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Deadliest Warrior

Ivan the Terrible vs. Hernán Cortés

Season 3, Episode 7, Aired Aug 31, 2011

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Deadliest Warrior continues to put equally matched rivals one against another. This episode is a lesson from history, in which Ivan the Terrible, the sixteenth century Russian Tsar squares off against Hernan Cortes, the Spanish explorer who toppled the Aztec Empire. Both known for their brutality, they were strategic tacticians whose forces would have been a serious competition if they met on the battlefield.

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In this "battle of the butchers" the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible faces off with the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez. Who is deadliest?

7.5

"Good"

By Junketh71, Sep 01, 2011

This episode was neat - neither more nor less. The tests of weapons were impressive, but the armour wasn't properly tested (especially when compared to the previous episodes' armour tests, like "Hannibal vs. Genghis Khan") and the tactics were noticeably absent. Then again, what tactics did they use? Ivan, contrary to the show's statement, wasn't an up-front man, he had minions for that, while Hernan probably used tactics that weren't any different from any other highwayman of his time - burn and pillage... so no problem with the tactics.
Tactics aside, did Hernan win fairly? Probably so, because he was a fighter, while Ivan generally had his minions to do the dirty work: DW's producers should've put Hernan against Ivan's chief henchman - Maluta Skuratov-Belsky... or put Ivan against the king of Spain, Hernan's number one employer. That would've been an even fairer fight!
But was this fight so unfair? Probably not, at least by DW's standards. As the "US Rangers vs. NKSOF" showed, there's a slight bias against Russia in this show, probably produced by the Spetsnaz victory in season 1, and the victory of the Soviet-armed Somali pirates in season 2. The fact that DW has an American bias (whether they admit it or not) doesn't help things either. But not to worry - Ivan the terrible was crazy and he probably lost on his own. Still, I can't wait for the next episode, where there won't be any Russians to even slightly influence the show's decision. (Seriously - Hernan won because of the X-factors? The previous episode - "Teddy Roosevelt vs Lawrence of Arabia" - stated that the X-factors accounted for no more than 20% of a candidate's success or failure, so why the sudden turn-about now?)moreless
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