Favorite Historical Figures

[Strike For The South]

I have 4:

Patton
Roosevelt (Teddy)
Jackson (Andrew)
Sam Houston

Now the first 3 are eaisly grouped, Bull-headed(or should I say bull moose LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL) arrogant men who made allot of enemies. I can respect that

Houston was unionist Texan whom refused to secede therefore <3

[Fisherking]

George Rogers Clark

Pushmataha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushmataha)

Fulk FitzWarin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulk_FitzWarin)

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Guts and brains

[A Nerd]

Richard the Lionhearted.

[Fragony]

The Marquis de Sade, a man often misunderstood. He was not immoral nor was he a sadist, the massacres left him aghast. The sword is mightier than the pencil, but also more stupid

[Lysimachus]

I have 4:

Patton
Roosevelt (Teddy)
Jackson (Andrew)
Sam Houston

Now the first 3 are eaisly grouped, Bull-headed(or should I say bull moose LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL) arrogant men who made allot of enemies. I can respect that

Houston was unionist Texan whom refused to secede therefore <3


I've never liked Patton. Was given an army on the side which was winning the war, only blitzed across France because the German Army Group B had been annihilated and then the moment he bumped in to resistance at Metz he stalled. Then rather than allowing the Allies to properly allocate their resources, he demanded resources for his troops who were at the time in a less important sector. I think he's an extremely overrated general who, if say in Gotthard Heinrici's situation against the Russians 1944-1945 as they advanced in to Germany wouldn't have stood a chance and would have simply fell apart rather than composing the flexible defence which historically occurred around the Oder.

[Subotan]

Harry S. Truman. (As he is legendary, and I'm a bit surprised he's not on your list tbh SFTS.)
David Lloyd George (He may be Welsh, but he was a wizard by god)
Thomas Cochrane (Study him. Be in awe.)
De Gaulle (Not because I agree with him, but because he was uncompromising to the point of badassery
Ito Hirobumi (Controversial, especially to Koreans [in fact exclusively to Koreans], but I needed to pick a Genro, and controversial is the way I like it)
Park Chung Hee (Again controversial to Koreans, but I don't care)
Bismarck
Abigail Adams (Even though McCullough's treatment of her was ew so mushy)

[Strike For The South]

Harry S. Truman. (As he is legendary, and I'm a bit surprised he's not on your list tbh SFTS.[FONT=Verdana])]

I never understood the [oral praise] given to Truman


I've never liked Patton. Was given an army on the side which was winning the war, only blitzed across France because the German Army Group B had been annihilated and then the moment he bumped in to resistance at Metz he stalled. Then rather than allowing the Allies to properly allocate their resources, he demanded resources for his troops who were at the time in a less important sector. I think he's an extremely overrated general who, if say in Gotthard Heinrici's situation against the Russians 1944-1945 as they advanced in to Germany wouldn't have stood a chance and would have simply fell apart rather than composing the flexible defence which historically occurred around the Oder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh9S1Hk975U

I'D LOVE TO SEE THE FAIRY MASQUERADING AS A GENERAL KNOWN AS MONTY GIVE THAT SPEECH

~;)

[Lysimachus]

I never understood the [oral praise] given to Truman



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh9S1Hk975U

I'D LOVE TO SEE THE FAIRY MASQUERADING AS A GENERAL KNOWN AS MONTY GIVE THAT SPEECH

~;)

Kind of reminds me of Godwin's Law; in a discussion about either Montgomery or Patton, it's inevitable some point down the line that the other gets mentioned. I'd hardly use a speech as a sign of a general's credibility though, whether in a light-hearted or serious context, rather we should look at a general's military achievements, tactics, terrain and what they had to work with to determine how effective they were at leading their forces (among other factors).

[Noncommunist]

Paul Emil von Lettow Vorbeck was a pretty good general in WW1 in East Africa.

[Subotan]

I never understood the [oral praise] given to Truman
Even if you disagree with his personal politics, he is the prime example of why democracy works. Born into a simple farming family, he persevered through WWI, a bankruptcy, living a hard life on his farm, to become a Senator, and then eventually the V-P. He then obviously went on to win a Presidential election in his own right. Also, on the big issues of his day, such as whether to nuke Japan, the commitment of troops to Korea, the Marshal Plan, the dismissal of MacArthur (Who was pretty overrated IMHO), the first steps towards action on civil rights...what is there to dislike?

[KrooK]

Jan Tarnowski - hetman (polish highest military rank) probably best commander of the first part of XVIth century.

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz
Stanisław Żółkiewski - two great commanders of XVIth - XVIIth century. Both hetmans. Great patriots for whole their lives served their country.

Genghis Khan - here I don't think destription is necessary.

