Napoleon, Stalin, Hitler

[cegorach]

It is quite obvious that beeing more French/Russian/German than the 'natives' was one of driving factors in their behaviour, but it is not uncommon I guess there are many people like these who are famous or threated as national heroes in countries where they were not born. I can find several examples in Polish history right now if someone asks me.

[matteus the inbred]

in Napoleon's case he was actually quite a committed Corsican patriot before he decided France would be a better stage for his ambitions. in all cases it was probably a desire to achieve greatness for their respective adopted countries, personified by themselves. all three were from relatively poor backgrounds and had uncertain relations with their fathers, but where Hitler was a poor student, for example, Napoleon was extremely bright and hardworking.

Corsica was a fairly unregarded backwater, Austria an important country in its own right, Georgia somewhere in between...

i think someone once said about Napoleon 'he finds it so easy to shed French blood because he does not have a drop of it his own veins'.

Someone researching British Prime Ministers found that something like 25% of them had lost one or both parents before they were adults, a much higher proportion than normal for the population as a whole.
make of that what you will.

[hellenes]

It is quite obvious that beeing more French/Russian/German than the 'natives' was one of driving factors in their behaviour, but it is not uncommon I guess there are many people like these who are famous or threated as national heroes in countries where they were not born. I can find several examples in Polish history right now if someone asks me.

BTW
Stalin was as much Russian as Hitler was Korean...
He was Gergean...

Hellenes