Great Characters of History

[Ephraim Ben Raphael]

Thsi thread is for those people in history who actions and accomplishemnts were so awsome that they deserve to be recognized for it. Whether it's the American President who was shot in the chest but continued to give his campaign speech, the Noble Prize winning physicist who was also an accomplished safe-cracker, or the Finnish sniper with over 700 kills they deserve to be honoured.

Just give the name of the historical figure, their birthplace and nationality, and a brief description of what they did that makes them so impressive.

I'll go first.

 

[Ephraim Ben Raphael]

Name: Theodore Roosevelt
Lived: October 27, 1858- January 6, 1919
Born: New York City, New York
Deeds: Ran for state legislature a year out of college. Pratically ran the navy for two years as assistant secretary of the Navy until he quite to raise a volunteer regiment and fight in Cuba for which he was later posthumously given the Medal of Honour. Was Governor of New York until he became Vice President. Was Vice President until the President was assasinated and he took over as the 26th President of the US. Served two terms then killed 11,397 animals on Safari. When the Republicans wouldn't nominate him for a third term he founded his own party and came in second. While campaigning he was shot in the chest but he refused to go to the hospital instead continuing to give his 90 minute speech. The bullet was never removed from his chest. He later led a scientific expedition to south america where they named a river after him.

 

[Flame]

Name: Theodore Roosevelt
Lived: October 27, 1858- January 6, 1919
Born: New York City, New York
Deeds: Ran for state legislature a year out of college. Pratically ran the navy for two years as assistant secretary of the Navy until he quite to raise a volunteer regiment and fight in Cuba for which he was later posthumously given the Medal of Honour. Was Governor of New York until he became Vice President. Was Vice President until the President was assasinated and he took over as the 26th President of the US. Served two terms then killed 11,397 animals on Safari. When the Republicans wouldn't nominate him for a third term he founded his own party and came in second. While campaigning he was shot in the chest but he refused to go to the hospital instead continuing to give his 90 minute speech. The bullet was never removed from his chest. He later led a scientific expedition to south america where they named a river after him.

My American history is a little bit rusty, but your talking about Teddy- Roosevelt right?

 

[Tim Thomason]

My American history is a little bit rusty, but your talking about Teddy- Roosevelt right?

It said "Name: Theodore Roosevelt" - and he did accomplish those things. He also reformed the New York City Police, spent time in Deadwood, South Dakota (would've been on Deadwood Season 5, if that show lasted!), created the Conservation movement in the United States to make sure he could *hunt* animals without people getting in the way, and he did all this after growing up as a sickly, asthmatic child. Take that, society!

Few could match Teddy Roosevelt in substance, especially not amongst US Presidents, although many come close. I can't think of anything off-hand, but will post if I do.

 

[Ephraim Ben Raphael]

They don't all have to be as great as TR (that would be impossible) but there are plenty of other interesting or significant people. And villans (such as Otto Skorenzy) are allowed.

 

[Flame]

Lol I second with the post before me, he was a truly incredible man. But as far as I know you can only serve two terms as a president, everyone on this forum speaks of third terms though wouldn't it be a sort of totalitarian thing to do? BTW, hadn't Teddy made a vow that his second term would be his last, which he later regreted?

 

[Ephraim Ben Raphael]

Lol I second with the post before me, he was a truly incredible man. But as far as I know you can only serve two terms as a president, everyone on this forum speaks of third terms though wouldn't it be a sort of totalitarian thing to do? BTW, hadn't Teddy made a vow that his second term would be his last, which he later regreted?

The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951 forbids any American President from serving for more than two four-year terms. Prior to that a number of American presidents tried to run for a third term but only one (Franklin Delano Roosevelt-FDR) succeded, serving four terms before his death. Teddy Roosevelt ran for a third term but because of the split in the Republican party he lost coming in second with only 21.4% of the vote to Woodrow Wilson's 41.8% of the vote.

