Deadliest Warrior (2009) s03e07 Episode Script
Ivan the terrible vs. Hernan Cortes
fuego! [Cannon blasts; screaming.]
Spain versus Russia.
Ivan the terrible Versus Hernan Cortes.
[Grunting.]
When you're looking at cortes, He's an adventurer, he's a soldier of fortune, He takes a group of under 1,000 guys And brings it to the new world.
And what does he want? What's his objective? It's gold.
And if you knew where it was Or if he thought you knew where it was, This guy could be incredibly cruel.
With ivan, this guy was humiliated as a boy, Forced to bide his time.
And when he finally becomes a czar, He rules with an iron fist, Building an empire that he dedicates to his god.
I mean, you've got these guys That have proven if you're committed, If you're cunning and you're cold-Blooded, You too can be a conqueror.
You got crazy guys.
It's gonna be off the charts When it comes to who's gonna kill who.
Let's get it started.
Ivan the terrible, Russia's sadistic 16th century czar, Whose murderous mounted death squads Built Europe's largest empire of its time Takes on Hernan Cortes, the brutal spanish explorer, Whose conquistadors conquered The largest empire in north america Of the 16th century.
It's a battle of the butchers As two of history's cruelest conquerors face off.
Who is deadliest? To find out, the history of war and modern science collide As former navy seal richard "mack" machowicz dives deep Into the tactics of the warriors behind the weapons.
To unlock new data on arsenals of the past.
And e.
R.
Physician armand dorian dissects the trauma And reveals the physical and psychological traits That shaped these legends of war.
This ground-Breaking data will be paired With historical research and entered Into an all-New digital combat engine.
Two legendary combatants will be resurrected.
History will be rewritten.
But only one will be crowned deadliest warrior.
Welcome to the fight club.
Our experts will unlock new historical insights To determine which 16th century conqueror is deadliest-- Ivan the terrible, the Russian czar who ravaged Over 1 1/2 million square miles of Europe, Or Hernan Cortes, Who brought down a kingdom of 5 million aztecs.
You know, whenever I look at warriors like this, The first thing I want to break down is the tale of the tape.
Ivan the terrible, this guy is big.
He's six feet tall, some say 6'3", 180 pounds.
And you compare it to Hernan Cortes.
He's 5'4", 135 pounds.
Then if you factor in their mental health, Hernan Cortes is the classic psychopath.
He is going, after as you say, the gold.
Whatever comes in front of his path in getting that gold, His psychopath deranged mind will eliminate.
He has no remorse.
Then you compare ivan the terrible.
There's accounts that he would treat His back pain with mercury.
This would put him in a bipolar state.
He would have manic and depressive episodes, Which means he may be mr.
Nice guy one second.
The next second he's chopping your head off.
Doc, when I look at cortes, this guy has charisma, Lots of it.
But you do not want to get in this guy's way When he's trying to go after an objective.
And with ivan, he sees himself as the archangel michael.
And he is going to conquer empire after empire serving god.
And he will do whatever it takes.
He will butcher anybody, even if it is his own men, To accomplish that objective.
I think this fight is gonna come down to the weapons.
Both of these guys used very early, Primitive, black powder weapons.
For the first time on deadliest warrior, We're gonna be putting to rest some myths Of early firearms.
But that's not it.
We still have to include the x-Factors.
The new digital combat engine was created by robert daly, A former green beret And designer of more than 30 military-Based video games, Including the deadliest warrior game.
Simulating 5,000 battles between these combatants, The engine will evaluate weapons data Plus 100 x-Factors, critical intangibles That are assigned values based on extensive historical research Of each warrior's lives, tactics, And psychological profiles.
You know, in this case, How about psychological health between these two warriors? That's a great one, 'cause you look at these two warriors, And they are dynamically different but also the same.
Ivan is crazy.
He's also on a mission from god.
And then you have cortes, who is probably The biggest psychopath that you've ever seen, 'Cause he is motivated towards one goal, And that is how does he find gold.
We're really gonna have to see How the mental health of both of these leaders Affected their decision-Making process On the battlefield with their troops.
Wielding the weapons for ivan the terrible Is vladimir orlov A period sword and pole arm specialist Who trained with the Russian special forces.
Ivan the terrible, he's brutal.
He have the best weapons.
He's mad.
The combination, ballistic.
Also representing ivan the terrible Is andrew jenks, A professor of Russian history at california state university.
Ivan had a very troubled childhood.
His mother died when he was three.
His father died when he was eight.
He was then subjected to the control of the aristocrats.
And there's evidence that he was mentally abused.
Devastated by the death of his parents, The young grand prince of moscow turned to the bible.
By the time he was crowed Russia's first czar in 1547, Ivan's religious extremism turned into a bloodthirst For torturing his political enemies.
[Screams.]
[Laughs maniacally.]
Ivan saw himself as the archangel michael.
It was his job according to his reading Of the bible to exact vengeance on all of god's enemies.
Over the next 37 years, ivan's maniacal crusade Conquered over 1/2 million square miles Of neighboring territory, Turning the nation-State of moscow Into a mighty Russian empire.
Ivan transformed Russia into a major European power.
By the end of his reign, The territory has more than doubled in size.
But could ivan defeat an adversary Who conquered a kingdom more than 40 years earlier On the other side of the globe, Spain's new world conquistador, Hernan Cortes? Wielding the armaments of cortes Is weapons specialist jason heck.
I don't think there's any way That ivan the terrible would beat cortes.
Cortes has better weapons.
He's more sane.
He's just going to win.
Also fighting for cortes is colonial spanish expert, Kyle lopez.
Hernan Cortes was a politician on the island of cuba.
He was very ambitious.
He yearned to attain the huge, vast riches Which everyone believed Were waiting for them in modern-Day mexico.
In the early 16th century, cuba was a spanish colony In the new world.
Fueled by rumors of gold in mexico, Cortes convinced the colonial governor To let him lead the next expedition.
Cortes sailed to mexico in 1519.
The goal was to brutally conquer The aztec empire and plunder their gold.
He led 500 conquistadors Into the heart of the most powerful empire In the new world.
This is 500 soldiers entering an empire of 5 million people.
But they had guns, cannons, and they had horses.
The aztecs had never seen any of this.
Cortes combined his technology With torture to subdue the aztecs.
He wanted gold, and he needed to know where the gold was.
One form of torture that cortes used was the garrote.
A man was tied to a post, a rope put around his neck, And then this lever could be slowly turned, Turning the rope, tightening it around the neck.
It was very simple, but extremely nasty.
Cortes slaughtered 1/4 million aztecs During his successful quest.
In about two years, cortes conquered most of mexico And central america.
The showdown starts at long-Range.
The cortes experts kick off with a matchlock firearm First developed in the 14th century-- The arquebus.
A weapon that helped revolutionize warfare.
This is the arquebus.
It's the cutting-Edge technology at the time.
The reason that this is a technological advance Is it actually carries the match here.
You pull the trigger yourself, Instead of having a match In your hand or having somebody light it for you.
So this is what the arquebus that i'm holding would shoot.
This is .
69 caliber.
It's a big round.
There's no question.
We could actually see more damage Than modern firearms with this.
So what's the stand for, jason? Our stand is used to give us better accuracy For our shots that we get off.
To test the accuracy, damage potential, And reload time, the experts will fire at targets Placed at 30, 40, and 60 feet-- The maximum accurate range for 16th century matchlock firearms.
