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)
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