TR did vow not to run again after 1908 but he broke his promise when he saw William Taft's policies.

 

[Flame]

The 22nd Amendment, ratified in 1951 forbids any American President from serving for more than two four-year terms. Prior to that a number of American presidents tried to run for a third term but only one (Franklin Delano Roosevelt-FDR) succeded, serving four terms before his death. Teddy Roosevelt ran for a third term but because of the split in the Republican party he lost coming in second with only 21.4% of the vote to Woodrow Wilson's 41.8% of the vote.

TR did vow not to run again after 1908 but he broke his promise when he saw William Taft's policies.

Okay thank you, you learn something everyday, eh?

 

[Ephraim Ben Raphael]

C'mon, someone else contribute to this.

 

[Whanztastic]

Name: Frederick Joubert Duquesne aka Fritz, The man who killed Kitchener, The Black Panther, Captain Claude Stoughton, Frederick Fredericks, Boris Zakrevsky, Major Frederick Craven, Colonel Beza, and Piet Niacud
Lived: 1877-1956
Born: East London, Cape Colony

Duquesne was a "South African Boer soldier, prisoner of war, big game hunter, journalist, war correspondent, Anglophobe, stockbroker, saboteur, spy, and adventurer." He fought as a Boer Commando, captured by the British but escaped and then was captured by the Portuguese in Mozambique and was interned outside of Lisbon. He seduced a guard's daughter who helped him escape to Paris.

He went to the UK and joined the British Army as an officer and was sent to fight the Boers. He started a sabotage ring but was betrayed and gave false Boer codes to escape the death penalty. Tried to escape using a spoon. He grew to hate Kitchener for his concentration camps (which destroyed his family) and destruction of the family farm. He befriended a man he was supposed to assassinate (Frederick Burnham), had secret gold treasure, was a war corespondent for the Russo-Japanese War and Riff Rebellion, was Theodore Roosevelt's personal shooting instructor, he blew up British ships in Brazil using time bombs during the First World War including one carrying his nemesis Kitchener and committed insurance fraud claiming losses on boats he sunk. Also, he faked his own death at the hands of Bolivian Amazonians during this time.

He was arrested in New York 1917, faked paralysis for two years so he wasn't extradited to Britain, disguised himself as a woman and escaped again. Worked freelance in America, including a stint for Joseph Kennedy's film company, and was arrested again later (betrayed by a woman). Fought his charges in court and won, since his statute of limitations had expired.

During WWII, he ran a spy ring in the US, still the largest espionage ring conviction in US history. He was extremely handsome, a master liar and fluent in multiple languages.

 

[Ephraim Ben Raphael]

Perfect! Now that is a spy!

 

[Whanztastic]

It has got everything - seduction, secret treasure, successful revenge story, professional admiration, escape, insurance fraud, false deaths, going hunting with the goddamn former President of the US! That guy Burnham I mentioned also lived a pretty impressive life as well.

 

[Ephraim Ben Raphael]

Let's get more people involved! I thought this would have wider appeal, is it in the wrong forum?

 

[MadMc]

One of my Heroes

Name: Cathal Brugha (Born Charles William St. John Burgess)
Lived: 18 July 1874 – 7 July 1922
Born: Dublin, Ireland


He was second-in-command at the South Dublin Union under Commandant Éamonn Ceannt in the Easter Rising of 1916. During the fighting he was severely wounded by a hand grenade, as well as by multiple gunshot wounds, and was initially not considered likely to survive. He recovered over the next year, but was left with a permanent limp.

Brugha organised an amalgamation of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army into the Irish Republican Army (IRA). He proposed a Republican constitution at the 1917 Sinn Féin convention which was unanimously accepted. In October 1917 he became Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and held that post until March 1919.

