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First Punic War
Hamilcar Barca
"My child... You are VENGEANCE!"
A Carthaginian general, who would later become the father of a certain someone...
- All for Nothing: By the end of the first Punic War, Hamilcar had earned an impressive reputation, and was never really stopped… but a combination of losses elsewhere meant that Carthage eventually lost the war anyway in the end.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: His reassurances to a young Hannibal that he's So Proud of You end up embarrassing Hannibal in front of the Iberians they're fighting.
- Ambiguously Bi: Despite having a wife and six children with her, Hamilcar may have been having a love affair with his son-in-law, but nothing concrete is known or proven.
- Decoy Protagonist: Hamilcar had desires for vengeance against Rome, so with his son Hannibal he began building a power base in Spain to raise money and train up the young Hannibal in commanding armies, with the design to find an excuse to attack and take vengeance on Rome. Unfortunately, Hamilcar drowned as a result of an ambush, leaving Hannibal to take up his cause.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He is unceremoniously speared by Iberians while crossing a river and lovingly bidding goodbye to Hannibal. Historians debate the exact cause of his death: whether he was killed by an Iberian ambush, drowned while crossing a river, or the former led to the latter.
- Exact Words: While explaining his plan to the Carthaginian government, namely his idea of conquering Spain and using the silver there to pay off the debt incurred from the first Punic War, one of the politician's questions if Hamilcar intends to use the conquest of Spain to launch a retaliatory invasion of Rome. Hamilcar's response is to (with gritted teeth and clear anger in his voice) say that he's simply going to "Pay them back", with said politician noting how unreassuring that response is.
- Good Parents: Yes, raising Hannibal to be a vengeance-driven monster was probably bad, but otherwise Hamilcar breaks the mold of Abusive Parents and is not afraid to shower praise and support on Hannibal when the time calls for it.
- General Ripper: Hamilcar's hatred for Rome was so great he essentially went rogue, using Carthaginian expeditions into Spain as an excuse to secretly build up an army to restart the Punic Wars and defeat his lifelong enemy in battle. He did not live to see that day, but groomed his son Hannibal in the same mindset.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: When Hamilcar tells Hano and Claudius that he simply wants to pay the Romans back, his eyes turn red.
- So Proud of You: Hamilcar is driven to tears upon seeing Hannibal embrace his desire for vengeance against Rome and tells his son he is very proud of him. Maybe a little too proud.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Hamilcar's overall role in the First and Second Punic Wars; he arrived on the scene too late to stop Carthage's defeat in the First, and died in Spain several years before the Second. However, his desire for vengeance against Rome would lead him to groom his son, Hannibal, into becoming the Scourge he never could, and Hannibal would rise up to become the greatest threat to Rome the early Republic would face.
Marcus Atilius Regulus
"I'll slaughter the men, enslave all the women and children, and when I return, you'll all build a thousand naked statues of me!"
Consul of Rome and leader of the Roman expedition to capture Carthage.- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Rape, Pillage, and Burn? That's perfectly normal tactics in the Roman era. But breaking a sworn promise, even if it's guaranteed to lead to his own death? Hades no.
- Everyone Has Standards: Regulus was perfectly okay with the killing, dismembering and enslavement of his foes — as well as the splitting pets in two — as was the standard of ancient times. But to renege on his promise to return to Carthage and be tortured to death after he instructed the Romans to refuse to surrender? That's too far.
- Honor Before Reason: Much like his Roman contemporaries he was obsessed with glory and honor in order to get naked statues of himself. When his expedition met its defeat and he had to surrender, the terms was that he should return and face torture unless the Romans surrender. Even while the Senate pointed out that he can just stay, he outright refused, and for this got posthumously lauded with a naked statue of his likeness, as a paragon of Roman virtue.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: While he never got the fame and statues he wanted for being a victorious consul, he still got remembered as a paragon of Roman virtues for his refusal to flee his execution, and got a Memorial Statue made in his honor.
Xanthippus
"And what's this I hear about you giving a speech telling everyone they're going to die?! […] You're a politician! Lie to the people!"
A Spartan mercenary hired by Carthage to fend off the Roman expedition in Africa.- Flipping the Table: Xanthippus does in frustration when he finds out the Carthaginian politician didn't think about lying to the people.
- Never Bareheaded: Xanthippe is constantly wearing his helmet in the video, obscuring his face.
- The Strategist: His expertise in strategy is pretty much the only reason the Carthaginians beat Regulus.
- Surrounded by Idiots: He's shocked by the cases of Carthaginian incompetence such as their deployment of Numidian cavalrymen on rough terrain, their placing of war elephants in the rear, and their politician not figuring out that he can lie to the people.
- Ungrateful Townsfolk: How did he get rewarded for whipping the Carthaginians into shape and defeating Regulus? He got chased out of town by jealous leaders.note
Steve
A Roman soldier known for his… assets.
- Comically Oversized Butt: Steve's most embarrassing and proudest attribute.
Second Punic War
Hannibal Barca
Hannibal Barca
"I am become vengeance!"
Son of the famous Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal was raised from a young age to take vengeance on Rome, and would become one of the most dangerous threats to the Republic during his lifetime.- The Ace: Hannibal was a skilled and charismatic general who was an expert both in leading his men and provoking the Romans into doing what he wanted on the battlefield. This led to several massive victories over multiple Roman armies, even at times when he was horribly outnumbered by his enemies.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Due to invading Italy with no supply train and having to ally with the fickle Celts, Hannibal had to keep attacking and defeating the Romans in order to keep his men fed and his allies pleased. Fortunately, the Blood Knight Romans were more than happy to keep feeding armies into the meat grinder in attempt to defeat Hannibal in a glorious victory, so the Carthaginian forces were able to keep their momentum.
