Info Favorites Register Log in
myArmoury.com Discussion Forums

Forum index Memberlist Usergroups Spotlight Topics Search
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > Craziest leaders and their insane ideas Reply to topic
This is a standard topic  
Author Message
Karl G




Location: Australia
Joined: 25 Apr 2016

Posts: 66

PostPosted: Sat 06 May, 2017 8:20 am    Post subject: Craziest leaders and their insane ideas         Reply with quote

Guys I am trying to get some info on the more macabre or crazy acts heads of state and leaders have carried out. Not so much the genocidal maniacs or large scale conquerors which is what most google searches turn up. But more along the lines of Elizabeth Bathory, caligula making his horse a senator or the Russian noble who froze wedding guests in an ice castle. Thanks for any others of that nature you can think of.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Mark Moore




Location: East backwoods-assed Texas
Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Likes: 6 pages
Reading list: 1 book

Posts: 2,294

PostPosted: Sat 06 May, 2017 8:46 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Don't forget Vlad Tsepes(sp?), AKA: Vlad the Impaler---AKA: Dracula. Real guy, real psycho. Real vampire? WTF?! ...McM
''Life is like a box of chocolates...'' --- F. Gump
View user's profile Send private message
Mart Shearer




Location: Jackson, MS, USA
Joined: 18 Aug 2012

Posts: 1,302

PostPosted: Sat 06 May, 2017 1:55 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

The Chronicle of Salimbene notes the Emperor Frederick II had a scribe's thumb cut off for spelling his name Fredericus rather than Fridericus.
ferrum ferro acuitur et homo exacuit faciem amici sui
View user's profile Send private message
Michel Pérusse




Location: Montreal
Joined: 12 Mar 2007

Posts: 30

PostPosted: Sat 06 May, 2017 8:55 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

The Baron Von Ungern-Sternberg qualifies:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_von_Ungern-Sternberg
View user's profile Send private message
Niels Just Rasmussen




Location: Nykøbing Falster, Denmark
Joined: 03 Sep 2014

Spotlight topics: 15
Posts: 828

PostPosted: Fri 12 May, 2017 4:30 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Danish-Norwegian King Christian VII would qualify.

He showed intelligence as a child, but from his teenage years in onwards to a higher and higher degree prone to melancholy and sudden totally crazy ideas and behavior. He was paranoid against attempts on his life.
The older he got the worse he became.

But he was also lucid for periods and corresponded with Voltaire!
See: https://da.wikisource.org/wiki/Lettre_de_Mr._de_Voltaire_au_Roi_Chretien_VII_4._Fevr._1767
Voltaire even wrote a poem to celebrate Christian VII as the Northern Light.
See: http://www.monsieurdevoltaire.com/article-epi...99531.html

To give a few examples of his craziness:
Serial masturbator, even performing in public.
Going into town with a gang of followers, drinking, vandalizing and even attacking the street-police (DK: vægtere) stealing their maces.
Setting fire to a dog with alcohol and letting it run around the palace as a burning torch until it dies.
Suddenly slapping the faces of people he was talking with.

The Danish film "A Royal Affair" depicts the triangle of the King, his English Queen and German friend Struensee.
Here is some clips from the film of the King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8znB50aF8A
Before the modern "war on terror", he declared "war on shit"!
View user's profile Send private message
Dan Howard




Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
Joined: 08 Dec 2004

Spotlight topics: 2
Posts: 3,636

PostPosted: Fri 12 May, 2017 6:31 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Charles VI of France - also known as Charles the Mad.

Some of his psychotic breaks included:
Believing he was made of glass.
Forgetting that he was king and denying having a wife or child
He refused to bathe or change clothes for five months
All the doorways of his residence had to be blocked off to prevent him from leaving during one of his many episodes of running randomly around the corridors.

Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen and Sword Books
View user's profile Send private message
Timo Nieminen




Location: Brisbane, Australia
Joined: 08 May 2009
Likes: 1 page
Reading list: 1 book

Posts: 1,504

PostPosted: Fri 12 May, 2017 2:35 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

For the amount of detail and reliability of that detail, the record is biased towards modern leaders. For old leaders, we often don't have the detail, or a lot of it is propaganda. Out of the old leaders, sometimes one is famous for doing something that many leaders did at the time. Sometimes, they did significantly more of it, so they can justifiably (in)famous, but sometimes they had many peers. (Sure, Vlad deserves "the Impaler", but maybe it should also be "Skanderbeg the Impaler".)

Anyway, for a modern example: Emperor Bokassa I, Central African Empire, r. 1977-1979 (as emperor; he was president from 1966).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-B%C3%A9del_Bokassa

"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website


Display posts from previous:   
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > Craziest leaders and their insane ideas
Page 1 of 1 Reply to topic
All times are GMT - 8 Hours

View previous topic :: View next topic
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum






All contents © Copyright 2003-2024 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum