Sorry I was late. For my second pick: Ahuitzotl The eight Aztec Ruler -Conquered many tribes in Mesoamerica and led the "Mexica" to its greatest heights. Basically conquered most of Mesoamerica. - 84,400 killed in a four day sacrifice. He didn't just have the priest do it. He took care of many himself. Panfilo's Tyrants 1) Fidel Castro 2) Ahuitzotl
I missed my pick but I select: From the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito After exposure to fame and success in childhood as a member of the Jackson 5, Tito rose to prominence when he became the de facto dictator of Yugoslavia. Career accomplishments: Established stability in a region in which "stability" is a foreign concept. How terrified must Serbs, Bosnians and Croatians have been of this guy to abandon their natural tendency to stab, shoot and bludgeon each other to death for 35 years?
Hate to be a wet blanket, but that "natural tendency" somehow managed to almost never surface prior to the wars of the 20th Century. Tito did manage to establish stability through force, but the instability he was trying to keep in check was very much a product of early 20th-Century infighting and the multi-sided civil war of the WWII period. He also sacrificed the ideal of Yugoslav nationalism on the alter of expedience. And Yugoslavs weren't, for the most part, terrified of the guy. Dissidents and hardline nationalists certainly hated him, but there was widespread--and genuine--affection for Tito as well.
With my third pick, I choose Shi Huang-di. The creator of the Teracotta army, the concept of China as we know it and a man who, allegedly, burned all Confucian scholars alive when he decided legalism was a better idea.
It's a long story and I think I used up my quota of Yugoslavia-related threadjacks quite some time ago. Tito deserves some blame for what came after, but it's worth noting that he died in 1980 while the Yugoslav wars didn't start until 1991. It took a lot of hard work by a lot of bad people to stir up those "natural tendencies".
Not even the most worthy Soviet stooge. This is like drafting Badfinger after the Beatles get picked.
Oh, he was quite anti-Soviet. Stalin hated him. Khrushcheschtchshev tried to deal with him, but not very earnestly. Brezhnev loathed him, and I believe tried to have him killed (I may be remembering this wrong). Tito moved to his own beat.
. I'm shocked he lasted this long. I know we're generally Western minded, but even Tito was picked ahead of him! I saw parts of the Teracotta Army when it was in London - it was pretty cool.
And not even much of a stooge! He broke from the Soviets pretty early in his reign, if memory serves me right, although he was certainly a stooge in his early years. Non-alignment pact, baby! There are a couple of other eastern block tyrants who should have gone WAY before Tito. In fact, I don't even think Tito belongs in this draft.
I can think of at least two Communist-era tyrants from the Balkans who should have gone WAY ahead of him. EDIT: Btw, the timing of this draft is killing me; my job was still blocking access to sport-related sites during the sign-up, so I opted out. Yet almost immediately after it started, the block was lifted, so here I sit on the sidelines knowing that I could've been, if not a contender, at least a damn good spoiler.
I know exactly who you mean. I hadn't thought of the North Korea comparison before, but it's spot-on.
Exactly. But I would hardly call a guy whose power depends on kissing Blatter's ass several times daily a great tyrant.
True. What happened to the pro-Nazi prisoners of war when WWII ended was pretty tyrannical, although common in the eastern front countries. You may want to look up what happened to the Yugoslav albanians in the after war period. He's not the worst pick. And I like him. You can be a tyrant and have people love you. Tyranny is about imposing your will, not being evil (although it usually expresses itself that way). I've got a few candidates for later rounds that everyone love as heroes and saints.
Mao and Stalin still command a strong devotion to this day. I remember when I visited Moscow, I went to see the tumb of Stalin and people were coming to lay flowers on it. I remember there was this fragile old lady who brought a nice arrangement, and she kneeled at his tomb and was crying. And in China many people still speak of Mao as a great leader.
Im waiting til late to pick that guy who manages Alvin and the Chipmunks. He's a real slave driver. We need to move this along. Who is eligible to pick at this point anyway?
3 round picks based on time (or completed) argentine soccer fan - picked nicephoras - picked The Big Ticket - picked Dirt McGirt - picked blackjack - picked DoyleG - picked 4/3 at 8.52 Eastern SoFla Metro - was on the clock starting at 8am 4/4 CrewDust - 10am 4/4 JeremyEritrea - noon 4/4 HerthaBerwyn - 2pm 4/4 dogface - 4pm 4/4 spejic - 6pm 4/4 GringoTex - 8am (startig from 8pm 4/4) 4/5 BudWiser - 10am 4/5 Panfilo - noon 4/5 IntheNet - 2pm 4/5 ElJefe - 4pm 4/5 Matt in the Hat - 6pm 4/5 SoccerNutter - 8am (starting from 8pm on 4/5) 4/6 peledre - 10am 4/6 Excape Goat - noon 4/6 I forget who was replaced... All times and dates are projected. GT and sn will have overnight to pick, if the time frame holds as above (which it will not). DoyleG was the last one on the list to pick at 8.52pm yesterday evening. Addionally, is anybody going to update the BigBoard thread for round 2? I don't have the time right now, otherwise I'd do it.
For my next pick I present perhaps the most massive monarch of European history. King of Aragon, King of Castile and Léon, Archduke of Austria, (Titular) Duke of Burgundy, Earl of Codpiece, Ruler of the Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands, His Most Catholic Majesty. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor If nothing else, Charles launched the Conquistadors, along with their Guns, Germs and Steel, upon the Indians of Central and South America. The body count from this aspect of his reign alone is incalculable. The dominance of Catholicism and the Spanish language in the Western Hemisphere, and the ongoing implications, can be set to Charles Back home in Europe, he was at war with everyone, everywhere, all the time. Its just too impressive to put into bullet points. Finally, he convened the Diet of Worms, (which, incidentally, was the name of my punk garage band in High School) Setting the stage for the Thirty Wars War, which wiped out most of the population of Central Europe. "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse." ‘PLUS ULTRA’ everyone.