The moving targets will simulate enemies running for cover.
You'll get as many rounds as you need To hit all three targets.
You will be on the clock, And that's how we'll get your reload time.
On three, two, one, shoot 'em up.
[Gunshot.]
nice! Nice shot.
He hit the other side on the left chest.
On the left side Oh, no way! Showing tremendous accuracy, Jason's first shot hits both targets one and two.
I'm telling you he's getting killed on that reload time.
There you go, buddy.
Whoa! Only two rounds down range to hit all three targets.
I'm actually impressed.
So let's look at the placement Of the first shot here.
It's pretty large.
I mean, that's a big entrance wound.
You got an entrance wound like this, That thing's gonna core out that whole center piece.
This guy's gonna go down.
For me this is an instant kill.
And let's not forget, these are pure lead balls, okay? These are not jacketed, so when it enters the body, It's gonna have a much bigger deformation, Possibly break apart.
This is a .
69 caliber round.
This is a big hunk of lead flying through the air.
I mean, can it get any better than this? I don't think so.
I mean, you're going straight through the trachea.
In a small space like this, boom, Everything is torn to bits.
This is an instant kill.
This is not such an inaccurate weapon.
He's hitting his targets, they're moving.
It's not an easy thing to do.
He pulled it off.
My only slight concern when you're talking about this is, If you've got one round down range And you're spending a lot of time loading that second round, I think the mindset of the warrior At that point is, are you concerned About other guys coming and being caught Trying to get that second round loaded? Cortes was bringing this up because aztec warriors Don't have this technology and they don't understand it.
It is documented That the aztecs thought that this Had some sort of supernatural origin.
Vlad, do you think ivan would think cortes was a god? A what? [Laughter.]
Coming up, can ivan's matchlock firearm Blow away the arquebus? And later, in the deadliest warrior armory, These two conquerors' swords, silenced for nearly 600 years, Are brought back to life for a savage test.
Ivan the terrible, Russia's first czar, Whose savage 16th century conquests expanded his nation An average of 50 square miles every day of his 37-Year reign, Versus Hernan Cortes, The spanish conquistador who recruited a force Of 1,000 troops from amongst the best men The spanish colonies had to offer, Annihilating the 5 million-Strong aztec empire.
Cortes had a band of mercenaries.
These men had fought in the spanish army.
They knew war.
They were considered The best organized army since the roman legionnaires.
In the first firearm test to determine accuracy, Reload time, and damage potential, Cortes' arquebus used two shots to hit all three targets.
Ivan the terrible counterattacks with his own matchlock, The pischal, Russia's high-Powered answer to the arquebus.
The most advanced thing about this weapon Is that you can reload it about twice as fast Compared to arquebus, and the reason Is Russians went ahead And made the hole over here A little bit larger.
So you have the powder already here preloaded.
Vladimir, why are you bringing an axe to a gunfight? I bring the Russian axe, bardiche, And use it as a stand to fire.
And when i'm done firing, i have another weapon.
That makes complete sense When you think about getting that first shot off And that people are rushing at you.
Go right to your weapon and deliver a lethal blow.
Vladimir will take as many shots as he needs to hit All three targets.
On three, two, one, shoot 'em up.
[Gunshot.]
Whoa! Nice.
Vlad also hits both the first and second targets With one shot.
Delivered, baby, delivered! That's great.
Because of the pischal's larger powder chamber, The black powder Of vlad's second shot is already preloaded.
[Gunshot.]
Yeah! Time.
Excellent! Excellent work! This entrance wound is as perfect A place shot as you can get.
Straight through the heart.
That is so much lead flying through the air at great speed.
If it hits that target, off switch.
This is one of those instant kill zones.
This is your aorta coming down here.
You pop that sucker, you're instantly dead.
He's hitting dead middle of the body.
For me, the myth that matchlocks can't be accurate Is destroyed.
The simple fact of the matter is he delivered that round Right where he basically wanted it to go.
I think you deserve extra points When we start to talk about the sim And the fact that you were able to do that And hold a gigantic axe in your hand, And obviously you produced the perfect result.
You know, talking about x-Factors in the sim And somebody being able to do something very smoothly-- Ivan the terrible had a medical illness Called ankylosing spondylitis.
It's an autoimmune disease of the spine, And what it does is it turns your spine into a bamboo.
I'd like to add to that point That he was treated with mercury at that time.
Mercury obviously is an extreme toxin, Which makes you a bipolar manic person, Which can never be helpful When you're trying to actually aim at a target.
When it comes to accuracy, that may play a role in the sim.
Apart from a display of master marksmanship, What we're also seeing here is the ability of the Russians To adopt and innovate The technology of their enemies-- A weapon that is light, It's faster to load, And in my view, clearly superior to the arquebus.
Let's break down the numbers.
Each of these two weapons fired two rounds And killed their three targets.
As far as accuracy is concerned, They're the same in my mind.
Reload time, Jason, you were 22 seconds slower than vlad.
That matters.
To settle the score, the two firearms Will square off in one last test.
Both experts will attempt to fire their weapon Through each other's armor.
The test that we've got set up here Is using roma clay calibrated to fbi ballistics standards.
And this is a test that's performed In labs today on modern body armor.
We're gonna take cortes' armor, put it over top here.
If the pischal makes it through this armor, That's self-Explanatory.
Vlad is up first, Firing ivan's pischal into cortes' full chest plate Of spanish steel, masterfully forged back to life In the deadliest warrior armory To historic specifications.
Vlad, are you ready? Yes.
On three, two, one, take the shot.
[Gunshot.]
All: nice! Whoa! Look at the size of that hole.
And it dents even the back.
It went through the first layer of steel And went through our clay.
I can see right through this man's body.
This is just horrifying Because it can penetrate, Splits apart, and I guarantee you There's tons of fragment in here.
And the exit wound is as nasty.
This cavity is much, much larger than the round itself.
And this is the beauty of using clay.
It's giving us an imprint of how large the temporary cavity is.
Next up, jason fires cortes' arquebus at ivan's armor, Which combines chain mail with panels of steel plate.
Three, two, one, take the shot.
[Gunshot.]
Whoo! Beautiful.
Okay, so it looks like it goes literally through the side, Which would hit soft tissue, maybe hit a spleen, But it's not an instant kill on its own.
Having said that, the issue here Is that it does penetrate the armor, And, if you're on target, it's a kill.
One of the things that you're gonna have to really look at Is how quickly can that guy get to his secondary weapon.
And i'll tell you, there is something To looking at the bardiche being a support tool for the pischal.
Would you like to pick up this and go against somebody, Or would you rather pick up this and go against somebody? [Laughs.]
Which long-Range firearm gives his warrior an edge? I think personally the pischal is more accurate.
In the arquebus you have a rear sight, But you don't have a front sight.
With the pischal, you have a front sight.
And when you're talking about iron sights, It's front sight focus, steady trigger pull.
[Gunshot.]
The pischal was able to hit the man in the chest, Pass right through the plate armor.
Plus we saw 22 seconds being saved on the reload time With that larger pan.
Edge pischal.
For long-Range weapons, edge, ivan the terrible.
Coming up, two 16th century swords are resurrected For battle on foot and horseback.
Ivan the terrible, Hernan Cortes In a clash of the conquerors.
