The forgotten men of history.

Which person in history forgotten due to being overshadowed by someone else of the era or worked underneath the person who got all the credit. Monarch not included, the more obscure the better.
 
Constantine Laskaris, son of Theodore I Laskaris by Philippa, niece of Levon II of Armenia. After his parents divorced, he disappears from history until 1249 when John III Vatatzes appointed him Doux of Thracesia. After that, nothing. I'm surprised he never made a grab for the throne the way Theodore's brothers did.
 

FrozenMix

Banned
Publius Ventidius Bassus was a Roman General who basically kicked the Parthian's ass so hard in multiple battles that they did not make trouble on the Roman frontier again for quite sometime. He was overshadowed by Antony, who he was allied with, but this relatively unknown and unremarkable figure basically ensured the safety of Roman Syria for a long time and killed many notable Parthian leaders.

Antony proceeded to blunder about in his failed efforts but not catastrophically fail, however, Bassus likely would have won glory under Augustus had he simply been on the right side of things.
 
King Wu Ding of the Shang (1250 - 1192BC), almost without question the most capable leader of pre-Imperial China. Spent most of his 50-odd-year reign expanding the Shang in every direction, conquering an alleged 81 states and forced the proto-Zhou into the Wei River Valley.

Various Chinese weapons began to appear during his reign, most notably chariots and bronze weaponry. He also moved the Shang capital to Yin, which in archaeological terms is one of the key dig sites in China.

Not to mention that his reign also saw more women in legitimate (as opposed to behind-the-scenes or unrecognized) power at any time in Chinese history until the 20thC, with his consorts Jing, Hao and Gui holding significant religious, administrative and even military positions.

Chinese history, as it is currently taught, generally handwaves away the Shang period in favour of learning about the Zhou, who eventually conquered the Shang and were the progenitors of classical Chinese culture, which is why Wu Ding is not particularly known even amongst Chinese (me included, until I read a review of ancient Chinese warfare).
 

Dirk

Banned
Marius and Sulla are all too often greatly overshadowed by Caesar, and the success of Metellus Pius against Sertorius and Lucullus against Mithridates are forgotten when talking about Pompey.
 
Blas de Lezo, a Spanish admiral of the 18th century. He is best remembered for his stunning victory at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias. It was fought in 1741 between the British and the Spanish. It was a battle in which, iirc, 6 Spanish ships, and around 3k Spanish soldiers decisively defeated and nearly destroyed a British fleet of 50 ships, around 30k British soldiers, and a bunch of transport ships.
 
Can we do anyone or just pre-1900? At any rate:

pre-1900: William Seward, American Secretary of State 1861-1865. He helped make sure that Britain and France didn't get involved in the Civil War, managed to get Britain to seize two Confederate ships in British ports, recognized Juarez in Mexico and forced the French to withdraw, bought Alaska, and recommended a lawyer and raised money for President Johnson's legal defense.

or

Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great. After his death she fought against several of his generals, ultimately killing his half-brother and his wife. Her death was pretty much the end of Alexander's dynasty.
 
Can we do anyone or just pre-1900? At any rate:

pre-1900: William Seward, American Secretary of State 1861-1865. He helped make sure that Britain and France didn't get involved in the Civil War, managed to get Britain to seize two Confederate ships in British ports, recognized Juarez in Mexico and forced the French to withdraw, bought Alaska, and recommended a lawyer and raised money for President Johnson's legal defense.

or

Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great. After his death she fought against several of his generals, ultimately killing his half-brother and his wife. Her death was pretty much the end of Alexander's dynasty.

Anyone regardless of pre or post 1900
 
Anyone killed in a war or unjustly killed. How many men, women or children lost their full potential after being killed, massacred or mentally scared?
 
About thousands, I suspect.
images

in all history?
millions upon millions. maybe more than a billion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...c_disasters_by_death_toll#Other_deadly_events
Going by just this and it's using log. mean estimate, the deaths caused by the biggest and most famous wars and genocides, 510.585 million people were written off.

