List of mercenaries

This is a list of mercenaries. It includes foreign volunteers, private military contractors, and other "soldiers of fortune".

Antiquity

Name	Life	Years active	Allegiance (Organization)	Comments
Alexon		250 BC	Carthaginian Empire	Greek mercenary from Achaea who served in the Carthaginian garrison at Lilybaeum while it was besieged by the Romans during the First Punic War. Foiled a plot by Gallic mercenaries to surrender Lilybaeum to the enemy.
Autaritus	d. 238 BC		Carthaginian Empire	Leader of the Gallic mercenaries in the Carthaginian army during the First Punic War. He turned against Carthage in the Mercenary War and was crucified by Hamilcar Barca after his capture.
Charidemus	d. 333 BC	367–333 BC	Athens	Greek mercenary leader who served Athens, Thrace and Rhodes.
Clearchus of Sparta		411–401 BC		Spartan general and mercenary leader who joined Cyrus the Younger in his attempt to seize the Persian throne from Artaxerxes III.
Diogenes of Judea			Hasmonean Kingdom	Jewish soldier in the service of Alexander Jannaeus. In revenge for the support of certain Pharisees for Demetrius III of Syria's invasion of Judea, Diogenes advised Alexander to crucify 800 Pharisee scholars in front of their families.
Memnon of Rhodes	380–333 BC	334–333 BC	First Persian Empire	Commander of the Greek mercenaries in the service of Darius III when Alexander the Great invaded Persia in 334 BC.
Mathos	d. 237 BC	241–237 BC	Carthaginian Empire	Berber mercenary leader who fought for Carthage in Sicily during the First Punic War. He later led a revolt against Carthage during the Mercenary War but was defeated by Hamilcar Barca and crucified.
Mentor of Rhodes	385–340 BC	358–340 BC		Greek mercenary who fought both for and against Artaxerxes III of Persia. He is also known as the first husband of Barsine, who later became mistress to Alexander the Great.
Naravas			Carthaginian Empire	Berber mercenary leader who served Carthage during the First Punic War. Unlike his fellow mercenaries, he remained loyal to Carthage during the Mercenary War and helped Hamilcar Barca crush the rebel leaders.
Phalaecus	d. 343 BC			Deposed ruler of Phocis who formed a mercenary army and fought for Knossos in Crete.
Proxenus of Boeotia	431–401 BC	401 BC	First Persian Empire	A friend of Cyrus the Younger and Xenophon, he was one of the four ill-fated generals who accompanied Clearchus of Sparta to Tissaphernes.
Pythagoras the Spartan		401 BC	First Persian Empire	Spartan admiral hired to command the first fleet of Cyrus the Younger during his campaign to claim the Persian throne.
Socrates of Achaea	436–401 BC	401 BC		Greek mercenary general from Achaea who traveled to Persia to fight at the Battle of Cunaxa.
Xanthippus		255–245 BC	Carthaginian Empire	Spartan mercenary general hired by the Carthaginians to aid in their war against the Romans during the First Punic War. Credited for developing military tactics used by Carthage, he led Carthaginian soldiers into the battle of Tunis where the Roman expeditionary force was routed and the Roman consul Marcus Atilius Regulus was captured.
Xenias of Arcadia			First Persian Empire	Greek commander of mercenaries in the service of Cyrus the Younger.
Xenophon	430–354 BC	401–371 BC	Peloponnesian League	Athenian-born general who served Sparta during the Peloponnesian War.