Who is deadliest? Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes, Whose band of mercenaries once wiped out 3,000 people In just three hours in a savage conquest of mexico, Versus the brutal czar ivan the terrible, Who, on a self-Proclaimed mission from god, Built the mighty Russian empire Using a combination of infantry And one of history's most notorious cavalries.
Ivan formed a personal death squad called the oprichniki.
These oprichniki wore black monks' robes.
And they would come into town as if they were messengers of god.
They were grim reapers on horseback.
Ivan's oprichniki cavalry and his infantry Slaughtered with a saber of polish-Hungarian descent.
The sablia-- 32 inches of curved steel That was as lightweight as it was lethal.
Inside the deadliest warrior armory, Just below the fight club, Ivan the terrible's sablia will be resurrected For the first time in half a millennia With painstaking attention to historical details By weapons designer and builder dave baker.
To create this saber, what I did was try to find A balance point about six to eight inches from the guard.
What that gives me is a nice balance Between a cut and control, Making for a fast, light, deadly weapon.
The first test will measure the penetration damage And versatility of ivan's sablia on foot, Using a pig carcass to simulate human tissue and bone.
Jeff marks the target for a hack, a slash, and a pierce To see if the expert can accurately deliver Three different strikes to areas That would not be covered by the opponent's armor.
On three, two, one, hack 'em up.
All: nice, nice.
Nice.
Well done, well done.
Vlad, that first cut, ho! Okay, the beauty of this is it did What the weapon is designed for, A beautiful slash exactly where we want it.
And look at this, right in between the ribs, But actually then fractures This rib as it goes all the way through down to the spine.
Let's take a look at this wound here.
Whoa, this is beautiful.
You're going all the way down into the cervical spine here.
This is basically a functional decapitation.
How'd it feel, vlad? So very good in slashing, you know.
Definitely not a thrusting weapon.
Well, when you thrust it, you make contact.
But you could tell you felt much more comfortable Swinging that blade flat out.
Absolutely.
As far as accuracy, first one, dead on.
Second one, slightly off.
We put these marks on here Because you're aiming for somewhere That's not going to be protected by armor, And sometimes two inches can make a difference.
Cortes slashes back with the espada ropera A blade so easy to wield, it was carried By spanish soldiers and civilians.
The espada ropera.
it's the spanish straight sword Of the early 16th century.
High-Carbon spanish steel.
Now you can see that the blade tapers quite a bit, And it also has a distal taper running this way, So the blade is getting thinner both this way And this way as it travels towards the tip.
At about 2 3/4 pounds, it still has a lot of weight For the cut, so you have a lot of point control.
Ivan has already beat cortes in 16th century firearms.
Can the spaniard's double-Edged blade help even the score? On three, two, one, cut it.
[Shouts.]
[Laughter.]
[Shouts.]
Nice.
Yeah! Yeah! Well done, sir, well done.
[Laughter.]
Oh, jason, you know what I love about this? Even though you cut this pig in two And the piercing target was on the ground, You gave me a pierce.
I love it.
I love this because this is transverse anatomy.
Look at this.
You can actually see the spine, You can see the spinal cord, the two back muscles.
This is the entire abdominal cavity.
Just completely obliterated.
One swing, two body bags.
One thing I really love is the fact that no one gives A straight blade any respect for cutting.
It's bull.
It'll go straight through the pig If you do it right.
But cavalry attacks Were a key tactic in both these warriors' battle plans.
This next test will determine which sword is more accurate In striking vital areas not protected by armor.
Vlad, on this test, can you hit The vital portions of this blood-Filled torso-- The face, the neck? On three, two, one, cut him up! Come on.
Yeah! Ohh! Wow! That is nice.
Geoff, you grab the rest of the head.
I'm gonna start here.
The beauty of this is, This guy would've opened his mouth screaming As that blade went right through his mouth, And cuts his head literally in half.
It's a guillotine by horse.
For me, doc, it's all about precision and accuracy.
If you can do that to a guy in armor, You don't have to worry about his armor.
This is definitely a way of shutting someone up.
This is as good an instant kill as we've seen.
Next, how will cortes' espada ropera Match up against ivan's armor? On three, two, one, go! Come on.
That's it.
Ooh.
I'm not sure it was a kill shot.
It looks like there's a small nick up here, But hey, hey, okay, here we go, here we go.
I've got the chain mail that's busted through here.
So it looks like There here, yeah, right here.
We have a laceration right here.
You're missing the vital blood vessels right here.
Your carotid is right here in this notch.
You have the external jugular here, internal jugular, So you are getting a laceration, But this just hurts, but does not stop.
Okay, I like it that it went through the chain mail.
But that wasn't the test.
We said make sure it was a kill shot.
This is not a kill shot.
That's probably why sabers turned out to be The preferred weapon on the back of a horse.
With this, you've got a small, little aim point, And you've got three things basically moving.
It's really difficult to land a thrusting blow From the back of a horse.
Now, jason, I gotta ask, you had the option To thrust or hack with this weapon.
Why did you choose to go with the thrust? Thrust is deadlier when you-- When you land it.
This is where having two options Becomes very, very difficult.
Under stress and pressure when there's very little time To correct, if you're having to navigate in your head, "Well, I could try it this way or I could try it that way," When you have only one kind of technique, But you're great at that technique, Just let go and let the technique do the work.
Cortes' espada ropera? Or ivan's sablia? Yeah! Which blade gets the edge? The espada ropera is better.
You know why it's better for me, because of the reach.
If you see, all you need is three inches to kill, That is all you need to do.
And look how far out you can go.
And a beautiful thrusting weapon That just showed me that it could also slash.
I love this weapon on foot.
And I would definitely give the edge On foot to the espada ropera.
But you have to choose one to use both On foot and on horseback, which one would you choose? If I only had to choose one, Again when we talked about technique, I don't want to have to think About multiple techniques under stress and pressure.
I'm going to take the weapon that has one simple technique.
All I have to do is bring everything I have To that strike.
We know that it's produced Great results on the ground and great results from the horse.
I'm going to go with the sablia.
I agree, mack.
And if i'm going in with cavalry And that's a key component of my arsenal, I'm going to choose the weapon that combines best with it.
Edge, ivan's sablia.
In close-Range weapons, edge, ivan the terrible.
Coming up, cortes' barbaric polearm Squares off against ivan's brutal battleaxe.
And later Hey, doc, heads up.
New insights from the tests It's taking something out of you.
This may be just a one strike weapon.
Combine with x-Factors that could turn The tide of the battle.
This is gonna probably play a critical role, Because when you're irrational, you're going to make Different types of decisions Than you are when you're rational.
Hernan Cortes, Ivan the terrible-- Who is the deadliest warrior? Ivan the terrible, The maniacal 16th century Russian czar, Who, on a self-Proclaimed mission from god, Slaughtered his way Through eastern Europe for more than 30 years, Versus Hernan Cortes, the spanish soldier of fortune, Who, driven by his obsession for gold, Stopped at nothing in his annihilation of the aztecs.
Both warriors carved up the enemy With medium-Range weapons designed to decapitate.
[Groans.]
Ivan staked his life on the bardiche, A barbaric battleaxe with a two-Foot cutting blade.
Ivan has to face cavalry, cavalry on all sides, From all of his opponents.
So he needs an excellent dismounting weapon.
And this is ideally suited for that task.
It's beautifully brutal in its simplicity.
16th century battlefields Were choked with both infantry and cavalry.
Geoff will test the bardiche's damage And dismounting capabilities in two phases.
