Rulers Who Were Actually Good - History Hijinks
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- čas přidán 29. 04. 2021
- History is full of Rulers, but most of them (especially some famous ones) can be Kind Of Terrible upon closer inspection. So let's take a look at two kings we can actually consider to be Good - not perfect, not blameless, but a heck of a lot more virtuous than the average ruler, that's for sure.
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SOURCES & Further Reading: The Great Courses Plus lectures "Being Persian" by Robert Garland, "The Persian Era" by Jean-Pierre Isbouts, "Saladin: Chivalry and Conquest - 1187" by Eamonn Gearon, and "Saladin and the Defeat of the Crusaders" by Dorsey Armstrong.
Our content is intended for teenage audiences and up.
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People in those times:
"Amazing conqueror. Very tactic yet respectful. Five stars. Would get conquered again"
@Omega Abuzar he truly already has conquered our hearts
@@flaviocatarino4328 YES
I want to share this video with my loved ones just so I can show them this comment. Made my day. Thanks
People nowadays:
He attacc
He protecc
But always
Earn respecc
😂😂
I wonder what would happen if a king faced with a prophecy of his doom at the hands of a child DIDN'T try to kill the child
Well it almost worked for Cyrus' gpa. dude seemed genre savvy enough to spare 10 year old Cyrus but uhhh... guess it still didnt work out.
“This child shall one day take your rightful throne from you!”
“Yeah? That’s my grandson. Let’s face it; I’m not going to live forever and someone’s gotta take over for me. Doesn’t take a prophecy to know that’s probably going to be one of my descendants. Now get out before I have you tried for trying to pull a fast one on me, you charlatan.”
"Another End of the Empire" by Tim Pratt.
@@animeotaku307 Keep in mind that Cyrus was not a direct, male-line successor to Astyages. He wouldn't have inherited the throne had he not risen up in revolt.
@@SonofSethoitae wasn’t this the same legend where the king killed, cook, and fed the son of one of his generals to his father. The same father who betrayed the king at the worst moment?
My favorite thing about Saladin is that contemporary Europeans thought he was so awesome they wrote fanfictions about him and Richard the Lionheart meeting and having chivalrous duels.
🥵
Dante put Saladin in the circle of hell that the virtuous pagans went to. And this is the guy who conquered Jerusalem. That is MAD props for the guy.
@@samuelthegreatoo Yep, when the greatest work of self-insert fanfiction (where an still living pope was sent to one of the deepest levels of hell) has you down as "Except for the not being Catholic bit, real stand out guy" you know you were cool.
The fact that my brain went, "chivalrous duels", is that what the kids are calling it these days, immediately says a helluva lot about the type of fanfiction I read...
“Chivalrous duels” with what their swords 👀🥵🥴
"Our protagonist... was born Yusuf ibin Ayub..."
These names are typically rendered in English as "Joseph" and "Job". So for those of you keeping track, Saladin was, in fact, a JoJo.
A JoJo in Egypt no less
Ah, so thats why he's so cool
@@Fisinocean no u're getting it all wrong it is why are the jojos cool
First we have Muhammad Avdol
And then TIL there was an actual historical Muhammad Avdol in the form of Saladin. Like... What the jahannam (hell) is the meaning of this??? This is bullshit
I guess we know where Jonathan gets his good manners from
Lmao Cyrus was like if bob ross was a kindergarten teacher managing A LOT of children.
“Alright Timmy let’s put the statues back where they’re happier hmm?”
Omg yes
I love it imagine Bob Ross greetings you everyday or calming you down when you trip and fall
He did Feng Shui before it was cool.
I giggled imagining Cyrus as Bob Ross.
"Let's make some happy little gods, alright?"
@@Borderose now, right here we're gonna make some nice roads for some of that happy little trade
@@thomaskole9881 "Oops. Conquered your kingdom. Oh, well. Let's consider this a happy little accident and cover that up by...yeah...nice...just a little. Ah, there. Done. Let's cover that up by actually treating your people right and making sure their kings give them some very nice days. Oh, look! I think we can put a lovely temple here. I'm sure that's gonna make a lot of folks and their god happy. Let's all be friends now."
Cyrus: "Ok, here's the deal, I'll let you keep your religion, culture, language even local rulers."
Locals: "What's the catch?"
Cyrus: "Pay some taxes and don't rebel."
Locals: "And?"
Cyrus: "That's it."
Locals: "What."
Cyrus: "What?"
Similar to islamic jiza
@@ibrahimmohammedibrahim9273 not exactly
@@ibrahimmohammedibrahim9273 lol hell no
@@enoch9468 I mean it's not dissimilar. The difference is that Cyrus expect the same of his people regardless of their religion and culture. The Islamic Caliphates expected one or the other: military service or tax.
Dont forget the Jizya tax wasnt collected on people who wouldn't have been eligible for military service. Women didn't pay it at all. Nor did children, orphans, cripples, the mentally ill, elders or slaves.
Nor, somewhat importantly, did priests, monks or hermits. Or visitors, like pilgrims or guests.
It wasn't a punishment for practicing a Non-Islamic faith.
The Jizya tax was perceived as an alternative to military service. Christian's living under Islamic rule were seen as essentially paying to opt out of their other obligations.
The tax persisted under Ottoman rule but was eventually abolished because so many *Muslims* wanted to pay it rather than serve in the Sultans Armies, and thought it was unfair on *them* that their Non-Islamic nieghbours enjoyed the same privileges with fewer obligations except a monthly tax.
It wouldn't be any more unethical than a tax break for veterans.