He was elected as a Sinn Féin MP for the County Waterford constituency at the 1918 general election. In January 1919, Sinn Féin MPs refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled at the Mansion House in Dublin as a revolutionary parliament called Dáil Éireann. Due to the absence of Éamon de Valera and Arthur Griffith, Brugha presided over the first meeting of Dáil Éireann on 21 January 1919.

He was known for his bitter enmity towards Michael Collins, who, although nominally only the IRA's Director of Intelligence, had far more influence in the organisation as a result of his position as a high ranking member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, an organisation that Brugha saw as undermining the power of the Dáil and especially the Ministry for Defence. Brugha opposed the oath of allegiance required for membership of the IRB and in 1919 his proposition that all Volunteers should swear allegiance to the Irish Republic and the Dáil was adopted.[1] At a top-level IRA meeting in August 1920, Brugha argued against ambushes of Crown forces unless there was first a call to surrender, but this was dismissed as unrealistic by the brigade commanders present. Brugha also had the idea of moving the front line of the war to England, but was opposed by Collins.

On 7 January 1922 Brugha voted against the Anglo-Irish Treaty. During the Treaty Debates he pointed out that Collins only had a middling rank in the Department for Defence which supervised the IRA, Arthur Griffith hailed him as 'the man who had won the war'. He left the Dáil and was replaced as Minister for Defence by Richard Mulcahy. In the months between the Treaty debates and the outbreak of Civil War Brugha attempted to dissuade his fellow anti-treaty army leaders including Rory O'Connor, Liam Mellows and Joe McKelvey from taking up arms against the Free State. When dissidents occupied the Four Courts he and Oscar Traynor called on them to abandon their position. When they refused, Traynor ordered the occupation of the area around O'Connell Street in the hope of easing the pressure on the Four Courts and of forcing the Free State to negotiate. On 28 June 1922 Brugha was appointed commandant of the forces in O'Connell Street. The outbreak of the Irish Civil War ensued in the first week of July when Free State forces commenced shelling of the anti-treaty positions.

Most of the anti-Treaty fighters under Oscar Traynor escaped from O'Connell Street when the buildings they were holding caught fire, leaving Brugha in command of a small rearguard. On 5 July he ordered his men to surrender, but refused to do so himself. He then approached the Free State troops, brandishing a revolver. He sustained a bullet wound to the leg which 'severed a major artery causing him to bleed to death'. He died on 7 July 1922, 11 days before his 48th birthday. He had been re-elected as an anti-Treaty TD at the 1922 general election but died before the Dáil assembled. He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

 

[aktarian]

Name: sgt. Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov
Lived:4 October 1917–29 September 1981
Born: Krestovaya, Soviet Union
Deeds: being Soviet infantryman during Battle of Stalingrad. Deciding to take that to another level he and his platoon seized a house. Luckily for them it was named Pavlov's house so they just took it from there and defended the house for more than 4 months.

 

[Admiral Romanov]

so you guys want spies? fine then!

Name:Sydney Reilly (AKA Georgi Rosenblum AKA Sigmund Rosenblum AKAPedro AKA Karl Hahn AKA whatever other random name he'd come up with)

Lived: March 24, 1873/1874 – November 5, 1925(?)
Born:Odessa, Russian Empire

Sydney Reilly was a secret agent/adventurer/seducer of women who worked for more than four nations during the early 20th century. Most of his life is shrouded in mystery and no one really knows many details about him before he arrived in England. There are tons of fantastic stories that he made up (including one about him stowing away on a ship bound for Brazil, and while there, saving the whole crew from the natives.)

He worked mainly as an agent for the British Secret Intelligence Service and was responsible for screwing over more than a few countries. He spoke as much as seven languages.

Here are a few details (true and possibly made up) from his Wiki page.
• In the Second Boet War, he disguised himself as a Russian arms merchant in order to spy on the weapons procured by the Boers.