- Ax-Crazy: Hannibal was an odd version of this, being a very calculating man who treated his men well and was generally (for the time, at least) merciful toward the people he conquered...while being driven by a violent, untethered hatred and bloodlust so enormous and all-encompassing, it drove him to literally drench Italy in Roman blood.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Crossing the Alps and later fording the Arno Marshes were both insane logistical nightmares that decimated the Carthaginian troops, but they allowed Hannibal to surprise the Romans and give them decisive defeats at Ticinus and Lake Trasimene as a result.
- Creepy Crossdresser: Played for Laughs in a gag discussing Rome's frustration with Hannibal; the Senator addressing the crowd rails at how Hannibal always seems to be one step ahead of them, culminating in him saying he's not even sure his wife isn't Hannibal in a dress. Cue Hannibal in a dress waving flirtatiously to the
squicked-out Senator. - David Versus Goliath: Not for the war, but for many battles. Hannibal led an often highly outnumbered army into enemy territory and achieved some of the most stunning military victories of all time. The Battle of Cannae especially qualifies, as he annihilates Rome's most powerful army almost to a man, dealing up to ten times the number of casualties with only half of the number of troops.
- The Dreaded: While Rome may have initially underestimated him horribly, he eventually became the most feared figure in Rome's history. Indeed, he may very well be one of the most prominent examples in human history. Even after his defeat, the Romans would use the phrase "Hannibal ad portas" or "Hannibal is at the gates" to describe a state of fear or any horrible calamity, a phrase that is still used to this day.
- Eye Scream: Hannibal got an eye infection from contaminated water while crossing the Arno Marshes. Rather than let that slow him down or entrust himself to doctors, Hannibal gouged it out himself and gains an Eyepatch of Power.
- A Father to His Men: Hannibal treated his men very well, encouraging them and suffering alongside them through whatever challenges they faced during his military campaigns.
- Knight of Cerebus: Downplayed. While some scenes with him still have some humor, it is mostly Black Comedy, and the Battle of Cannae he masterminded is shown completely seriously.
- A Minor Kidroduction: Introduced in Part 2 of the "First Punic War" video as a toddler, Hannibal would grow up to become the main focus of the Second Punic War videos.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: After finishing the siege of Saguntum, he committed a brutal massacre against the populace of the city.
- He also employed the strategy of extensive pillaging in Italy to ensure his army stayed supplied.
- Schmuck Bait: Hannibal uses several obvious traps during the Second Punic War. The Romans keep falling for them.
- Slasher Smile: He gives a Grinch-like smile when realising an attack on Saguntum could provoke a new war with Rome.
- The Strategist: Or at least tactician. He is unanimously considered one of the greatest military minds who ever lived. Many of his military feats, particularly at Cannae where he managed to encircle an army 2-4 times the size of his own, are considered nearly impossible achievements to this day.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Hannibal grew up to look incredibly similar to his father (his model uses the same face but with a darker beard and different armor), which is also acknowledged by the narrator.
- Take a Third Option: In order to march south, rather than to strike at Arretium or Ariminium where prepared Romans are waiting, he opts to ford the Arno Marshes to bypass the Roman armies.
- Tyke Bomb: Hannibal's father raised him from childhood as a weapon of vengeance against Rome.
- Underestimating Badassery: Hannibal was both on the receiving and giving end of this trope:
- The Romans assumed that Hannibal's exhausted and depleted army would be easy pickings as they rested in the foothills of the Italian Alps, only for Hannibal to obliterate several Roman armies with clever tactics and exploiting Rome's Blood Knight culture, culminating in the disastrous Battle of Cannae when Hannibal massacred a Roman Army that outnumbered him almost two to one. However...
- Hannibal assumed that after such a horrific loss at Cannae, Rome would swiftly capitulate and sign a peace treaty far more favorable to Carthage. Unfortunately, Rome would never choose surrender and began rebuilding its forces to fight Hannibal again.
Fabius Maximus
"I hold in the folds of my toga both peace and war. Which one should I let drop?"
A highly esteemed Senator of Rome who was appointed Dictator after Hannibal's invasion of Italy.- 0% Approval Rating: Fabius was hated during his tenure as Dictator, not because he was cruel or abused his power, but because the Romans perceived his Fabian Strategy as cowardly and wanted a glorious and honorable victory over Hannibal in a head-on battle.
- Boring, but Practical: Fabius' strategy of not engaging Hannibal head on in battle and slowly cutting off his resources is demonstrated to be very effective against the Carthage invaders who do not have any way to get support overseas. However, it goes against the Roman ideology of dominating their enemies head on and caused Fabius to become unpopular as a result.
- Call-Forward: Like in the Napoleonic Wars video, he proposes the tactic of running away from Hannibal's forces. Also like in the Napoleonic Wars, this is indeed the best way to defeat Hannibal, as facing his forces head-on is tantamount to suicide.
- Embarrassing Nickname: For his unpopular strategy, he was called "the Delayer" by the Romans, as an insult.
- Out-Gambitted: The Fabian strategy was very effective against Hannibal, but he still managed a way to deal with Fabius, namely discrediting him by leaving his farms deliberately undamaged, making it look as if he's got a secret deal with Hannibal.
- Surrounded by Idiots: His plan was working, but the Blood Knight nature of the Romans and their Glory Seeker mindset meant that he was despised by the political leadership and his orders were ignored by a decent chunk of his army, which crucially allowed Hannibal to escape sticky situations more than once.
- Victory by Endurance: His strategy to defeat Hannibal; knowing he couldn't risk taking Hannibal in a head-on battle, Fabius instead avoided battle and did his best to prevent Hannibal from getting supplies or glory, believing that his men would starve and his fickle Celtic allies would see him as weak and abandon him. His tactics were actually working, but a combination of Roman bloodthirstiness and some subterfuge from Hannibal discredited Fabius and left him deeply unpopular with the Senate and the public.