That’s still a pretty shitty deal! You’re submitting to a faraway ruler, not because you chose him but, because he’ll kill you if you don’t. Taxes can be literally anything, even food, animals and people and the foreign ruler can steal all your men and force them into military service!
Saladin telling his soldiers not to disturb the newlyweds in the tower at the battle of Kerak:
"Professionals have STANDARDS"
"Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
One of my favorite stories about Saladin actually has to do with his death. The guy gave so much of his own money away to charity that there was practically nothing left to pay for his own funeral.
You cannot take it with you. The poor benefited and the people must have wept at the thought. His heirs got his kingdom so no need to worry about THEM.
@@xhagast seems obvious doesn't it, that you can't take your worldly riches with you after death ?
But you would be surprised (Not really) how many rulers hoarded their wealth like Smaug until their dying breath.
@@xhagast somebody should've told the Egyptians... Or the chinese...or the...
@@dumpsockpuppet5619 shh let them rest in their oversized tomb filled with ancient relics, the archaelogs need to feed their family dammit
To be fair the Egyptians thought they will wake again in the after life and use those stuff
I now imagine Cyrus sending all the gods/peoples to different areas and asking them if this place sparks joy
literally made me cackle
Thank you for that mental image
@@jasonreed7522 you’re welcome
Emperor Marie Kondo
“This god sparks joy”
“This god does not spark joy”
Cyrus is one of those figures where even conquered nations who rebelled against the Persian Empire would point back to and go "We're leaving because you're not like this guy!"
What are you saying?
@@AB-dm1wz
Subjugated nations revolted because the leader at that time wasnt like the leader prior. More heavyhanded, neglectful, greedier, take your pick.
Yeah, to make things more interesting, there was never a revolt against Cyrus or his son, and only after Darius the Great's usurpation of the throne did revolts against the Achaemenid Emprie even happen.
@@MasterOfCydonia Darius: finally, I have taken hold of one of the greatest powers on Earth! This will be a cinch!
Persia: no- bad Darius- we want the other guys back-
Wait, wasn't Darius the still good guy while Cambyses the bad guy?
Not only did the Bible say that Cyrus was a pretty great guy, he's also the only non-Jewish person to be titled as a Messiah.
As for Saladin, he was great and chivalrous. Richard the Lionheart was too. 2 great rulers who respected each other despite the war between them.
Calling RtL a great ruler is a stretch, as a king he did nothing other than his (failed) crusade, but he was chivalrous without a doubt.
@@the_tactician9858 Didn't he take over the english? That's a plus for everyone in Europe.
@@coh2conscript851 no, that was Another French Noble, Richard Inherited England and also half of France and then went to go punch some egyptian dude
@@ATemplarIGuess aw, that's what it was then
Cyrus the great be like: okay, i will not force my religious beliefs and culture with you, if you want to be a follower then okay . In fact, I'll let you return to your lands if you want but just remember:pay your taxes, don't rebel and were good.
The interesting part about Saladin is that he's actually more remembered in the west than in the middle east, specifically because he left such an impact on the crusader kings that he fought
Correct. The person more famous in the Middle East is Sultan Baibars, who finished off the Crusader kingdoms and sold off all the Christians, that didnt escape, to the slave markets.
Plus, as a Kurd, Saladin wasn't exactly gonna be loved by a population of Arabs
One reason for that is because his heirs shit the bed rather quickly, so Ayyubids do not amount to much, just a speedbump between the more significant Fatimids and Mamluks. He himself is the only real notable of his dynasty.
? This is not true and I don't really know where you pulled this information from.
Salah Al Deen is well known in the Arab world. I'd say in terms of individual rulers past the initial caliphate him and Mohammad the conqueror are the most popular.
@@ZZaman-px9rg Correct.
Actually here in Egypt people LOVE and RESPECT him very much
I would love to see this become a 10 part series, but I doubt history will be so kind.
Same
I don't have any friends because they are ashamed of the videos I upload. Are they really that bad, dear tom
@@AxxLAfriku you probably dont because you act like a beggar and they might be embarassed of being near you
@@AxxLAfriku no offense, but I checked your channel and your friends are kinda in the right here. Your videos aren’t bad persay, it’s just like, imagine being friends with someone who moonlights as a low level supervillain.
Talking about history in the future tense made me laugh for some reason lol
Try King Eystein of Norway. Not only did the guy build harbors, mountain inns and churches while his brother was out crusading, he was also a therapist for his own bodyguards
Was it because the bodyguards possibly have their own mental health issues?
@@SlapstickGenius23 Yup. One of the bodyguards apparently had some mental problems. So Eystein offered to talk with him about it, and that actually helped
As a Norwegian this makes me proud
King:So She's not happy with you?
Guard:Yes D':
King:There There
Gigachad
Saladin is meme lord 100. Not only did let the newlyweds go at it in the tower, he also scolded Raynald. And then chopped his head off. What a guy
😎 Yep hes definitely born cool and raised cool
Chopped his head off for refusing to convert*
@@LordVader1094 Correction: Chopped his head off for being a complete jerk. Even the other Christians thought he was a jerk.
@@LordVader1094 he did not request the king to convert did he
Raynald was a jackass who wanted to annoy Saladin by disrupting caravans
@@LordVader1094 idk killing multiple innocent groups of caravans minding their own business seems befitting for a beheading no
Fun fact, the British later named an Armored Car after Saladin. (The Alvis Saladin.) If there is an afterlife, that’s got to feel pretty cool to have your former adversary respect you so much they name a (from your point of view) self powered metal chariot that shoots explosions after you.