Medieval

Name	Life	Years active	Allegiance (Organization)	Comments
Arnaud de Cervole	1320–1366	?-1366	Papal States Kingdom of France	French mercenary soldier and brigand of the Hundred Years' War. He was murdered by his own men while planning with Pope Urban V to lead a new Crusade to the Holy Land.
Bernard Szumborski	d. 1470	1454–1470	Teutonic Knights	Moravian knight and who led a mercenary army during the Thirteen Years' War. He was hired by the Teutonic Knights during the Battle of Chojnice and was later sent to relieve the besieged city three years later. Szumborski committed a number of atrocities during the conflict and was eventually poisoned.
Bolli Bollason			Byzantine Empire	Viking mercenary who became the first-known West Norseman in the Varangian Guard.
Domnall na Madhmann Mac Suibhne				Gallowglass associate of Rath Glas.
Eustace the Monk	1170–1217	1205–1212	England	French mercenary and pirate who raided the Normandy coast on behalf of King John of England until his defection to France in 1212. He supported the rebel faction during the First Barons' War and ferried Prince Louis across the English Channel in 1216. He was executed after his capture at the Battle of Sandwich the following year.
Frederick of Castile	1223–1277	1260–1270	Hafsid Dynasty	After his exile from Castile, Frederick served under his brother Henry as a knight errant in the service of Tunisian emir al-Mustansir.
Gérard d'Athée		1211–1215	England	French mercenary employed by King John of England to control southern Wales.
Henry of Castile the Senator	1230–1303	1259–1268	Hafsid Dynasty	A son of Ferdinand III of Castile, Henry commanded Spanish knights in the service of Tunisian emir al-Mustansir. He also assisted his cousin, Charles of Anjou, becoming King of Sicily in 1266.
Hereward the Wake	1035–1072		Flanders	English rebel leader and outlaw who resisted the Norman conquest of England. Prior to the Norman invasion, Hereward was a mercenary in the service of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders.
Isnardo Guarco	1380–1458			Genoese politician and mercenary leader.
John Hawkwood	1323–1394	1360–1392	Florence
Lobar the Wolf				Leader of Brabançon mercenaries that fought in numerous battles all across Europe in the latter half of the twelfth century.
Martin Algai	1100s-1212	1196-1211	England	Navarrese mercenary captain who fought for King Richard I and King John of England. Later fought for Simon de Montfort in the Albigensian Crusade.
Martin Schwartz		1475–1487		Germanic mercenary who fought for Lambert Simnel, a Yorkist pretender to the English throne.
Owain Lawgoch	1330–1378	1369–1378	France	Welsh soldier who served in Spain, France, Alsace, and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French against the English in the Hundred Years' War.
Peter I, Count of Urgell	1187–1258		Morocco	Son of King Sancho I of Portugal who commanded a mercenary army of Christian exiles and adventurers in the service of Yusuf II, the Almohad Caliph of Morocco.
Rainulf Drengot		1016–1045		Norman adventurer and mercenary in southern Italy.
Robert Guiscard	1015–1085	1047–1085		Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily.
Rodrigo de Villandrando		1410–1443	Gascony	Spanish mercenary leader in Gascony during the final phase of the Hundred Years' War.
Roger Deslaur				Spanish almogàver in the service of Walter V of Brienne. One of the few knights to survive the bloody Battle of Halmyros, he became a member of the Catalan Company after his capture.
Roger de Flor	1267–1305		Byzantine Empire	Sicilian adventurer and condottiere active in Aragonese Sicily, Italy and the Byzantine Empire.
Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqara	1438–1506	1457–1470		Timurid ruler of Herat. During Bayqara's exile from his homeland, he served as a mercenary soldier to Sultan Sanjar Mirza of Merv.
Thomas of Galloway		1212–1228	England Scotland	Gall-Gaidhil prince and adventurer who was employed as an agent for his brother Alan of Galloway as well as English and Scottish kings.
Werner von Urslingen	1308–1354		Holy Roman Empire	Germanic mercenary in the service of the Holy Roman Empire.
William Iron Arm		1035–1046		Norman adventurer who was the founder of the Hauteville family.
William of Ypres	1090–1164	1139–1154		Flemish mercenary commander who served as Stephen of England's chief lieutenant during The Anarchy.

