not counting those with militaries doing their dirty work, here are names to consider....my pick is at the bottom.
King David was supposed to be pretty good on his own....(story of Goliath is his, also supposedly killed 1000's to 10,000 himself), regardless he built himself a pretty decent kingdom at a time when might was right.
Hannibal - Considered by many as possibly the greatest military mind ever, Hannibal waged a personal war against the Romans and nearly succeeded in toppling the empire.
Sun Tzu if you consider tactics...I don't think there is one educated person that has not heard of his book "The Art of War"....
Alexander the Great- Came to power as a boy, and then became Ruler to virtually the entire known world at the time and succumbed only to illness and despair over having nothing left to conquer.
Genghis Khan- Who ruled the greatest empire ever created.
Saladin- the Muslim leader who stopped the onslaught of Europe from taking over during the Crusades. (Most Christian's were impressed including Richard the Lion-Hearted, these were people that would rather see all muslims dead I believe).
Spartacus- The leader of the great slave revolt who defeated some of the great Roman legions and threaten to rip apart the very fabric of Rome?s society.
Louis XI- The "Spider King", named for his ugliness and the web of deceits he used to expand his power.
Ali Talib- The son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad, ended up creating the two factions of Muslims, the Shiites and the Sunnites. His wife was the infamous Fatamid, may have murdered him.
Robert the Bruce- The man who unified Scotland and gave the Scots their own land.
Tomoe Gozen (a woman samurai) - took quite a few heads of noted Samurai. I don't know if I'd rank her near the top of any inclusive listing, but out of women I wouldn't fight her with a handgun within her sword range even if her sword was placed on the ground between us.
Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin (Miyamoto Musashi) -
Baddest Reason #1: When he was 13, Musashi participated in his first single combat, challenging the swordsman Arima Kigei, who had invited challenges as a means of proving the superiority of his school, Shinto-Ryu. Although Musashi was very young, Kigei accepted his challenge. Musashi defeated the samurai, striking him repeatedly with a stick, so violently that he died. As well as his skill, this duel displayed the savagery which marked Musashi as a young man. This wasn't a case of sensei I wish to spar you, this was sensei I want to fight you and I will defeat you....he was probably attempted to be talked out of this seemly unwinnable situation, but apparently it wasn't.
Baddest Reason #2: In 1612 (he was 28), Musashi defeated the noted master swordsman Sasaki Kojiro in one of his most famous duels. It is said that he once again arrived late(supposedly Musashi would get carried away with trivial things forgetting about the duel's altogether), and that he fought armed with a bokken he had carved from an oar on his way to the duel (in his rush he had forgotten his sword behind), while Kojiro used a real sword. He mocked Kojiro when the older man threw away his scabbard, remarking that he would not need it again. According to accounts of the fight, the two men struck hard at each other's heads, and while Kojiro's blade cut through Musashi's headband, Musashi struck faster, and the impromptu bokken split Kojiro's skull before he could complete his blow. After this duel, Musashi rarely fought anyone using a real sword (how badass is that?). One account has him defeating a swordsman simply by guarding himself with a tessen (an iron defensive fan) until his opponent became tired and submitted.
I also like him because he wrote, did metalworking, sculpture, etc....Go Rin No Sho (the book of five rings) is probably one of the best known books of all time by swordsmen, he also wrote a lesser known Heiho Sanjugokajo (the 35 articles on the art of swordsmanship): the basic principles of Niten Ich-Ryu (kenjutsu)
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