Which historical figures are remembered for actions contradictory to their intentions?
score:9
Nixon is of course known for Watergate.
Benedict Arnold is known for his betrayal.
Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait with the intent of dominating the Middle East in the name of Arab nationalism and Islam. He believed the US would not wish to get involved. Yet, it united the UN including Egypt and Syria against him, leading to his defeat. Instead of being renown for bringing forth Arab nationalism, his actions set forth a chain of events which eventually would not only lead to his own end but the ends of fellow Arab nationalists.
Marie Antoinette is a perfect example. With France in decline, the king became depressed from the pressure, and she became more involved in the politics partly to help ensure a future for her children in the French monarchy. Yet nearly every thing she tried to do resulted in the opposite. She was an easy target for rumor and criticism and as a result she is remembered today for things which historically she didn't do and didn't say. And ultimately not only did her children not rule, but the monarchy itself was abolished.
My favorite though is Hippias, the last tyrant of Athens. He was so disliked that his opponents invented Democracy in order to avoid someone like him becoming the dictator.
Upvote:1
Narasimhavarman Pallavan 1- South Indian King (Great Wrestler)
Rajendra Cholan 1 - South Indian King (Built up great navy and Conquered almost south east Asia 1014CE)
Raja Raja Cholan 1 - South Indian King (Father of Rajendra Chola 1 - introduced voting system in villages to select the village leaders )
Upvote:2
General Dyer thought that the Amritsar massacre would secure British rule in India for a long time. Instead, it contributed a lot towards shortening that rule.
Upvote:2
This question is missing the most obvious - to my mind - answer: Mikhail Gorbachev! He was the last General Secretary of the USSR, and introduced the policies of glasnost and perestroika.
His goal was to arrest and reverse the backslide of the Soviet economy, but increased liberalization just took the lid off the brouhaha brewing underneath all the repression. Just 6 years after he came into power, the USSR disintegrated and the Cold War ended.
Upvote:2
On 9 Nov 1989, Günter Schabowski intended to announce an easing of restrictions on travel between East and West Germany. These were intended to ease growing tensions and demands for greater freedoms in East Germany.
However, due to confusion and inept handling, he mistakenly told people that all restrictions would end immediately. Unprepared and uninformed border guards were overwhelmed by the numbers of people who wanted to cross over. This led the end of restrictions, the fall of the Berlin Wall and ultimately the end of his own government and the East German regime.
Upvote:5
I'd put forth Lyndon Johnson, 38th President of the United States.
His primary objectives coming into office were progress in Civil Rights, and the eradication of poverty in the USA.
He did actually manage to get the Civil Rights Act passed, and did some good work on poverty. However, he then got sidetracked by the escalating fiasco in Vietnam, so his poverty program never really got off the ground. Even most Civil Rights leaders ended up railing against him over the war. It became so unpopular, he didn't even bother running for a second term.
Today he's cheifly known for the Vietnam war. His anti-poverty campaign is almost completely fogotten. Even those who give him a little credit for the Civil Rights Act generally proceed to mention how passage of it nearly destroyed his party. Before Johnson, the South used to vote solidly for Democrats. After the Civil Rights Act, the entire South deserted the Democrats, and Republicans held the White House for 20 of the next 24 years.
If we just look at his poverty goals, he perhaps was successful during his tenure. However, the fact that later presidents didn't share his goals had effects that can be easily seen on a simple graph.
(You could make various cases for various blips, but the overall trend is clearly a turn-around of the previous downward trend into an upward trend)
More post
- 📝 When did FDR announce he was running a 3rd time, and was there any outrage?
- 📝 Which is the oldest of all Hindu Puranas?
- 📝 How does finding a Franklin ship change what we know about the expedition?
- 📝 What is the history of Research and Development laboratories?
- 📝 Were people happy under Ivan the terrible?
- 📝 What percentage of the population were serfs by region/year?