Early modern

Name	Life	Years active	Allegiance (Organization)	Comments
Selman Reis		1515–1538	Mamluk Sultanate	Ottoman admiral and corsair who commanded a group of 2,000 armed Levantines for the Mamluk navy during the Portuguese–Mamluk naval war.
Arnold Winkelried	d. 1522	1514–1522	Milan	A notorious mercenary leader during the early 16th century, Winkelried was knighted by the Milanese duke Maximilian Sforza in 1514. He instigated by Cardinal Matthäus Schiner to engage in the skirmish that led to the disastrous Battle of Marignano that same year. Winkelried later entered French service and was killed in single combat by his former commander Georg von Frundsberg at the Battle of Bicocca.
Sava Temišvarac		1594–1612	Holy Roman Empire	Serbian military commander in the service of the Transylvania and then the Holy Roman Empire during the Long Turkish War. He and Bishop Teodor of Vršac led the Uprising in Banat in 1594.
Enno Brandrøk	1538–1571	1557–1571	Denmark England Scotland Spain	Son of Norwegian-born privateer and admiral Kristoffer Trondson, Brandrøk served as a Landsknecht in Denmark, England, Scotland and Spain.
Migliorino Ubaldini			Scotland	Italian military engineer working in Scotland. He designed new fortifications at the entrances of Edinburgh Castle, Dunbar Castle, and possibly the walled town of Leith.
György Dózsa	1470–1514			Székely man-at-arms who led a peasants' revolt in the Kingdom of Hungary. Prior to the revolt, he was a soldier of fortune during the wars against the Ottoman Empire
Thomas of Argos		1545–1546	Kingdom of England	Commanded a battalion of Greek stratioti who served as mercenaries with the English army during Henry VIII's wars against Scotland.
Ioan Iacob Heraclid	1511–1563	1551–1561	Holy Roman Empire	A Greek soldier of fortune who fought in the Holy Roman Empire armies of Charles V in his war against Henry II of France. Heraclid seized the throne of Moldova while in the service of Voivode Alexandru Lăpușneanu and, as the Protestant monarch in Eastern Europe, ruled for two years before his murder by Ștefan Tomșa.
Maarten Schenck van Nydeggen	1543–1589	1578–1589	Netherlands Spain	Dutch nobleman who left the Spanish Empire to join the Dutch Republic.
Götz von Berlichingen	1480–1562	1498–1544		Imperial knight and mercenary active in numerous campaigns during a period of 47 years.
Ernst von Mansfeld	1580–1626			A son of Count Peter Ernst von Mansfeld, Ernst von Mansfeld was a noted mercenary commander during the Thirty Years' War
Georg von Frundsberg	1473–1528	1492–1527		Landsknecht commander in the service of the Imperial House of Habsburg.
Giorgio Basta	1544–1607		Holy Roman Empire	Neapolitan general employed by Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor to command Habsburg forces in the Long War.
Lucrezio Gravisi	1558–1613	1574–	Prussia Portugal Spain	Venetian freelance soldier and knight who served in Muscovy, Prussia, Portugal and Spain.
Roger Williams	1540–1595	1557–1594		Welsh soldier of fortune and military theorist.
Osman Pazvantoğlu	1758–1807			Ottoman soldier who led a mercenary army against Sultan Selim III.
René Descartes	1596–1650			Fought for both Protestant Maurice of Nassau and Catholic Maximilian I during the Thirty Years' War.
Sebastian Peregrin Zwyer	1597–1661	1612–1642	Milan Spain	In his 30-year career, Zwyer served as a mercenary soldier in the service of Spain and Milan, the Habsburg emperors Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III during the Thirty Years' War, and in northern Italy.
Sigmund von Erlach	1614–1699		France	Swiss mercenary commander in the services of Bernard of Saxe-Weimar and France during the Thirty Years War.
Kaspar von Silenen		1506–1517		First Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.
Sampiero Corso	1498–1567	1512–1567	France	A condottiero mercenary at age 14, Corso served the Medici family and Pope Clement VII and the French House of Valois during the early 16th century.
Robert Murray	d. 1719		Netherlands	Scottish soldier and son of Sir Robert Murray, Lord Provost of Edinburgh. A veteran of the Nine Years' War, Murray was an officer in a Scots regiment for the Dutch States Army.
John Parker Boyd	1764–1830	1793–1808		A soldier of fortune who served in the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad in Central India.
George Rogers Clark	1752–1818	1793–1794	France	Leader of the Kentucky militia during the American Revolutionary War. After the war, Clark offered his services to France and planned a campaign with ambassador Edmond-Charles Genêt to drive the Spanish out of the Mississippi Valley.
Rowland York	d. 1588	1572–1588	Netherlands Spain	English soldier of fortune who served under Humphrey Gilbert and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester in the Spanish Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War. York later betrayed the Earl by turning over the Zutphen sconce to the enemy and accepting an offer to command lancers in Spanish service.
Pontus De la Gardie	1520–1585		Denmark Sweden	French nobleman in the service of Denmark and Sweden.
Thomas Stukley	1520–1578	1551–1578	France	English mercenary who fought in France, Ireland and Morocco.
Simon Harcourt	1603–1642	1619–1636	Netherlands	English soldier of fortune in the service of the Prince of Orange.
John Ruthven		1627–1638	Denmark Sweden	Scottish military officer who served in Denmark and Sweden during the Thirty Years' War.
Patrick Ruthven, 1st Earl of Forth	1573–1651	1609–1637	Sweden	Scottish nobleman and diplomat who served Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War.
