Greatest National Figure

[hrvojej]

Croatia

Nikola Tesla

He probably had the biggest worldwide impact.

[Papewaio]

New Zealand

Rutherford.

Remarkable impact on science.

[PanzerJaeger]

German/American

Otto Von Bismarck/Robert E Lee

[Byzantine Prince]

I heard this second hand from a mature student a couple of years ago.

Anyway, during his first degree, in the 80s, he knew archaeology students who were working in the eastern Med.
Apparently they got to be buddy buddy with some Albanian sailors. Albanians had apparently been told that the rest of the world had been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust and that Albania was the only place left on Earth. Is that really how isolated it got that many Albanians could believe that?

Is that true or was that guy speaking crap?

Sure there was a lot of ignorance in the lower classes, but that was done on purpose, as in the greater good. There wasn't even roads in some remote places otherwise they would know better, what with radio having led zeppelin and thaters showing Italian movies.

It's actually a lot like the Spartans weren't allowed to know how other people lived in order to not be influenced to change.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

that's excellent.
It just makes me want my own totalitarian state even more.

[Productivity]

Austrailia

Ned Kelley (erm, only one I can think of right now.)

A glorified criminal? (I've never understood Australian's fixation with him to be honest).

[Proletariat]

A glorified criminal? (I've never understood Australian's fixation with him to be honest).

Actually, I was kind of making a lame joke about how the only famous historical figure I could possibly think of from there was Ned. I did a quick scan on wikipedia and couldn't find anyone that stood out as terribly interesting in their history write-up on Austrailia.

Maybe the fixation has to do with the whole penal-colony deal.

[GoreBag]

There have been a few interesting Canadians, including the inventor of basketball, pennicilin, the telephone, and that huge cannon Saddam Hussein bought to fire missiles across continents (it was originally designed to launch satellites).

I didn't agree with the Greatest Canadian poll. The former PM, Jean Chrétien, was way cooler on a personal level, so I'll go with him, just to be spiteful.

He fought in Vietnam.
He had a speech impediment.
He was pied in the face.
He choked a protestor who had charged his car through the car's window ("I saw 'e was a lightweight, so I took 'im out").
He used a piece of inuktitut art to beat an assassin into submission.

[Papewaio]

Actually, I was kind of making a lame joke about how the only famous historical figure I could possibly think of from there was Ned. I did a quick scan on wikipedia and couldn't find anyone that stood out as terribly interesting in their history write-up on Austrailia.

Maybe the fixation has to do with the whole penal-colony deal.

Try looking up about Monash on a military slant.

Or John Curtin.

Or Weary Dunlop.

[Byzantine Prince]

I didn't agree with the Greatest Canadian poll. The former PM, Jean Chrétien, was way cooler on a personal level, so I'll go with him, just to be spiteful.

He fought in Vietnam.
He had a speech impediment.
He was pied in the face.
He choked a protestor who had charged his car through the car's window ("I saw 'e was a lightweight, so I took 'im out").
He used a piece of inuktitut art to beat an assassin into submission.

Jean Cretien was awesome

I agree that Greatest Canadian thing was stupid. I thought Lester Pearson was way more deservent of the award. The man gained a nobel peace prize and installed our health care system!

[Shadow]

Singapore

Lee Kuan Yew

He and his administration curbed unemployment, solved problems like lack of housing, social stability and independent national defence which raised the standard of living, developed Singapore's economic revenue and infrastructure thus elevated the nation from a third world nation to the first.

[Redleg]

Well for me its an Englishman - named of Thomas Crapper - or was it John. It gets all confusing when one is sitting on the Porcelin throne now doesn't.

[Pindar]

It seems most followed the basic rules.

I'm from the U.S.

I think my pick would be Abraham Lincoln.

The reason: he stood at the head of the nation during its greatest crisis since gaining independance. He helped to bring together the high ideals appealed to during the nation's founding and the reality that had disenfranchised unjustly so many.

[Franconicus]

Germany

Otto von Bismarck of course.

He kicked some arses(no offense ), finally united Germany and secured peace in Europe in his very own way(after the wars, of course).

You are kidding, aren't you.
To me it is Martin Luther, he really changed the world for good.
Other great Germans are
Gutenberg, Daimler, Benz, Kant, Heisenberg, Einstein (?), Freud (?), even Marx
What a great nation!

