Does anyone else get really depressed reading about historical figures who failed?

you're talking about the guy btfo in sicily? yeah he and his men had a terrible ending, but he made it worse with "muh eclipse is bad luck lets delay sailing for 3 weeks"

Not to mention he was wishy washy about his position on any actual issues and mostly just wanted the glory so he accepted the Senate's offer to command the Optimate armies and be their poster boy.
Seriously, fuck Pompey, fuck that faggot Cato, fuck Lucius Ahenobarbus, fuck Cicero, and ESPECIALLY fuck Brutus.

What about historical figures who retired early because they thought their hand-picked successors would be able to handle it, but they fucked up and let a complete idiot take control of the country?

kek. is the daily show even relevant anymore after trevor noah took over?

We need a list of people who did literally nothing wrong. Off the top of my head
>Germanicus
>Bellisarius
>Ali ibn Abi Talib
>Tancred

Yeah. That native guy, Pontiac(?), wanted to make a single native American nation. He failed because he didn't get French troops, I think? Imagine a native nation, a real one, today

No. Because of the simple fact they are remembered at all.

Imagine all those writers or artists or even geniuses that had enormous potential but just died in some war when they were young and nobody will ever know.

I got sad the fucking serbs didn't accept the ultimatum that started WW1.

All it was asking was make a fucking investigation, if an even more retarded document was issued later, everyone would have seen through the blatant attempt at invading other country.

>there have been 100s of Hannibals

Yes I do user... Yes I do.

Literally WW1.
>all those european artists, arhcitects, and writers ground up into hamburger and mixed into the soil of france

Serbia accepted the investigation, then A-H came back with newer, harsher, demands, which rendered the Serbian sovereignty null and void. That then got rejected.

Trevor Noah is excellent. Especially in those segments posted on Youtube between the cut whsen he adlibs with the audience.

What's the point of sovereignity if you know you're getting your ass handed? Do countries in Central America hold any sovereignity when the US can wipe the whole region off the maps with a few nukes?

If they were so mad at uncle Joe they could have sent assassins to him like they did with ferd.

>lets all roll over and be subservient slaves to the big guy on the block, and thank him for bullying you

Serbia didn't send assassins to kill Ferdinand. That assassination attempt wasn't the first attempt to assassinate Ferdinand, it was more 4th or 5th and the previous ones were botched attempts by other subjugated peoples, like the Slovaks for instance.

>>lets all roll over and be subservient slaves to the big guy on the block, and thank him for bullying you
Oh, killing off a whole generation in the fucking trenches is a better idea, thanks for reminding me.

Imagine all the writers, artists, and possible military geniuses that pissing away their potential by shitposting on this board.

No one foresaw the horror of trench warfare

But they surely didn't mind pushing it for four years.

Whose idea was that? Did anyone have the crystal ball in 1914 so they could know what would happen next?

A guy who was a member of a loose organization with even looser ties to some dissidents in Serbia assassinates Ferdinand. A-H demands absurdly high reparations and rights to render Serbia's government and legislature subservient to A-Hs. Serbia accepts, then A-H, urged on by Germany comes back with even harsher demands. Serbia mulls it over, is close to accepting that too but then the Russia and UK and France intervene, scared by the German land-grabbing intentions. A-H declares war nevertheless. How is any of this Serbia's fault?

Neither side was willing to back down. WWI was the first war in history where technological advancement became a deterrent to both sides.

haha :D

t. Caesar

Nicholas II was so close to creating a constitutional monarchy, but then Germany had to send Lenin and fuck everything up with his serf army.
fuck

No.

Cicero was biased as fuck though and used his writings to BTFO pretty much everyone who crossed him

I feel bad for the German soldiers who got killed in 1945, and the Soviet soldiers who died during the invasion of Manchuria. So close, and you don't make it.

I TRIED SO HARD

No. I find it strangely comforting to know that humans, even "great" ones, have always been imperfect.

I get depressed thinking about all the historical figures who succeeded.
It's not that they make me feel inadequate or anything. It's that they're almost universally the wrong people to lead humanity. Naked ambitions, destructive psychopaths, homicidal sociopaths, megalomaniacs, corrupt to the core, paranoid control freaks, bloodthirsty tyrants, cynical manipulators.... This is the lot who has shepherded the development of humanity these last 8000 years.

