Why Gandhi?

[Swein Forkbeard]

In Every civ game so far, Gandhi has been the (or a choosable) Indian leader. He never really ruled India, so I think if India has any 20th century leader in Civ 5, it should be either Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi (who is not related to Mohandas K. Gandhi). In the National Geographic Almanac of World History, M. K. Gandhi is considered a humanitarian, while Nehru and Indira Gandhi are considered to be political/social leader, which is the same category every other leader in Civ4 would be considered to be in.

And I am quite stunned that India nor China got a new leader in BtS. I think these were the civs (along with Arabia) in the direst need for new leaders (and, unlike Spain and Japan, they could have had any new leader!).

 

[18lama]

Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi are both Leftist leaders who did more harm than good to the country.(Debatable, but its my MHO) Gandhi did lead people of India toward independence using a creative/non-violent approach. He showed people that violence is not the only way...Do you think Nehru or Indira Gandhi were even capable of emulating such a feat I don't think so.

 

[Ethric]

Gandhi is internationally famous for leading his people into freedom, that counts more than someone who was technically in charge but is less famous/did less great things.

 

[18lama]

Gandhi is popularly called 'Mahatma' or A great soul by people in India and everywhere else.
I don't think of any other world leaders would even be coming close to that.

 

[Da_V_Man]

Gandhi is popularly called 'Mahatma' or A great soul by people in India and everywhere else.
I don't think of any other world leaders would even be coming close to that.

No, but the great people would.

 

[hoopsnerd]

In Every civ game so far, Gandhi has been the (or a choosable) Indian leader. He never really ruled India, so I think if India has any 20th century leader in Civ 5, it should be either Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi (who is not related to Mohandas K. Gandhi).

Who the hell is Jawaharlal Nehru? That's why he's not in civ. Everyone knows who Ghandi is because of his contributions to our global civilization. I do see your point, but theres a lot of this in civ so it's not like there isn't precedent. Charlemagne didnt rule the Holy Roman Empire, although he may have had a hand in founding the state that it would become. Sitting Bull never ruled a Native American civilization, he was just a chief of a tribe. Huayna Cupac AND Motezuma were the leaders of their respective civilizations when they collapsed, but we don't know much about their previous leaders because the Inca didn't have writing and the Aztec literature was often burned as heresy by the Spanish. Tokogawa and Isabella depict "bad" or extremely "oppressive" times in their respective countries history, if Isabella is in the game then Hitler should be in it too. And which Tokogawa is it? There was a Tokogawa dynasty for like 300 years. Stalin is in the game? WTH? All he did was rule with an iron fist for 40 years while his nation deteriorated.

The point is, the leaders seem to be chosen on the basis of "our target market has some idea who this person was," rather than "who was the best leader in this civilizations history."

As you can see, the leaders chosen are not chosen for their ability to lead, but more for their relative fame.

 

[18lama]

I am talking about political leaders and not religious leaders. Gandhi is not a religious leader, hence the difference.

 

[Swein Forkbeard]

Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi are both Leftist leaders who did more harm than good to the country.(Debatable, but its my MHO) Gandhi did lead people of India toward independence using a creative/non-violent approach. He showed people that violence is not the only way...Do you think Nehru or Indira Gandhi were even capable of emulating such a feat I don't think so.

Nehru was also a friend of MKG's during the struggle for Indian independence, and both of them were often in prison (correct me if I'm wrong). Even better is to replace Gandhi with a Mughal leader in Civ5.

BTW, I'm of Indian descent.

 

[hoopsnerd]

Nehru was also a friend of MKG's during the struggle for Indian independence, and both of them were often in prison (correct me if I'm wrong). Even better is to replace Gandhi with a Mughal leader in Civ5.

BTW, I'm of Indian descent.

I agree, but I wouldn't "replace" him, just add a Mughal leader. A Mughal leader fits perfectly because that was a huge and influential empire in it's time, unlike colonial India while it was a British colony.

 

[18lama]

I don't think you get the point...Gandhi is irreplaceable. Even though Nehru was in jail with MKG you just can't compare the two.

Ok may be you can add Akbar(Cha,Spi), but then I am very sure that Shiv Sena activists/Marathas will want Shivaji(Agg,Pro) and Rajputs would want Rana Pratap(Agg,Pro) and this will go on...

 

[Ethric]

BTW, I'm of Indian descent.

Well there you are Of course those who have more than a superficial knowledge of any given depicted civ might find some flaws in the chosen leaders or other aspects of the civ (for me, it's "Who's this Ragnar guy anyway, never heard of him. Some local swedish chieftain? Blah"). But making sure the most amount of people overall can identify a leader is more important than historical accuracy.

 

[Luso]

The same happened in Civ III with Infante D. Henrique o navegador,he appears as a leader but he wasn't,the leader of his time was King D.João II the one in BTS and the king who gave support to Henrique plans.But Henrique is known in the world as the guy who initiated the Globalization with his plans.

 

[Blaarg]

Saladin was never the leader of arabia either.

 

[Khamul]

Saladin was never the leader of arabia either.

Not that . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . again! Saladin ruled an arabic nation. He didn't rule Arabia desert, but he ruled arabs. They talked Arabic, they have arabic culture. Saladin or his vassals even ruled Mecca and Medina. What else do you need?

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

I think you should learn what is the difference between arabs and Arabia... If someone is arab, it doesn't mean he has born in Arabia - and even Christian can be Arab.

World is amazing, isn't it?

 

[Soneji]

One thing I would say is that the AI seems to love to play him, he appears in almost 80% of all my games!

 

[Quildavyr]

and even Christian can be Arab.

It is right.In southeastern region Turkey live many Arabs.And they are Christian.

 

[King of Town]

What they really should do for all of you people that can't stand to see the slightest inaccuracy in the game is just let you name all of your opposing leaders every game so that you don't have to see the name gandhi ever again, and you can stop posting about it every other day.

 

[Khamul]

It is right.In southeastern region Turkey live many Arabs.And they are Christian.

And in Egypt there are tree million Christian arabs.

 

[Quildavyr]

I didnt know that.

 

[18lama]

^ This is way way off topic...