- Vindicated by History: In-Universe. During his lifetime, his strategy of gradually wearing down Hannibal was considered by the Romans to be cowardly, but the Fabian Strategy is nowadays considered to be viable by both historians and modern commanders.
- Worthy Opponent: He is one of the few Roman generals to approach Hannibal with extreme caution and innovative tactics, knowing just how dangerous the Carthaginian commander is.Fabius: Well, you gotta admit, he's a genius.
Scipio the Younger/Scipio Africanus
- Born Lucky: The man survived two battles against Hannibal (including the massacre at Cannae) and lived to tell the tale.
- Determinator: Scipio was the model of Rome's "never surrender" ideal, threatening to personally kill any survivors of Cannae that thought about giving up and capitulating to Carthage.
- Prematurely Bald: The video initially presents him with flowing blonde locks until the shock of seeing Scipio the Elder wounded at Ticinium causes the hair to pop from the younger Scipio's head.
Tiberius Sempronius Longus
A Roman Consul and the commander of the Roman army at the Battle of the Trebia.
- Bad Liar: He tries to obscure the terrifying losses the Romans sustained at the Trebia with some very unconvincing excuses.
- Glory Hound: He is looking forward to becoming the hero of the war by invading Carthage and is not happy when he is forced to take his army to Northern Italy instead, thinking he is losing on the glory. When arriving, he is still itching to achieve glory by at least defeating Hannibal.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He is noted to be particularly hot-headed. Hannibal exploits this at the Trebia, getting him to launch a disadvantageous attack after angering him through petty insults.
- Interservice Rivalry: He has bad blood with his fellow consul and commander Scipio, and as such, he ignores his advice and keeps switching the strategy every time he assumes the command of the Double Consular Army from him. The divide between the consuls plays perfectly into Hannibal's hands.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The impulsive Red to Scipio's calm Blue.
- Underestimating Badassery: Unlike his fellow consul Scipio, he does not regard Hannibal with any caution at all. Around 30 000 men pay for it with their lives at the Trebia.
Gaius Flaminius
A Roman Consul and the commander of the Roman army at the Battle of Lake Trasimene.
- Flipping the Bird: When it is mentioned that Flaminius hated the Roman establishment, he is portrayed as showing middle fingers to senators.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He is noted to be hot-headed, just like his predecessor Longus.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: By a Celtic soldier during the Battle of Lake Trasimene.
- Karmic Death: Oversimplified doesn't cover the precise details, but Flaminius' death at the hands of an enraged Gaul becomes astonishingly more appropriate when one considers that the historical Flaminius was the chief orchestrator of the brutal Roman conquest of Cisalpine Gaul and the native populations there, to the point of wearing a Gallic scalp into battle following the invasion.
- Nouveau Riche: Flaminius was not born into the nobility, but rose up from the lower classes to take his position within high society. Oversimplified notes this played a role in his Hot-Blooded tendencies and his disdain for the establishment, which may have resulted in him taking the bait that got him killed at Lake Trasimene.
Three Kingdoms
Yellow Turban Rebellion
Zhang Jue: You know whose fault it is that we're all out here starving? It's the emperor and his posse!
"THE AZURE SKY IS ALREADY DEAD; THE YELLOW SKY WILL SOON RISE!"
A massive peasant revolt led by "Daoist wizard" Zhang Jue that broke out in Ancient China, seeking to overthrow the corrupt and decadent Han Dynasty.— Yellow Turban Slogan
- La Résistance: They rebelled against the Han Dynasty, which had become grossly corrupt at that point and was doing absolutely nothing to address the peasantry's problems. They ended up losing the war.
- The Remnant: While the Yellow Turbans were mostly completely defeated by the warlords who the Han called in, small remnants continued to persist until the Han's collapse. Some were even around during the ensuing civil war, and were subjugated into Cao Cao's forces.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The Han-aligned independent warlords manage to eventually put the rebellion down early into the video, but the Yellow Turban Rebellion inadvertently caused said warlords to gain complete independence from the Han government and rule over their provinces all by themselves. This has massive ramifications that eventually lead to an absolutely huge Civil War breaking out.
Dong Zhuo
Dong Zhuo
"Screw you guys, I am in charge!"
A fat, feared, and tyrannical warlord of Ancient China.- Cavalry Betrayal: He does this to take over Imperial China when the peasants were rioting and the court was in disarray.
- Delayed Reaction: When Dong arrived at the capital city with his army, while there is a riot of peasants right after the imperial forces stormed the place and killed the eunuchs. It took him a few seconds for him to realize how he could exploit this to his advantage.Dong Zhuo: Hey guys, what's up? I see the capital is on fire. Also, I am here with my army and I have the Emperor with me.
(Sudden Realization)
Dong Zhuo: Waaaaaait a minute! The capital is on fire. I am here with my army and I have the Emperor! Screw you guys! I am in charge! - Evil Power Vacuum: His death at the hands of Lu Bu causes a chaotic Civil War, with many warlords fighting to be the one to fill said vacuum and take Dong's place.
- Fat Bastard: He was hated by every other warlord in Imperial China, so much that they formed a coalition against him. After he was killed, they left his body to burn in the streets. Some sources told that he was so fat and oily that he kept burning for days.
- Hated by All: He became this after he turned The Emperor into his Puppet King and ruled through him with an iron fist.
- In the Back: Lu Bu skewers in from behind with a spear.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Immediately after saying Lu Bu would never betray him, the latter literally stabs the former In the Back with a spear.
- Love Triangle: Legends say that both he and Lu Bu were promised the hand of a court official's daughter and that it was Zhuo taking her for himself that caused Lu Bu to betray him.
- Major Injury Underreaction: When Lu Bu puts a spear through his stomach during his betrayal, all Dong can muster is a mere Oh, Crap!.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction to Lu Bu putting a spear through his stomach, revealing that he's betrayed him?Dong Zhuo: Aw, crap.