Of course the British being the British they then used said armoured cars to oppress the people of the British colonies, the Saladin's in particular were used a lot here in Ireland, they're even mentioned in our rebel songs...
They probably used those in the Suez Crisis in Egypt now that I think about it which must've been pretty funny
"If there is an afterlife" - Dante put Saladin in the First Circle of Hell, which is a generally nice place where the cool non-Christians like the Greek philosophers got to go. So some people have definitely felt that way.
"Achaemenid Like A Wrecking Ball"
I didn't think it was possible, but you just did it. You just won Historical Comedy for All Time.
lol
I just got that joke , "icameinlikea..."
And it's during a segment on CYRUS. Damn Blue (or whoever added that joke in post) that's some layered humor.
@@Entropy114 woah
Saladin heard a wedding happened in a castle and his first action was to order to not disturb the couple. "let this be a Fornication Under the Consent of an Sultan."
I mean they were married. So it wasn't fornication.
More like Saladin being a total bro and not disturbing their honeymoon.
An sultan
The s is silent
@@03.ximipa3ahmadrinofarosmu3 😜🤝😸
Saladin was smart, he knew that if he continued the denial of christian pilgrims to the holy lands, the crusades would just happen again and again and again, and any good tactician knows that it can be hard to differentiate genius with luck and incompetent adversaries and that even a genius can make a collossal mistake against another great tactician, and that is a chance Saladin would be unlikely to make.
by granting access to christian pilgrims to the holy land not only had he made the land richer because these pilgrims would be buying stuff like supplies and lodging and trinkets to take back home, but he also helped to secure it by addressing arguably the chief concern that motivated the crusaders to invade in the first place.
Yet, It took them only a decade to start another crusade and 25 years to land an army on the levant.
But the crusaders were stupid anyway
And did recaptured Jerusalem again
But then the mumlek Egypt took it back but this time with all the Christian/European kingdoms in the middle easd
though to be fair, while it was the reason that was told to the common people, before the first crusade, christians were very much allowed into jerusalem, because the muslims didn't saw a reason to keep them out as long as they were only there to pray. the real reason for the first crusade was the fact that byzantine got all their eastern lands taken away and feared for the muslims to also take constantinople, so they asked the pope to help them retake their former lands so that they could continue to be a bullwark. the pope at the time used this to spin a pr campaign about how the muslims killed every christian who tried to go to jerusalem, and called for a holy war, which the byzantines very much did not ask for. so, as it happens so often in history, centuries of war get kicked off by one small person deciding that they need more power.
thats not what thtat was about we are not allowed to deny other monotheists pilgrimage to the holy land
"A king does not kill a king. Were you not close enough to a great one, to learn by his example?"
I recognize That line from Kingdom of Heaven maybe?
Honestly, a pretty good movie overall.
@@josephperez2004 The Director's Cut is way better than the Theatrical Cut.
@@fernandozavaletabustos205 Hmm, will need to see if I can find that some time. I wouldn't mind just seeing the same version again, so one with extra scenes added is definitely of interest.
@@josephperez2004 Agreed. Not factually accurate, but pretty thematically accurate. Saladin killing Reynard was right out of the history books...
Procrastinating an essay has never been so informative
OSP's channel in a nutshell.
hopefully you finished the essay 😁
🔫 go fo your essay
Same
Saladin: Your stepdad is the worst and I'm trying to take him out. Order the siege!
Also Saladin: Wait, you got married?! Look, I'm not going to mess up your wedding night, I'm not a monster!
"Professionals have standards!" - The Sniper.
XD he was like, ma boy is getting laid tonight, I'm not gonna get in the way of that, no man should die a virgin. lol
Just saying that Saladin wasn't universally praised. He was, and still is, called by Shi'ites, "Kharab al-Din", meaning "Destroyer of the Religion". This was opposed to "Salah al-Din", meaning "Righteousness of the Religion". Some of the Isma'il Shi'ites even believe that Al-Adid, the last Fatimid Caliph in which Saladin deposed, is going to personally help God on judgement day.
Total bro. "I know we've got a war going on outside of here, but you're in there knocking boots. I'm not gonna cock-block you, so we'll just have our war stuff going on around your boot-knockin."
@@Nitram4392 there's being tyrant, and then there's just being a jerk
That’s actually pretty humorous that Saladin, while besieging a castle, was polite enough to make sure the happy couple were able to get down to business with one another in the tower. He had plenty of beef with the stepdad, but he wasn’t about to ruin the groom’s evening.
"Be strong! Strong like Salah ad-Din!" from an Assassin's Creed NPC was clearly mistranslated. The actual translation is, "Be chill! Chill like Salah ad-Din!"
an a dictator in the original sense, being pretty much in the situation of a mother minding her bussines and chillin and then hearing her child be like 'MOOOOOOOOOM hEeEeEeLp!', no wonder if he retired to the countryside
3:40 that joke works even better when you think that the singer was Miley CYRUS
How? 🤔
@@grahamturner2640 If Madonna was at the prestigious top of the Pop music culture, then at some point Miley Cyrus would succeed to the top for a while.
@@dawsondebell1603 Miley ushering in a two hundred year reign of pop is an interesting thought. :3
@@grahamturner2640 The last name.
@@user-ge8yn4ql4i First Decree: Mandatory Crop Tops for all genders and or taped nipples with your birthday suit. Lol
"if youre gonna be an authoritarian at least be a nice one" - Blue, today's video
That quote goes against EVERYTHING I do in stragety games.
@@SomeCrusader It only takes about 3 hours in any strategy game to totally understand why rulers turn authoritarian.
