier inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade, which struck his right elbow, nearly severing most of his arm and leaving his primed grenade reflexively "clenched in a fist that suddenly didn't belong to me anymore". Inouye's horrified soldiers moved to his aid, but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. While the German inside the bunker reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. The German soldier had just finished reloading and was aiming his rifle to finish him off when Lt. Inouye threw his grenade through the narrow firing slit, killing the German. He stumbled to his feet and continued forward, silencing the last German resistance with a one-handed burst from his Thompson before being wounded in the leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge

Inouye went on to serve as the Senator from Hawaii for 50 years

And when he returned to the States, he was once refused service by a barber because of his ethnicity.

And General Frederick was attacked by cops in San Francisco because they thought he looked too young to be a General officer.

He was white as can be.

Huh, assholes act like assholes no matter who they attack.

Whoda thunk it.

What a stupid response

You would know. And, Frederick himself ranks up there as a badass dude.

He led the First Special Service Force and was promoted from Lt. COL, to Major General, and placed in command of the First Allied Airborne Army.

He was wounded 12 times I think it was.

A friend was a SFPD cop and he remembered the fight. Frederick and four of his guys beat the ever loving shit out of 13 SF cops.

Just goes to show you, don't fuck with real soldiers.

And that you clearly know NOTHING about.

 

[whitehall]

On the other side of the coin was a political general who had done his duty in WW1 and led the charge that kicked the WW1 Bonus Marchers out of their encampment in Washington D.C. MacArthur retired as COS but the Old Soldier was called back by FDR to be the front line commander of the area most likely to be attacked by the Japanese. When the shit hit the fan on Dec. 7 Mac had about a day to enact the "war plan" but he seemed consumed by inaction and his entire air force was destroyed while parked wing to wing on the ground while his troops gradually withdrew to Bataan and Corrigador. MacArthur abandoned his troops under orders and was awarded the MOH in perhaps the shortest citation in the MOH book.