First, against an unarmored stationery ballistics gel torso, Then on a moving mounted target Wrapped in cortes' steel-Plated armor.
On three, two, one, cut him up.
[Growls.]
Oh! All: nice.
He's getting tired a little bit.
Release the horse.
Yeah! Did not stop it.
Although the bardiche was not effective Against the mounted opponent, it obliterated the gel torso.
Target number one here, this is very important.
He got the arteries, he got the fracture, He got the spine.
That's all it takes, guys.
One perfectly placed strike all the way through.
You take the head off.
Think of 10,000 of these bodies, mutilated on the ground.
Now that's intimidation.
Now, vlad, when you were using This weapon, did you feel fatigue at all? Yes, I did.
First couple strikes fine, you know.
Going on, you're actually killing yourself A little bit as well.
That kind of information is very important Because that plays into our fatigue x-Factor.
And if it's taking something out of you, This may be just a one-Strike weapon.
After that first strike, multiple strikes Make you more exhausted, which puts you at risk.
The spaniard's answer to the bardiche Was a vicious, multipurpose polearm.
The alabarda-- part spear, part meat cleaver, It slaughtered aztecs with violent variety.
This was a absolute slaughter machine, Considering it's got that steel pike at the end.
And it's so long that it gives you This range to make killing thrusts At the enemy from such a long ways away.
With ivan's weapons taking the edge in firearms and swords, Can cortes' polearm get him back in the battle? High speed is up.
On three, two, one, cut him up.
Oh, look at that.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh! Release the horse.
[Shouting.]
Nice.
[Grunts.]
Oh! That is a coup de grace.
This says it all right here.
Yeah, unbelievable.
This chain mail was worthless against this weapon.
It went straight through, not only with this point, But also when he went with this tip, It was actually, it went straight down into the belly, To the pelvis.
This guy is literally screaming, Looking at this ginormous blade in his body.
And of course, he's gonna die.
Hey, doc, heads up.
Nice.
So obviously another decapitation, But the beauty of this decapitation is what? The first strike was a pierce That went straight through, right through the trachea, All the way through the spine.
And that's as good as it gets when you want to actually kill.
For me personally, one of the things we talk about When you talk about hand-To-Hand combat Is getting in close and dominating the space.
If you can end that guy with one blow, It is vain, occam's razor.
It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.
If I can do it with one clear shot, end that guy, Drop that guy, move on to the next guy.
There is no doubt that is domination in the battle space.
Great point, mack, And domination is one of our x-Factors in the sim.
So which polearm gets the edge-- Ivan's bardiche or cortes' alabarda? Nice.
There's no doubt about the bardiche Being a intimidating weapon.
But with the alabarda, You definitely see flexibility in the blade.
I think you can keep a guy at a distance better.
Agreed.
We saw how effective it was against cavalry.
My edge goes to the alabarda.
You know, the bardiche, It's so heavy, and you're so slow, There is no way you could continue to use that After, you know, the first, second, maybe third swing.
My edge goes to the alabarda.
For medium-Range weapons, edge, Hernan Cortes.
All the weapons were tested Against each warrior's body armor.
They were attacked by swords, battered by polearms, And assaulted by firearms.
Which armor gives their warrior an edge? Cortes' steel plate or ivan's chain mail with plate? You've got blades going against this armor, And you have matchlocks going against this armor.
When you're talking about the blades, I think there's a slight edge for cortes In the fact that cortes' armor doesn't allow for penetration.
For armor, the edge goes to Hernan Cortes.
Ivan has taken the edge in swords and firearms.
But cortes has the advantage in armor and battleaxes.
Coming up, the final battle will decide Who is deadliest-- Ivan the terrible, the sadistic Russian czar Whose mounted death squads dominated Europe, Or Hernan Cortes, the renegade explorer Whose conquistadors savaged the natives of the new world? It's a 16th century battle of the butchers-- Old world Russian czar, ivan the terrible, The madman whose murderous rampage Transformed Russia from a small nation state To the largest empire in Europe, Against Hernan Cortes, the spanish conquistador, Who built a thousand-Man force that slaughtered More than a 1/4 million aztecs, Destroying the largest empire in the new world.
Our team has tested long-Range weapons.
Ivan's pischal blasted its way past cortes' arquebus.
Oh! Edge, ivan the terrible.
In medium-Range weapons, cortes' alabarda Cut down ivan's bardiche.
Edge, Hernan Cortes.
In close range weapons, ivan's sablia Was a cut above cortes' espada ropera.
Edge, ivan the terrible.
While even against firearms, cortes' steel plate armor Had a slight advantage against blades.
Edge, Hernan Cortes.
All the weapons test data has been turned over to robert daly And plugged into the digital combat engine.
His team of engineers has also completed Their historical research on more than 100 x-Factors.
We evaluate these intangibles and give them quantities.
We look at x-Factors Like battlefield experience, logistics, tenacity, loyalty.
All of these things are important.
We look at all the historical data that talks About their battles, their fighting styles, Their techniques, the weapons that they're using, And our historians quantify it into a numeric value Of 1 to 100.
The psychological health of these two warriors Was way off the charts.
Yet ivan the terrible, This guy could not be rational.
Then you look at Hernan Cortes.
The only reason he was alive was to get gold.
Anything else in his path was secondary.
When you're looking at these leaders, They do need to be calm in their decision-Making process On the battlefield and when they're making Strategic decisions.
And this is gonna probably play a critical role, Because when you're irrational, You're going to make different types Of decisions than you are when you're rational.
And that's why we rated the psychological health Of these two warriors so terribly different.
Cortes ended up with a 72 versus ivan's 37.
For me, it's all about follow-Through And crushing that battle space.
Dominance is a key factor that we look at here.
Both ivan and cortes were very dominating figures.
When you look at ivan, ivan is just a fear monger.
He is definitely somebody that you respect When you're on the battlefield Because you never know what he's going to do.
Now when you look at cortes' side, It is really fascinating to me That you can take a thousand troops And you can go against several million And still come out on top.
We rated cortes an 85, versus ivan, 78.
So you've dealt with the x-Factors.
We've entered in the test data.
Let's run the sim.
Ivan the terrible and four of his oprichniki warriors Will go head to head against Hernan Cortes And four of his conquistadors in a battle to the death.
[Moaning.]
[Moaning.]
[Screams.]
[Laughs.]
fuego! [Horse whinnies.]
[Gunshot.]
[Roars.]
[Screams.]
[Grunts.]
[Shouts.]
[Yelling.]
[Yells.]
[Shouts in spanish.]
H'ya! [Horse whinnies.]
[Shouts.]
[Roars.]
[Shouting.]
[Shouts in spanish.]
After simulating 5,000 battles, cortes wins.
With 2,747 battles won Versus ivan's 2,253.
In the head-To-Head weapons comparison, Cortes' alabarda was more effective than the bardiche While ivan's pischal bested the arquebus And his sablia topped the espada ropera.
Although ivan had the advantage in physicality, Cortes took most of the x-Factors, Including psychological health.
Ivan the terrible is crazy.
The fact of the matter is he could not lead troops As effectively as cortes could.
It goes to show you the x-Factors can work for you And can work against you.
When you have a bipolar, Unstable personality, you're not predictable.
You will lose the ability to lead your men, Especially when it's a tough fight.
I think ivan has great technology, It's incrementally ahead of cortes.
But the thing to look at Is cortes' ability to hit his objective and overcome.
