Top 5 Greatest Statesmen/Emperor/King/Queen/President in History

[Transkar]

Alright, we're not talking religious leaders, activists, or any of that stuff. I'm talking who was was greatest leader of a country in history. Examples would include Mao Zedong, Augustus, Alexander, Elizabeth, George Washington.....not, Jesus Christ, or people like that.

My list would be (Bear with me because I am weak on the Eastern side).....

1. Augustus
2. Cyrus
3. George Washington
4. Bismark
5. Charlemagne

 

[LightSpectra]

I'm not sure why George Washington counts but Nelson Mandela doesn't.

Now that I mention it, your list is suspiciously lacking of any ethnic minorities. And Zheng He.

 

[Masada]

Cryus was Persian..

 

[Transkar]

I'm not sure why George Washington counts but Nelson Mandela doesn't.

Now that I mention it, your list is suspiciously lacking of any ethnic minorities. And Zheng He.

Ah you're right. I don't know why I put him down as one of the examples, I think I meant MLK.

 

[Glassfan]

... And Zheng He.

Cheng Ho the Chinese mariner? An interesting man but not a national leader.

In no particular order;

Churchill
Roosevelt
Ghengis Khan
Stalin
Mao

 

[Bast]

1. Asoka the Great
2. Queen Victoria
3. Cyrus the Great
4. Queen Elizabeth I
5. Darius the Great

 

[RedRalph]

1. Asoka the Great
2. Queen Victoria
3. Cyrus the Great
4. Queen Elizabeth I
5. Darius the Great

Victoria doesn't belong in that list at all.

 

[Bast]

Victoria doesn't belong in that list at all.

Not this tired argument again. You do realize that she ruled over 1/4 of the world's land area and almost half of the world's population and for over 60 years. Her reign saw her country go from just another continental power to the most powerful country in the world and relatively the most powerful country ever.

She didn't do it all but how can you deny that she wasn't a good leader? You think it's easy to achieve all that? Tell me someone else who's even come close.

 

[BananaLee]

Elizabeth (because she has Redcoats)
Victoria (because she has Redcoats)
Roosevelt (Financial, Organised)
Huayna Capac (Quechua rush)
Julius Caesar (Praet rush)

 

[RedRalph]

Not this tired argument again. You do realize that she ruled over 1/4 of the world's land area and almost half of the world's population and for over 60 years. Her reign saw her country go from just another continental power to the most powerful country in the world and relatively the most powerful country ever.

She didn't do it all but how can you deny that she wasn't a good leader? You think it's easy to achieve all that? Tell me someone else who's even come close.

She didn't rule over it at all Bast, as has been repeatedly explained to you. She was a meaningless figurehead, she didn't take any serious decisions or shape her country's future, she was just an icon. It's like saying Mikhail Kallinin led the USSR to victory in WW2.

 

[Bast]

She didn't rule over it at all Bast, as has been repeatedly explained to you. She was a meaningless figurehead, she didn't take any serious decisions or shape her country's future, she was just an icon. It's like saying Mikhail Kallinin led the USSR to victory in WW2.

I don't know who that is and I don't care for it. But an "icon" is someone like Madonna or Michael Jackson. That's an icon.

A Queen of England sitting in her office signing statutes, discussing politics with her Prime Ministers who acted on her instruction and attending public affairs is NOT just an icon.

I know that some people around here are so ignorant of what she did that they would compare her to Marianne of France rolleyes but still this is pretty stupid.

 

[RedRalph]

I don't know who that is and I don't care for it. But an "icon" is someone like Madonna or Michael Jackson. That's an icon.

A Queen of England sitting in her office signing statutes, discussing politics with her Prime Ministers who acted on her instruction and attending public affairs is NOT just an icon.

I know that some people around here are so ignorant of what she did that they would compare her to Marianne of France rolleyes but still this is pretty stupid.

Which decisions specifically that she took do you feel make her one of the top 5 leaders of all time?

 

[LightSpectra]

She didn't do it all but how can you deny that she wasn't a good leader? You think it's easy to achieve all that?

Living 80-some years is an impressive achievement for the 19th century, I guess. I'm not exactly sure what else you think she accomplished. Didn't Plotinus already explain to you how the monarchy no longer had any significant control over the government at this point?

A Queen of England sitting in her office signing statutes, discussing politics with her Prime Ministers who acted on her instruction and attending public affairs is NOT just an icon.

One, she was not Queen of England. Two, can you name a single significant issue in which a Prime Minister acted on her instructions?

 

[kivanc]

what is meant by greatest?

service to humanity: with historical order
1) Marx
2) Engels
3) Lenin
4) Stalin
5) Enver Hoxha
ok, the first 2 were not statesman but ideology creators so let'S put 2 instead of them. Che and Mao might be IN.

strongest leaders that expanded/strengthened its state/empire, with no order
1) Julius Caesar
2) Mehmed II
3) Alexander
4) Napoleon
5) Cyrus

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

Sargon the Great
Cyrus the Great
Genghis Khan

I can't think of any others ATM.

 

[Louis XXIV]

The first thought that came to my head was Bismark, but Augustus and Charlemagne are great choices. I'm going to put Genghis Khan on that list too (although, by contrast, I feel Alexander was a terrible statesman). I'd also add William I of England.

Leaving state builders aside, Pericles tends to impress historians because he ruled a democracy that was built to limit individual control (to the point where most officers were assigned randomly and only for a year) for such a long period of time.

 

[aronnax]

Not this tired argument again. You do realize that she ruled over 1/4 of the world's land area and almost half of the world's population and for over 60 years. Her reign saw her country go from just another continental power to the most powerful country in the world and relatively the most powerful country ever.

She didn't do it all but how can you deny that she wasn't a good leader? You think it's easy to achieve all that? Tell me someone else who's even come close.

The only reason why she got the damn job was because 2 uncles happened to be reproductively shot. She ruled because the Parliament let her! They found her as a use to unify the people as nothing but a symbolic head to look pretty. She has the same role as Ronald fricking Mcdonald has to Mcdonalds.

She did not rule, she did not choose her MPs, her PMs, she did not write the laws or fight battles or lead government. She did not command armies, reform any system, make economic decisions, speak in an English Accent, partake in any form of governmental action.
She was a Fricking figure head. Literally born to reign. Not rule. One of her subjects best sums this up - "the right to be consulted, the right to advise, and the right to warn".

If ever happened to be next in line after Victoria and she kicked the bucket two days after her coronation, YOU, BAST, would be admiring me who didn't do elephant feces! Of course. I have to be a woman first right...

 

[aronnax]

History has so many rulers, but my top 5 would include in no particular order...

Sultan Suleiman the Lawgiver of the Ottoman Empire
Emperor Hong Wu of Ming China
King Henry V of England and nearly France
Emperor Akbar the Great of the Mughal Empire
President Washington of the U.S.A

 

[Quackers]

Nobodies mentioned Churchill yet? Without Churchill the whole of Europe would of been enslaved!

 

[RedRalph]

Nobodies mentioned Churchill yet? Without Churchill the whole of Europe would of been enslaved!