Who are some historical figures who came from nothing and either took over a nation or had incredible upward mobility...

Who are some historical figures who came from nothing and either took over a nation or had incredible upward mobility. Bonus points if they were at times insulted for their background.

I guess most people would think of Napoleon first and foremost?

Two of China;s greatest dynasties were founded by nobodies.

The Han Dynasty was founded by Liu Bang, a literal hobo and bandit who was a middle aged man by the time the events that led to the founding of his dynasty started (meeting the warlord and eventually his friend & nemesis, Xiang Yu, and serving under him).

The Ming Dynasty was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang, a peasant who lost his entire family to famine & plague, buried them by himself, joined the Buddhist Monastic Life, and got swept away during the Buddhist Led Red Turban revolt that ousted the Mongols and found himself its leader after being one of the most capable captains of the revolt.

Wow that's pretty amazing. Did not see that coming from the East.

William Pitt the Elder. A true Cincinnatus.

which royal families/lines are notoriously illegitimate? I remember this being a major plot point of Shakespeare's Henry plays.

Got to thank the Mandate of Heaven for that. Literally anybody could become a legitimate emperor as long as you lead a rebellion and kick ass during turbulent times, claim some dragon heritage bullshit and win in the end. And that's it. Your peasant farmer blood is now royal blood.

I believe that much of the soviet leadership came from legit peasant families, although I don't know if that counts because it was a regime that ostensibly turned the workers into nobles.

Hitler was kindof a nobody, pretty sure the dude was homeless at one point.

Triple H

Lauren Southern. Started out as a coal burner and is now a prominent leader of the alt right.

Bill Clinton is the last president that came from a "who?" background + abusive stepfather to high political status.

Sverre Sigurdsson, the son of comb maker from Faroe Islands, who claimed to be royal bastard and eventually won the 12th century struggle for the norwegian throne for himself and his descendants

Byzantine emperor Basil I was born a peasant

I kek'd

Marius

Also Toyotomi Hideyoshi, ashigaru commoner conscript who rose through the ranks during Japan's 16th century Sengoku Jidai civil war. Like Napoleon he suffered from the victory disease and tried to square off against Korea and their Chinese allies.

If he had colonial ambitions and was open to the west, things might have been very different.

Timur claimed descent from Genghis Khan through his mother's side but he was a bloody nobody and rose through ranks by his feats of arms.

>ashigaru were commoners not yeomen
wew

Hitler

Also Genghis Khan himself. Although a younger son of a chief his family lost everything and he spent most of his childhood in poverty, even being enslaved at one point.

Hitler, Stalin, Mao

At least Krushchev came from a Ukrainian mining family.
>it was a regime that ostensibly turned the workers into nobles.
That's more or less a Western Propaganda meme. Insofar as any one with political power or wealth can be considered "noble" you could make that statement. But in that vein literally every system's rulership is nobles.

Chandragupta founded the Maurya empire.

Son of a Shudra woman. Lowest class in Hindu caste system.

First Emperor of Han dynasty was Liu Bang was a peasant and a guard post.

Emperor Han, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Napoleon, Diocletian

>which royal families/lines are notoriously illegitimate?
If you mean that someone was wife son'ed, Napoleon III was apparently not related to Napoleon I. Also, apparently there was something like this in the Plantagenet dynasty.

If you mean bastards, other than the case of William I of England, I believe the current Portuguese Royal Family is descended from an illegitimate son of a King. I think Charles Martel was illegitimate too.

Also, Hitler got repeatedly ridiculed as "the Bohemian private" because Hindenburg for some reason believed that he was from Braunau in Bohemia ans Braunau in Austria

>ans
*and not

Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp-Romanoff
Isabeline branch of the Bourbons
Jagiellons
Charles VII of France and his direct heirs
Joan II of Navarre and her heirs

>Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp-Romanoff
Elaborate

It is known that Katherine II whored around, her son, future emperor Paul, being supposedly sired by Orlov, or maybe even Poniatowski

Putin?

Eh people forge their own mandates, if you're strong enough and have a big enough following you can simply claim your ancestors were legendary kings or in some cases even gods.

Basil I(know the pic is wrong sue me)
>Spent his life as a peasant
>Captured, lived under captivity in Bulgaria until he was 25
>Escaped to Thrace
>Got into the service of a noble who was related with the current regent
>Somehow charmed a rich businesswoman into giving him heaps of cash
>Won a wrestling match against a Bulgarian champion
>Emperor saw how rich and mighty he was and made him his bodyguard
>Convinced the emperor the regent was plotting against him
>Killed and replaced the regent at the behest of the emperor
>Eventually killed and replaced the emperor in fear of being killed and replaced

See kids, anyone can do it, you just have to lift and bee yourself