[Both shouting.]
And this is why I think he wins.
[Shouts in spanish.]
Spain versus Russia.
Ivan the terrible Versus Hernan Cortes.
[Grunting.]
When you're looking at cortes, He's an adventurer, he's a soldier of fortune, He takes a group of under 1,000 guys And brings it to the new world.
And what does he want? What's his objective? It's gold.
And if you knew where it was Or if he thought you knew where it was, This guy could be incredibly cruel.
With ivan, this guy was humiliated as a boy, Forced to bide his time.
And when he finally becomes a czar, He rules with an iron fist, Building an empire that he dedicates to his god.
I mean, you've got these guys That have proven if you're committed, If you're cunning and you're cold-Blooded, You too can be a conqueror.
You got crazy guys.
It's gonna be off the charts When it comes to who's gonna kill who.
Let's get it started.
Ivan the terrible, Russia's sadistic 16th century czar, Whose murderous mounted death squads Built Europe's largest empire of its time Takes on Hernan Cortes, the brutal spanish explorer, Whose conquistadors conquered The largest empire in north america Of the 16th century.
It's a battle of the butchers As two of history's cruelest conquerors face off.
Who is deadliest? To find out, the history of war and modern science collide As former navy seal richard "mack" machowicz dives deep Into the tactics of the warriors behind the weapons.
To unlock new data on arsenals of the past.
And e.
R.
Physician armand dorian dissects the trauma And reveals the physical and psychological traits That shaped these legends of war.
This ground-Breaking data will be paired With historical research and entered Into an all-New digital combat engine.
Two legendary combatants will be resurrected.
History will be rewritten.
But only one will be crowned deadliest warrior.
Welcome to the fight club.
Our experts will unlock new historical insights To determine which 16th century conqueror is deadliest-- Ivan the terrible, the Russian czar who ravaged Over 1 1/2 million square miles of Europe, Or Hernan Cortes, Who brought down a kingdom of 5 million aztecs.
You know, whenever I look at warriors like this, The first thing I want to break down is the tale of the tape.
Ivan the terrible, this guy is big.
He's six feet tall, some say 6'3", 180 pounds.
And you compare it to Hernan Cortes.
He's 5'4", 135 pounds.
Then if you factor in their mental health, Hernan Cortes is the classic psychopath.
He is going, after as you say, the gold.
Whatever comes in front of his path in getting that gold, His psychopath deranged mind will eliminate.
He has no remorse.
Then you compare ivan the terrible.
There's accounts that he would treat His back pain with mercury.
This would put him in a bipolar state.
He would have manic and depressive episodes, Which means he may be mr.
Nice guy one second.
The next second he's chopping your head off.
Doc, when I look at cortes, this guy has charisma, Lots of it.
But you do not want to get in this guy's way When he's trying to go after an objective.
And with ivan, he sees himself as the archangel michael.
And he is going to conquer empire after empire serving god.
And he will do whatever it takes.
He will butcher anybody, even if it is his own men, To accomplish that objective.
I think this fight is gonna come down to the weapons.
Both of these guys used very early, Primitive, black powder weapons.
For the first time on deadliest warrior, We're gonna be putting to rest some myths Of early firearms.
But that's not it.
We still have to include the x-Factors.
The new digital combat engine was created by robert daly, A former green beret And designer of more than 30 military-Based video games, Including the deadliest warrior game.
Simulating 5,000 battles between these combatants, The engine will evaluate weapons data Plus 100 x-Factors, critical intangibles That are assigned values based on extensive historical research Of each warrior's lives, tactics, And psychological profiles.
You know, in this case, How about psychological health between these two warriors? That's a great one, 'cause you look at these two warriors, And they are dynamically different but also the same.
Ivan is crazy.
He's also on a mission from god.
And then you have cortes, who is probably The biggest psychopath that you've ever seen, 'Cause he is motivated towards one goal, And that is how does he find gold.
We're really gonna have to see How the mental health of both of these leaders Affected their decision-Making process On the battlefield with their troops.
Wielding the weapons for ivan the terrible Is vladimir orlov A period sword and pole arm specialist Who trained with the Russian special forces.
Ivan the terrible, he's brutal.
He have the best weapons.
He's mad.
The combination, ballistic.
Also representing ivan the terrible Is andrew jenks, A professor of Russian history at california state university.
Ivan had a very troubled childhood.
His mother died when he was three.
His father died when he was eight.
He was then subjected to the control of the aristocrats.
And there's evidence that he was mentally abused.
Devastated by the death of his parents, The young grand prince of moscow turned to the bible.
By the time he was crowed Russia's first czar in 1547, Ivan's religious extremism turned into a bloodthirst For torturing his political enemies.
[Screams.]
[Laughs maniacally.]
Ivan saw himself as the archangel michael.
It was his job according to his reading Of the bible to exact vengeance on all of god's enemies.
Over the next 37 years, ivan's maniacal crusade Conquered over 1/2 million square miles Of neighboring territory, Turning the nation-State of moscow Into a mighty Russian empire.
Ivan transformed Russia into a major European power.
By the end of his reign, The territory has more than doubled in size.
But could ivan defeat an adversary Who conquered a kingdom more than 40 years earlier On the other side of the globe, Spain's new world conquistador, Hernan Cortes? Wielding the armaments of cortes Is weapons specialist jason heck.
I don't think there's any way That ivan the terrible would beat cortes.
Cortes has better weapons.
He's more sane.
He's just going to win.
Also fighting for cortes is colonial spanish expert, Kyle lopez.
Hernan Cortes was a politician on the island of cuba.
He was very ambitious.
He yearned to attain the huge, vast riches Which everyone believed Were waiting for them in modern-Day mexico.
In the early 16th century, cuba was a spanish colony In the new world.
Fueled by rumors of gold in mexico, Cortes convinced the colonial governor To let him lead the next expedition.
Cortes sailed to mexico in 1519.
The goal was to brutally conquer The aztec empire and plunder their gold.
He led 500 conquistadors Into the heart of the most powerful empire In the new world.
This is 500 soldiers entering an empire of 5 million people.
But they had guns, cannons, and they had horses.
The aztecs had never seen any of this.
Cortes combined his technology With torture to subdue the aztecs.
He wanted gold, and he needed to know where the gold was.
One form of torture that cortes used was the garrote.
A man was tied to a post, a rope put around his neck, And then this lever could be slowly turned, Turning the rope, tightening it around the neck.
It was very simple, but extremely nasty.
Cortes slaughtered 1/4 million aztecs During his successful quest.
In about two years, cortes conquered most of mexico And central america.
The showdown starts at long-Range.
The cortes experts kick off with a matchlock firearm First developed in the 14th century-- The arquebus.
A weapon that helped revolutionize warfare.
This is the arquebus.
It's the cutting-Edge technology at the time.
The reason that this is a technological advance Is it actually carries the match here.
You pull the trigger yourself, Instead of having a match In your hand or having somebody light it for you.
So this is what the arquebus that i'm holding would shoot.
This is .
69 caliber.
It's a big round.
There's no question.
We could actually see more damage Than modern firearms with this.
So what's the stand for, jason? Our stand is used to give us better accuracy For our shots that we get off.
To test the accuracy, damage potential, And reload time, the experts will fire at targets Placed at 30, 40, and 60 feet-- The maximum accurate range for 16th century matchlock firearms.
The moving targets will simulate enemies running for cover.