George Sinclair	1580–1612	1607–1612	Sweden	Scottish mercenary who fought for Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in the Kalmar War. He and his men were ambushed and killed by Norwegian peasant militia at the Battle of Kringen.
William Baillie			Sweden	Scottish professional soldier who commanded a regiment under Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.
Mark Alexander Boyd	1562–1601	1587–	France	Scottish poet and soldier of fortune who took part in the religious wars of France.
Sir James Ramsay	1589–1638	1603–1638	Sweden	Scottish soldier, known as "Black Ramsay", who served Gustavus Adolphus, during the Thirty Years' War.
Peter Hagendorf		1625–1649	Holy Roman Empire	German mercenary soldier in the Thirty Years' War. His wartime diary is credited for giving a unique historic record of the life in the contemporary army from the viewpoint of a simple Landsknecht.
Paul Menesius	1637–1694	1658–1694	Russian Empire	Scottish soldier and diplomat in the service of the Tsar Alexis of Russia.
Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge	1611–1662	1627–1662	Sweden	Scottish cavalry general in Swedish service during the Thirty Years' War and Swedish-Polish wars.
William Drummond, 1st Viscount Strathallan	1617–1688	1655–1665	Russian Empire	Scottish soldier and politician who served as Lieutenant-General in the Muscovite army.
Patrick Gordon	1635–1699	1655–1699	Russian Empire	Scottish general and rear admiral in the service of Peter the Great.
James Francis Edward Keith	1696–1758	1726–1758	Prussia Russian Empire Spain	Scottish Jacobite who became a mercenary after the failed attempt to restore the Stuart Monarchy in Britain. He initially fought for the Spanish and Russian Empires before serving in the Prussian army under Frederick the Great. He eventually rose to the rank of field marshal and was killed during the Seven Years' War at the Battle of Hochkirk.
David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark	1600–1682	1630–1640	Sweden	Fought for the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus as a professional soldier during the Thirty Years' War.
Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven	1582–1661	1605–1637	Netherlands Sweden	Scottish soldier in Dutch and Swedish service.
James Lumsden	1598–1660	1632–1639	Sweden	Scottish soldier who served in the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War.
Anders Mowatt of Hugoland	1535–1611	1587–1610	Denmark	Scottish merchant who served as an admiral in the Danish Navy under Christian IV of Denmark.
Samuel Cockburn	1574–1621		Sweden	Scottish soldier who participated in the Swedish civil war between Sigismund Vasa and Duke Karl IX.
Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot	d. 1664		France	Scottish soldier who served in the French army of Louis XIV during the Thirty Years' War.
Anthony Pohlmann			United Kingdom	Hanoverian soldier who served in the armies of the British East India Company and Daulat Scindia.
Donald Cameron of Lochiel	1700–1748			Scottish Highland chieftain involved in the Jacobite rising of 1745.
Baron Munchausen	1720–1797	1735–1760	Russian Empire	Nobleman who fought for the Russian Empire in the Russo-Turkish War.
Alejandro O'Reilly	1722–1794	1762–1794	Spain	An Irish Jaboite who left Ireland during the Flight of the Wild Geese to fight in foreign Catholic armies. He entered Spanish service and rose to become a military reformer, brigadier general and governor of colonial Louisiana.
Robert Douglas	1727–1809	1778–1794	Netherlands	Scottish-born soldier who served as a major-general in Dutch service. He was governor of the garrison city 's-Hertogenbosch 1784 to 1794.
John Sherlock	1705–1794	1727–1775	Spain	Irish-born brigadier general of the Spanish Empire's Ultonia Regiment. He successfully defended Melilla during a 100-day siege by Moroccan troops.
George Thomas	1756–1802	1781–1798		Irish mercenary who was active in 18th-century India. From 1798 to 1801, he ruled a small kingdom in India, until his defeat and capture by Scindia's army under French general Pierre Cuillier-Perron.
John Ross	1777–1856	1808–1812	Sweden	British naval officer and Arctic explorer who served in the Swedish Navy.
Jean-François Allard	1785–1839	1815–1839	Persia Punjab	French soldier and adventurer in the service of the Abbas Mirza and Ranjit Singh.
Gregor MacGregor	1786–1845	1812–1819		Scottish adventurer and confidence trickster attempted to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory he claimed to rule as "Cazique".
John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod	1727–1789	1750–1770	Prussia Sweden	Scottish Jacobite and soldier of fortune in the service of Sweden and Prussia.
John Forbes	1733–1808	1762–1808	Portugal	Scottish general in Portuguese service.
Benoît de Boigne	1751–1830	1768–1796	Punjab	A military adventurer who made his fortune and name in India with the Marathas.
Jacob Van Braam	1729–1792	1741–1779	United Kingdom	A Dutch sword master and mercenary in British service. An officer under Lawrence Washington, he is also credited with training his younger half-brother George Washington.
George Hanger, 4th Baron Coleraine	1751–1824	1776–1780	Hesse-Kassel	A British author and eccentric who served in the Hessian Jägers during the American Revolutionary War.
Claude Auguste Court	1793–1880	1827–1843	Punjab	French soldier and mercenary in the service of Ranjit Singh. Attaining the rank of general, Court was considered one of the leading European officers in the Punjab Army.
Pierre Cuillier-Perron	1755–1834	1780–1803		Military adventurer in India who served under Benoît de Boigne. He succeeded De Boigne as commander-in-chief of Sindhia's army until the defeat of Ujjain in 1801. He defected to Great Britain during the Second Anglo-Maratha War after his forces were destroyed by Lord Lake and Sir Arthur Wellesley.
