I have always been fascinated with history, as a little kid already.

Post a pic, along with a little story, of an historical character you admire and explain why. (please note: any posts of offending historical persons (you know what I mean....), along with explicitely expressed admiration will be reported with the request to be removed!)

Here's mine:

King Ludwig II Of Bavaria



Born in Nymphenburg Castle, Munich (Southern Germany), in 1845, Ludwig II. was a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty, and became king of Bavaria at the age of 18. Disillusioned after a lost war with the Prussians, Ludwig lost all interest in politics and became increasingly eccentric.

He loved the theater and music, especially Richard Wagner's operas. He built three castles - Linderhof, Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee - at stupendous expense. Linderhof, the only one to be completed, was the king's favourite. Louis XIV became Ludwig's inspiration: his dream of absolute rule. But his extravagance, homosexuality and near or actual insanity worried the Bavarian government. Ludwig was certified insane in his bedroom at Neuschwanstein and, a few days later, on 13 June 1886 he and his physician were found drowned in the Lake Starnberg (Starnberger See). It has never been ascertained whether this was an accident or an assassination.

What amazes me is that after 120 years, the bavarian people still embrace Ludwig II as their hero. They admire the one king that more or less started the downfall that led to the end of the Bavarian Kingdom, causing Bavaria to join the German empire at the befinning of the 20th century.
The stories that surrounded this man made him a cult-figure, and more popular than he could ever had imagined during his life.....

He's been in my avi for a while now.....
[Edited 2/15/06 17:13pm]

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

known to the world as:

MALCOLM X





I admire this man's strength and courage to stand up for what he believed in without fear. Even when it was as if the whole world was up against him, he still didn't have any fear.

He went from the dangerous "Detroit Red" to the powerful "Malcolm X".
He stood up for his race no matter what happened to him, this is during the age when many leaders had fear about what and how they spoke out in public about how wrong things were in America. He put his foot down, and told it like it was. He just kept going until the end, nobody could stop brother Malcolm...

He's my hero.
[Edited 2/15/06 16:17pm]

John Brown



some notes on John Brown
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.


He gave land to fugitive slaves. He and his wife agreed to raise a black youth as one of their own. He also participated in the Underground Railroad and, in 1851, helped establish the League of Gileadites, an organization that worked to protect escaped slaves from slave catchers.



In 1847 Frederick Douglass met Brown for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts. Of the meeting Douglass stated that, "though a white gentleman, [Brown] is in sympathy a black man, and as deeply interested in our cause, as though his own soul had been pierced with the iron of slavery." It was at this meeting that Brown first outlined his plan to Douglass to lead a war to free slaves.

Brown moved to the black community of North Elba, New York, in 1849. The community had been established thanks to the philanthropy of Gerrit Smith, who donated tracts of at least 50 acres to black families willing to clear and farm the land. Brown, knowing that many of the families were finding life in this isolated area difficult, offered to establish his own farm there as well, in order to lead the blacks by his example and to act as a "kind father to them."

Despite his contributions to the antislavery cause, Brown did not emerge as a figure of major significance until 1855 after he followed five of his sons to the Kansas territory. There, he became the leader of antislavery guerillas and fought a proslavery attack against the antislavery town of Lawrence. The following year, in retribution for another attack, Brown went to a proslavery town and brutally killed five of its settlers. Brown and his sons would continue to fight in the territory and in Missouri for the rest of the year.

Brown returned to the east and began to think more seriously about his plan for a war in Virginia against slavery. He sought money to fund an "army" he would lead. On October 16, 1859, he set his plan to action when he and 21 other men -- 5 blacks and 16 whites -- raided the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry.

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.

John Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859



Dude was no joke.
[Edited 2/15/06 16:36pm]

Inebriated `n all, and sorry, but YES. abierman, YES i do belive in reincarnation, and YES, waaayyy long ago before you even thought about doing this thread, ever since the first time i heard you(being the kind soul you are, the cool dude i met who`s dutch) speaking perfect german with a bavarian dialect, i just knew crystal clear that you have been/ once were a


Bavarian.


YES!


I know.

Ms. Rosa
Mr. and Mrs. King Jr.
Ms. Tubman

many but those are a few off the top of my head

abierman said:

Wasn't he in the illumaniti?
[Edited 2/15/06 16:27pm]

missfee said:

I have that pic on my wall.

posed as a pharaoh and no one suspected??
love it.

lilgish said:

i want this poster...to put on my wall.

lilgish said:

never heard he was.....what makes you think so? Also, in contrast of what Dan Brown would like you to believe, Illuminati has never been an recognized organization that we're persecuting & killing people, etc.....as far as I know....I could be wrong though.....but Ludwig II?


from wikipedia.com:

The Illuminati is the name of many groups, modern and historical, real and fictitious, verified and alleged. Most commonly, however, The Illuminati refers specifically to the Bavarian Illuminati, perhaps the least secret of all secret societies in the world, described below. Most use refers to an alleged shadowy conspiratorial organization which controls world affairs behind the scenes, usually a modern incarnation or continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati. Illuminati is sometimes used synonymously with New World Order.



Bavarian, yes.....but Ludwig II never controlled world affairs behind the scenes, he was too much a nutcase for that and too absorbed in his own romanticism.....
[Edited 2/15/06 16:54pm]

abierman said:

I have no info to say either way, so I'll go with you for now

TonyWilliams said:

maybe will be once.....(but you never get to be one, unless you're born there.....)

Gautama Buddha was a spiritual teacher who was born in Lumbini, a place situated in modern Nepal. He spent most of his time in Northern India, approximately 563 BCE to 483 BCE, preaching his knowledge. Born as Siddhartha Gautama (Sanskrit: "descendant of Gautama whose aims are achieved / who achieves aims effectively") he became "the Buddha" after embarking on a quest for spiritual meaning. He is universally recognised by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha (literally Enlightened One or Awakened One) of our age. He is also commonly known as Shakyamuni or Śakyamuni ("sage of the Shakya clan") and as the Tathagata ("thus-come-one").

Gautama is the key figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules were summarized after his death and memorized by the sangha. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripitaka was committed to writing about four hundred years later. Some Hindus regard Gautama as an avatar of Lord Vishnu.

I adore and greatly admire this woman.

I guess one day he'll belong to history.

Green Lantern and Captain America.