Question:
Examples of historic figures responsible for the death of alot of ppl, but are regarded as heroes (good ppl)?
the girl
2011-01-17 03:11:52 UTC
OK, so I have this research essay to write and I need examples of these types of people.

Just for the sake of clarity, I will rewrite the question:
What are examples of famous historic figures (leaders or something), that are responsible for the death of millions of people, but are regarded as heroes or good people nonetheless?

I was thinking of Harry Truman, he dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, but only recently did I learn that Americans don't think he's a hero... Or was he? You guys know more than me.
A list would be very very very helpful, if you can come up with a list :D
(Hitler cannot be an answer to this question because Hitler was responsible for a lot of deaths but he is generally regarded as a 'bad' guy.. I want a good guy.
THANK YOU
Five answers:
?
2011-01-17 08:51:11 UTC
First of all, if you're going to talk about killing MILLIONS of people, you're pretty much limited to the twentieth century, or maybe a couple of the biggest conflicts of the nineteenth, like the Napoleonic Wars. Wars before that simply didn't kill that many people, nor did anything else that was the result of human action.



The thing is that every war has two sides, and each side has its reasons for fighting that it holds to be valid. The leadership of either side will be regarded as heroes by the side they were fighting for and as villains by those who identify with their opponents.



Abraham Lincoln has -- to my mind, rather bizarrely -- been thrown out as a candidate here. He certainly was not responsible for the South choosing to secede rather than accept the results of a legally-conducted election. He did decide to prosecute the war to maintain the Union, and did so very aggressively, indeed ruthlessly, so I suppose you could say he carried responsibility for the deaths caused by it. On the other hand, he also felt that allowing the south to secede would leave an American continent divided between two potentially hostile powers that would inevitably fight war after war over the coming generations, killing many many more. So did he cause all the deaths of the war (about 365,000 between both sides), or did he prevent millions of deaths more that would have occurred in future wars?



Likewise with Truman - he is generally well-thought-of as a president, though not to the point of making him a "hero." Dropping atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima killed somewhere between 150-250,000 people. Truman believed (rightly or wrongly) that many more Japanese than that would have been killed in an invasion, not to mention American casualties. So again -- do we think of him as the person who killed so many, or as the person who prevented the deaths of many more?



War is full of choices like that, and again, it takes two sides to make a war. Posterity usually gives its approval to leaders that people feel made the best choices they could under the circumstances.
Tom
2011-01-17 11:34:12 UTC
If you want a good American hero, who fits your question!



I would pick Abraham Lincoln. He is considered one of Americas greatest heroes. When he was elected President, he was considered the primary reason for the southern states secession. He also asked for the formation of the Union army! He is the one man to cost the most American deaths in war or any other time in history!



I guarantee that would be an A paper!
Sebastian Meznaric
2011-01-17 12:18:46 UTC
Napoleon is considered rather heroically in France, as well as Alexander the Great (mostly deaths from military campaigns), Julius Caesar (started purges after taking Rome, as well as many people killed abroad while on military campaigns), etc. If you are looking for more modern figures then pretty much any US presidents during the Vietnam war would do.
anonymous
2011-01-17 11:28:33 UTC
Andrew Jackson

Moses

Alexander the Great

Abraham Lincoln
Min
2011-01-17 11:15:40 UTC
How about a girl: Joan of Arc


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