Sidney Smith	1764–1840	1790	Sweden	British naval officer who served in the Royal Swedish Navy in the war between Sweden and Russia.
John Robison	1778–1843	1802–1815		Scottish inventor in the service of Nizam of Hyderabad.
Thomas Sutcliffe	1790–1849	1817–1838	Chile Colombia	English soldier of fortune who served as an army officer in the service of Colombia and Chile.
John Holmes		1829–1848	Sikh Empire	Anglo-Indian mercenary in the service of the Sikh Empire. He served with the Sikh Khalsa Army during the First Anglo-Sikh War.
Paolo Avitabile	1791–1850	1815–1824 1827–1843	Persia Punjab	Neapolitan adventurer who served under Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, Ranjit Singh and Sher Singh in the years following the Napoleonic Wars.
Giuseppe Garibaldi	1807–1882	1833–1854	Brazil Uruguay	One of the founders of modern Italy who led the Redshirts during the Risorgimento. As a youth, he served in military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and Europe.
James Patrick Mahon	1800–1891	1852–1858 1861–1877		Irish journalist and mercenary who fought in Europe, South America and United States during the mid-to late 19th century.
George Dawson Flinter	d. 1838	1816–1838	Spain	Irish adventurer and mercenary who left the British Army to become a staff officer in Spanish service and took part in the First Carlist War.
John de Havilland	1826–1886		Spain	English soldier of fortune who served in Spain under Don Carlos where he became a general in the Spanish Army. An officer of arms at the College of Arms, Havilland is one of two people born in the U.S. to have held that rank.
Stephen Bartlett Lakeman	1823–1900	1853–1856	Ottoman Empire	English adventurer and mercenary soldier who rose to become a general in the Ottoman Empire.
Camillo Ricchiardi	1865–1940	1899–1902	South African Republic	Italian adventurer and journalist who commanded the Italian Volunteer Legion during the Second Boer War.
Prosper Giquel	1835–1886	1861–1885	Qing dynasty	French naval officer who took part in the Taiping rebellion. His time with the Qing government played an important role in the modernization of 19th century China.
Harry Aubrey de Vere Maclean	1848–1920	1877–1908	Morocco	Scottish soldier who served Sultan Mawlay Hassan and Mawlay Abdelaziz as a military instructor to the Moroccan Army.
Frederick Townsend Ward	1831–1862	1852–1862	Qing dynasty	American sailor and soldier of fortune known for his military service in Imperial China during the Taiping Rebellion. He was killed while leading Qing forces at the Battle of Cixi.
Ira Allen	1751–1814		France	One of the founders of Vermont, Allen co-led the Green Mountain Boys during the American Revolutionary War. He went to France in 1795 seeking French army intervention for seizing Canada, to create an independent republic called United Columbia. He bought 20,000 muskets and 24 cannon, but was captured at sea, taken to England, placed on trial, charged with furnishing arms for Irish rebels.
Horace Bell	1830–1918	1859–1861	Nicaragua Mexico	A founding member of the Los Angeles Rangers, Bell was a member of William Walker's filibustering expedition in Nicaragua and Benito Juárez's Army in Mexico during the Reform War.
Parker H. French	1826–1880	1855–1856	Nicaragua	Adventurer and swindler who participated in William Walker's conquest of Nicaragua.
James Long	1793–1822	1819–1822		A former US Army surgeon, Long was involved in two filibustering expeditions against the Spanish Empire. He led the ill-fated led Long Expedition to establish an independent republic in Spanish Texas.
Augustus Magee	1789–1813	1812–1813		A former US Army officer who led a filibustering expedition of Spanish Texas in 1812.
Philo Norton McGiffin	1860-1897	1885-1895		An 1884 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, McGiffin, due to Congressional budget cuts did not receive a billet (a job opening) in the U.S. Navy and went to China looking for naval employment. Just in time for the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, McGiffin, promoted to the rank of captain in the Imperial Chinese Navy, was the executive officer and later commander of the Chinese ironclad Chen Yuen (aka Zhen Yuan) during the Battle of the Yalu River (1894), where he was seriously wounded. McGiffin ultimately died as a result of his wounds in 1897.^[1]^[2]
George Mathews	1739–1812	1810–1812		A Continental Army officer during the American Revolutionary War, Mathews was a key figure in an 1810–1812 filibuster expedition to capture Spanish Florida for the United States.
John A. Quitman	1798–1858	1849–1854		As military governor of Mexico City, Quitman aided Venezuelan filibuster Narciso López's expedition to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule in 1850. He and Mansfield Lovell later attempted a filibustering expedition to Cuba in 1853, however, the plans were abandoned when President Franklin Pierce withdrew his support.
William Walker	1824–1860	1853–1860	Nicaragua	Lawyer and journalist who led several filibustering expeditions into Latin America during the 1850s. He served as president of Nicaragua from 1856 to 1857 when he was defeated by a coalition of Central American armies.
Chatham Roberdeau Wheat	1826–1862	1849–1861	Mexico	An American mercenary and filibusterer who took fought under Narciso López in Cuba and Juan Álvarez in Mexico. He was briefly a member of Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand but returned to the U.S. at the start of the American Civil War.