- Too Dumb to Live: Legend has it that he tried to take a girl who had been promised Lu Bu's hand in marriage for himself, despite fully knowing that Lu Bu had a Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and would not hesitate to kill him. Lo and behold, Lu Bu ends up assassinating him for that.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: His rule through the child emperor is described as this.
- The Warlord: Was one of many during his time in Imperial China.
- Would Hurt a Child: Murdered the Shao Emperor after deposing him in favor of his brother, either to tie up a loose end or just because he felt like it.
Lu Bu
Lu Bu
"Dude, I'll fight for you."
"Who's next?"
One of the most skilled and feared warriors in all of Ancient China. He's also rather infamous for betraying nearly everyone he ever fought for, which would end up being Dong Zhuo's undoing and his own.- The Ace: He was one of the best warriors of his age and was said to have never lost a one-on-one duel.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Lu Bu was infamous for betraying nearly everyone he fought for, to the point it was considered to be his personal hobby. It bites him in the ass big time.
- The Dragon: He was this to Dong Zhuo.
- Et Tu, Brute?: He betrays Dong Zhuo, despite being his adopted son. He's also done this to everyone else he's worked for.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His habit of betraying people came back to bite him when he was defeated by Cao Cao, who rejected his offer to switch sides for being too untrustworthy and decides to executed him instead.Cao Cao's Advisor: No way! This guy has literally betrayed everyone he's ever worked for!
- Love Triangle: Legends say that both he and Dong Zhuo were promised the hand of a court official's daughter and that it was Zhuo taking her for himself that caused Lu Bu to betray him by literally stabbing him In the Back.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Some accounts claim that when a court official promised both him and Dong Zhuo the hand of his beautiful daughter Diaochan, the dispute over her got so heated that Bu eventually betrayed and murdered Zhuo.
- Phrase Catcher: "It's Lu Bu!"
Cao Cao
Cao Cao
"You did this."
"We've been hoodwinked!"
An amazing strategist and brilliant general who was a prominent figure in Ancient China.- Crusading Widower: He becomes this after his wife and children are murdered in Tao Qian's province.
- Enemy Mine: He and Liu Bei put aside their differences to defeat Lu Bu, who had betrayed and been a thorn in the sides of both. Unsurprisingly, the two resume their hostilities after Lu Bu is captured and executed.
- Idiot Ball: The usually smart Cao Cao is easily fooled by Huang Gai's Fake Defector letter, which leads to his defeat in the Battle Of Red Cliffs.
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction to Huang Gai's defection turning out to be a ruse, and that the ships supposedly carrying Gai's men are full of flammable reeds when they start catching fire?Cao Cao: We've been hoodwinked!
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Goes on an absolutely brutal campaign of destruction and killing in Tao Qian's province after his family is murdered while in said province. This forces the governor to call for help from the beloved Liu Bei.
- The Strategist: He is noted to be one of the most brilliant strategists of his era.
- This Is Unforgivable!: He sees the murder of his wife and kids as this.
Battle of Hastings
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
"Who is this guy?... ah, piss, it's the one who gave my brother the red-hot poker in the eyes."
Anglo-Saxon King of England and last king of the House of Wessex. He left no heirs after his death, causing a major Succession Crisis.- Celibate Hero: Although Godwin arranged Edward's marriage to his daughter, Edward never had any children by her, either for religious reasons or because he resented being married to her. The lack of any illegitimate children implies the former, though.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He wasn't happy about having to rely on Godwin to keep things running smoothly in England, not least because Godwin blinded his brother Alfred, which caused his death.
- Unexpected Successor: He became king after the last Viking king, his half-brother Harthacnut, died without an heir.
William of Normandy
William of Normandy
"Hooray! I'm gonna be king!"
Once the Duke of Normandy, he was the product of his father having an affair with a tanner's daughter — hence, he was initially known as William the Bastard. After beating out Harold Godwinson, he became king of England.- Berserk Button: Mocking his bastard heritage. The town of Aleçon did this by beating animal skinsnote , and when he took the town after a siege, he responded by — well, let's just say it wasn't pretty. Downplayed later, when William angrily calls Harold Godwinson a "bastard", to which one of his men replies that he thought William was the bastard. William is hurt.William: Dude... uncool.
- Had to Be Sharp: He spent his childhood narrowly avoiding assassination attempts, which is suggested to be what made him so tough.
- Never Learned to Read: At the end, the narrator notes that despite the major changes the Norman conquest had on the English language, William never learned to read or write, which turns out to be an excuse to segue into a Skillshare ad.
- Poor Communication Kills: The villagers of Westminster began cheering for William as he was crowned King. William mistook this for a riot and promptly burned the village down to the ground.
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson
"OK, so I've got bad news: the king is dead. Umm, I know, very sad. But good news! He said that I should be the next king! So hooray for me! Aaaand, um, oh, yeah, he said that if he once told anyone else they could be king, that he doesn't like them anymore and they should just stay in Normandy. And also he said that no-one should ask any further questions."
Son of the Duke of Essex, enemy-turned-ally to Edward the Confessor, and king of England for a short time after his death.- Bad Liar: Spins a bunch of nonsense shortly after King Edward's death, claiming the throne for himself over William.
- Eye Scream: Believed to have died from an arrow in the eye at the battle of Hastings.
- Home Field Advantage: Used this to get the high ground at the Battle of Hastings, keeping his army high above William's. It didn't work.
Harald Hardrada
Harald Hardrada
"I'm gonna invade England, and then I'm gonna be king!"
Viking King of Norway, and a contender to the English throne on the grounds that a previous Viking king had promised it to him.
- Old Master: Hardrada had a lifetime of battles all over Europe behind him by the time king Edward died.
- Private Military Contractors: Spent most of his life as a warrior-for-hire, fighting for the highest bidder.
War of the Bucket
Spaghetti Jeff
Spaghetti Jeff
"Are you gonna eat that?"
