Your favourite historical personality

[Swamp Rat]

Casanova

I agree. His memoirs are very interesting indeed. Of course his erotic adventures are what is remembered by most people, as they should be because he admits himself that that is what has been his prime motivator of his life, and they are a fine example of how far the art of courting and love making was perfected in that time period. But most people do not know how much more there is to his autobiography probably because most people only know the abridged versions (or the crappy movie). In fact the full work is a tour de force of observations of various countries, the political situation, daily life observations and generally a detailed account of how a true adventurer made ends meet in the 18th century.

 

[Acanthus]

Has anyone said Oskar Schindler yet? He saved so many jewish lives, and outwitted so many Germans. If he hadn't had been so courageous and witty, many more jews would've lost their lives.

 

[unmerged(28057)]

Has anyone said Oskar Schindler yet? He saved so many jewish lives, and outwitted so many Germans. If he hadn't had been so courageous and witty, many more jews would've lost their lives.

He saved 1000. If you think about it that's insignificant compared to the thing that's not supposed to be discussed on here. Sure he was a courageous man, but there are many more courageous throughout history IMO.

Unless you're Jewish of course.

 

[HJ Tulp]

He saved 1000. If you think about it that's insignificant compared to the thing that's not supposed to be discussed on here. Sure he was a courageous man, but there are many more courageous throughout history IMO.

Unless you're Jewish of course.

How many people did you save punk?

 

[KuzuX]

officially, my fav. historical person should be atatürk, followed by great ottoman sultans(fatih, yavuz, kanuni). but i think my favorites are Ömer Hayyam and Ludwig II of Bavaria

 

[unmerged(28057)]

How many people did you save punk?

None.

But I mainly put that down to two main points:

1. Not being born. (the main one)

2. Being English.

 

[HJ Tulp]

None.

But I mainly put that down to two main points:

1. Not being born. (the main one)

2. Being English.

There are no people who can be saved these days? Do you ever watch the news? A thousand lives saved is more then 99% of the worlds population saved. To demean that because of current events and to say that some lives are worth more then others is simply depicting yourself as a petty 'person.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Lets end that discussion here, thank you !

 

[liveandletdie14]

Napoleon is my favourite. Not saying he's a hero or anything just a brilliant military leader who could have very nearly conquered Europe if not for the two huge mistakes of not helping Spain against British and Guerrilas and not waiting until next spring/summer to attack Moscow which he was thinking about doing.

 

[unmerged(111652)]

I have many favorites, but one of my favorites are clearly Charlemagne (or Charles the Great, or Carolus Magnus, or whatever you prefer). This man inherited an unstable kingdom, held most land between the west coast of France to Austria and the Baltic. He was seen a chivalrous hero in his lifetime and many centuries to come and yet had so many contrasts. He defined the relationship between christian monarch and pope, between king and clergy, the society he created and maintained was basically the foundation of the medieval feudal system. And, of course, he was the first to be called Holy Roman Emperor.

I mean, this man's history is basically the stuff of legends. The slaughter of the rearguard in Spain, his unquencable thirst for Saxon conversion, his numerous wifes and lovers, his near-blind faith in papal power. I find his person and story immense interesting.

 

[RedFish]

I find the amount of blatant nationalistic preference and bias in this thread offensive and sickening!

On a totally unrelated note Knud (Canute) the Great and Tordenskjold are personal favorites of mine.

On a more serious note I always found the Prussian gallery of monarchs and influential statesmen one of the more interesting array of influential persona of the modern age. Frederick the Great and Bismarck being prime examples of course.

 

[DarthJF]

Emperor Augustus is clearly my favorite historical character. How he managed to secure sole power in the chaos that followed after Julius Caesars death is impressive in itself, but even more so how how he managed to hide his own dictatorship so well under the legal formalities of the Republic. He became the sole ruler of the king hating Romans and ended the Republic while calling it restoration. His whole career is very much demonstration of political genius.

