Favourite Historical Figure

[RebelRising]

I'd have to say Temudgin (Genghis Khan) because, say what you will about his brutality, he slaughtered armies of millions, razed entire cities, and built the largest empire in history. You just don't have that kind of work ethic these days.

On the more obscure side, I've always liked Voltaire because he was one of the best of the intellectuals who emerged from the refining of ideals and culture in Europe, during the Enlightenment Period. He expanded largely on the concept of Deism (as opposed to Theism) and was a notable figure of endorsing Rationalism, an afterthought of the departure from irrational religious belief and superstition.

On his death bed, he was confronted by a priest, who implored him to renounce Satan (because, obviously, he was a Satanist) before he died. Voltaire replied:

"Now, now, my good ma. This is no time for making enemies." Then he died. Arguably the best last words ever.

 

[dragonburner]

Teddy Roosevelt for his sweet 'stache!

 

[Bat Vader]

Karl Marx for his writings on Communism, Capitalism, and somewhat Socialism.

 

[oktalist]

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

1917 - 1963

35th President of the United States

President during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Pushed the US into the space race. Eager for peace but not afraid to use military force in a reasoned and calculated manner to achieve it. The war in Vietnam could've been over a lot sooner if he had survived to be re-elected. Sought to investigate and break up the CIA after its reckless and treasonous actions surrounding Cuba placed the US and the world in mortal peril.

Shot dead by unknown assassin(s) while riding through Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, in an open-top car.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Napoleon Bonaparte. But everyone knows about him...

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

1917 - 1963

35th President of the United States

President during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Pushed the US into the space race. Eager for peace but not afraid to use military force in a reasoned and calculated manner to achieve it. The war in Vietnam could've been over a lot sooner if he had survived to be re-elected. Sought to investigate and break up the CIA after its reckless and treasonous actions surrounding Cuba placed the US and the world in mortal peril.

Shot dead by unknown assassin(s) while riding through Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, in an open-top car.

You forgot his actions during WWII. Short version: Tried to join the Army, rejected due to his chronic back pain, had his father pull some strings to get him into the Navy. Was a skipper on a PT-109 that got blown in half. He grabbed a shipmate's lifejacket with his teeth by the straps and swam four hours to safety. With chronic back pain.

 

[oktalist]

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

You forgot his actions during WWII. Short version: Tried to join the Army, rejected due to his chronic back pain, had his father pull some strings to get him into the Navy. Was a skipper on a PT-109 that got blown in half. He grabbed a shipmate's lifejacket with his teeth by the straps and swam four hours to safety. With chronic back pain.

Yes I did. They had already been mentioned in this thread, although I hadn't read that post until after I'd written this one. But, however fantastically heroic it was I'm not sure if it qualifies as a reason to be vote him best historical figure. It's his genius as a statesman and strategist that does it for me. And as President, his standing up to powerful enemies, foreign and domestic, which was also quite heroic.

 

[LewsTherin]

At this particular moment: Spartacus. Teaching Rome that the "barbarians" can still kick their asses...until the legions are called in.

 

[TheBlobThing]

Mine shift according to my historical interests du jour. Right now it's Frederick the Great of Prussia. Enlightened ruler, extremely authoritarian and secularised. That's what rocks my boat.

Oh, Stalin is a good choice too for his sheer bloody crazies.

Oh, and about all that Hitler-thing: He had some strengths, surely, but all in all, his faults far outweighs his qualities. (I'm purposely excluding all that genocide-thing here, only counting his effectiveness as a ruler. Of course the sheer mass-murder should kind of rule him out automatically from lists such as these).

 

[lava_lamp]

Ghandi

 

[TheFacelessOne]

I always take a big risk when I say this, and a lot of people call me out on it so I tend to try and cover my ass before I say it. First and foremost let me say that I feel a lot of the policies and methods were flat out WRONG and I would definitely have gone a different way.

I'm not going to say the name because that's just begging for someone to flame me, but he pulled an entire nation out of a depression (and they were hit *hard*) with ideas of patriotism and a better world. He gave them an enemy, and he built them an army and for a while life was good. He was so motivational that he consumed almost an entire continent before he was stopped, and he survived at least 5 assassination attempts (including one really big bomb).

Pity he was an ass-hole, but he did - in the (butchered) words of JK Rowling - Great things. Terrible, but great.

Everyone found out. Hitlah!

I agree, though he was an ass and was determined to wipeout a race, he did some good for the country, at least.

 

[Lonan]

Ghengis Khan is my hero. Did you know that 8% of Asians are decended from Ghengis Khan? Well you do now. He made the largest contiguous empire in human history, and his first son doubled it's size. Ghengis Khan died of illness, but he lives on in (once again) EIGHT OUT OF A HUNDRED OF ALL ASIAN PEOPLE ALIVE TODAY. I should really have a poster of Ghenghis Khan in my room, showing him rip apart whole empires like puddy.

 

[TheAmericansHADE]

Sun Tzu.
He invented fighting. Then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor. Then he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth. And then he herded them onto a boat and then he beat the crap out of every one of them.

And from that day forward anytime a bunch of animals are together in one place it's called a zoo.
Unless it's a farm.

 

[cannot_aim]

Hannibal Barca

He lived from 182-248 bc, leader of the Carthaginian armies that invaded Italy. He took a force from Spain all the way into Italy and rampaged throughout Roman territory for 15 years. He was not defeated until he was forced back to Africa by a counter invasion and the Romans used an unexpected tactic to finally defeat him.

He was exiled from Carthage by the Romans and it is unknown how he died but one theory that I believe is that he was assassinated to gain favor with the Romans.

 

[Two-Headed Boy]

My favourite historical figure would have to be Leon Trotsky. It was second only to Lenin in the early days of Bolshevik Russia and was one of the leaders of the October Revolution. He also formed the Red Army and played a major role in winning the Russian Civil War. Basically, he was a complete legend and met his untimely demise in 1940 when he was assassinated in Mexico with an Ice Axe. Poor sod.

DAMN YOU! I'll second this, Trotsky is my favourite.

Was he Snowball in Orwell's Animal Farm? (hope you, or someone, has read it)

 

[theSovietConnection]

[Was he Snowball in Orwell's Animal Farm? (hope you, or someone, has read it)

He's generally regarded as being the influence for Snowball.

 

[PrinceMarth]

FDR. A pimp, and an idealist.

 

[Psypherus]

I always take a big risk when I say this, and a lot of people call me out on it so I tend to try and cover my ass before I say it. First and foremost let me say that I feel a lot of the policies and methods were flat out WRONG and I would definitely have gone a different way.

I'm not going to say the name because that's just begging for someone to flame me, but he pulled an entire nation out of a depression (and they were hit *hard*) with ideas of patriotism and a better world. He gave them an enemy, and he built them an army and for a while life was good. He was so motivational that he consumed almost an entire continent before he was stopped, and he survived at least 5 assassination attempts (including one really big bomb).

Pity he was an ass-hole, but he did - in the (butchered) words of JK Rowling - Great things. Terrible, but great.

I don't think you even need to say his name, everyone knows who you are talking about, and I agree with you

Edit: I'm glad I saw your post before I posted because to be honest, I probably would have ended up making an ass out of myself trying to explain why he was great.