Spaghetti Jeff is a recurring background character with a pile of spaghetti on his head who always seems to find his way into interesting situations within history.- The Cameo: Jeff has shown up Once per Episode in every video released since "War of the Bucket".
The Pope
The Pope
"You can't depose me, you're deposed!"
Leader of the Catholic Church, and a major figure throughout western history.- Early-Bird Cameo: He first appears in the Falkland Wars, drawing a line on the map and pointing out territory for Portugal and Spain, claiming the Falkland Island is in the latter's territory.
- Legacy Character: Several different popes are seen in several different videos, but since their roles in the stories are limited to their relatively brief interactions with other people, the creator hasn't even bothered to make more than one character model. So far, it hasn't mattered much who the Pope was in terms of their personalities or ambitions.
- Running Gag: Twice he's approached by two powerful men (Duke William of Normandy and King Henry VII), and twice he's seen counting money.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His screentime in the Falkland Wars is minimal at best, yet he points out the titular island to the Spanish, which instigates the wars.
Henry VIII
King Henry VIII
Henry VIII
I'm the king, dumb dumb. I can do whatever I want.
The king of England (1509–1547).- Adipose Rex: In his later years, he became fatter and crueler due to his poor diet and lack of exercise, especially when he suffered a leg injury that never fully healed.
- The Bluebeard: Among his victims are two of his wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.
- Broken Pedestal: He used to support the Pope and the Catholic Church, even fighting France in the Church's name and defending them from the teaching of the Protestant Reformation. However, when the Pope denied the annulment of his wedding with Catherine of Aragon, he splits away from the Pope and formed the Church of England.
- The Caligula: A little understated, as he was still capable of rulership, but between the corruption of power, his desperation for a male heir, and most detrimentally a severe head injury, Henry had gone a bit insane by the end of his life, with a huge pile of severed heads to show for it.
- Heir Club for Men: He wanted a son that would continue the Tudor bloodline. The reason he wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon was because she was only able to produce Mary Tudor (also known as the Bloody Mary), and fall out of love with (and executed) Anne Boleyn because she only had Elizabeth I. He was able to have a son, Edward VI, from Jane Seymour, but Jane died giving birth and Edward died five years after succeeding him.
- I Was Quite a Looker: When he first became king of England, Henry was a very athletic and handsome man, with contemporary writing complimenting his legs. It was later in his life that he became the iconic image of the Adipose Rex, due to his poor diet and lack of exercise.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: On his deathbed, he laments the fact that his wife-killings will overshadow literally every other aspect of his reign.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: The video presented him as a king with a bright and promising future, but his actions to ensure the continuation of his bloodline slowly drove him into tyranny and paranoia.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Cardinal Wolsey convinced Henry that, as king, he has the power to do whatever he wants. Historians believe that everything that went wrong in his reign was the result of absolute corruption.Henry VIII: I'm the king, dumb dumb. I can do whatever I want.
Nobleman: WhAaAaAat?! - "Shaggy Dog" Story: As Oversimplified points out, Henry VIII failed to accomplish all of the goals he tried to achieve. He never conquered France, due to multiple setbacks and bankruptcy, and his one chance of claiming the French throne was denied by Charles V. Although he had a male heir named Edward VI, he died a few years in his reign with Henry's daughters, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I, succeeded him, who would make a significant impact in English history. After Elizabeth's death, the Tudor bloodline dies out and the English throne was passed to the House of Stuart. The one goal he actually accomplished is becoming famous in history, which you can argue succeeded.
- Wound That Will Not Heal: After his jousting accident, his injured leg developed an ulcer that would leak pus and stink like hell.
- You Have Failed Me:
- After several unsuccessful attempts of producing a male heir and England's alliance with Spain going awry due to Catherine's nephew, Charles V, being unhelpful and uncooperative, Henry decided that Catherine of Aragon is no longer necessary and attempted to annul their marriage so that he can marry Anne Boleyn.
- When Thomas Cromwell invited Anne of Cleves to England as Henry's new wife, Henry was so displeased by her "appearance" that he accused Cromwell of treason and ordered his execution.
Charles V
Charles V
"Mummy says it's a strong chin for a strong boy!"
The Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Spain from the House of Habsburg. He is Henry VIII's nephew-in-law through his marriage with Catherine of Aragon.
- Historical Ugliness Update: Downplayed. His appearance in Oversimplified is almost identical to this portrait
, but the size of the chin is exaggerated. - Hypocritical Humor: After denying Henry the French throne after capturing Francis I, he calls off his betrothal with Mary Tudor and insults her appearance. Henry, flabbergasted, calls him out by referring to his infamous Habsburg chin, which prompts Charles to defend his chin (which is the caption quote).
- Karma Houdini: He never receives any comeuppance for breaking his promises to Henry VIII, leaving his aunt Catherine to take the blame for him not keeping his word.
- Royally Screwed Up: He belonged to the Habsburgs, who were so inbred that they developed physical defects, such as the infamous Habsburg chin that protrude more than the average human skull.
American Revolution
George Washington
George Washington
"My friends, I am humbled and honored that you would consider me for such an important role."
"Ah, don't worry. It's not like this will start a seven-year long major global conflict."
The Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, who later becomes the first ever President of the United States.- But Now I Must Go: Subverted. Washington retired to his home in Virginia after the war, where he hoped to live the rest of his life in peace. It was everyone's insistence that he be the country's first leader that convinced him to accept the role.
- Cincinnatus: Voluntarily gave up his power after two terms, though the fact that he never wanted the office in the first place also helped.
- Founder of the Kingdom: Became the first President of the United States (though he was more or less forced into it), and he ended up establishing many of the standards and limitations of what American leaders should be.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Upon being assigned to be the main general of the American army, Washington starts giving a speech to play up his humility. The other founding fathers call him out on it, pointing out he's been wearing a general's jacket to every meeting they've had so far, and obviously wanted the job.