I mean, Blue is 100% correct.
It turns out that being nice to people makes them less likely to rebel and cut off your head. Shocking, I know.
@@DrMonty-ng5fo But it's not so easy when evryone around you have other agendas.
Ooh, I do that in Empire Total War too. Locals getting rowdy and ready to rebel? Build Theaters! Catholics getting in my protestant cities and protestants getting in my catholic cities? Build Theaters! Just conquered a new city and they don't like my face? Theaters, theaters, theaters! Mr. Hamilton might be more amenable to British rule if he could just sit down and watch Hamilton.
There's a disturbing lack of Marcus Aurelius and Dom Pedro II here...
Also, the chivalrous bromance between arch-frenemies Richard Lionheart and Saladin would make an excellent video all on its own.
If Richard and Saladin had actually met...
If Richard's proposal to marry their two families together as part of a peace treaty had been a real thing...
@@templarw20 A huge what-if of history that I haven't seen anyone explore
@templarw20 i’m now picturing them just hanging out, cracking dad jokes… somehow both of them have the same sense of humor of phil on modern family lol
Dom Pedro II should definitely be up there. Also, here in Indonesia, we also have the story of Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, ruler of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta and later Governor of the Yogyakarta Special Region Province. he was a great ruler who masterfully navigated the complicated time he was in. directed the people in his kingdom to public works that would support local agriculture (the Selokan Mataram/Mataram Canal project) so that his people doesn't have to be forced labors (Romusha) during the Japanese occupation; provided his city, Yogyakarta, as the emergency capital for the newly-formed Indonesian government which was driven away from Jakarta/Batavia; formulated and led a campaign to retake Yogyakarta from Dutch hands (General Offensive of 1 March 1949) after it was taken away by the Dutch in 1948; provided his palace as the first campus for Indonesia's first public university, Universitas Gadjah Mada; and submitted his sultanate under the Republican government, which eventually led to the Republican government recognizing Yogyakarta as a Special Region, with the Sultans being governors of Yogyakarta. all around a great guy, and very much loved by his people
We NEED this to be a series
As Mr Rogers would say, quoting his mom, "Always look for the helpers"
Basically rule one for rulers. Remember you're ruling a bunch of individuals not a bunch of numbers on a tablet.
I'm not!
Amazing how many people forget that!
Yes, a great *number* of individuals. The key here is to recognize that those numbers consist of individuals with life of their own.
You know how they say, a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic
OSP's Cyrus: "let's be friends everyone 😊 I just want to make my subjects happy!"
Civ 6's Cyrus: "have you heard about something called a Suprise War?"
I think Civ variant is based on the insane 300 Cyrus.
A lot of Cyrus' great successes are less Civ and more Europa Universalis. Appealing to the priesthood of Marduk to overthrow their king because he's trying to dump the entire temple budget into his historical mooncrush would be a weird victory condition.
Meanwhile, with Civ 6 Saladin: "Hey, wanna have a bunch of trade routes and and really good Trade Offers with each other while everyone else is busy being assholes?"
No joke, in one game me and Saladin spawned as the only 2 nations on a continent with each other and formed a merchant empire together while the other AI players were literally killing each other on the other continent. Good times.
No. Because I'm never surprised.
Civ 5's Gandhi: "Come at me! I've got my trigger finger ready on the nuclear missiles!"
This is one of the reasons why I love this channel, even though Blue has a clear Italian and Greek bias in history, he still recognizes that other civilizations had really cool accomplishments, and compares how they were to how they're treated by western historians.
Thank you so much Blue, you've helped me find out that I love the Akamanid Persian empire as much as I love New Kingdom Egypt. Your videos are amazing!
"Just because he was at war didn't mean he had to be a jerk about it" is my new spirit animal.
How tf can a statement about war be your spirit animal, that's not even how that cringey ass meme works lol
@@LordVader1094 cringe
@@LordVader1094 ok boomer
“When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.” -Winston Churchill
“Your quality will be known among your enemies before ever you meet them.”
Wheres that from?
@@marcelob.678 Kingdom of heaven (2004). Amazing movie (If you watch the directors cut, the theatrical cut is crap.). It does include some historical inaccuracies, but overall very good movie.
It was released in 2005, sorry.
Like Master and Commander it is a great film :) KOH is long but you can break it into three acts and watch it friday-sunday afternoon over dinner if you like.
"Reputation is a weapon forged by the fears of your enemies."
-Total War: Shogun 2
The kind of adversaries needed not only for one of them send his doctor to help, but also for the other one to TRUST this was not going to end in poisoning is seldom seen amongst kings.
Displaying hospitality to nobility was honorable and opportunity for avoiding outright conflict. It's the roots of modern diplomacy and often throughout history leaders and rulers would meet to discuss disputes one day only to have their armies butcher each other the next...
This is what professional historians call "poggers af"
Honestly I feel bad for the doctor. If the king had died he would have been executed on the spot even if he did his best. Hope that got covered in the mission briefing
When Saladin had conquered Jerusalem (the first time) he did not slaughter everyone to "cleanse" it.
Instead he had unimaginable amounts of rose water made and his army washed the city to cleanse it.
@@veramae4098 I can just imagine that
Soldiers: *sharpening swords*
Saladin:" aight, mop duty"
Soldiers: "who?"
Saladin: " yes."
About Saladin: "If he punched you, you would have to fight the overwhelming urge to thank him."
Blue: This whole thing historians do by focusing on specific rulers sucks(justifies this thought well).