[Beirut]

Socrates
Alcibiades
Henry V
BKS
Churchill
T.E. Lawrence
Ghengis Khan

[Louis VI the Fat]

BKSNow there's a great king... :2thumbsup:

[Karel de Stoute]

The Marquis de Sade, a man often misunderstood. He was not immoral nor was he a sadist, the massacres left him aghast. The sword is mightier than the pencil, but also more stupid

Oh yes he was a sadist. He served multiple prisonsentences for sexual and sadistic crimes like beating up a prostitute whilst masturbating. And he had a disturbingly sick fantasy: '120 jours de sodome'

My favourite historic figure would be Socrates, the martyr of filosophie

[Vuk]

Niccolò Machiavelli
Phillip II of Macedon
Alexander the Great
Ng Mui
Flavius Belisarius
Douglas MacArthur
Vuk Brankovic

[Seolun]

Vladimir Ulyanov
:)

[PanzerJaeger]

It is difficult to pick favorites. Not surprisingly, many of the figures that most interest me are German.

Erich von Manstein is probably my favorite military figure. The man served in four different iterations of the German military. Besides being closely related to Hindenburg, his biological father, his adoptive father, and several of his uncles were Prussian generals. He was in many ways the final, ultimate manifestation of the Prussian military aristocracy, with all its strengths and faults. He fought on both fronts during the First World War, despite being severely wounded in the opening stages. He remained in the military during the dark and tumultuous Weimar years, helping to build the Reichswehr.

During the Second World War, his strategic talents were first recognized during the Polish campaign, where he developed the plan for Army Group South's successful envelopment of the Polish forces in the south of the country. The original German plan for the invasion of France was essentially a copy of the Schlieffen Plan - a drive through Belgium - which was exactly what the Allies were expecting. Manstein suggested instead crossing the Ardennes forest and Meuse River to the South and trapping the best French divisions in Belgium. The rest is history...

In Russia, Manstein arguably proved himself to be the best German commander of the war, and one of the few of the 'old school' capable of dealing with the massive Soviet armored thrusts that characterized the Red Army's operations after Stalingrad. In fact, his defeat of one such thrust - known as the Third Battle of Kharkov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Kharkov) - turned out to be the last major German victory in the East and returned the Wehrmacht to the offense after the debacle at Stalingrad. For that summer offensive, Manstein, realizing the growing numerical imbalance between the two forces, suggested a strategy that mirrored his success at Kharkov that would have had the Wehrmacht absorb the coming Soviet thrusts and counterattack when they were at their most exhausted. It cannot be known whether Manstein's strategy would have been successful, but the more traditional plan that Hitler did choose came to be known as the Battle of Kursk. From then on, as Hilter became more and more entrenched in his demands that every inconsequential kilometer of territory be held to the last man, Manstein advocated for a mobile defense. As he watched his men simply surrounded and destroyed by Soviet forces, he became more and more brazen in his disagreements with Hitler - one of the only German commanders to challenge Hitler's poor decisions in his presence. Needless to say, he was soon relieved in favor of commanders such as Model whose personal relationship with Hitler allowed them to simply ignore his orders.

After the war, Manstein's life appeared to take a downward spiral. Although the Western Allies saw no need to try him, the Russians demanded he be tried for war crimes, and although he was acquitted of most of the charges, he was found guilty of using scorched earth tactics in the East and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He only served four of them before being released due to medical circumstances.

Manstein's service to the German military was not yet over, though. After his release, he was recalled by West German Chancellor Adenauer and became the principle architect for the military organization and doctrine of the new Bundeswehr.

The man lead quite an amazing career. His unyielding devotion to the German military, regardless of its master, was both one of his greatest strengths and worst character faults. He was, at his core, a consummate Prussian.

[Fragony]

Oh yes he was a sadist. He served multiple prisonsentences for sexual and sadistic crimes like beating up a prostitute whilst masturbating. And he had a disturbingly sick fantasy: '120 jours de sodome'

De Sade having a sick fantasy can't be denied, nor can his genius. He has always been a parody of himself and society in general, like The Comedian from Watchmen he wasn't really a scumbag, he became one by choice, as a mirror. Read the Bedroom Philosophers, often described as pure porn. It isn't, it's brilliant

[Lucius Verus]

Mithridates VI and Heraclius

[Greyblades]

Winston Churchill(yeah I know predictable), pretty much the epitome of wartime leaders, cant realy say the same for his peace time performance but still a personal fav.

[gaelic cowboy]

My favourite historical figures are not necessarily important in any major sense but there lives did impact in a real way.

Brendan Bracken (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Bracken,_1st_Viscount_Bracken) he basically reinvented himself from the son of a middle class catholic Irish republican into a British establishment figure purely because he wanted to meet people like Winston Churchill. He fooled them all for years and rose to be a right hand man of Winston and founded the FT newspaper, they never copped he was not the "Right sort of Fellow". Hilarious life fooled them all for years and he became First Lord of the Admiralty too :laugh4: priceless should be a movie about it.

Oh nearly forgot it is said by some that it was Bracken who advised Churchill not too say anything at the table during the meeting to pick a new leader when Lord Halifax was proposed, :laugh4: hows that for lucky, Fenians son saves British Empire indirectly :laugh4:

Michael Collins and Dev naturally don't need to go into them really speaks for itself.

TK Whittaker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._K._Whitaker) he is still alive but he deserves to be mentioned in any roll call of Ireland his policies on economics were visionary for an Ireland of it's time and still are today.

I cant think of any more that are interesting to the org so I'll stop there otherwise I'll be writing a full list of internationally minor characters.