• He procured Persian oil concessions for the British Admiralty, the so-called D'Arcy Affair. (he did that by infiltrating the yacht of the Rothschilds disguised as a priest and using his persuasion tactics)

• In the disguise of a timber company owner, he gathered information on the Russian military presence in Port Arthur, Manchuria, and reported to the Kempeitai, the Japanese equivalent of the KGB or the Gestapo.

• He spied on the Krupp armaments plant in Germany by disguising himself as a factory worker and gaining the trust of the foreman who, blindly, told him the location of the documents which where hidden in a safe.

• He volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps in Canada at the start of World War 1.

• He seduced the wife of a Russian minister to obtain information about German weapons shipments to Russia.
( He earned his fortunes by seducing the wives of rich guys only to gamble most of it away)

• During World War I he donned a German officer's uniform and attended a German Army High Command meeting.

• He saved diplomats in Brazil.

• During World War 1, he'd sell munitions to both the Germans and the Russians.

After World War 1, he was sent by the British to Russia where he was supposed to assassinate Lenin and dismantle the Soviet government but was not successful. Later on, he was lured back to Russia by Dzerzhinsky's secret police and was supposedly captured and shot.
To this day, there are still reports that indicated that he might have been working for the Russians all along and in the end, faked his own death. Until 1944, there where still reports from various people that he was still alive.

In all, the guy revolutionized the spy business. He introduced a degree of professionalism which was never seen on such a big scale. Before him, spies serving the British Empire regarded the job as a gentleman's game. His cold and methodical tactics changed all that.

Plus he was a badass. What with all the adventuring and seducing.




oh, and this:

According to Ian Fleming, he was inspired by Sydney Reilly's career and based James Bond on Him. he was quoted as saying: "James Bond is just a piece of nonsense I dreamed up. He's not a Sidney Reilly, you know!"

if you guys are interested in his story, I suggest you check out this old British TV Show called Ace of Spies (with Sam Neil playing as Sidney Reilly).

 

[Whanztastic]

Name: sgt. Yakov Fedotovich Pavlov
Lived:4 October 1917–29 September 1981
Born: Krestovaya, Soviet Union
Deeds: being Soviet infantryman during Battle of Stalingrad. Deciding to take that to another level he and his platoon seized a house. Luckily for them it was named Pavlov's house so they just took it from there and defended the house for more than 4 months.

You don't happen to read Cracked.com, do you?

 

[wilcoxchar]

Now for a bit older school.

Name: Móric Beňovský
Lived: 1746-1786
Born: Vrbove, Slovakia (then part of the Habsburg Empire)

• Entered the Austrian army in the Seven Years' War in 1762 but went on tribunal for desertion and apostasy.
• Fled to Poland in 1766 and helped a Polish nationalist movement against the Russians. Captured and imprisoned several times.
• Is captured for the third time in St. Petersburg and is sent to a town in Kamchatka in 1770. There he organizes a revolt of the Polish prisoners in the camp, steals and takes command of a Russian battleship, and after a voyage of exploration along the Aleutains, the Alaskan coast, Japan, and Formosa, lands in Macau in summer of 1771.
• Benyovsky and the Polish prisoners sell the ship in Macau and sail to France, visiting Madagascar along the way. Benyovsky has been promoted to General of the Polish Confederation and suggests to Louis XV that France colonize either Formosa or Madagascar. Louis makes him governor of Madagascar and a count. He goes there to establish a colony in 1774.
• By 1776, Benyovsky has unified several native tribes and they appoint him King of Madagascar. He introduces the Latin script into the Malagasy language, but France doesn't send much supplies and the colony fails. Returning to France, Benyovsky is given the Order of Saint Louis and a life pension by Louis XVI.
• Meets Benjamin Franklin while in Paris as well as an old colleague in Poland, Kazimierz Pulaski. Benyovsky regularly plays chess with Franklin, and sends a letter to the Continental Congress suggesting they set up a base on Madagascar to fight the Brits from. The project is rejected by Congress.
• Returns to Austria in 1778 after petitioning Maria Theresa to allow him to return home, and is made a count in the Austrian court. Fights against Prussia in the Austrian army in 1778 and 1779.
• Goes to America in 1779 and fights for the United States in the American Revolution, where his friend Pulaski dies in his arms at the battle of Savannah. After this, Benyovsky returns to Europe.
• Comes back to America in 1781 with many proposals for the Continental Congress. Meets with George Washington about building up an army in Germany, but the plan is rejected by Congress. Benyovsky returns to Europe again.
• In 1783, Benyovsky is given permission by Emperor Joseph II to establish an Austrian colony in Madagascar. It fails due to lack of funding.
• Benyovsky then goes to Great Britain, asking the Brits to fund an expedition to Madagascar. They say no, but while there Benyovsky publishes his memoirs which become an international bestseller. He also gets funding for an American-British trading company to found a post in, you guessed it, Madagascar.
• Goes to Baltimore to meet the businessmen, and heads off to govern Madagascar again in 1784. There he initiates a rebellion by the natives against the French, because they are still loyal to him, and founds the trading settlement of Mauritania. The city mostly sends slaves to Maryland. The French launch a surprise attack from Pondicherry on the settlement in 1786, and Benyovsky dies from a bullet wound to the chest during the battle. He is buried by his former French lieutenant in Mauritania along with two Russians who had come with him from Kamchatka.