You'll get as many rounds as you need To hit all three targets.
You will be on the clock, And that's how we'll get your reload time.
On three, two, one, shoot 'em up.
[Gunshot.]
nice! Nice shot.
He hit the other side on the left chest.
On the left side Oh, no way! Showing tremendous accuracy, Jason's first shot hits both targets one and two.
I'm telling you he's getting killed on that reload time.
There you go, buddy.
Whoa! Only two rounds down range to hit all three targets.
I'm actually impressed.
So let's look at the placement Of the first shot here.
It's pretty large.
I mean, that's a big entrance wound.
You got an entrance wound like this, That thing's gonna core out that whole center piece.
This guy's gonna go down.
For me this is an instant kill.
And let's not forget, these are pure lead balls, okay? These are not jacketed, so when it enters the body, It's gonna have a much bigger deformation, Possibly break apart.
This is a .
69 caliber round.
This is a big hunk of lead flying through the air.
I mean, can it get any better than this? I don't think so.
I mean, you're going straight through the trachea.
In a small space like this, boom, Everything is torn to bits.
This is an instant kill.
This is not such an inaccurate weapon.
He's hitting his targets, they're moving.
It's not an easy thing to do.
He pulled it off.
My only slight concern when you're talking about this is, If you've got one round down range And you're spending a lot of time loading that second round, I think the mindset of the warrior At that point is, are you concerned About other guys coming and being caught Trying to get that second round loaded? Cortes was bringing this up because aztec warriors Don't have this technology and they don't understand it.
It is documented That the aztecs thought that this Had some sort of supernatural origin.
Vlad, do you think ivan would think cortes was a god? A what? [Laughter.]
Coming up, can ivan's matchlock firearm Blow away the arquebus? And later, in the deadliest warrior armory, These two conquerors' swords, silenced for nearly 600 years, Are brought back to life for a savage test.
Ivan the terrible, Russia's first czar, Whose savage 16th century conquests expanded his nation An average of 50 square miles every day of his 37-Year reign, Versus Hernan Cortes, The spanish conquistador who recruited a force Of 1,000 troops from amongst the best men The spanish colonies had to offer, Annihilating the 5 million-Strong aztec empire.
Cortes had a band of mercenaries.
These men had fought in the spanish army.
They knew war.
They were considered The best organized army since the roman legionnaires.
In the first firearm test to determine accuracy, Reload time, and damage potential, Cortes' arquebus used two shots to hit all three targets.
Ivan the terrible counterattacks with his own matchlock, The pischal, Russia's high-Powered answer to the arquebus.
The most advanced thing about this weapon Is that you can reload it about twice as fast Compared to arquebus, and the reason Is Russians went ahead And made the hole over here A little bit larger.
So you have the powder already here preloaded.
Vladimir, why are you bringing an axe to a gunfight? I bring the Russian axe, bardiche, And use it as a stand to fire.
And when i'm done firing, i have another weapon.
That makes complete sense When you think about getting that first shot off And that people are rushing at you.
Go right to your weapon and deliver a lethal blow.
Vladimir will take as many shots as he needs to hit All three targets.
On three, two, one, shoot 'em up.
[Gunshot.]
Whoa! Nice.
Vlad also hits both the first and second targets With one shot.
Delivered, baby, delivered! That's great.
Because of the pischal's larger powder chamber, The black powder Of vlad's second shot is already preloaded.
[Gunshot.]
Yeah! Time.
Excellent! Excellent work! This entrance wound is as perfect A place shot as you can get.
Straight through the heart.
That is so much lead flying through the air at great speed.
If it hits that target, off switch.
This is one of those instant kill zones.
This is your aorta coming down here.
You pop that sucker, you're instantly dead.
He's hitting dead middle of the body.
For me, the myth that matchlocks can't be accurate Is destroyed.
The simple fact of the matter is he delivered that round Right where he basically wanted it to go.
I think you deserve extra points When we start to talk about the sim And the fact that you were able to do that And hold a gigantic axe in your hand, And obviously you produced the perfect result.
You know, talking about x-Factors in the sim And somebody being able to do something very smoothly-- Ivan the terrible had a medical illness Called ankylosing spondylitis.
It's an autoimmune disease of the spine, And what it does is it turns your spine into a bamboo.
I'd like to add to that point That he was treated with mercury at that time.
Mercury obviously is an extreme toxin, Which makes you a bipolar manic person, Which can never be helpful When you're trying to actually aim at a target.
When it comes to accuracy, that may play a role in the sim.
Apart from a display of master marksmanship, What we're also seeing here is the ability of the Russians To adopt and innovate The technology of their enemies-- A weapon that is light, It's faster to load, And in my view, clearly superior to the arquebus.
Let's break down the numbers.
Each of these two weapons fired two rounds And killed their three targets.
As far as accuracy is concerned, They're the same in my mind.
Reload time, Jason, you were 22 seconds slower than vlad.
That matters.
To settle the score, the two firearms Will square off in one last test.
Both experts will attempt to fire their weapon Through each other's armor.
The test that we've got set up here Is using roma clay calibrated to fbi ballistics standards.
And this is a test that's performed In labs today on modern body armor.
We're gonna take cortes' armor, put it over top here.
If the pischal makes it through this armor, That's self-Explanatory.
Vlad is up first, Firing ivan's pischal into cortes' full chest plate Of spanish steel, masterfully forged back to life In the deadliest warrior armory To historic specifications.
Vlad, are you ready? Yes.
On three, two, one, take the shot.
[Gunshot.]
All: nice! Whoa! Look at the size of that hole.
And it dents even the back.
It went through the first layer of steel And went through our clay.
I can see right through this man's body.
This is just horrifying Because it can penetrate, Splits apart, and I guarantee you There's tons of fragment in here.
And the exit wound is as nasty.
This cavity is much, much larger than the round itself.
And this is the beauty of using clay.
It's giving us an imprint of how large the temporary cavity is.
Next up, jason fires cortes' arquebus at ivan's armor, Which combines chain mail with panels of steel plate.
Three, two, one, take the shot.
[Gunshot.]
Whoo! Beautiful.
Okay, so it looks like it goes literally through the side, Which would hit soft tissue, maybe hit a spleen, But it's not an instant kill on its own.
Having said that, the issue here Is that it does penetrate the armor, And, if you're on target, it's a kill.
One of the things that you're gonna have to really look at Is how quickly can that guy get to his secondary weapon.
And i'll tell you, there is something To looking at the bardiche being a support tool for the pischal.
Would you like to pick up this and go against somebody, Or would you rather pick up this and go against somebody? [Laughs.]
Which long-Range firearm gives his warrior an edge? I think personally the pischal is more accurate.
In the arquebus you have a rear sight, But you don't have a front sight.
With the pischal, you have a front sight.
And when you're talking about iron sights, It's front sight focus, steady trigger pull.
[Gunshot.]
The pischal was able to hit the man in the chest, Pass right through the plate armor.
Plus we saw 22 seconds being saved on the reload time With that larger pan.
Edge pischal.
For long-Range weapons, edge, ivan the terrible.
Coming up, two 16th century swords are resurrected For battle on foot and horseback.
Ivan the terrible, Hernan Cortes In a clash of the conquerors.
Who is deadliest? Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes, Whose band of mercenaries once wiped out 3,000 people In just three hours in a savage conquest of mexico, Versus the brutal czar ivan the terrible, Who, on a self-Proclaimed mission from god, Built the mighty Russian empire Using a combination of infantry And one of history's most notorious cavalries.