[Husar]

You are kidding, aren't you.
To me it is Martin Luther, he really changed the world for good.
Other great Germans are
Gutenberg, Daimler, Benz, Kant, Heisenberg, Einstein (?), Freud (?), even Marx
What a great nation!

No, I´m not.

I know that positions about Bismarck differ, his internal politics weren´t that great, but there are few men who got them right here in Germany. He was a genius in foreign politics and his successors messed it all up(WW I). He also invented disability insurance.
The others are valid as well, but we should pick one, I thought.

[Beirut]

The former PM, Jean Chrétien, was way cooler on a personal level, so I'll go with him, just to be spiteful.

He fought in Vietnam.

Excuse me? I really don't think so my brother.

[Leet Eriksson]

United Arab Emirates:

Greatest Figures: Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nheyan.

Literally Champion of the Earth, a title awarded to him by the UN, for resisting desertification and keeping the environment clean, allevating citizen status, and making the country an economical force in the region.

Historical: Ahmed bin Majid.

Magellans navigator in the Indian ocean. 'nuff said.

[Duke Malcolm]

There have been a few interesting Canadians, including the inventor of basketball, pennicilin, the telephone, and that huge cannon Saddam Hussein bought to fire missiles across continents (it was originally designed to launch satellites).

I didn't know that Sir Alexander Fleming emigrated to Canada...
out of interest, who invented basketball? I always thought it was an american, but it is nice to know that they didn't invent any of their national games...

[Franconicus]

German/American

Otto Von Bismarck/Robert E Lee

Why?

[English assassin]

Big up for Nansen and Norway, certainly. Not one but two great careers.

From England, I vote Charles Darwin. Anyone who can still annoy that many fundamentalists HAS to get my vote. And he lived in Kent too which is just gravy.

[JAG]

The great Clement Atlee.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUattlee.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Atlee

Changed the life for the better, for so many British people and his reforms still do.

[PanzerJaeger]

Quote:
Originally Posted by PanzerJager
German/American

Otto Von Bismarck/Robert E Lee



Why?

Bismarck was a genius who created Germany as we now know it out of the states. He put Germany in the strong position it was at the beginning of the 20th century which subsequent leaders lost.

Robert E. Lee was offered a chance to fight on the winning side but chose to fight for his homeland and his way of life- and did a damned good job of it to. I respect that.

[English assassin]

Bismarck was a genius who created Germany as we now know it out of the states. He put Germany in the strong position it was at the beginning of the 20th century which subsequent leaders lost.

Umm. I'm not sure that was an unqualified blessing for the German people themselves, let alone everyone else. How about Goethe ?

[Duke Malcolm]

The great Clement Atlee.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUattlee.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Atlee

Changed the life for the better, for so many British people and his reforms still do.

Some of what he did was good, such as the NHS, and I was tempted to name him as mine. But he did surrender vast swathes of the Empire, including the Indian Empire, which is hardly a good thing...

It is ironic, though, that he was made an earl, and the current holder of the title Earl Attlee is a member of the Conservative Party.

[Kanamori]

"'m from the U.S.

I think my pick would be Abraham Lincoln.

The reason: he stood at the head of the nation during its greatest crisis since gaining independance. He helped to bring together the high ideals appealed to during the nation's founding and the reality that had disenfranchised unjustly so many."

Agreed, he took the US through its most difficult, and possibly explosive, time ever.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Look at that figure. Surley the greatest

[Kaiser of Arabia]

You are kidding, aren't you.
To me it is Martin Luther, he really changed the world for good.
Other great Germans are
Gutenberg, Daimler, Benz, Kant, Heisenberg, Einstein (?), Freud (?), even Marx
What a great nation!

Don't forget Freidrich der Große, Wilhelm I, Rommel, Guderian, von Braun, etc etc. BTW Freud was Austrian .

[Aurelian]

I'll throw in a nominee from the arts and sciences:

Thomas Edison

He had a huge impact on our daily lives by inventing the phonograph, motion picture, and electric light technology that made those inventions safe, economical, and accessible. Also created a host of other inventions. Had over 1,368 patents by the time of his death. LINK, LINK

As for political theorists, I have a weakness for both Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. James Madison also deserves credit for his work on the Constitution.

Theodore Roosevelt has always been a personal favorite of mine... and FDR also stands as an American icon.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Does anyone know whos picture that was I posted?

[Byzantine Prince]

Does anyone know whos picture that was I posted?

Yourself?