Blue: *So here’s a video on two funky fresh rulers*
It does make me wonder if "Great Man History" wasn't actually intended as an explanation of historical events (except possibly by Carlyle), but as a more respectable subgenre of self-help books. Less "And then King Chad solved almost everything, and that's why we name so much after him" and more "This is how the qualities of a great man play out in practice when he has the power to show them most dramatically" or something.
@@ingold1470 that would make sense. I suspect it’s not the reason, but it is a good way to handle it going forward
Rulers and being good at their job are not phrases that generally go together but here we are
Edit: So it seems as though I've started a bit of drama (shocking, I know), so I'd like to clear a few things up. My comment was meant to be more about politicians than rulers, as well as the fact that perhaps you shouldn't judge ancient rulers on modern standards. I'd recommend reading RealmRabbit's comment as well! Good day! :)
Because the curse of a crown flows from one to another
Sure if you look at thousand year old rulers through a modern bull shit progressive lens, everyone is fuckin evil.
@@Sakattack2023 being modern and progressive is bullshit?
We actually compare ancient leaders to other ancient leaders, as to why Marcus Aurelius was a good emperor and Nero not so much..
@@Sakattack2023 you must be fun at parties.
@@vinnieg6161 yes 100% modern progressiveness is evil, destructive and racist. And yes you miserable people have a short list of acceptable people. That’s not what I said either, I like how you only had something to say when you interpreted what i said in bad faith. This isn’t a list of the best Roman emperors comparatively. This is his own opinion based off of modern criteria which they’re obvious lefty revisionists.
This should definitely be a series. Cool rulers in history
Thatd be a short one
Maybe "underappreciated rulers" in history. Or even just "most significant historical figures you´ve probably never heard of".
@@christianschwietzke8959 because you’ve probably already herd of them if they’re “most significant”
@@Sakattack2023 there are plenty of significant historical figures that the general public doesnt know much about
@@PbasijiR Not as short as you’d think.
Funny thing about Thomas Jefferson is that he was a huge fan of Cyrus the Great. He even had the book Cyropaedia by Xenophon which was a somewhat fictional biography of Cyrus and the Achaemenid Empire.
“It is hard for a good man to be king.” -T’Chaka
This was so unexpectedly wholesome...
Is always good to have some every once in a while.
Well it's best rulers who were actully good. Its alwyas nice to hear about historical people who were genuinely good.
Y e s
It was propaganda. There is no such thing as a good monarch.
@@transsylvanian9100 he never said they were good people, just good people relative to other monarchs
I am suprised Blue did not mention that Dante in the Divine Comedy put Saladin in Limbo, with the other "Virtuous Pagens" like you know...Virgil.
Who cares what Dante thinks. He is just a poet with his imagination and puts all others than Christians in hell. I wonder why it's a masterpiece in West. Copied of Isra-miraj from East
@@sagaramskp He put many popes in Hell, he was very critical of Christians too. But he was also biased against Greeks and definitely hated other religions, example being putting Muhammad in Hell.
OSP did a very good recap of the Divine Comedy. The Poem itself was also very quickly embraced as a classic, and so putting Saladin in Limbo and not Hell would have spoken to European thoughts on the historical figure of Saladin.
@@sagaramskp the piece was mainly to criticize his enemies, as well as people who did bad things of all faiths. You can take all the religion out of it, and it'd still be famous bc it's not everyday you hear a comedy with clear historical context about corrupt politicians burning in hell in the 1300s. It also isn't a copy of Isra-miraj, those two books have nearly nothing in common other than a religious journey, and as far as I'm concerned Isra-miraj wasn't satire.
@@RamblinPhoenix Fun fact Saladins fame is purely attributed to European fascination of him. He was just a ruler in Muslim history, it wasnt until later European travelers came talking of him that his fame grew in Muslim lands
Saladin was incredibly intelligent to allow the pilgrims to come in.
They have money, money they would spend on food and lodging. This is the ancient equivalent of tourism revenue. Not to forget, trying to build a positive relationship with rival nations.
Peaceful coexistence is always the better option.
@5:51 it makes me so happy that the Arabic text was in correct direction and the letters have the correct form!
Finally, a video on both of the good rulers in history.
All two of them
I wish there were more videos like this one. These days it's all about "Rulers who were actually terrible" or "Rulers who were worse than you think."
Checkmate, Techno.
there is like probably maybe 2 or 3 more
@@ethanotoroculus1060 anarchy is pog
Cyrus and Saladin both had one over arching goal when it came to dealing with people " Respect everyone like your brothers and sisters but deal with the ones who behave badly "
Your comment about the Mandate of Heaven really interested me, because when I was studying Zoroastrianism I noted that Mazdean kings justified their kingship in a really similar way to the Mandate of Heaven. There’s even a symbol that starts to show up in and following the Achaemenid called the fehr (if I remember how to spell it) that represents the divine right of the king to rule, and when a new king wanted to justify his rule upon overthrowing the previous ruler, he would often commission written or visual works depicting the fehr leaving the previous king and moving to his side-much how new Chinese emperors would lean to the shifting Mandate of Heaven to start morally solidifying their rule!
To me the most interesting part is how in both cases this arose from similarities in the belief system. In China, the Mandate tracks back to the shamanic beliefs and shaman kings of early China, whose job was in part to be a conduit for the wisdom of Heaven, tapping into that resource to produce prosperity for the kingdom; if you couldn’t provide for your people, you weren’t connected to Heaven anymore-you had lost its favor-and thus were unfit to rule.