Industrial

Name	Life	Years active	Allegiance (Organization)	Comments
Frederick Russell Burnham	1861–1947	1893–1897 1900–1901	United Kingdom British South Africa Company	American scout and adventurer who served with the British South Africa Company and the British Army in colonial Africa.
Lee Christmas	1863–1924	1897–1923	Honduras	American engineer who fought with rebel groups in Central America during the early 20th century. Initially employed as a railroad engineer in Honduras, he was kidnapped by rebels in 1897. Christmas eventually joined their cause and became a close associate of General Manuel Bonilla.
Morris Cohen	1887–1970	1922–1943	Tongmenghui Republic of China (1912–1949)	Polish-born British adventurer who became aide-de-camp to Dr. Sun Yat-sen and a major-general in the Chinese National Revolutionary Army.
George Washington Dixon	1801–1861	1847		American singer and stage actor best known as one of the earliest blackface performers. A controversial newspaper editor, Dixon took part in a failed filibustering expedition to the Yucatán in 1847.
Josiah Harlan	1799–1871	1824–1839	Sikh Empire Emirate of Afghanistan United Kingdom	American adventurer who traveled to Afghanistan and Punjab with the intention of making himself a king. Rudyard Kipling's short story The Man Who Would Be King is partly based on his life.
Charles Frederick Henningsen	1815–1877	1834–1863	Carlists Circassia Hungarian State (1849) Nicaragua CSA	An English mercenary and munitions expert who fought in the First Carlist War, Russian-Circassian War, Hungarian Revolution of 1848, and the U.S. Civil War. Henningsen was involved in several filibustering expeditions during the 1850s including, most notably, William Walker's campaign in Nicaragua.
Emilio Kosterlitzky	1853–1928	1871–1913	Mexico	Russian-born soldier of fortune, known as the "Mexican Cossack", who participated in the Mexican Apache Wars and Yaqui Wars. Imprisoned during the Mexican Revolution, Kosterlitzky was freed after the intervention of the U.S. in 1914.
Homer Lea	1876–1912	1899–1912	Tongmenghui	American adventurer involved with Chinese reform and revolutionary movements in the early twentieth century. A close associate of Dr. Sun Yat-sen during the 1911 Chinese Republican revolution.
Henry McIver	1841–1907	1857–1884	United Kingdom<br/ >Kingdom of Italy<br/ > Carlists<br/ >Second Mexican Empire<br/ >Principality of Serbia<br/ > British East India Company	American soldier of fortune who fought for 18 countries during his 27-year career.
Robert Hale Merriman	1908-1938	1937-1938	Spanish Republic International Brigades	American doctoral student who fought with the Republican forces in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. He was killed while commanding the Abraham Lincoln Battalion of the International Brigades.
Thaddeus P. Mott	1831–1894	1848–1857 1868–1879	Kingdom of Italy Mexico Ottoman Empire<br/ >Khedivate of Egypt	American adventurer and ex-soldier who fought in Mexico, Italy, and Turkey. As an advisor to Sultan Abdulaziz, Mott recruited former Union and Confederate soldiers for service in the Egyptian Army.
Carol Ap Rhys Pryce	1876–1955	1911	Mexico	Indian-Born Welsh soldier of fortune. Noted for his role in the 1911 Magonista rebellion in Baja California as an officer with the Mexican Foreign Legion.
Prince Felix von Salm-Salm	1820–1870	1846–1870	Austrian Empire United States Second Mexican Empire	Prussian cavalry officer in the First Schleswig War that went on to serve the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Sardinian War, the American Union Army, the Second Mexican Empire, and lastly for Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War.
Rafael de Nogales Méndez	1879–1937	1898–1933	Ottoman Empire Spain Mexico Nicaragua	Venezuelan adventurer and writer who took part in the Russo-Japanese War, Spanish–American War and various uprisings in Latin America. Méndez served with the Ottoman Empire during World War I where he was a witness to the Armenian genocide.
Abdul Injai		1905–1915	Kingdom of Portugal<br/ > Portugal	Muslim Wolof mercenary in colonial Portuguese Guinea at the turn of the 20th century.
Frederic Ives Lord	1897–1967	1917–1919 1936–1945	Mexico United Kingdom White Army Spanish Republic	Royal Flying Corps flying ace during the First World War and Russian Civil War. He was also served as a military advisor to the Mexican air force during the Mexican Revolution.
Carl Gustaf von Rosen	1909–1977	1936–1977	Ethiopian Empire Finland Biafra Derg	A volunteer pilot for Finland during the Winter War and Biafra during the Biafran War. A pioneer aviator, Rosen flew relief missions in a number of conflicts from the 1930s to 1970s.
Francis Arthur Sutton	1884–1944	1918?–1928	Manchuria	English adventurer, known as "One Arm Sutton", who served as a major general for Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin.
Ivor Thord-Gray	1878–1964	1893–1919	United Kingdom Cape Colony Kenya Colony United States Philippines Republic of China (1912-1949) Mexico White Army	Swedish adventurer who participated in 13 different wars across several continents.
Frank Glasgow Tinker	1909–1939	1936–1937	Spanish Republic	Volunteer fighter pilot and top American ace for the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War.
Amleto Vespa	1888–1944	1922–1941	Manchuria Empire of Japan	Fascist mercenary, spy and weapons smuggler who worked for Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin and later for the Empire of Japan.
Jan Zumbach	1915–1986	1940–1967	France UK Katanga Biafra	A Swiss-born Polish fighter pilot who served with the British, French and Polish Air Force during World War II. He also took part in the Congo Crisis and Nigerian Civil War as an air force commander during the 1960s.