Look at the US, it took 88 years for the end of the Civil war, to seeing a southern politician elected president, this could be down to the stigma, but it also could be down to the fact that, the civil war saw the death of 750,000, of which 260,000 were confederate soldiers.
One of these Confederate men, if the war had been avoided could have been a president?
 
Yakov Sverdlov. One of the major Bolshevik revolutionaries, helped manage the Red Terror, the decision to kill the Tsar and his family, and the coup that brought the Bolsheviks into power. It has been remarked that Lenin came up with the theories, and Sverdlov put them into practice. He was considered a potential successor to Lenin.

or

Vladimir Triandafillov. He was a Russian general who helped Tuchachevsky develop the Deep Operations Doctrine, which was adapted for Operation Bagration during WWII.

In both cases early death is arguably the contributing factor to this. Sverdlov died in 1919 of either Spanish flu or assassination (the circumstances are unclear) and Triandafillov died in plane crash in 1931.
 
Publius Ventidius Bassus was a Roman General who basically kicked the Parthian's ass so hard in multiple battles that they did not make trouble on the Roman frontier again for quite sometime. He was overshadowed by Antony, who he was allied with, but this relatively unknown and unremarkable figure basically ensured the safety of Roman Syria for a long time and killed many notable Parthian leaders.

Antony proceeded to blunder about in his failed efforts but not catastrophically fail, however, Bassus likely would have won glory under Augustus had he simply been on the right side of things.
Ventidius was getting up in years by the time of his campaign against Parthia. The most likely scenario is he had his triumph and simply retired afterward.
 
My choices:

My favorite one is Eumenes of Cardia. Chief imperial secretary under ALexander The Great who had only recently commanded the household cavalry in a single small engagement. Became Perdiccas' chief commander, killed the experienced general Craterus, beat up on the others in the area, was nearly destroyed, cunningly escaped from Nora to raise an army in the east where he defeated Antigonus twice. On the second time he defeated him, Antigonus managed to capture the baggage train, and through a deal with the Silver Shields, got them to betray Eumenes and hand him over. Overall, he nearly single handedly held the empire together, being completely loyal to the Argead line.

Other honorable mentions:

Dirk already mentioned Metellus Pius, I would add Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who was fairly successful in Sicily (captured Syracuse) and against Hannibal at Nola, before succumbing to one of his ambushes. Overshadowed, obviously, by Scipio Africanus. On the same note, Claudius Nero, who was successful in Spain before Africanus came and then by a stroke of tactical genius, defeated Hasdrubal at Metaurus, is also often forgotten due to Scipio.

There's Titus Labienus, who was a damn good commander, and I'd say nearly as good as Caesar. He was Caesar's chief legate during the Gallic Wars, and fought against him in the civil war, nearly defeating him at Munda.

Sextus Pompey: younger son of Pompey The Great, managed to wage a guerilal war in Spain after Munda, then took control of Sicily and dominated the seas, saving any proscribed senator and strangling Octavian in Rome by cutting off the grain supply. Crushed him on two separate occasions, nearly killed him, and on the third try, he barely lost. Never had the forces to invade Italy, but still very nearly brought down Octavian. He's often overlooked when people talk about the liberatores and the second triumvirate.
 
Can we do anyone or just pre-1900? At any rate:

pre-1900: William Seward, American Secretary of State 1861-1865. He helped make sure that Britain and France didn't get involved in the Civil War, managed to get Britain to seize two Confederate ships in British ports/QUOTE]

Actually, you could give credit to most of these deeds not to Seward, but to Charles Francis Adams who was the United States' main envoy to Great Britain during the Civil War. As accomplished a diplomat as his Father, Charles F. Adams nevwr made it to the Presidency or served more than a single term in Congress and so is often overlooked. which is a shame; very interesting man.
 
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