NationStates Jolt Archive

If you could be anyone in History who would it be?

Not yourself of course, although I'm sure that would be an envyable position but who, a poet, politician, warlord,composer?

I've been thinking and have a small list for myself,

Churchill, Alexander the Great, David Livingstone

How about you?

gandhi

or maybe jimi hendrix

Sid Vicious - rock star, heroin addict, murderer, yet loved by (nearly) everyone.

Stalin. Now before you think me an evil bastard, let me expalin. I'd be Stalin right when he takes over the USSR and turn it into a utopia, instead of a communist-by-name-only fascist dictatorship. I'd also take the opportunity to fuck up Hitler's shit before he could do too much damage.

trotsky. id make sure he won that leadership struggle.

Stalin. Now before you think me an evil bastard, let me expalin. I'd be Stalin right when he takes over the USSR and turn it into a utopia, instead of a communist-by-name-only fascist dictatorship. I'd also take the opportunity to fuck up Hitler's shit before he could do too much damage.


strange id do the reverse. turn Germany into a 2nd Reich model with Hitler as its leader, and take out the reds

Stalin. Now before you think me an evil bastard, let me expalin. I'd be Stalin right when he takes over the USSR and turn it into a utopia, instead of a communist-by-name-only fascist dictatorship. I'd also take the opportunity to fuck up Hitler's shit before he could do too much damage.

I'll do you one better. I'll be Lenin, and make sure that Stalin never takes power after I die, because I'll have him capped.

I'll do you one better. I'll be Lenin, and make sure that Stalin never takes power after I die, because I'll have him capped.

Year well I'd be Napoleanon using a system of forts to keep a supply train going whilst pilaging to prevent russia economic potential. Push the Russians back to the Urals and claim the Russian imperial throne and kill Stalin's great grandfather.

Year well I'd be Napoleanon using a system of forts to keep a supply train going whilst pilaging to prevent russia economic potential. Push the Russians back to the Urals and claim the Russian imperial throne and kill Stalin's great grandfather.

Oh yeah? Well I'd just be the Duke of Wellington, and beat your ass in advance!

Ben Franklin - and I'd persuade the Founding Fathers to let me write the Declaration of Independance. And their worst fears will have come true as I sneak a joke into it :cool:

Gracchus Babeuf or Claude-Henri Saint-Simon.

Yeah, both guys....and me a girl.....but it would still be awesome.

Ben Franklin - and I'd persuade the Founding Fathers to let me write the Declaration of Independance. And their worst fears will have come true as I sneak a joke into it :cool:
I thought it was a joke anyway...

Maybe an incarnation of the late great Peter Cooke?

Oh yeah? Well I'd just be the Duke of Wellington, and beat your ass in advance!

Well I'd be William, Duke of Normandy, and kill myself so England would never be conquered by me, altering the future of the British Isles forever and probably meaning Wellington would never lead an English army. Meaning you all will leave the Stalin-me the hell alone in the future.

I've always wanted to know what it would have been like if I was Emily Dickinson but I'm not sure that I would have wanted to live out her life the way it was.:(

I cannot think of anyone right now without justifying who it was.

Well I'd be William, Duke of Normandy, and kill myself so England would never be conquered by me, altering the future of the British Isles forever and probably meaning Wellington would never lead an English army. Meaning you all will leave the Stalin-me the hell alone in the future.
But you could only be one person from history, so you wouldn't be able to be Stalin...
Not that this is getting ridiculous or anything.

But you could only be one person from history, so you wouldn't be able to be Stalin...
Not that this is getting ridiculous or anything.

Not if I convert to Buddhism before killing myself. Then keep killing my future incarnations until I get reincarnated as Stalin. It's foolproof!

I'd say Elizabeth I, but I don't see how anyone could have done better than she did. So maybe I'd be Mary, Queen of Scots. I'd have stayed in Scotland and I would not have married Darnley. I would have made peace with Elizabeth, married a good Scotsman and ruled for a long time, wisely, I hope. In the end my son would have still inherited the thrones of England and Scotland, but, because daddy was a healthy Scottish Protestant and not a diseased English Catholic there would have been no subsequent religious confusion, no civil war and no Lord Protector.

