Samoans.
If Samoan is in a combat sport (MMA, Boxing, Kickboxing) he is often shorter but heavier than his opponents, has bricks for fists, and can take the equivalent of a baseball bat to the head.
- They deserve respect, but if you ask me, being “tough” is not so much coping with the constant nagging of the elements on your way to America/Moscow as it is about disposing the mental strength required to lead others into the void, risking everything and still sleep well at night knowing you dare to look beyond what is commonly known.
Christopher Columbus was “tough”.
This former monarch of my nation was “tough”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_XII
In the end, Charles XII wasn't victorious, but he stood up to the situation which is more than you could say of any leader of our big Eastern neighbor throughout History.
I like ordinary Russian people a lot though. It's a damn shame they always seem unable to produce competent leaders.
Today, Peter the “Great” is widely romanticized. He declared war on Sweden, a nation which actually was a major European power at that time, proving a fatal decision paving way for both Russian, Swedish and Baltic economical disaster.
Sweden is today one of the world's richest countries.
Russia could prosper too.
All it takes is they give up Feudalism, Imperialism, Marxism and Alcoholism once and for all.