- 📝 Does government play a genuinely significant role in history, or is it simply a tool for interest groups to apply force on their behalf?
- 📝 What is the name of the Phoenician religion?
- 📝 Was there any separation between hunting bow technology and weapon bows?
- 📝 What animals did South East Asians ride in the Middle Ages?
- 📝 Why was there lack of food during WW2 in the UK?
- 📝 How did British aircraft fare against Japanese aircraft during the Second World War?
- 📝 Why couldn't the UN lift the siege of Sarajevo?
- 📝 Why was artillery a more effective infantry support weapon on tanks than machine guns?
- 📝 Cannot find source of quote
- 📝 Why couldn't the Allies clear out D-Day gun emplacements before landing troops?
- 📝 How was body temperature checked before thermometers?
- 📝 What is the origin of US south region white people?
- 📝 Rationale for mounted infantry?
- 📝 When was Donald Trump's first visit to his mother's birthplace, the Isle of Lewis?
- 📝 How were the earliest automatic traffic lights automated?
- 📝 Was the death toll in the atomic bombing of Japanese territory greater than was expected by the US?
- 📝 What constitutes a country's military being called a "Defence Force"?
- 📝 The history of toys: Who invented the first porcelain dolls?
- 📝 How long did it take to build siege engines in the middle ages?
- 📝 How many pens were used by MacArthur to end the final chapter of World War II and where are they now?
- 📝 Did Woodland period Native Americans seek/value gold prior to European Colonization?
- 📝 What acts of violence happened during the Nazi German annexation of Austria in 1938?
- 📝 Information on first stages of road formation between villages and towns
- 📝 Did Vikings use of water bowls in this unhygenic way?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Which historical figures are remembered for actions contradictory to their intentions?
- 📝 Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
- 📝 What are good online sources for historical maps?
- 📝 Are there ancient historical sources which have been permanently lost?
- 📝 What are the most comprehensive historical references for ancient India?
- 📝 What are the historical reasons for the conventional map orientation?
- 📝 What are the historical reasons for religious and political negative attitudes towards h*m*sexuality?
- 📝 Are there any historical sources that support the claim that ancient high-speed archers held multiple arrows in their hand?
- 📝 How common are historical instances of mercenary armies reversing and attacking their employing country?
- 📝 Are there any independent historical records of ancient Persia allowing freedom of worship for the Jews?
- 📝 Are there any Ancient Greek texts showing concern for the fate of their slaves?
- 📝 Which American Civil War admiral said he would not punish people for getting their ship close to the enemy?
- 📝 Does Historiography have a usual technical term for historical writing which makes factual claims without giving references for them?
- 📝 Are there historical examples of countries using pandemics as an excuse for banning protests?
- 📝 Why are doomsday predictions for 2012 seen as incompatible with historical Maya mythology/religion?
- 📝 Are there historical examples of audiences drawn to a work that was "so bad it's good"?
- 📝 Which European Languages are not Indo-European?
- 📝 What is a major historical event historians are deeply divided over?
- 📝 Which monarch had the longest break in their reign?
- 📝 What is the historical basis for the Exodus?
- 📝 Did Roman unmarried men have a preferred hand and finger for wearing their seal ring?
- 📝 Is there a historical explanation as to why the USA people are so litigious compared to the French?
- 📝 Are there any accounts written by torturers on their actions?
- 📝 Were Russians in the cold war era USA discriminated against for their ethnicity?
- 📝 Given their reputation for fighting to the last man in the Pacific, why did 700,000 Japanese troops surrender in Manchuria?
- 📝 Are there historical instances of the capital of a colonising country being temporarily or permanently shifted to one of its colonies?
- 📝 Historically, why did the US station their nuclear weapons in Germany for delivery through German pilots?
- 📝 Are tanks the only reason for the abandonment of trench warfare?
- 📝 Why did England consistently adopt red as their primary colour for insignia and uniform?
- 📝 What is the historical basis for the claim that "Taiwan has always been part of China"?