I hate quantom physics!:confused:

I'd be Jesus. But before hand I'd learn off Life of Brian, then when I was jesus i'd go to the synagogue and recite it its entirety. Then I'd give judas a good kick in the scrotum and run off to Spain and get some fool to bank roll my voyage to America, which I would name Jesusland. I would then establish a nation there, establish the FBI, CIA, NSA and IRS then let them do whatever and get really really drunk.

I'd be Jesus. But before hand I'd learn off Life of Brian, then when I was jesus i'd go to the synagogue and recite it its entirety. Then I'd give judas a good kick in the scrotum and run off to Spain and get some fool to bank roll my voyage to America, which I would name Jesusland. I would then establish a nation there, establish the FBI, CIA, NSA and IRS then let them do whatever and get really really drunk.

You win.

Gaius Julius Caesar, and I'd make sure the Roman Empire was founded on a 'best heir you choose takes the throne' ethic instead of bastards like Caligula became Emperor and the Empire never fell, so that the dark ages never happen and we can live in colonies in space by now.

Or Jim Morrison.

I would be Batman!

Jesus

EDIT: Or Sylvia Plath. Or Tolkien. Or Lewis.

Thelonious Monk.

Somebody who dies of old age, not assassination, battle, or a freak of nature.

I guess being Saladin would be cool.

Jesus

EDIT: Or Sylvia Plath.
Have you got a thing for people who died in their thrities?
:D

The person doesn't have to be dead right? I'd be Bill Gates given his wealth and that he lives in present times. Who would want to go back before electricity, indoor plumbing and automobiles?

I would be some random guy in the Middle Ages. Then I'd tell the future with my historical knowledge to become vastly influential and powerful, cementing myself in whatever country I find myself in at the time. Then I'd probably try to take power, followed by fialing miserably for some reason.

I would be some random guy in the Middle Ages. Then I'd tell the future with my historical knowledge to become vastly influential and powerful, cementing myself in whatever country I find myself in at the time. Then I'd probably try to take power, followed by fialing miserably for some reason.
I think you'd find, before being able to take power, that you'd be burned at the stake for witchcraft.

I think you'd find, before being able to take power, that you'd be burned at the stake for witchcraft.

He turned me into a newt!









...





I got better.

He turned me into a newt!
...
I got better.
Right, all I need is a duck, some oversize scales, and someone to get him on them.

By the way, what happened to you in the office party thread, Fleck?

I'd be me in 50 years when I rule the Galaxy (except for the core, that supermassive black hole scares me).

I'd be me in 50 years when I rule the Galaxy (except for the core, that supermassive black hole scares me).
Which part of the concept of history do you fail to understand?

It's a hard one. I'm very much drawn to Mark Antony, because he did get to do it with Cleopatra, supposedly one of the most beautiful women in all of History, so that's a plus.

Sure, there's the whole losing an Empire and suiciding, but still. Enjoy while lasts!

There's actually a host of others to write about, but it's extremely late and I need to sleep.

I think I'd be the Ayatollah Khomeini ... just for giggles.

Aristotle

Genghis Kahn. The most successful human ever.

Alfred Krupp.

Perhaps Kaiser Wilhelm II.

I think you'd find, before being able to take power, that you'd be burned at the stake for witchcraft.
Good point. I'd like to be one of the first cavemen to invent fire. Then I'd just punch it up a notch and conquer the world with my pointed sticks of doom!

Kengis Kahn and live the adventures he had, but of course I would try to avoid the pillaging of civilizations.

I would be Athelstan but this time get married give England and proper and solid heir some body ot carry on my tadition of beating the scots and the vikings and generally having Great Britian more or less united within a generation or be H H Kitchener so I can conquer Sudan and avenge Gordon and this time beat the Boers with out usnig Concentration Camps or either that be Priminister before LOrd North or Grenville and set up the Thriteen Colonies as a Dominon before the troubles spark up

Kengis Kahn and live the adventures he had, but of course I would try to avoid the pillaging of civilizations.

If you try to avoid pillaging of civilizations, you won't have any adventures. And most of his adventures were pretty grim (try being pretty much orphaned and on your own at a young age - just mom and siblings to support you in a male-dominated nomadic society)

If you could be anyone in History who would it be?
Cassanova. :D

Which part of the concept of history do you fail to understand?