- Reluctant Ruler: Washington wanted to retire to his home in Mount Vernon so that he could live the rest of his days in peace. Unfortunately for him, everyone wanted Washington to be the young nation's first leader and the very first election campaign in American history was basically just a grassroots effort to convince Washington to accept the presidential office. This was actually a factor in him giving up his power after two terms and setting the two-term tradition for American presidents.
- Tempting Fate: Reassured the Native American who killed the French Commander that it wasn't a big deal, and that it's not like it will start a seven-year long major global conflict. Cue the Seven Years' War, which the British ultimately won but led to them imposing harsher taxes on the Thirteen colonies.
King George III
King George III
"Man, look at me. I look fabulous."
"Alright, this is ridiculous. They're my colonies and I have to be able to assert my control."
The King of Great Britain during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution.- The Illegible: Played for Laughs, his terrible handwriting leads to a threatening message to the colonies (“I’m gonna kick your ass”) being misread. (“I’m gonna lick your...”)
- Narcissist: When an assistant points out that the situation in the American colonies is getting out of control, George is too busy fawning over his own portraits to take him seriously.
- Surrounded by Idiots: He has this attitude towards the British Army after they start suffering rather embarassing defeats to the Americans. It's especially noticeable when talking with William Howe, who's decision to go for personal glory at Philadelphia cost Britain the Battle of Saratoga, after which George immediately fires him.
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold
"I'm in charge!"
"Ouch."
A general in the Continental Army who, despite being responsible for a number of their victories, was constantly overlooked and completely ignored by his superiors. He ends up defecting to the British.- Et Tu, Brute?: George Washington was completely shocked by his betrayal.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After his contributions to the American war effort were overlooked and ignored too many times, he turned to work for the British.
- Single Tear: Sheds one each time his superiors don't acknowledge his input in the Continental Army's victories, not helped by others taking all the credit for his exploits.
French Revolution
Louis XVI
Louis XVI
"Clearly, Governor de Launay has taken on the form of a bodyless, pike-head deity and the people are so enamored with him, they're parading him around the city. No need to worry AT ALL!"
The sixteenth French king called Louis, and the last one as a matter of fact.- Adipose Rex: A lot of jokes are made about his weight. He is known as a fat ill-bred boy, a revolutionary makes demands that he lose some weight, and Jean-Baptiste Drouet even calls him "the fat one" when he's initially fooled that he's not the king.
- Butt-Monkey: Inherited a poverty-stricken nation, aided a revolution that didn't pay back, had his role in society defied and collapsed. Many scenes are dedicated to his failings.
- Did Not Think This Through: Locked the Third Estate out of their National Assembly building while rubbing it in their faces that they wouldn't be able to meet together, only for the Third Estate to say that they'll find a different building that isn't locked. Cue the Oh, Crap! moment from Louis.
- Floating Advice Reminder: As soon he gets on bed to consummate his marriage to Marie Antoniette, he re-hears the voices of the guests at his wedding and his demeaning grandfather talking about him and the future of France. He freaks out, which makes Marie unsettled.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: He invested a lot of the nation's treasury to support the Thirteen colonies' fight for independence, mainly so he can get back at the British. The Americans refused to pay back the debt after they won their independence, leaving France in a severe financial deficit.
- Oh, Crap!: Louis utters this thrice; when told he has become King while the country is in financial crisis and the country doesn't really want monarchs, when George Washington walks away without paying him for assistance in the American Revolution, and then when his plan to keep the peasantry from meeting fails.
- The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: From a young age, he had a lot of pressure placed on his shoulders that he just wasn't ready to handle, since he was easily swayed and didn't have the strongest will.
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
"To the guillotine!"
French radical revolutionary, well known for cutting the head of his problems... literally.- The Caligula: Over the course of the revolution, Robespierre slides from revolutionary to dictator, and from dictator to arguably insane messianic figure, all while personally ordering literally thousands of deaths for no logically comprehensible reason.
- Death by Irony: He gets his head chopped off in the guillotine at the end of his reign of terror, with said Reign of Terror involving chopping a lot of French people's heads off in the guillotine.
- Drunk with Power: As Oversimplified put it; when he achieved ultimate power in France Robespierre seemed to go "a bit mental."
- A God Am I: Upon taking complete power of his nation, at the height of his Motive Decay he definitely gives off vibes of this.
- Off with His Head!: He was the leader of the radical faction of the French Revolution, and under his administration of the Committee of Public Safety, known as the Reign of Terror, thousands of supposed counterrevolutionaries were sent to the guillotine for "crimes against the Revolution". Ironically, he would meet the same fate when the National Convention voted to execute him via the guillotine when he refused to give out names, fearing he would purge the Convention.
- Too Dumb to Live: Somehow thought that announcing the imminent executions of many of his own council members to their faces would be a good idea. (It wasn't.)
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
"Oh yeah... kill them all."
"The solution is simple: EXECUTE THEM! Kill every last one of them! Cut off a thousand heads, and if that isn't enough, CUT OFF A THOUSAND MORE!"
Influential French journalist during the revolution known for his incredibly violent ideas for the revolution.- Ax-Crazy: The video depicts Marat as, to put it generously, an incredibly paranoid and insanely bloodthirsty lunatic obsessed with executing everyone he saw as a threat to the revolution.
- Deadly Bath: The circumstances of his assassination at the hands of Corday. Granted, he basically lived in the bath anyway due to his medical condition, so naturally it was where he would be when he died.
- Inspirational Martyr: Invoked by the revolutionaries after his death. The image of him in the bathtub even replaces images of Christ on the cross in churches.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: His writings consistently called for the execution of the king, nobility, clergy, and any others who did not support the revolution as he wanted it.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Really wanted the first two estates to suffer for their perceived crimes against the revolution, and his writings helped do that.