Similarly, in Mazda worship, bringing increase and prosperity is seen as a morally good action in a cosmic sense that brings the war between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu closer to its resolution. And so there is an idea that a good ruler brings prosperity, spiritual wellness, and a bad one brings chaos, disorder, and misfortune, not just through policies but also physically on the land through his moral presence. I think we begin see the concept that would come to be embodied by the fehr rise out of this philosophy at the time-first with Cyrus the Great claiming a moral dimension to his victory over the Babylonians, and then through Darius I’s attempt to re-legitimize his line when overthrowing a usurper, where he takes Cyrus’s logic and runs with it, claiming Ahura Mazda delivered him to victory in the interest of securing prosperity for the empire through his moral righteousness.
Both cultures had a concept of a transformative moral force that would pass from their deities through the ruler and into the state, both came to use it to morally explain power changing hands by framing it in the context of bringing the people prosperity, and both developed a concept of a divine right to rule that could be maintained or lost through the quality of your kingship. It’s a really cool example of convergent evolution!
Listening and learning, then hear the second character Salah ad-Din and realize Extra History did a story on him too. It is great to hear different telling of history from the different channels. Thanks Blue for your passion for history.
Saladin's adorable af, imagine being so chivalrous and downright NICE that your political adversaries whose main beef with you is religion still write nice things about you
Forget nice things. Your enemies literally write letters of apology to you.
Salah-ud-Din was a Chad. No mincing words.
@@sars910 "We're very sorry and thankful for dealing with Raynald. He was a pain in the neck."
@@foundation2854 Saladin : "Don't worry. In his final moments, I was also a pain in his neck."
@@sars910 *puts my arm around you* You sir, are a chad.
Ironically Christian sources are a great deal more favourable to him than Muslim. Probably because the Christians got stuck up on him being a chivalric ideal.
I love the Hattin story. Where Saladin is just being chill and nice to the king and then just beheads Raynald in front of him. And when the King of Jerusalem is freaking out he's like dude.
Kings don't kill Kings.
That is suprisingly modern
CHESS KING SACRIFICE
@@Fisinocean saladin is the crown jewel of muslim history.
Al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub was a slaver and should not be celebrated by Europeans.
@@maple2524 but isnt liyerally every single mahor figure in europeans history are also enslaver?
“History’s Biggest A-Holes” (or “History’s Biggest Problematic Faves” if you want to avoid getting demonetized) sounds like it could be a good subject for a video.
This was a nice change of pace. I like to see good historical figures.
"Achaemenid Like A Wrecking Ball"
That's it. Close up shop. This is as good as it gets for us
We have achieved peak comedy!
Timestamp?
To everyone angry that some figures weren’t covered in this video: there’s a very real possibility that we’ll see more videos like it, ESPECIALLY if it does well, so don’t despair! For now, just appreciate the cool kings and get hyped for more.
9:00 Saladin was probably the only person who liked Richard the Lionheart, he was so annoying that all the other crusaders went home just to get away from him
Thank you for this video. I've been feeling rather pessimistic about humanity lately and this was a much needed ray of optimism
Yay
Blue dunking on the Crusades and the Deus Vult meme is one of the greatest things I have ever seen.
Interestingly the second crusade ended without a drop of blood.
So easily the best crusade
Meh, I'm not a fan of overused and dead memes.
Yes , perfect use of meming without being ignorant to the history behind it
*Deus lo vult
Embracing the meme? Not really, just referencing it.
I highly doubt that Blue is a racist.
In his Inferno, Dante put Saladin in the ‘not terrible but also not great’ Limbo where the best non-Christians got to go.
Nah Limbo was actually the home of "You guys are awesome and cool but unfortunately you aren't Christian so you can't go to heaven" crowd of people. Notable tenants include Saladin, Marcus Aurelius and Julius Caesar.
Lol 🤣 meanwhile Saladin would be partying in Muslim heaven 💃
@@sars910 the limbo is dante kin-list?
@@Fisinocean Kinlist ?
Also later on Boccaccio included Saladin in his book Decameron, praising him.
I'm very glad you made this video, I was already a fan of Cyrus thanks to your video on the Persian empire but this just reinforces that admiration. I hope that you'll make another video with more monarchs who fit the bill like Louis the 4th of France, I've been listening to the audiobook version called "Champlain's dream" and in just two sessions I feel he really deserves a place on such a list. I also hope that Red makes a video like this: Gods Who Were Actually Good" like Hades Hestia, Persephone, Forseti, Tyr, etc...
The beginning of the video lead me to discover the great men history theory and now I'm basically re-evaluating the way I see all these people, trying to see them more as people and less than superhumans who did everything by themselves (like our favourite Alexander boy or the local heroes of my own country, Argentina) the process might be long but I think it'll be worth it, thanks Blue
Blue: Cyrus conquered the MEDIA and created the Achaemenid Empire.
Me: I guess that's why he gets all the good press.
Smooth
... I hate you
Cyrus the Great is one of the best military commanders in history he conquered the Median Empire, Lydian Empire and Neo-Babylonian Empire the 3 most powerful empires of is time to created the biggest and most powerful empire of is time
I think king sejong deserves a glance if we're doing good rulers. Developed the Korean alphabet, loved science, and prioritized the well being of his farmers over his highest paid court officials during a drought.
I agree with my doubleganger 👍🏿
And he was not only kind but shrewd. Farmers GIVE to the country and the crown, court officials TAKE from the country and the crown.
I'll second that.
King sejong huh? I ll give him a look
King Sejong was the first to come to mind when I read the title lol
It's so nice to hear about mostly good people in history. As you pointed out, there was the conquest and war stuff, but they weren't jerks about it. And yeah, I think recent history is getting to all of us...