What if I was from the future and that was my history?

Basil II the Bulgar-slayer, who took the resurgent Byzantine Empire to its greatest extent and pinnacle of glory since the 7th century.

Problem is, my failure to marry and produce an heir means I leave the throne to my aging worthless brother and his less than reliable daughters on my death in 1025, thereby contributing to the near-fatal weakening of the Byzantine state in less than fifty years, which itself leads to the loss of most of Anatolia to the Seljuks following the battle of Manzikert in 1071.

So my failure to conjure up that heir - despite my apparent heroic bedding of attractive young women in the years before I finally exercised effective power - means that all my accomplishments in securing the borders and finances of my empire almost crumble to dust in a single lifetime. Which is particularly poor form given my empire was some 700 years old at the time.

So to change history I'll have to make the ultimate self-sacrifice for my Empire, temporarily withdraw to my palace in Constantinople, and have loads and loads of sex with the most comely high-born lass my officials can find. <sigh> - this absolute power thing can be a bitch.

Scott Crossfield, one of the best test pilots of all time.

Cassanova. :D

Well played!

I think I´d be Fracisco Pizarro or Viriato as well

Hmm...I can't really decide but I think I'd like to be Norman Rockwell. I just adore his art.
But politically speaking, I think I'd like to be Evita.

I'd be [violet].

Cassanova. :D

Damn you, you stole my thoughts!

Octavian. Had a pretty good run, that guy.

Johnny Depp...I always wanted to f... Winona Rider

One of the Caesars. Augustus would be good, as he did a fair bit. Julius of course. Caligula maybe just for the excess* or maybe that one that fought as a gladiator (always won, unsurprisingly).
Yep, definitely a Caesar. Unlimited wealth and power. And being revered as a God to boot. Can't beat that.



*When he became Caesar, he inherited 20 million gold coins from Tiberius. He squandered the lot + some in less than a year on parties. To put this in perspective, I estimated that 20 mill would come to something like $200 billion US (based on what the average man was making back then). Can you imagine the sort of party you could have with 200 bill?! Caligula - the ultimate party animal!

I second the Cassanova.

Or fifth it. Whatever.

Sid Vicious - rock star, heroin addict, murderer, yet loved by (nearly) everyone.
Murderer? Details Please!

Cassanova. :D
Didn't Casanova die alone?

Horatio Nelson

I don't deny that there were Naval Officers better then him at the time or that he was without fault but he still was an amazing person.

Well played!
Thank you, thank you. Please throw money. :D

Hmm...I can't really decide but I think I'd like to be Norman Rockwell. I just adore his art.
Me too! I have autographed copies of his "Four Freedoms." :)

Damn you, you stole my thoughts!
[ plays music from Twilight Zone ] Mwahahaha! :D

Didn't Casanova die alone?
Perhaps, but MAN ... whadda life! :D

Hatshepsut. :)

Any of the Caesars, preferably the later ones to save the Empire from degradation and dissolution, Napolean (my descendants would be global royalty by now), Hitler (no, not evil, I'd use Germany's drive, military, and industrial capacity to turn Europe into a united future rival for America), maybe Montezuma. (haha I wouldn't be hoodwinked by Cortez)

Samrat Ashoka - the greatest emperor in the history of the Indian subcontinent and the only emperor in history to renounce war. His patronization of Buddhism led to the spreading of Buddhism in China, SE Asia and Sri Lanka.

Jim Morrison.

maybe Montezuma. (haha I wouldn't be hoodwinked by Cortez)

Was it Montezuma who mutilated his nuts, took the blood from the mutilation and soaked paper in it, then burned said paper to have `visions`?

Crappy deal...

I'd be Caeser Augustus myself..no real reason..

Hmm a person in history...Rasputin would be a good choice for power and sexual prowess. I think if you could keep the knowledge you have now and go back he would be nigh invulnerable and communism would never had spread due to Russia's Monarchy staying in power.