- Twitchy Eye: A clear indicator of how bloodthirsty he is coming from how frequently his eye twitches while he writes.
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
The wife of Louis XVI and the last queen of France before the French Revolution.- Improbable Hairstyle: At one point in Part 1, she has her hair styled into an elaborate ship. Just before her execution, her hair was styled into an AT-AT.
Napoleonic Wars
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoléon Bonaparte
"Hey! I'm average height for the time! You jerk!"
The emperor of France following the Revolution, who waged war on the rest of the European continent for over a decade.- Abdicate the Throne: Napoleon is forced to abdicate twice, first after the Battle of Leipzig, then again after the Battle of Waterloo.
- The Ace: Statistically speaking, he is arguably the greatest military leader the world has ever seen and was an equally brilliant statesman. His impact in both fields is still felt widely to this day, and the video notes he was probably the last world leader to manage to do both of these simultaneously.
- Achilles' Heel:
- He's a genius commander whose enemies best tactic amounts to 'run away and don't fight him'. But he's still only one person, and cannot be everywhere at once. Once his enemies figure this out, they simply outmaneuver and cut his army while avoiding direct fights with him, at least until their coalition army is ready to take him on.
- His corps system allows rapid movement thanks to the army living off the land. Solution: scorched earth tactic.
- Ambiguously Bi: While he's undoubtedly attracted to women like the actual Napoleon was, his friendship with Alexander I has some rather homoerotic vibes, and he kisses an employee of his named Pierre on the mouth after Pierre comes up with an idea that will help him return to France from Elba.
- Anti-Hero/Anti-Villain: Napoleon is, obviously, the main character of both Napoleonic Wars episodes, and the show paints him as an incredibly complex man whose mark on history was almost impossible to paint entirely as good or bad. On the one hand, he was an unapologetic egomaniac who turned France into his personal dictatorship and shamelessly pursued his own self-betterment, chasing after increasingly grandiose stations. On the other, he was an entirely self-made man, a brilliant general and statesman, beloved by his troops for his diligence and willingness to put himself on the frontlines, and remarkably egalitarian and unprejudiced for his day, traits that were reflected in how much the French people loved him for most of his rule.
- Art Evolution: His first appearance in The Falklands – Mini War #1 is a generic palette swap of Oversimplified's avatar in French military uniform. His second appearance in The French Revolution – OverSimplified (Part 2) video has Napoleon's model much more detailed.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: His tactics relied on extreme aggression to catch enemy forces off guard and isolated. Deconstructed on a large scale as his aggressive policies meant that he had few allies to fall back on when things started to collapse around him.
- Berserk Button:
- Insulting his height gets him salty. He's average height for the time, you jerk!
- He himself became one for the other monarchs of Europe, who, by the time of his return to Paris after being exiled the first time, declared war on him personally.
- Broken Base: Discussed in-universe. Whether he was a bloodthirsty conqueror or a man defending his nation, a man who believed in the overall ideals of the Revolution, or a traitor to those ideals for declaring himself emperor is still widely debated to this day.
- Bungled Suicide: Attempted to kill himself with poison when he realized he would be exiled for the first time, but the poison was out of date and merely gave him a stomachache.
- Comedic Spanking: Everytime he defeats Austria in a war, he punishes Francis II severely.
- Divide and Conquer: He was a master of splitting opposing forces in two and taking them out one at a time.
- Do Not Go Gentle: In both of his final defeats, even when it was clear it was over, he still made his enemies work hard for their victory. In his Six Days Campaign, he took on Pulcher's numerically superior army of experienced veterans with his own army of barely trained conscripts and still managed to defeat him four separate times, inflicting around ten times more casualties.
- The Dreaded: Widely feared by the rest of the nations in Europe who formed large coalitions in an attempt to dethrone him. By the end, almost all of their strategies involved avoiding fighting him head-on.Essentially the plan was: DON'T TRY TO FIGHT NAPOLEON!
- The Exile: Became this twice. He managed to return from his first one, and the British made sure he would never return from his second.
- Fatal Flaw: His limitless ambition and pride get the better of him multiple times and eventually result in him losing everything.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: In contrast to most great conquerors throughout history, Napoleon came from relatively humble origins to become the most powerful man on Earth for a time.
- A God Am I: After being crowned emperor, he asks what rank is higher. When told it's God and is asked if he'd like to be one, he bluntly replies yes.
- Internal Reformist: Napoleon took the approach of cautious reform, scaling back the more extreme elements of the French Revolution in favor of more Boring, but Practical actions, such as codifying civil law, creating a new national bank, and fixing bad infrastructure.
- Lightning Bruiser: Part of what made him so successful was his unprecedented ability to move his armies swiftly and hit his enemies with overwhelming force before they even realized what was happening. Hilariously, his enemies decide that the best way to fight him is not fighting him and running away.
- The Napoleon: The Trope Namer...although he insists he is average height for the time.
- Speed Sex: Shortly after he found out Josephine was having an affair with Hippolyte while he was at war with Austria, he then proceeded to have an affair of his own... which didn't last very long."Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be in this room consulting with my generals for the next 30 minutes. And by consulting, I mean BOINKING. And by my generals, I mean THIS WOMAN. And by 30 minutes... I mean 2 seconds." (TRUE STORY)
- The Strategist: He is considered one of the greatest military minds of his time, and his military tactics and logistics essentially changed the face of warfare, with his many, many victories still being widely studied to this day.
- Tailor-Made Prison: His second exile is a prison comparable to Tai Lung's. It's one of the most remote island in the middle of nowhere, his letters and visitors are screened, and for good measure, 2,000 British soldiers* plus 2 warships stand guard to make sure he never leaves.
- Took a Level in Badass: Inverted. Napoleon started out as an incredibly strong general, but gradually his military prowess weakened (although it didn't entirely vanish) as his resources dwindled, his strategic competence declined, he blundered into several conflicts, and his enemies managed to get around his tactics. The fact that the European powers still struggled as much as they did to defeat him, even after this decay and leading conscripts while heavily outnumbered, indicates how far ahead of the curve he was of virtually everyone else when he was in his prime.
