Who Was The Most Useless Ruler Ever?

[MrPresident]

There are many arguments about the greatest this and greatest that. I want to follow on from my "most useless nation during WWII" to find the most useless ruler ever. I want to know what ruler did either so little that no-one noticed, did too much that people hate them, or did the wrong thing at the wrong time. These rulers should be so bad that the people are surprised that they even were rulers in the first place. So who do you think deserves the title "Most Useless Ruler Ever".

 

[Locutus]

Why, have you never played Civ1? Dan Quayle of course

 

[Juize]

Without really much of pondering, I give the honor to another Civ 1 Leader:
Emperor Nero.

 

[smokeyjoe]

Lady Jane Gray must be pretty close to this.

She ascended the British throne on 10 of July, 1553, ruled for 9 days, was deposed, spent a year in prison and then was beheaded. (some sources I've seen say only 5 days).

 

[Richard III]

Edward II of England.

 

[Alcibiaties of Athenae]

Lot's of candidates.

Caligula
Elagabalus
Honorius
From Rome alone come to mind.

I'm sure this list can be GREATLY expanded.

 

[Andu Indorin]

While stretching the definition of "ruler," my nominee from the U.S. would have to be James Buchanan, who pretty much didn't even try to prevent the U.S. from sliding into the Civil War. Probably an inevitable event, but he didn't attempt squat.

 

[Stefan Haertel]

Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the Western Roman empire. He was a seven-year old child when he had to abdicate. Never did anything.

 

[Lt.Col. Kilgore]

Commodus (Probably the worst)

Svyatoslav Of Kievan-Rus (Good general; Greatly weakend Kievan empire with campaigns abroad leaving Kiev proper open to invasion)

Pol Pot (What the hell was this guy trying to do?)

I know theres more, but I can't quite think of 'em.

 

[sysyphus]

In order:

1. no current politics in the history forum, please, Lefty

2. Charles de Gaulle

3. Neville Chamerlain

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Probably some unknown or forgotten ruler in the dusts of history IMHO.

 

[sysyphus]

Originally posted by Knight-Dragon
Probably some unknown or forgotten ruler in the dusts of history IMHO.

Perhaps, but I would think that complete ineptitude and incompetence would lauch a leader into fame.

 

[Pellaken]

Kaiser William II

he had the power to take over europe, but was too stupid to do it. he turned germany into the weimar republic

 

[MrPresident]

Neville Chamerlain

I don't think you become useless by one action i.e. believing Hitler would accept the Czechs and be done with it. However I still laugh whenever I see him stepping off the plane and waving that piece of paper.

 

[Sodak]

Caligula!

W. Harrison - US president for about a month, but he died of pneumonia he caught during his swearing in ceremony. Supposedly because he refused to dress for the occasion. What a moron.

As for those who made a big impact despite being worthless: Sese Seko, Pol Pot or Idi Amin. Kill (and eat!) your own people, drive your country into ruin, make enemies of everybody who has ever heard of you - why were these clowns not assassinated within days of seizing power?

 

[Gandalf13]

Definitely Neville Chamberlain. James Buchanan gets honorable mention.

 

[Case]

I think that Adolf Hitler and Emperor Hirihito are also worth mentioning. Both of them started unwinnable wars that destroyed their nations.

 

[Pellaken]

I cant seem to remember...

there was one guy. became king of a very powerful nation. and by the end of his reign, his empire was gone. but I forgot who it is...

 

[Toasty]

MUSSOLINI! An absolute moronic, megalomaniac psychotic dictator who ruined his country for no appearant reason...

Nivelle is quite worthy. A man without a backbone, no doubt. Daladier wanted action, just not his people.

Hitler did bring Germany back from the ashes. if only he hadn't gone on his trip with the Jews and world conquest...

 

[monkeyman116]

1) Neville Chamberlain- 'peace in our time.' OK so allow the remilitarisation of the Rhineland, but did he honestly believe that Austria wanted to become a part of Germany? I think not. And then there was the Sudetenland; although it had a large German population this was still the minority. It also just happened to be the richest farmland in Czechoslovakia.

2)Ligdan Khan- wasn't he the one who moved the Mongol capital to Peking and spent all the country's money and all his time on 'entertainment' in his palce, letting the administration fall apart?

PS- Sorry if any of this is wrong; my history isn't that good.