Though I admit I am also leaning towards Yoritomo who founded the KamaKura Shogunate. I think he was a great military leader. Not as good as his brother but he actually made it through the war. Barring him I think Musashi Miyamoto would be nice as he was IMO the best swordsman. Don't get me wrong Ieyasu was darn good. But Musashi revolutionized sword play by using his secondary blade. Granted his life was less than idyllic, but I think it would be interesting.

I'd be Jesus just i could say that it was all a crock of sh*t when i was on the cross :cool:

So, having given this some thought...

Orson Welles-
I would have been the voice of The Shadow, written the most notorious radio drama ever, started my film career with one of the best films ever made, held a record for longest continuous shot thus being the last filmmaker to not do that gratuitously, and ended my film career as a cameo in The Muppet Movie and as the voice of the villain in Transformers: The Movie. And I would intrinsically know what time it was to sell wine. And, get to be one of the 20th Century's great curmudgeons.

All around, pretty quality.

Neil Armstrong... because being the first human to set foot on another world is about the coolest thing there is.

Albert Einstien. Because I could give him a try, and if I didn't like it I'd build a time machine and try someone else.

Basil II Bulgaroctonus - just so I can spend ages putting out all those eyes...

Albert Einstien. Because I could give him a try, and if I didn't like it I'd build a time machine and try someone else.
Quality.
Neil Armstrong... because being the first human to set foot on another world is about the coolest thing there is.
Extra quality.

...hmm...if I interpret "history" as the past, I'd like to be a caveman. Ahh. Those were the good 'ol days. Back when all you needed to be techno-savvy was a fire, and some obsidian spear heads.

Too bad their life expectancy wasn’t very good. Getting stepped on by things larger than you do that sometimes.:D

Hmm a person in history...Rasputin would be a good choice for power and sexual prowess. I think if you could keep the knowledge you have now and go back he would be nigh invulnerable and communism would never had spread due to Russia's Monarchy staying in power.

Though I admit I am also leaning towards Yoritomo who founded the KamaKura Shogunate. I think he was a great military leader. Not as good as his brother but he actually made it through the war. Barring him I think Musashi Miyamoto would be nice as he was IMO the best swordsman. Don't get me wrong Ieyasu was darn good. But Musashi revolutionized sword play by using his secondary blade. Granted his life was less than idyllic, but I think it would be interesting.


you dont get out much do you. living in moms basement?

I think I'd like to be Pontius Pilate.

I'd just let Jesus go. I'd refuse to crucify him, and then sit and watch how Christianity is looking for another basis to spread their story.

"It's a miracle, I tell you. He died in his sleep when he was 60, and rose again the next day! What do you mean, it's a lousy miracle?"

Murderer? Details Please!
He killed Nancy Spungen, his lover.
Here's the story. (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/sid_vicious/)

What if I was from the future and that was my history?
I'd call bullshit.

I'd like to be Chuck Norris!!!

I'd like to be Chuck Norris!!!

Are you sure you'd be able to take it?;)

I'd call bullshit.

I'd second that decree.

I would be Xerxes I, and take Greece successfully. Or, at least, have a ton of those arabian orgies.
If anyone here chooses not to be a king and/or infinitely wealthy person, you need to stop reading.

He killed Nancy Spungen, his lover.
Here's the story. (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/sid_vicious/)

Isn't the jury still out on that?

:confused:

I'd quite like to be Lord Byron.


Or maybe Oliver Cromwell.

It looks like we're splitting off into alternate history here. I'll go both routes. If I was going to be another person I'd be a pirate, either Jean Lafitte or Henry Teach (Blackbeard). If I was going to change history it would be to kill Paul before he reached Damascus because I blame him for most of what's wrong with Christianity

It looks like we're splitting off into alternate history here. I'll go both routes. If I was going to be another person I'd be a pirate, either Jean Lafitte

Ha ha. The person I want to be wrote a poem about the person you want to be.

He left a corsair's name to other times,
Linked one virtue to a thousand crimes.

or Henry Teach (Blackbeard). If I was going to change history it would be to kill Paul before he reached Damascus because I blame him for most of what's wrong with Christianity

But it's hard picking pirates since lot died very young.

If you could be anyone in History who would it be?

Meskiagkasher (Cush), king of Uruk.