Ivan formed a personal death squad called the oprichniki.
These oprichniki wore black monks' robes.
And they would come into town as if they were messengers of god.
They were grim reapers on horseback.
Ivan's oprichniki cavalry and his infantry Slaughtered with a saber of polish-Hungarian descent.
The sablia-- 32 inches of curved steel That was as lightweight as it was lethal.
Inside the deadliest warrior armory, Just below the fight club, Ivan the terrible's sablia will be resurrected For the first time in half a millennia With painstaking attention to historical details By weapons designer and builder dave baker.
To create this saber, what I did was try to find A balance point about six to eight inches from the guard.
What that gives me is a nice balance Between a cut and control, Making for a fast, light, deadly weapon.
The first test will measure the penetration damage And versatility of ivan's sablia on foot, Using a pig carcass to simulate human tissue and bone.
Jeff marks the target for a hack, a slash, and a pierce To see if the expert can accurately deliver Three different strikes to areas That would not be covered by the opponent's armor.
On three, two, one, hack 'em up.
All: nice, nice.
Nice.
Well done, well done.
Vlad, that first cut, ho! Okay, the beauty of this is it did What the weapon is designed for, A beautiful slash exactly where we want it.
And look at this, right in between the ribs, But actually then fractures This rib as it goes all the way through down to the spine.
Let's take a look at this wound here.
Whoa, this is beautiful.
You're going all the way down into the cervical spine here.
This is basically a functional decapitation.
How'd it feel, vlad? So very good in slashing, you know.
Definitely not a thrusting weapon.
Well, when you thrust it, you make contact.
But you could tell you felt much more comfortable Swinging that blade flat out.
Absolutely.
As far as accuracy, first one, dead on.
Second one, slightly off.
We put these marks on here Because you're aiming for somewhere That's not going to be protected by armor, And sometimes two inches can make a difference.
Cortes slashes back with the espada ropera A blade so easy to wield, it was carried By spanish soldiers and civilians.
The espada ropera.
it's the spanish straight sword Of the early 16th century.
High-Carbon spanish steel.
Now you can see that the blade tapers quite a bit, And it also has a distal taper running this way, So the blade is getting thinner both this way And this way as it travels towards the tip.
At about 2 3/4 pounds, it still has a lot of weight For the cut, so you have a lot of point control.
Ivan has already beat cortes in 16th century firearms.
Can the spaniard's double-Edged blade help even the score? On three, two, one, cut it.
[Shouts.]
[Laughter.]
[Shouts.]
Nice.
Yeah! Yeah! Well done, sir, well done.
[Laughter.]
Oh, jason, you know what I love about this? Even though you cut this pig in two And the piercing target was on the ground, You gave me a pierce.
I love it.
I love this because this is transverse anatomy.
Look at this.
You can actually see the spine, You can see the spinal cord, the two back muscles.
This is the entire abdominal cavity.
Just completely obliterated.
One swing, two body bags.
One thing I really love is the fact that no one gives A straight blade any respect for cutting.
It's bull.
It'll go straight through the pig If you do it right.
But cavalry attacks Were a key tactic in both these warriors' battle plans.
This next test will determine which sword is more accurate In striking vital areas not protected by armor.
Vlad, on this test, can you hit The vital portions of this blood-Filled torso-- The face, the neck? On three, two, one, cut him up! Come on.
Yeah! Ohh! Wow! That is nice.
Geoff, you grab the rest of the head.
I'm gonna start here.
The beauty of this is, This guy would've opened his mouth screaming As that blade went right through his mouth, And cuts his head literally in half.
It's a guillotine by horse.
For me, doc, it's all about precision and accuracy.
If you can do that to a guy in armor, You don't have to worry about his armor.
This is definitely a way of shutting someone up.
This is as good an instant kill as we've seen.
Next, how will cortes' espada ropera Match up against ivan's armor? On three, two, one, go! Come on.
That's it.
Ooh.
I'm not sure it was a kill shot.
It looks like there's a small nick up here, But hey, hey, okay, here we go, here we go.
I've got the chain mail that's busted through here.
So it looks like There here, yeah, right here.
We have a laceration right here.
You're missing the vital blood vessels right here.
Your carotid is right here in this notch.
You have the external jugular here, internal jugular, So you are getting a laceration, But this just hurts, but does not stop.
Okay, I like it that it went through the chain mail.
But that wasn't the test.
We said make sure it was a kill shot.
This is not a kill shot.
That's probably why sabers turned out to be The preferred weapon on the back of a horse.
With this, you've got a small, little aim point, And you've got three things basically moving.
It's really difficult to land a thrusting blow From the back of a horse.
Now, jason, I gotta ask, you had the option To thrust or hack with this weapon.
Why did you choose to go with the thrust? Thrust is deadlier when you-- When you land it.
This is where having two options Becomes very, very difficult.
Under stress and pressure when there's very little time To correct, if you're having to navigate in your head, "Well, I could try it this way or I could try it that way," When you have only one kind of technique, But you're great at that technique, Just let go and let the technique do the work.
Cortes' espada ropera? Or ivan's sablia? Yeah! Which blade gets the edge? The espada ropera is better.
You know why it's better for me, because of the reach.
If you see, all you need is three inches to kill, That is all you need to do.
And look how far out you can go.
And a beautiful thrusting weapon That just showed me that it could also slash.
I love this weapon on foot.
And I would definitely give the edge On foot to the espada ropera.
But you have to choose one to use both On foot and on horseback, which one would you choose? If I only had to choose one, Again when we talked about technique, I don't want to have to think About multiple techniques under stress and pressure.
I'm going to take the weapon that has one simple technique.
All I have to do is bring everything I have To that strike.
We know that it's produced Great results on the ground and great results from the horse.
I'm going to go with the sablia.
I agree, mack.
And if i'm going in with cavalry And that's a key component of my arsenal, I'm going to choose the weapon that combines best with it.
Edge, ivan's sablia.
In close-Range weapons, edge, ivan the terrible.
Coming up, cortes' barbaric polearm Squares off against ivan's brutal battleaxe.
And later Hey, doc, heads up.
New insights from the tests It's taking something out of you.
This may be just a one strike weapon.
Combine with x-Factors that could turn The tide of the battle.
This is gonna probably play a critical role, Because when you're irrational, you're going to make Different types of decisions Than you are when you're rational.
Hernan Cortes, Ivan the terrible-- Who is the deadliest warrior? Ivan the terrible, The maniacal 16th century Russian czar, Who, on a self-Proclaimed mission from god, Slaughtered his way Through eastern Europe for more than 30 years, Versus Hernan Cortes, the spanish soldier of fortune, Who, driven by his obsession for gold, Stopped at nothing in his annihilation of the aztecs.
Both warriors carved up the enemy With medium-Range weapons designed to decapitate.
[Groans.]
Ivan staked his life on the bardiche, A barbaric battleaxe with a two-Foot cutting blade.
Ivan has to face cavalry, cavalry on all sides, From all of his opponents.
So he needs an excellent dismounting weapon.
And this is ideally suited for that task.
It's beautifully brutal in its simplicity.
16th century battlefields Were choked with both infantry and cavalry.
Geoff will test the bardiche's damage And dismounting capabilities in two phases.
First, against an unarmored stationery ballistics gel torso, Then on a moving mounted target Wrapped in cortes' steel-Plated armor.
