Who's your favourite historical figure?

[U-S-S-R]

I guess it would be nice if he had something to do with military or politics. Mine would be Bogdan Hmelnitskii, the founder of Ukraine and a great cossak.

Some background info on Bogdan -->

Biography

Khmelnytsky was probably born in Chyhyryn, in Ukraine; it is unclear whether to a family of Ruthenian nobility or to Polish nobility of Abdank Coat of Arms who had immigrated to Ukraine from Masovia. Khmelnytsky was educated by the Jesuits in Lviv. Unlike many of their other pupils, he did not embrace Roman Catholicism but early in life became indifferent to the faith. Later he seemed to belong to the Greek Orthodox faith, to which most of the Cossacks and the Ruthenian peasants belonged. He had two sons - Yuriy and Tymofiy (Tymish). He was deprived of his estate of Subotiv by Daniel Czapliński, the bailiff of Chyhyryn. At this time he was still in the subordinate position of a "sotski" (an officer over a sotnia, or hundred cavalrymen) of the Registered Cossacks, subject to the Polish magnate Stanisław Koniecpolski. With Koniecpolski he took part in the disaterious Battle of Cecora in 1620. Czapliński availed himself of Khmelnytsky's absence to raid the estate, during which Khmelnytsky's young son Yuriy received injuries from which he ultimately died, and Khmelnytsky's second wife was carried off.


Cossack leader

Being among Czyhrynian and Zaporozhian Cossacks, he was fighting against Turks and Tatars in 1625- 1630. He participated the rebellions of Cossacks in 1632 and 1637. In October 1645 he was invited to France by Cardinal Jules Mazarin with 2 regiments of Cossacks to participate in the war against Spain. Due to his military skills Dunkirk was taken by assault within 2 days.

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He is famous for his uprising against the exploiters of Ukraine.

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The Uprising


" Bohdan Chmielnicki with Tugay Bey (Tuhaj Bej) at Lwów", oil on canvas by Jan Matejko, 1885, National Museum in Warsaw. Chmielnicki Uprising 1648-1654

For centuries after the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Orthodox people of Ruthenia had felt oppressed by the Polish nobles, Catholic priests and Jewish traders. Although Ruthenian nobility enjoyed full rights, they were quickly polonized and therefore were alienated from the common people; the advent of the Counter-Reformation worsened the relationship between the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Unwilling to attend to the details of administration themselves, Polish magnates made Jewish traders their go-betweens in transactions with the peasants of Ukraine. The magnates sold and leased certain privileges to the Jews for a lump sum and, while enjoying themselves at their courts, left it to the Jewish leaseholders and collectors to become objects of hatred to the oppressed and long-suffering peasants. Although Khmelnytsky's personal resentment influenced his ultimate decision to rid Ukraine of Polish domination, it seems that his ambition to secure the Nobles' privileges and the Cossacks' independance, was the main motive that led him to instigate an uprising of the Ruthenian people against them, known after him as the Chmielnicki Uprising.

Khmelnytsky told the people that the Poles had sold them as slaves "into the hands of the accursed Jews". With this as their battle-cry, the Cossacks killed a large number of Jews during the years 1648–1649. The precise number of dead may never be known, but the decrease of the Jewish population during that period is estimated at 50,000 to 200,000, which also includes deaths from diseases and Tatar imprisonment.

These events also initiated a series of campaigns (which began the period in Polish history known as The Deluge) that temporarily freed Ukraine from Polish domination but in time subjected it to Russian domination. Successes at Zhovti Vody, Battle of Korsun and Battle of Pilavtsi (respectively, in Polish, Żółte Wody, Korsuń, and Piławce) against Hetman Mikołaj Potocki led to the Polish king giving royal recognition for the contentious privileges under the Treaty of Zborov. Hostilities resumed when the Sejm refused to recognise the provisions of the treaty. After Khmelnytsky's forces were betrayed by their former allies, the Tatars, they suffered a massive defeat in 1651 at the Battle of Beresteczko, and were forced at Bila Tserkva to accept a loser's treaty. A year later, the Cossacks had their revenge at the Battle of Batoh. Ukraine was still perilously weak, and in 1654 Khmelnytsky persuaded the Cossacks to ally with the Russian tsar in the Treaty of Pereyaslav, which eventually led to the incorporation of the Left-bank Ukraine into Russia.

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Interesting note: Bogdan, his name, actually means 'Given by God'. A true gift from God he was.

What would your be?

[ed316]

John Brown on his way to his execution

John Brown was a man of action -- a man who would not be deterred from his mission of abolishing slavery. On October 16, 1859, he led 21 men on a raid of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His plan to arm slaves with the weapons he and his men seized from the arsenal was thwarted, however, by local farmers, militiamen, and Marines led by Robert E. Lee. Within 36 hours of the attack, most of Brown's men had been killed or captured.

John Brown was born into a deeply religious family in Torrington, Connecticut, in 1800. Led by a father who was vehemently opposed to slavery, the family moved to northern Ohio when John was five, to a district that would become known for its antislavery views

Brown was wounded and quickly captured, and moved to Charlestown, Virginia, where he was tried and convicted of treason, Before hearing his sentence, Brown was allowed make an address to the court.

. . . I believe to have interfered as I have done, . . . in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it be deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done

[duck]

Korean admiral Yi Sun-Shin: His life was one big hardship but in the process he wrecked the Japanese Navy at will

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

[eucalyptus]

Marshall Josip Broz Tito

Liberator from Germans and uniter of Yugoslavia

[Benny]

Fernão Mendes Pinto - Where adventure, legend, myth and reality join in a unique way!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern%C3%A3o_Mendes_Pinto

Benny

[Count Lippe]

Arminius or Hermann

Son of a Cherusker chief, learned the art of war as a Roman officer and leader of Germanic auxiliary troops who defeated more than 3 Roman legions underPublius Quintilus Varus in a 3 days battle after a guerilla style ambush in 9 A. D.

[California Joe]

Too many to name really.

One that springs to mind is General George Rogers Clark.

http://www.cismall.com/clark.html

[Violence Of Action]

Xenophon and Leonidas

[Violence Of Action]

and julian the apostate

[ironcross6]

William Tecumseh Sherman

unlike Robert E. Lee who guessed wrongly that southern fighting spirit would carry the day Sherman guessed right that bringing the war to bear on the slave owning plantation class would destroy the will to resist that 600,000 dead had not.

his march to the sea was brilliant, he killed few, lost almost none, destroyed supplies destined for the army of nothern virginia, burned property of those supporting the war effort, and freed tens of thousands of slaves. all this cracked the confederacy and ended the most destructive war in american history.

to top it all off he had the greatest statement ever on generals entering politics: "i wont run if asked and wont serve if elected"

you here me wesley clark?

[Kitsune]

For me it's Alexander von Humboldt.
Incredible intellect and insatiable curiosity, amazing bravery and astonishing achievements. And all this coupled with a true humanitarian attitude.

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

[Para]

Churchill.....Will take a lot of beating, Soldier, Statesman, Artist, Writer

[2RHPZ]

Emperor Carl IV. and Ronald Reagan.

[achilles]

Leonidas, Miltiadis, Perikles, Lykourgos, Eleftherios Venizelos, Phillip II, Alexander the Makedon...

[Count Lippe]

Leonidas, Miltiadis, Perikles, Lykourgos, Eleftherios Venizelos, Phillip II, Alexander the Makedon...

I hope you are aware of the fact that he's most likely just a myth made up by the great Spartan propaganda. There is no real evidence of his existance, only antique texts which aren't really trustworthy anyway....