He killed Nancy Spungen, his lover.
Here's the story. (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/sid_vicious/)



ever see the documentry the filth and the fury, about the sex pistols, its got some pretty heavy footage of sid and nancy in the apartment a few days prior to the murder. i guess nancy pulled some reporters up there for an interview for drug money no doubt. sids right wacked out. her screaming and bitching at him. i would have stabbed the whore too.

it shows him in an interview a few days after the murder, they ask him where hed like to be now, he replies "under the ground" two days later sid vicious dies of apparent drug overdose.

@Alan

Churchill had his fair share in questionable actions such as...

-The whole "dehousing" strategy of Bomber Command.

-During WW1 sanctioned that British merchants were armed thus making it impossible for German submarines to attack them under the laws of naval warfare. And after that even protesting.

-Flagging of British ships as American in WW1 thus using neutrality to gain unlawful advantages.

-Starvation blockade against Germany during WW1, declaring foodstuffs as contraband and effectively blockading Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark with it.

and maybe this link could shed some light on him

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1965607,00.html

thats referring about Churchill just saying that he wasnt all such a good guy though he played the role.

i would have stabbed the whore too.


EVERYTHING should end that way.

I'd be Cthulhu ! Now beat that one ay ?!:sniper:

I'd be Jesus...So that i could leave clues about my existence...so that way people in the future won't have to argue over silly crap like that :)

@ everyone who said Casanova

Didn't he die of Syphylis?

I'd be Hitler. I could change history by not killing millions of Jews, Gypsies and Gays. Instead I'd just write comedy routines based on their stereotypes. I also wouldn't invade Poland, France, Checkoslovakia and all those other countries. I'd just take trips there.

Hitler would be remembered as a funny little man with a funny little moustache rather than a crazy fucker who got alot of people killed.

I will probably get attacked for this, but i would be Adolph Hitler, controlling him i would avoid the mistakes he made, Simply peacefully deport the jews, probably not invade past the rhineland and sudentland, and possibly to the east to liberate eastern europe of the dreaded soviet influence. Up to the Ukraine but not neccessarily Russia, only if victory could actually be achieved. Jews would not be forced into Mass Labor camps, National Socialism would survive and things would be much better. Also i would not intern Homosexual's and any other group into camps.

This is just my opinion though.

If I was Hitler my first policy would be to change economic policies. I would cut back on taxes thus helping those in poverty. There would be no propoganda to the Jews, Gypsies, Gays, or any other group , this makking sure there is no Krisstallnacht or widespread genocide to any one minority. I would modernize the military and remilitarize the Rhineland and I would pay money in exchange for the Sudetenland.

Their would be no speeches about any "Master Race" , there'd be no discrimination whatsoever. I would stop paying the impossible debt that was put on Germany for WW1, aswell as I would increase funding into reconstruction of Germany , aswell as to Telecommunications , and the enviroment.

Just my say though.

I'd be Napoleon and NOT TO INVADE RUSSIA. Without that stupid upfucking, I'd rule the Europe for decades and do a lot of good, finishing the reforms Napoleon started IRL but never had time to complete.

you dont get out much do you. living in moms basement?
actually the attic...I am amazed at your insight

@ everyone who said Casanova

Didn't he die of Syphylis?

I think he became a librarian. Though AFAIK he died alone.

I'd be Hitler. I could change history by not killing millions of Jews, Gypsies and Gays. Instead I'd just write comedy routines based on their stereotypes. I also wouldn't invade Poland, France, Checkoslovakia and all those other countries. I'd just take trips there.

Hitler would be remembered as a funny little man with a funny little moustache rather than a crazy fucker who got alot of people killed.

So you mean Charlie Chaplin?

So you mean Charlie Chaplin?

w00t

http://img305.imageshack.us/img305/8661/chaplin6ls.gif

I cannot think of anyone right now without justifying who it was.
How about Darius the Emperor of Persia?

Think about it wouldn't you love the chance to smote Alexander the Great at Gaugamela?
Darius had the perfect oppurtunity to do so buthe wasted his at least 5/1 man advantage and allowed Lexi to even up the playing field a bit like Napoleans corp Tactics.

Go on you know you want to.;)