 

[DrakonFin]

In the theme of spies:

Verner Lehtimäki (1890-1938)

Born in Vahto in Southwestern Finland, Lehtimäki moved to the US at the age of 20. Worked at a ranch in New Mexico and on the ships of the Mississippi. Educated as a car mechanic. Moved to Petrograd in 1916 to work for the Vauxhall car company. In 1917, delivered weapons to the Finnish Red Guards.

Returning to Finland, Lehtimäki founded a Red cavalry company in Turku. Fought on several fronts of the Finnish Civil War, commanded a part of the front at Tampere. At the end of the war, escaped from Finland to Soviet Russia, with Finnish state gold stolen from a Bank of Finland office.

In August 1918 joined the Murmansk Legion in behalf of the Bolsheviks to build discord within the unit and to make its men rebel and join the Red Guards. Chosen as a leader in the Legion. Managed to get several leading members of the Legion to defect to Red ranks, organising rebellions in the unit by for example getting "counterrevolutionaries" amongst its ranks ordered to death. Received the British rank of Colonel.

In early 1919, Lehtimäki asked the British to disengage himself from the unit to return to Soviet Russia. Upon return, become an espionage officer in the Red Army. Trained Finnish Red refugees to return to Finland as spies.

Trained as a pilot in July 1920. Stationed in Oranienbaum. During the Kronstadt rebellion stayed loyal to the Bolsheviks, took in March part of the aerial bombing of Kronstadt. Awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Later studied in the Supreme Military Flight School in Moscow and worked in the unit developing the Red Air Force in Petrograd.

In 1923 moved to China, working as a spy. 1924 moved to the US, studied to become a flight instructor and an airplane engineer. Worked for several aircraft companies in San Fransisco, Chicago and New York, in reality in the employ of the Comintern. Become acquainted with several prominent Americans; mentioned as being "a personal friend" of F.D. Roosevelt.

Returned to the Soviet Union in 1932, bringing with him the parts for 22 different models of aircraft and a complete assembly line to be constructed in Soviet Karelia. Brought with him 17 Finnish-born pilots to create a state air line in Karelia.

Become a Soviet citizen in 1936. Apparently reached the rank of General. Arrested in 1938, accused of being a double agent for the Americans. Executed in April 1938.

 

[aktarian]

You don't happen to read Cracked.com, do you?

I do, actually

Though when it comes to Pavloy, the thing that always bothered me is killed more Germans than French defending Paris". Wasn't Paris declared open city so there was no battle for the city?