Modern

Name	Life	Years active	Allegiance (Organization)	Comments
Roland Bartetzko	1970–	1987-1992 (military service) 1992-1999 (for Bosnia and Kosovo)	Germany Herzeg-Bosnia, Kosovo Liberation Army	Convicted of terrorism in 2002 for a car bombing that killed one and wounded four others. Sentenced to 23 years imprisonment, later reduced to 20 years. Released in 2015.
Masaki Takabe	1960–	1986-1995	Afghan mujahideen Croatian Defence Council Karen National Liberation Army	Fought in the Soviet–Afghan War, Myanmar conflict and Bosnian War.^{[citation needed]}
Ken Rhee	1984–	2007-2014 (military service) 2022 (for Ukraine)	Republic of Korea Navy International Legion (Ukraine)	A former Republic of Korea Navy Special Warfare Flotilla operator, Rhee served with International Legion Ukraine during Russian invasion of Ukraine. He also have own consultant security company and YouTube channel named ROKSEAL
Roger Faulques	1924– 2011	1944–1970	French Forces of the Interior France State of Katanga Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen Biafra	He fought in World War II, the First Indochina War, the Suez Crisis, the Algerian War, the Congo Crisis, the North Yemen Civil War and the Nigerian Civil War. He is one of France's most decorated soldiers.
Joseph Adams		1970s– 1980s	Nicaragua Contras	Bodyguard and military adviser of Adolfo Calero, one of the leaders of the Contra rebellion in Nicaragua.
George Bacon	1946–1976	1975–1976	Angola FNLA	A former Green Beret and CIA operative, Bacon served with the National Liberation Front of Angola during the Angolan Civil War.
Hilaire du Berrier	1906–2002		Ethiopian Empire Spanish Republic Republic of China France	Pilot and spy who fought with the Ethiopian Air Force in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, joined the Republican Air Force in the Spanish Civil War as a nationalist spy, and later operated a spy network for the Chinese, in cooperation with France, against the Japanese in the Second Sino-Japanese War
Frank Camper	1946–		El Salvador Guatemala Mexico Yemen	A Vietnam War veteran and Defense Intelligence Agency employee who operated as a freelance mercenary in El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Yemen. He later operated the Recondo mercenary training school near Dolomite, Alabama. According to the FBI, Camper was personally responsible for saving the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's life in 1985.
Claire Lee Chennault	1893–1958	1941–1958	Republic of China Burma Thailand France South Vietnam Cambodia Laos	Founder and Commander of American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers). Founder of Civil Air Transport (Later known as Air America). Post Commander of American Legion China Post 1 Shanghai.
Thomas W. Chittum	1947–	early 1970s–1992	Croatia Rhodesia	A Vietnam War veteran who fought in the Rhodesian War and Croatian War of Independence.
/ Charlie Christodoulou	1951–1976	1975–1976	Angola FNLA	Greek Cypriot-born British mercenary killed in an ambush in Angola during the Angolan War of Independence.
John Alan Coey	1950–1975	1972–1975	Rhodesia	A former United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate who left to join the Rhodesian Light Infantry. He was killed in action in 1975 and was the first American to die in the Rhodesian Bush War.
Andrew J. Moonen	1980–	2006–2007	Iraq	Former employee of Blackwater Security, accused by the Iraq government of murdering Raheem Khalif, a security guard of the Iraqi Vice-president, Adel Abdul Mahdi.
/ Yves Debay	1954–2013	late 1970s–1986	Rhodesia South Africa	Congolese-born Belgian mercenary who served in the Rhodesian Bush War and South African Border War. He became war correspondent in 1986 and covered wars in Afghanistan, both Iraq wars, Lebanon, the Balkans, Libya and Syria. Debay was the first Belgian journalist killed during the Syrian civil war.
Peter Kemp	1913–1993	1936–1946	Nationalist United Kingdom	British SOE Agent who worked with WW2 resistance fighters in Albania, Poland and Indochina. Also fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Nationalist.
Rafał Gan-Ganowicz	1932–2002	1950–1969	United States Congo-Léopoldville Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen	Polish Anti-Communist Mercenary who was a member of the Polish government-in-exile and fought in the Congo Crisis and the North Yemen Civil War.
Jordan Goudreau	1976–	2018– 2020	United States (alleged)	Former US Special Forces Sergeant. Founder of Silvercorp USA. Organized the failed Macuto Bay Incursion into Venezuela.
Abraham Golan		2015	Yemen United Arab Emirates	Founder of Spear Operations Group. Led former US Special Operators and French Legionnaires on combat raids and assassinations in Yemen.
Jonathan "Jack" Idema	1956–2012	1984–2004	Honduras El Salvador Lithuania United States (alleged) Northern Alliance (alleged) TISA (alleged)	Former US Special Forces Sergeant. Alleged Advisor to Afghan Northern Alliance. Commander of Task Force Saber 7. Alleged freelance interrogator. Convicted by Afghan Government of kidnapping, running a private prison and torture.
Pedro Marangoni	1949	1968– 1980	Brazil France Mozambique Rhodesia Spain ^[3]
Jean Schramme	1929–1988	1961–1968	Katanga Congo-Léopoldville	Belgian planter who turned mercenary during the Congo Crisis and led the 1967 uprising in Katanga against Colonel Mobutu Sese Seko.
Tex O'Reilly	1880–1946	1900s–1920s	Mexico División del Norte Spain	An American adventurer and soldier of fortune who participated in the Banana Wars, Mexican Revolution and the Rif War during the early 20th century.
Robert C. MacKenzie	1948–1995	1970–1985	Rhodesia South Africa Transkei Sierra Leone	An ex-Vietnam War veteran who served as an officer with the Rhodesian Special Air Service, South African Defence Force, and Transkei Defense Force. He was later a contributing editor for Soldier of Fortune and covered conflicts around the globe.
Dean Ivan Lamb	1886–1956	1912–1923	Honduras Mexico Paraguay	A mercenary fighter pilot who took part in the Mexican Revolution, World War I and the Second Paraguayan Civil War. He also helped to establish the Honduran Air Force in 1921.
Abu Nidal	1937–2002	1967–2002	Rejectionist Front	Founder of the Abu Nidal Organization.
Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (Carlos the Jackal)	1949–	1970–1994	PFLP-terrorists Stasi Ba'athist Iraq	Venezuelan Communist known for committing several terrorist attacks in Europe and the Middle East, most notably the OPEC siege in 1975.
Bruce Conde	1913–1992	1962–1970	Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen	Stamp collector and royal impostor who served as a general with Royalist forces in the North Yemen Civil War.
Harold Edward Dahl	1909–1956	1936–1945	Spanish Republic Canada	Mercenary pilot who was a member of Andrés García La Calle's "American Patrol" group during the Spanish Civil War.
/ Sam Dreben	1878–1925	1907–1917	Mexico Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua	A World War I war hero popularly known as "The Fighting Jew". He also fought as a mercenary during the Banana Wars and Mexican Revolution.
Sam Hall	1937–2014	1980s	Nicaragua Contras	One time U.S. Olympian who fought on the side of anti-communist forces as a military advisor to the Nicaraguan Contras.