On three, two, one, cut him up.
[Growls.]
Oh! All: nice.
He's getting tired a little bit.
Release the horse.
Yeah! Did not stop it.
Although the bardiche was not effective Against the mounted opponent, it obliterated the gel torso.
Target number one here, this is very important.
He got the arteries, he got the fracture, He got the spine.
That's all it takes, guys.
One perfectly placed strike all the way through.
You take the head off.
Think of 10,000 of these bodies, mutilated on the ground.
Now that's intimidation.
Now, vlad, when you were using This weapon, did you feel fatigue at all? Yes, I did.
First couple strikes fine, you know.
Going on, you're actually killing yourself A little bit as well.
That kind of information is very important Because that plays into our fatigue x-Factor.
And if it's taking something out of you, This may be just a one-Strike weapon.
After that first strike, multiple strikes Make you more exhausted, which puts you at risk.
The spaniard's answer to the bardiche Was a vicious, multipurpose polearm.
The alabarda-- part spear, part meat cleaver, It slaughtered aztecs with violent variety.
This was a absolute slaughter machine, Considering it's got that steel pike at the end.
And it's so long that it gives you This range to make killing thrusts At the enemy from such a long ways away.
With ivan's weapons taking the edge in firearms and swords, Can cortes' polearm get him back in the battle? High speed is up.
On three, two, one, cut him up.
Oh, look at that.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh! Release the horse.
[Shouting.]
Nice.
[Grunts.]
Oh! That is a coup de grace.
This says it all right here.
Yeah, unbelievable.
This chain mail was worthless against this weapon.
It went straight through, not only with this point, But also when he went with this tip, It was actually, it went straight down into the belly, To the pelvis.
This guy is literally screaming, Looking at this ginormous blade in his body.
And of course, he's gonna die.
Hey, doc, heads up.
Nice.
So obviously another decapitation, But the beauty of this decapitation is what? The first strike was a pierce That went straight through, right through the trachea, All the way through the spine.
And that's as good as it gets when you want to actually kill.
For me personally, one of the things we talk about When you talk about hand-To-Hand combat Is getting in close and dominating the space.
If you can end that guy with one blow, It is vain, occam's razor.
It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.
If I can do it with one clear shot, end that guy, Drop that guy, move on to the next guy.
There is no doubt that is domination in the battle space.
Great point, mack, And domination is one of our x-Factors in the sim.
So which polearm gets the edge-- Ivan's bardiche or cortes' alabarda? Nice.
There's no doubt about the bardiche Being a intimidating weapon.
But with the alabarda, You definitely see flexibility in the blade.
I think you can keep a guy at a distance better.
Agreed.
We saw how effective it was against cavalry.
My edge goes to the alabarda.
You know, the bardiche, It's so heavy, and you're so slow, There is no way you could continue to use that After, you know, the first, second, maybe third swing.
My edge goes to the alabarda.
For medium-Range weapons, edge, Hernan Cortes.
All the weapons were tested Against each warrior's body armor.
They were attacked by swords, battered by polearms, And assaulted by firearms.
Which armor gives their warrior an edge? Cortes' steel plate or ivan's chain mail with plate? You've got blades going against this armor, And you have matchlocks going against this armor.
When you're talking about the blades, I think there's a slight edge for cortes In the fact that cortes' armor doesn't allow for penetration.
For armor, the edge goes to Hernan Cortes.
Ivan has taken the edge in swords and firearms.
But cortes has the advantage in armor and battleaxes.
Coming up, the final battle will decide Who is deadliest-- Ivan the terrible, the sadistic Russian czar Whose mounted death squads dominated Europe, Or Hernan Cortes, the renegade explorer Whose conquistadors savaged the natives of the new world? It's a 16th century battle of the butchers-- Old world Russian czar, ivan the terrible, The madman whose murderous rampage Transformed Russia from a small nation state To the largest empire in Europe, Against Hernan Cortes, the spanish conquistador, Who built a thousand-Man force that slaughtered More than a 1/4 million aztecs, Destroying the largest empire in the new world.
Our team has tested long-Range weapons.
Ivan's pischal blasted its way past cortes' arquebus.
Oh! Edge, ivan the terrible.
In medium-Range weapons, cortes' alabarda Cut down ivan's bardiche.
Edge, Hernan Cortes.
In close range weapons, ivan's sablia Was a cut above cortes' espada ropera.
Edge, ivan the terrible.
While even against firearms, cortes' steel plate armor Had a slight advantage against blades.
Edge, Hernan Cortes.
All the weapons test data has been turned over to robert daly And plugged into the digital combat engine.
His team of engineers has also completed Their historical research on more than 100 x-Factors.
We evaluate these intangibles and give them quantities.
We look at x-Factors Like battlefield experience, logistics, tenacity, loyalty.
All of these things are important.
We look at all the historical data that talks About their battles, their fighting styles, Their techniques, the weapons that they're using, And our historians quantify it into a numeric value Of 1 to 100.
The psychological health of these two warriors Was way off the charts.
Yet ivan the terrible, This guy could not be rational.
Then you look at Hernan Cortes.
The only reason he was alive was to get gold.
Anything else in his path was secondary.
When you're looking at these leaders, They do need to be calm in their decision-Making process On the battlefield and when they're making Strategic decisions.
And this is gonna probably play a critical role, Because when you're irrational, You're going to make different types Of decisions than you are when you're rational.
And that's why we rated the psychological health Of these two warriors so terribly different.
Cortes ended up with a 72 versus ivan's 37.
For me, it's all about follow-Through And crushing that battle space.
Dominance is a key factor that we look at here.
Both ivan and cortes were very dominating figures.
When you look at ivan, ivan is just a fear monger.
He is definitely somebody that you respect When you're on the battlefield Because you never know what he's going to do.
Now when you look at cortes' side, It is really fascinating to me That you can take a thousand troops And you can go against several million And still come out on top.
We rated cortes an 85, versus ivan, 78.
So you've dealt with the x-Factors.
We've entered in the test data.
Let's run the sim.
Ivan the terrible and four of his oprichniki warriors Will go head to head against Hernan Cortes And four of his conquistadors in a battle to the death.
[Moaning.]
[Moaning.]
[Screams.]
[Laughs.]
fuego! [Horse whinnies.]
[Gunshot.]
[Roars.]
[Screams.]
[Grunts.]
[Shouts.]
[Yelling.]
[Yells.]
[Shouts in spanish.]
H'ya! [Horse whinnies.]
[Shouts.]
[Roars.]
[Shouting.]
[Shouts in spanish.]
After simulating 5,000 battles, cortes wins.
With 2,747 battles won Versus ivan's 2,253.
In the head-To-Head weapons comparison, Cortes' alabarda was more effective than the bardiche While ivan's pischal bested the arquebus And his sablia topped the espada ropera.
Although ivan had the advantage in physicality, Cortes took most of the x-Factors, Including psychological health.
Ivan the terrible is crazy.
The fact of the matter is he could not lead troops As effectively as cortes could.
It goes to show you the x-Factors can work for you And can work against you.
When you have a bipolar, Unstable personality, you're not predictable.
You will lose the ability to lead your men, Especially when it's a tough fight.
I think ivan has great technology, It's incrementally ahead of cortes.
But the thing to look at Is cortes' ability to hit his objective and overcome.
[Both shouting.]
And this is why I think he wins.
[Shouts in spanish.]