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This is my list(Note I´ve arranged them in my interesting/fascinating order)
1.Hitler(His life is interesting, turned from a capable man into something destroyed by ideology and conspiracy theorys)
2.Hirohito( A great ruler IMO, except the mass murder he ordered together with his generals on the chinese I like him)
3.Stalin(Hitler´s Playmate during the german-soviet "The dictator orders and the men follow and no I dont care about how stupid my decision sounds for you"-war and the second greatest revolutionist(active) the russians had IMO OFC.
4.Wladimir Iljitsch Uljanow(The greatest revolutionist the russians had IMO)
5.Vlad the third "Tepes"(A real cruel man)
6.Churchill(OFC Churchill is in the top 10 of great historicans of mine, because everyone should have him in the top ten)
7.Wernher von Braun(I love spacefare and rocketry[Nope I don´t like bombs,exspecially when they hit europe
)
8.Reimar and Walter Horten(Great engineers)
9.Johan(He founded Paradox)
10.Mao Zedong(Well he united China and he was surely her savior from becoming weak)
1.Hitler(His life is interesting, turned from a capable man into something destroyed by ideology and conspiracy theorys)
2.Hirohito( A great ruler IMO, except the mass murder he ordered together with his generals on the chinese I like him)
3.Stalin(Hitler´s Playmate during the german-soviet "The dictator orders and the men follow and no I dont care about how stupid my decision sounds for you"-war and the second greatest revolutionist(active) the russians had IMO OFC.
4.Wladimir Iljitsch Uljanow(The greatest revolutionist the russians had IMO)
5.Vlad the third "Tepes"(A real cruel man)
6.Churchill(OFC Churchill is in the top 10 of great historicans of mine, because everyone should have him in the top ten)
7.Wernher von Braun(I love spacefare and rocketry[Nope I don´t like bombs,exspecially when they hit europe
)8.Reimar and Walter Horten(Great engineers)
9.Johan(He founded Paradox)
10.Mao Zedong(Well he united China and he was surely her savior from becoming weak)
1-Stokely Carmichael was prominent in the Civil Rights movement in the United States in the 60s.
2- Lugal-zagessi united all Sumerian cities under his control in 2350 bce. He ruled from Uruk. Only time Sumer was united prior to Sargon.
3- Attaturk -Because of one of his sayings "I wish all religions were thrown into the bottom of the sea". He was able to separate religion from the state
2- Lugal-zagessi united all Sumerian cities under his control in 2350 bce. He ruled from Uruk. Only time Sumer was united prior to Sargon.
3- Attaturk -Because of one of his sayings "I wish all religions were thrown into the bottom of the sea". He was able to separate religion from the state
My favorites, there is many who interest me and can be said to be my favorite. One of my favorites must be Napoléon because he is the greatest reason I started being interested in History, Gaius Julius Caesar and his adoptive son Octavian, aka Augustus, have also influenced my interests in that way. They are all very interesting and will always be some of my favorites but my absolute favorite must be someone who has influenced my way of thinking in a way I like who did something great for hers/his people and perhaps for the world. French general and President Charles de Gaulle is another who I put high, because of his foreign policy that pursued a independent nation not one that is subordinated to US (or any other for that matter) he was also a great inspiration to many who wanted to fight against the Nazis in WW2 being the one who founded the Free French. I also like philosophy and the Socrates because of his thought that "The only thing I know is that I don't know". But in the end I've settled on Mohandas Ghandi, both because his birthday is on the same day as mine, hell yeah! , and because he is the reason that the almost most populous country in the world, India, gained independence because of him and this was not through a violent uprising, but a non-violent (but I guess you knew that already).
So there you have it, Mohandas "Mahatma" Ghandi is my absolute favorite and I end this post with a quote of his: "Live as you where to die tomorrow, learn as you where to live forever"
, and because he is the reason that the almost most populous country in the world, India, gained independence because of him and this was not through a violent uprising, but a non-violent (but I guess you knew that already).So there you have it, Mohandas "Mahatma" Ghandi is my absolute favorite and I end this post with a quote of his: "Live as you where to die tomorrow, learn as you where to live forever"
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As a statesman/ruler Octavius is a definite candidate. Often in the shadow of his great-uncle in todays view (ask a person on the street, about important roman statesmen...), i see him as more important.
As a military leader i would tend to name Alexander the Great. His Conquest of the east against one of the mightiest empires in the ancient period is just unparalleled.
From a scientific/philosophical point of view, i go for a less mainstream Aristarchos of Samos. His mental effort to understand celestial mechanics as a heliocentric system of spherical objects surrounding each other in a certain way without any sort of telescope can hardly be praised enough from a present point of view. he even did calculations for the distance to the sun with the help of trigonometry and his naked eye. although he ended up twentyfold too short with the final outcome, it was only due to the impracticality of more accurate measurements without any tools at that time. (he measured 87° between moon and sun instead of the todays 89° 51' ...try to be this accurate yourself in the rare case of favorable constellation)
all this ... 2000 years before this world view became generally accepted in the western World.
As a military leader i would tend to name Alexander the Great. His Conquest of the east against one of the mightiest empires in the ancient period is just unparalleled.
From a scientific/philosophical point of view, i go for a less mainstream Aristarchos of Samos. His mental effort to understand celestial mechanics as a heliocentric system of spherical objects surrounding each other in a certain way without any sort of telescope can hardly be praised enough from a present point of view. he even did calculations for the distance to the sun with the help of trigonometry and his naked eye. although he ended up twentyfold too short with the final outcome, it was only due to the impracticality of more accurate measurements without any tools at that time. (he measured 87° between moon and sun instead of the todays 89° 51' ...try to be this accurate yourself in the rare case of favorable constellation)
all this ... 2000 years before this world view became generally accepted in the western World.
Frederick III of Germany. What an alternative history that would have offered, had he not died...
Also Napoleon, as a battered Ladybird's History of the Napoleonic Wars in my nursery school (kindergarten, whatever you want to call it) led me to scrounge more and more adult history books through schooling, and lo here I am, an incorrigible history obsessive.
Finally, a tie between Bismarck and Lenin. Both deeply unpleasant men, and both completely fascinating.
Also Napoleon, as a battered Ladybird's History of the Napoleonic Wars in my nursery school (kindergarten, whatever you want to call it) led me to scrounge more and more adult history books through schooling, and lo here I am, an incorrigible history obsessive.
Finally, a tie between Bismarck and Lenin. Both deeply unpleasant men, and both completely fascinating.
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Carlos IV of Spain. He was a complex individual, more than historians give him credit for. He was a man of the Enlightenment, a cuckold, and a very un-kingly king. Dominated by his father Carlos III, his wife (and first cousin), his prime minister Manuel de Godoy who was sleeping with his queen (which he seems to have been okay with). I've read a lot of his royal decisions as part of my dissertation, and he had a lot of good ideas for moving Spain forward. If only his cousin Louis had not lost his head when the Revolution hit.
Could you also tell us, why he/she is your favourite historical character ?
Wouldn't call him my favorite historical figure as such, but someone who fills me with admiration is Georg Elser. Unlike many others who tried to kill Hitler, he did not have the backing of an organisation to help him, he was not a military man, he wasn't trying to do it for the benefit of Germany, he just could see what was likely to come and made a truly brave attempt to head Hitler off at the pass... who knows how things would have turned out had he succeeded. For the sake of 13 minutes.
When I was young, there were the usual suspects: Napoleon, Caesar, Alexander. Major bloodshed, large empires, wheeee.
But when getting older, my sympathy for these guys diminished and I turned toward those people, who were pretty common and more or less unimportant, but could tell me something about the time they lived in. Thukydides is one of my favorites. But Pepys is great, because he is someone like you and me in the middle of the 17th century. Reading his diary should be a must. And the funny thing is: When he stopped writing in his diary (and he thought, that his good times were over), the few spectacular moments in his life were still ahead.
Plus the sheer volume. Almost ten years and nearly every day an entry. Politics, his wife, mistresses, the Fire, the Plague. A merciless honest picture of his contemporary people and country.
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Ivan III, Grand Prince of Rus. Probably the most brilliant ruler of Moscowy. The founder of Russian state, managed to beat practically all Russia's rivals using clever diplomacy. Sadly, not very well known ruler, as his successes were shaded by his incompetent grandson
Rosa Luxemburg was one of the greatest revolutionaries of the 20th century, certainly not as influencial as Lenin, but I have always respected her more. More effectively than anyone else (IMO) she matched up Marxist theory with practise - neither falling into the trap of inflexible dogmatism of those who try to justify every action with a quote from their favoured dead writer, nor the opportunism of the contemporary SPD (and the other members of the Second International) who abandoned all their principles at the first sight of trouble. A socialist who could adjust to the realities of the situation without ever losing sight of the central goal of securing working class power. Whilst the SPD leadership were getting into bed with the Kaiser she took a stand against the War (one of just a handful of former members of the supposedly 'socialist' Second International to do so) and for it faced political imprisonment that nearly killed her. After being released from prison following the fall of the Kaiser she didn't take a moment to rest at a time when her own personal health was in collapse and threw herself into organising German workingmen. Sadly we will never know what would have happened if the Sparticists had survived and followed her strategies into 1918 (at a time when Germany was rapidly moving towards a revolutionary situation) as in January she was murdered by the Freikorps and her body dumped into an icy canal. She was someone who put the well being of the working class above her own well being, whilst her politics were the truest reflection of revolutionary Marxism of her era.
Emperor Norton I of America. He shed no blood, robbed no one, and despoiled no country, which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line.
I would probably have to say:Wilhelm II of Germany he is often thought as an idiot or a loon but I think he was a great leader who tried to make his country better (yes he made alot of mistakes) but I think he always had Germanys best intrest in mind, Lenin a very fansinating man rose from nothing to rule the largest country in the world and set the course for much of the 20th century, Ivan IV "the terrible" of Russia this guy was sorta of like a mideval stalin he made russia a great power and he was a ruthless and despotic ruler but it had a lot to do with a very bad childhood.
Gustavus II Adolphus the Great, or possibly Charles XII, who even impressed his contemporary Voltaire. Kings and what we'd today call dictators, but was first and foremost soldiers who wanted nothing else but to lead their men in the front lines, and who both gave their lives sacrificing themselves in the heat of the battle.
They were also great administrators who built the deadliest and most modern armies of their time in a small obscure country in the outposts of nothern Europe. Although Charles XII was overshadowed on this point by his father Charles XI, who invented the world's first modern central bank.
They were also great administrators who built the deadliest and most modern armies of their time in a small obscure country in the outposts of nothern Europe. Although Charles XII was overshadowed on this point by his father Charles XI, who invented the world's first modern central bank.
And, unfortunately, it is not all that easy to find a few good books about him. I´ve read one biography recently which wasn´t all that good. Got any tips perhaps?
There is no one personality whom I favour over the others but I think Genghis Khan needs to be mentioned. He was the GOAT, in terms of Empire building. He counquered twice as much as the number 2 most successful conqueror in history, Alexander the Great. He managed to unite a bunch of disparate nomadic tribes into a nation, givng them a written language and laws. And then he turned that nation into the greatest land empire in history. A great administrator and a great judge of the character and talents of men. The Pax Mongolica played a huge role in shaping the modern world. If you are going to include guys like Caesar, Napoleon and Alexander, then surely this guy needs to be top of the list.