Excellent documentary as always thank you for your work and knowledge
This has to become a series. It probably will be a short one, but yeah.
"...recent history is getting to me."
No worries blue, I think we understand
Thank you for talking about these figures!
This IS a great way to do history!! I'm absolutely looking forward to more Pretty Good Rulers!
“Shut up and Pay up!”
Someone should make that a T-shirt. 😆😂
How are people this ignorant? You never heard “fuck you, pay me”
@@Sakattack2023 One is less crass.
"Don't be a jerk even if you are fighting a war "
Saladin
"Look guys i dont care that its the enemy stepson's wedding, its still a wedding. Mind your manners people"
@@Fisinocean "Last week he sent your messenger's head to our castle with an arrow!"
Thank you blue, absolutely made my weekend 🙏🏻
5:48 the different texts going in opposite directions based on the proper direction in which they are read is such a good detail.
"History can be hard, right?"
[murmurs of agreement]
"Wrong! History is easy! YOU suck!"
Lol, whatever you say Captain Tenneal.
Now I want JoCat to do a history series
Learning about Cyrus and Persia, in general, is what got me hooked on history. I realized there's actually some really cool history that doesn't get properly covered and it made me want to change that.
That's admirable. 🙂
As an Iranian we are so proud to have this man in our history
That Persia is ignored in American world history texts, besides self-serving fictions about the 1979 revolution (speaking as an American, we had it coming; one word: Mosaddegh), is a horrendous sin against civilization…
@@templarw20 in archeology Persia is pretty huge as a subject, and is absolutely studied by a lot of people. But when it comes to history, or high school education, or pop-culture knowledge, there's a massive gap for sure. Mostly because in the West we have a lot lot more access to Greek writings at the time of the Persian wars, and for a long time our obsession with the ancient greeks as predecessors of the Western world definitely coloured the Persians in that light.
I look forward to when this video gets a sequel... restores my faith in people as a whole.
Stories like these are what remind me, even if and when people really are open books and can never change, there still are those who are both good and great at the same time.
It’s one thing to say you’re great, it’s another to make people believe you’re great, but it takes the right actions and intentions to BE great...
I like to believe that during the siege of Kerak, Saladin said “if that tower is a rockin, do not come a knockin.”
Misses a bit of Cyrus' reputation inspiring surrenders on more than one occasion. Especially at the first instance when Astyages' whole army just defected without a battle.
Mostly because the guy leading it was the same guy who spared Cyrus and planned for him to become king the first place, not Astyages' best move there.
Well it's not anything remarkable if you know the full story.
A lot of Cyrus' accomplishments are actually those of Harpagus. Harpagus was Cyrus the Great's best General
In fact, it was Harpagus who planned everying for the Median rebellion...everything was his idea...so of course he was gonna "defect".
Astyages cut up and cooked Harpagus' only son and then made Harpagus eat his son at a banquet...as punishment😅. Harpagus remained polite and afterwards calmly collected his son's remains for burial.
After that Harpagus started planning his revenge and made arrangements to replace the cruel king...convincing other nobles to join him.
As soon as Harpagus had enough supporters, he sent Cyrus a message tellling him that if Cyrus took up arms against his grand father, Harpagus, the nobles and the Medians would switch to his side on the battlefield.
After Astyages marched to meet Cyrus in battle, the Medes mutineed and Astyages was handed over to Cyrus.
All Cyrus did was take the opportunity that was being handed to him on a silver platter...by Harpagus.
The Medians were obviously fed up with Astyages' cruelty. The Medians obviously had conditions they required of Cyrus.
Also, Cyrus saw what happened to Astyages. It can happen to him too. So he had no choice but to not be cruel. Harpagus was known for being very merciful.
Also, Cyrus' victory against Croesus was carried out on the advice of Harpagus. (using dromedaries to scare off the Lydian cavalry).
The Lydians rebelled soon after Cyrus conquered it. Cyrus was furious and wanted to slaughter everyone and burn Sardis to the ground, but was convinced to not do that...and instead win over the hearts of the Lydians.
So Cyrus sent his general Mazares. Mazares died, and Hapargus was sent to replace Mazares.
Hapargus innovated new siege techniques and was a prolific taker of fortified cities (Alexander would be inspired by Harpagus' siege craft). This was when Harpagus became known for being very merciful when taking cities as he successfully conquerered Asia Minor and the Levant.
Harpagus would later be made Satrap of Asia Minor. A satrapy was like a very autonomous sub-kingdom. Wether people thought the Persians were pleasant or cruel, usually depended on the Satrap that was ruling over them.
@@tylerdurden3722 Dude, Cyrus defeated the Medians in three battles
Battle of Hyrba, battle of the Persian border and battle/siege of Pasargadae hill
And Harpagus only conquered Ionian city states not all of asia minor
Cyrus gave him that mission so he himself could go and conquer Bactria personally
He defeated the Lydian king who tried to conquer his empire in the battle of Pteria, battle of Thymbra and siege of Sardis
Cyrus then conquered Bactria, a large part of central asia (and even reached Aral lake/sea), Babylonian empire (won the battle of Opis) and Gedrosia (most of modern day Pakistan)
And that's not true, Cyrus never wanted to burn Sardis or slaughter people
And the Lydians never revolted
Just by reading his cylinder you'll know what kind of man he was
Even Alexander admired Cyrus
Cyrus was one of his heroes
Hey there Blue! While watching Rick Steves' Europe on prime recently, I was thinking all about you and the "History Hijinks" videos you have posted over the three or four years I have been subbed to OSP. I was able to better identify different landmarks in Italy, particularly Florence and Venice, thanks to your videos. What you said about "Great Man History" definitely resonates well with feminist, ethnic studies, and post colonial readings of historical events, as well as historic/modern literature.