Peter McAleese	1942–2024	1976-early 1990s	Angola FNLA Rhodesia South Africa Colombia	An ex-British Army N.C.O who served with elite units such as the Parachute Regiment and Special Air Service, the Rhodesian Special Air Service and the Selous Scouts branch of the British South Africa Police, and South Africa's 44 Parachute Brigade and 32 Battalion. As a mercenary he fought alongside the FNLA and attempted to assassinate Pablo Escobar on behalf of the Cali Cartel.
Bob Denard	1929–2007	1961–1995	Katanga Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen Congo-Léopoldville Rhodesia Biafra Gabon People's Republic of Benin Comoros	French soldier and mercenary who operated in many African countries during the Cold War. He is, to date, the only mercenary who has ruled over a nation. However, he did not hold political office and ruled through the puppet president he ousted previously, Ahmed Abdallah.
Dominique Borella	1927–1975	1945–1975	Khmer Republic Lebanon	French soldier and mercenary who fought in the Algerian War, Cambodian Civil War and the Lebanese Civil War.
Rolf Steiner	1933–	1950–1971	France OAS Biafra Anyanya	Soldier of fortune who led the 4th Commando Brigade in the Biafran Army during the Nigerian Civil War, and later served with the Anyanya rebels in southern Sudan.
// Mike Hoare	1919–2020	1960–1983	Katanga Congo-Léopoldville Seychelles	An Indian-born Irish mercenary leader known for military activities in Africa and his attempt to conduct a coup d'état in the Seychelles.
/Siegfried Müller	1920–1983	1962–1965	Congo-Léopoldville	A former Wehrmacht officer-candidate who fought as a mercenary under Major Mike Hoare in the Congo Crisis.
Lynn Garrison	1937–	1967–1970	Biafra	Flew as a combat pilot in various conflicts, most notably the Nigerian Civil War, and later acted as a military and political advisor, allegedly with the support of a number of US Government agencies and various U.S. senators.
/ Fred Marafano	1940–2013	1984–2006	Sierra Leone Executive Outcomes	Fijian-born British Special Air Service operative turned mercenary who fought in the Sierra Leone civil war as a member of Executive Outcomes.^[4]
/ Costas Georgiou	1951–1976	1975–1976	Angola FNLA	Greek Cypriot-born British mercenary executed in Angola following the Luanda Trial for activities during the civil war phase of the Angolan War of Independence.
Philip Sessarego	1952–2008	1979–1993	Sri Lanka Mujahideen Afghanistan Croatia	Failed SAS Selection candidate who became a soldier of fortune and claimed to have trained Mujahideen in Afghanistan before faking his own death in 1993.
Simon Mann	1952–2025	1993–2004	Executive Outcomes Angola Sierra Leone Papua New Guinea Equatorial Guinea	Former British Army officer who was imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea for his role in a failed coup d'état in 2004.
Tim Spicer	1952–	1994–	Sandline International Aegis Defense Services Papua New Guinea Sierra Leone Iraq	A British Army officer turned military contractor. He served as CEO of Sandline International from 1995 to 2000 before co-founding Aegis Defence Services.
/ Eduardo Rózsa-Flores	1960–2009	1991–1994	Croatia	A war correspondent for La Vanguardia and the Spanish unit of the BBC World Service, Rózsa-Flores joined the Croatian National Guard during the Croatian War of Independence. As the group's first foreign volunteer, he helped form the Croatian army's First International Unit. Rózsa-Flores was later killed in a police raid during a meeting to allegedly plan the assassination of Bolivian president Evo Morales.
Yair Klein	1943–		Lebanon Colombia Medellín Cartel Revolutionary United Front	A former Israeli Army officer who founded the private mercenary company Spearhead Ltd. The organization provided arms and training to armed forces in South America, Lebanon, and Sierra Leone.
Nick du Toit			Equatorial Guinea	South African arms dealer and mercenary implicated in the 2004 plot to overthrow Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.
Tullio Moneta	1937–2022	1964–1981	South Africa Seychelles	Italian-born South African mercenary who served under Mike Hoare in the Congo. He was second-in-command to Hoare during the failed 1981 coup at Mahe Airport in the Seychelles. Moneta was sentenced to five years in prison.
Neall Ellis	1949–	Late 1960s–1971 1996–2004	Rhodesia Executive Outcomes Sandline International Sierra Leone	An ex-South African Air Force pilot, Ellis later contracted for various private military corporations including Executive Outcomes and Sandline International. During the civil war in Sierra Leone, he and his crew held off Revolutionary United Front forces almost single-handedly before the capital was overrun.
/ Taffy Williams	1933–1996	1960–1970	Katanga Biafra	Welsh-born mercenary who served in Biafra and the Congo with Mike Hoare and 5 Commando (Congo).
Kelvyn Alp	1971–	1996–2002	Māori	Founder of the New Zealand Armed Intervention Force. Though founded as a mercenary organisation, it was referred to in the media as a Māori separatist group.
/ Jackie Arklöv	1973–	1992–1999	Croatia	Liberian-born Swedish mercenary who took part in Yugoslav Wars. He was imprisoned for war crimes in Bosnia but eventually returned to Sweden in a prisoner exchange. Arklöv later joined the neo-Nazi group led by Tony Olsson and participated in their 1999 crime spree that led to the deaths of two police officers.
Mitchell WerBell III	1918–1983	1950–1973	Cuba Dominican Republic	An ex-Office of Strategic Services guerrilla operative, arms dealer and weapons designer who served as a security advisor to Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo and to the Batista regime in Cuba during the 1950s. Also involved with various rebel groups in the Caribbean and Central America during the Cold War.
Satria Arta Kumbara	late 1980s	2025	Indonesia Russia	An Indonesian Marine Corps deserter in 2022, he was a mercenary for Russian Ground Forces in Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2025.^[5] However he went back to his country after Indonesian government revoked his citizenship.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ Andrade, Tonio. (2016) The Gunpowder Age, China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History. New Jersey, USA & Oxshireford, UK. Princeton University Press. P. 287-290
^ McGiffin, Lee. (1968) Yankee of the Yalu, Philo Norton McGiffin, American Captain in the Chinese Navy (1885-1895). New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. P. 35, 36, 96
^ "A brief biography of Pedro Marangoni, listing some of his involvement around the world". terryaspinall.com. Archived June 20, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-20.
^ "Fred Marafono: Soldier who served in the SAS and fought the rebels in". The Independent. Archived 2023-03-27 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-21.
^ "Satria Kumbara Hilang Kabar Usai Gabung Tentara Bayaran Rusia" (in id-ID). nasional. Retrieved 2026-03-02.

Brooks, M. Evan. Military History's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Improbable Victories, Unlikely Heroes, and Other Martial Oddities. Potomac Books, 2002.
Davis, Richard Harding. Six Who Dared: The Lives of Six Great Soldiers of Fortune. Fireship Press, 2007.
Lanning, Michael Lee. Mercenaries: Soldiers of Fortune, from Ancient Greece to Today's Private Military Companies. Random House Publishing Group, 2007.
Mockler, Anthony. The Mercenaries: The Men Who Fight for Profit – from the Free Companies of Feudal France to the White Adventurers in the Congo. Macmillan, 1969.

List of mercenaries

Antiquity

Medieval

Early modern

Industrial

Modern

References

Further reading

Connections

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