I feel like Diogenes seeking an effective altruistic and humble leader. These three traits are practically non-existent throughout history.

...

15th president of the United States, James Buchanan. He had the most impressive resume of any president to date, and a legacy of impeccable foreign policy that was unfortunately overshadowed by domestic issues. He is unfairly blamed for the Civil War.

Pompey was an asshole glory hound who took credit for other peoples' success. His success was built off of stealing the work that Crassus and Lucullus had done. He's an asshole who deserved the end he got.

>implying browsing Veeky Forums isn't the modern day equivalent to a bohemian lifestyle.

there were actually a lot of fucking hints suggesting that trench warfare might be a possible scenario in an upcoming general war (crimea, russo-japanese war, civil war and others i can't remember).

There's no worse feeling

Cato was not wishy washy on his position. He fought autocracy constantly. He fought Pompey and he fought Caesar alike. Eventually he had essentially no choice but to accept Pompey's elevation.

He was just being pious.

lol no, he's terrible.

I get depressed reading about toothpaste, but yes.

and his moralfaggotry got himself and his entire army killed

>He fought autocracy constantly.
and in its place he wanted oligarchical republic that was oblivious to the huge problems rome was facing at the time

An eclipse was a big deal. It's likely a lot of the soldiers felt the same. Also it was shit he didn't feel fit for in the first place. He requested to leave a lot earlier but was denied because of some deluded faggots in Athens.

Yep.

>tfw he BTFO early christcucks so bad they had to destroy all his arguments out of fear

It really shouldn't be understated how seriously ancient people took omens such as this. It's easy to chalk it up to moralfaggotry from a modern point of view but at the end of the day Nicias didn't have r/athiesm to enlighten him on the merits of secular euphoria the way you did, user.

Reading about successful historical figures can feel a bit overwhelming sometimes too desu.

It's always sad learning about crumbling empires, and the people that could have saved it getting killed.
Fuck Ricimer, ave Majorianus

nicias was famous (or one might say infamous) for his piety, though. there were plenty others who didn't believe in omens or were skeptical of them or had a different interpretation of them. Thucydides is famous for just that; he refused to attribute events of nature to the gods. Think why Nicias was labeled by thucydides as pious. He went out of his way to mention this because Nicias' intense devotion was out of the ordinary. Most of the elites of Athens, I'm assuming, did not share in this dedication, so it had to be pointed out. Besides that, if you read his story of the sicilian expedition, it's quite clear that there was a debate as what to do. (going off memory here) none of the athenian leadership immediately assumed that they should cease all activity and sit around for three weeks because of the eclipse. Nicias, having the final say in the matter, only decided this after a long think and, who knows, his kidney ailment that struck him at that time might have clouded his judgement or made him scared of travelling in pain on the sea. If the eclipse, too, were so ominous, we'd assume that the athenians and syracusans would have some diplomatic truce. but that didn't happen and the syracusans used the opportunity to eradicate the athenian army and navy. Strategically, too, I'm sure it was quite clear to many officers and generals that their position was untenable and could suffer unncessary casualties holding off the syracusans or keeping them at bay, as the syracusans had a huge home advantage and the athenians (as events would prove) were too reliant on their own supplies.

It makes me sad that every time there was a Roman general that seemed like they could legitimately take out Parthia they died before their potential could be reached. Caesar, Trajan, but in my mind the most absolutely depressing is Aurelian. He united the empire after the 3rd century split and was on his way to try to subdue the Sasanids once and for all. He had the ability, he had the backing and the time was ripe for it. Had he succeeded he would have massively reduced the external problems Rome was facing by reducing the number of fronts they had to fight on, they could have focused better on the Goths and eventually the Huns. But no, a secretary was skimming money and thought he was caught so he convinced officers that Aurelian was planning on having them killed leading to his preemptive assassination.

The actions of one selfish man may well have shaved centuries off the Roman empire.

Overrated. Scipio was the true genius.

I TRIED SO HARD AND GOT SO FAR

lol yes, he's excellent

Every

Day

Bad luck with the bubonic plague.

That's what the EU is. But once again the eternal Anglo and American have conspired to destroy it. Once anyone else leaves, it's all over.

Maybe the Russians shouldn't have mobilized then.