Napoleon, Deng Xiaoping and Catherine the Great are also some of my favorite persons throughout history.

 

[mbb]

There are so many historical figures that intrigue me. Here are a few:

1. Good Queen Bess. An amazing woman in her own right, she actually reigned over England for 60 years despite all sorts difficulties.

2. Henry II. Again, an extremely talented person whose legacy is still apparent in England (the UK) today. i.e. its laws.

3. Carravagio. How can someone be so talented, yet be such an a***-hole? Talk about flawed genius.

4. Leonardo DaVinci. Once described by someone I knew as being an alien! How else to explain his genuis? Is that really his face on the Turin Shroud as his grand joke on history and the church?

5. Geronimo. He gave the Yankees a run for their money and lived to tell the tale.

6. Kurt Cobain. We'll be scratching our heads over this one for decades to come.

7. John Lennon. Amazing influence over modern popular culture; Yoko actually let him go and have a live in affair with another woman - if she wanted to keep him, she had no choice.

 

[Korsan82]

Selim I. from the Ottoman dynasty, the father of Suleyman the Magnificent who conquered entire egypt, passed the Sinai desert in 5 days, killed a lot of his enemies and wrote poems about God, the true love and his own personal life. Very fascinating character as well as his son and one of the greatest commanders the world has seen so far.

 

[dsstalo]

i feel that it was bismarck's mistake of leaving austria after whacking it hard was a costly mistake

It was an impossibility for Bismarck to include austria, because of austria's non-german lands and the fact that austria was not inclined to be the second nation to prussia.
But my favorite would have to be Frederick the Great who made prussia into a military power by taking on & holding out against france, austria, and russia. Frederick was even admired so much that when Peter came to the throne of russia he decided to conclude a peace with him even though prussia was on the verge of collapse.

 

[unmerged(9310)]

If Chan Kai Chek would have won China would probably already be stronger then the USA or EU.

Chiang Kai Shek likely wouldn't have done that. Not by a longshot. This is a common fallacy I find people expressing but I really must offer my disagreement here.

The man had his chance for years and instead created a administration based on warlord politics which was rife with corruption, and was becoming steadily worse. His ideas of democratic revolution to create a unified China were just not at all feasable and quite unrealistic. His attempts were well meant, but useless for the most part as well - at one time during his attempts to reassert authority over China he started a war with local warlords and communist which would bankrupt his government and claim a quarter of a million lives, with little avail.

He didn't possess the military power or the backing of any of the major warlords, unified administration, or characteristics of leadership. Mao may not have been a good guy, but he used his iron fist policies to force China together. And the rise of China economically as we know it today is more credit owed to Deng Xiaoping rather than Mao.

 

[Divi]

Five that always interested me:

Casanova

High school crush - I loved Casanova.
Lorenzo the Magnificent, maybe.
And certainly Artemisia Gentileschi.

Frederick Douglass. snipped

Wow, I realized he was amazing, but that's rather incredibly so...

 

[unmerged(110676)]

Mao Tse-tung as a military leader, he stabilized China and crushed the warlords when nobody else could. Too bad he stopped a island short of total victory.

Economically, Dèng Xiǎopíng, he laid the pavestones to the socialist market economy we have today is what started Chinas being into a superpower

 

[Vesimir]

1. Napoleon I Bonaparte

A man that rose almost from nothing to becoming an Emperor. This man's ideas are still being used in many countries in Europe. A brilliant tactician, also a great sailor. (Did you knew he considered joining the Royal Navy?)

2. Leonardo da Vinci

This person's mind was few hundred years ahead of the world, is there anything else to be said?

 

[unmerged(90356)]

1) Caesar, loved by his men, unafraid to take risks "the die is cast", and a great general. Not to mention he managed to **** Cleopatra.

2) Napoleon Bonaparte, whats not to like? "Soldiers of the Fifth, you recognise me. If any man would shoot his emperor, he may do so now." = Legend

3) Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, calmness in the face of adversity, a principled man and a great general.