Saladin: like yeah I might well wanna drive the Christians from these lands
Saladin: but I'm not a COCKBLOCKER
Even Saladin knows you that don't mess with a bride's wedding day
7:13 So Saladin decided NOT to pull off The Red Wedding?! Kudos to him.
I was very curious who you were going to pick and now I'm so excited about who you picked that I think I'm going to save this video for when I need cheering
can you imagine how much of a cool dude you have to be to your enemies' historians write praises about you
This was surprisingly wholesome (I've always been a fan of Saladin's respect for others).
Saladin has always been one of my favorite rulers to research, there’s always one thing fascinating to find out about him
I enjoy the Achaemenid Empire and Cyrus in particular. I did a term paper on them in a History class that covered the countries and cultures connected by the Silk Road a couple of years back. It took more effort to keep my writing academic and professional and NOT spend the entire paper just indulging my sudden bout of fangirlism for ancient Persia brought on by the research I did. Before I was just mildly interested. Afterwards....I may have gotten a bit obsessed for a little while there.
People of Iran, I just want to say your ancestors were amazingly cool and I still have a serious case of hero worship for Cyrus. Love that guy.
Thanks for this. It was very informative.
Remember: if a politician ever evokes Julius Caesar or Napoleon or anyone like them, RUN.
(well in certain countries, such men would be probably necessary right about now) I would suggest Nietzsche quoting as well but name a politician that got their degree in philosophy or pyschology.
@@artofthepossible7329 Yeah, compared to what was before them, Caesar and Napoleon seem pretty preferable to me. And I need only look at Athens to see why 'the people' being in charge can be just as bad or worse than a single tyrant.
any politician quoting 1984 like it's a good thing
Caesar was trying to clean up the Roman Republic and Napoleon not only cleaned up the disaster that the French Revolution had become, he spread the good things about it all over Europe, why do you think they're bad men?
@Wesley Molt
Napoleon did spread some of the values of the French revolution around Europe. Unfortunately he also spread a lot of death, destruction and unpopular French rule. For example, he attempted to reinstall slavery in Haiti after a successful slave revolt for one thing. He also tried to install his brother as king of Spain. In both cases popular resistance against the French army resulted in them committing large-scale atrocities against the local population.
Both Napoleon and Caesar invaded other countries to advance themselves personally, causing huge losses of life essentially to advance their ego. It's worth noting that their contemporaries acted in similar ways tho, so it wasn't like this kind of behaviour was entirely out of the ordinary for their time.
"History can be hard" Ahh.. why did I pick this subject in school???
Because those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.
@@artofthepossible7329 oh yeahhhhhhhhhh
Been here since the Roman Republic video, watched every upload, loved all of them 💙💙💙
I would *love* this being a full series
Week 1 of asking for these collabs (I only do Red's cause I have no idea for whom to feature with Blue, feel free to leave suggestions ^^)
So, for Red :
- Terrible Writing Advice : Trope Talk on Crossovers
- Xiran Jay Zhao : Journey to The West ep.9
- The Mythology Guy : Miscellaneous Myths taking a deep dive on an olympian god (Athena, Artemis & Apollo or Ares would be fun)
+ Blue has already made a Trope Talk, have Red make a history video
EDIT : It would also be fun to see Cyan make a video about whatever subject she wants
I would love to see a crossover with Xiran Jay Zhao. They are my favorite person
Definitely agree on Xiran Jay Zhao.
No twa crossover obv needs to be abt love triangles
@@s_c_u_m3172 Ngl that's a great contender too XD
Honestly "The Ideal King" sounds like such a cool title
I would LOVE to see more videos about genuinely good people making the best out of the situations they take over.
This was fantastic! I'd read about him being referenced in a children's history novel (so thought it was just fiction), stoked to find out its real!
Looking forward to seeing more.
I hope napoleon's brother might get an honourable mention sometimes, he was the best when ruling over the Netherlands (attempting to learn the language is often the only thing most people know about him, his greeting the population saying " I am your rabbit"-the word for that (konijn) is close to the word for King (koning)-, but he did a lot welfare wise, and got so popular that there was outrage when this king (that wasn't originally wanted)got removed by Napoleon
I love that story. How Napoleon put him there to be his puppet king, and Louis basically went "I'm the king of the Dutch now? Okay, I will be the king of the Dutch. Don't mess with my people, Napoleon."
And now I need OSPlays: Crusader Kings just to see how awful would Blue become in his quest for conquest and survival.
Seeing how long it takes for Blue to get the entirety of Europe on fire would be amusing.
And to see how many *DOMES* he can create within an hour
Ya know I love listening to blue and red a lot. They could talk about nearly anything and I'd listen to it
They got that calming, but energized voice that makes you wish they hosted 2-hour-long history and trope lessons.
Never heard of these two before today, so thanks!
You left out that Saladin tried to outmaneuver Richard while he had the captives. Which caused Richard to kill the soldiers he captured. Saladin was forced to fall back and praised Richard on his foresight.
"On Allah that was a dick move but I would totally do the same and respect you for the decision."
@@saxtonhalegaming Indeed Saladin seemed to have man-crush on Richard one of the few people smarter than Saladin.
@@Mailed-Knight Its hard not to have a man crush on Richard
@@saxtonhalegaming except that he would never say something like that
@@mehmet20003 No shit, I literally used modern memes