Francis II
Francis II
"Ooooh. I'm so scared I just pooed my pants. Hey, everyone! I just pooed my pants! Everyone laughs except Napoleon No, but, I did just poo my pants."
The last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the first Emperor of Austria.- Bring My Brown Pants: The sight of Napoleon is enough to get the Emperor to soil himself. More than once.
- Humiliation Conga: The Napoleonic Wars are one disaster after another for Austria in particular, with Francis getting punnished severely a number of times by Napoleon and being progressively forced to cede more and more territory, dissolve the Holy Roman Empire, become French vassal and give Napoleon his daughter as a wife.
Frederick William III
Frederick Wilhelm III
"Hey, you jerk! Think you're some kind of a big shot?? Huh?? Wanna tango with Fred?? You don't got the cajones."
The King of Prussia between 1797-1840.- Henpecked Husband: Frederick joins the War of the Fourth Coalition after his wife orders him to do so.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Frederick ruins the Fourth Coalition's plans by challenging Napoleon all by himself.
Alexander I
Alexander I
"But he told me he was just a little baby boy."
The Tsar of Russia between 1801-1825.- Oh, Crap!: Alexander's reaction when he notices Frederick Wilhelm III splitting off from the coalition forces and challenging Napoleon by himself.Alexander I: We're screwed.
- Victory by Endurance: The Tsar's strategy for combatting Napoleon invading Russia was to lure him deep into Russian territory (even at the cost of scorching his lands, burning down Moscow and allowing it to fall in Napoleon's hands), ignore his demands for surrender and wait until winter to chase the severely undersupplied Grande Armée out of his country.
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII
"Well, I'm off to Belgium. If you ever need a king again, be sure to let me know!"
The King of France following both Napoleon's depositions as the Emperor.- 0% Approval Rating: While he is fairly accepted by the people when becoming the King of France, his style of rule being no different from the rule of the unpopular pre-revolutionary Bourbons quickly causes the French populace to detest him. It is in fact his massive unpopularity which helps Napoleon take over so easily for the second time.
- Adipose Rex: Louis XVIII is depicted as a fat man who likes to gorge on food, and he is the King of France.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He flees to Belgium when the army defects to Napoleon's side.
Pig War
James Buchanan
James Buchanan
“What?! Breckenridge, am I the president?"
The American President (1857-1861)- Head-in-the-Sand Management: His response to the British grilling him about the Pig War is to cower behind the curtains.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction when the British diplomats arrive. He even says it out loud.
William S. Harney
William Selby Harney
"But if there's one thing almost everyone can agree on, it's that I'm an idiot!"
American general in charge of the department of Oregon. Historians debate on his motives, but there's one thing that's agreed upon: he was a massive idiot.- Alternative Character Interpretation: The episode takes some time to discuss the question of whether he was just caught up in the heat of the moment or actively trying to manipulate the situation, and a number of possible motives he might have had (expanding American territory, acquiring personal glory he could use to become President, or even providing a diversion that would let the South secede) if it was the latter. With that being said, the episode also makes it clear that whether he had underlying motives or not, historians are generally agreed that "idiot" is nevertheless pretty much on the ball.
- Commander Contrarian: Harney already had a reputation for his refusal to follow orders, and he immediately orders Pickett back onto San Juan, not 5 seconds after Scott told him not to do it.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being a glory-chasing buffoon who almost started a pointless war, Harney still chose to stay loyal to the Union during the Civil War, even though he was offered command by the Confederates. Possibly subverted considering he was removed from his position for suspected Confederate sympathies.
- General Failure: He had this reputation even before the Pig War, having charged into Mexico without orders, and having earned four court-martials. Trying to start a war over a pig getting shot on a small but disputed island didn't help his reputation.
- General Ripper: He's a belligerent a-hole who feels the need to pick a fight with another empire over an extremely minor territorial dispute out of a combination of stupidity and arrogance.
- Glory Hound: Possibly. Some historians believed he tried to start a war with Britain so that his exploits would build himself a good reputation to launch a presidential campaign off of.
- Hate Sink: The entire Pig War episode is a long saga of increasingly unhinged people escalating a completely meaningless conflict, but Harney stands out as the most genuinely unlikable person on either side of the crisis, a brutal Southern slaveowner with a gargantuan ego and all the connections he needs to keep his job in spite of his truly appalling recklessness and ineptitude.
- Insufferable Imbecile: Everyone agrees Harney was a moron who caused needless conflict and pain for his own stupid reasons.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Scott finally beats the shit out of Harney after he pushes his luck one too many times and tries to put Pickett back on San Juan after Scott told him not to.
- Military Maverick: Subverted. He's a high-ranking officer with a bad habit of acting on his own initiative even when it contradicts his orders, but his rise through the ranks had more to do with political connections in Washington than any success he achieved.
- Opportunistic Bastard: One interpretation of his actions is that he saw the Pig War as a chance to promote himself on the national stage.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Harney wasn't quite as bad as the ultimately disloyal Pickett and the great majority of his Southern contemporaries, but this still very solidly applied to him.note In terms of the Pig War, this is very nicely demonstrated by his nationalist saber-rattling and violent xenophobia toward the British.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: After he refused to accept the negotiations Scott had made with Britain and sent Pickett back onto the island, Scott, done with Harney's shit, stripped him of his command and sent him as far away from San Juan as possible.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Incompetent blunders aside, Harney's still a ranked American general who asks Pickett to bring flowers to their discussion on how to start the war because, in his own words, "they're pretty and I like them."
- Screams Like a Little Girl: He lets out a high-pitched shriek of terror when a furious Winfield Scott barges in, having heard him try to disobey orders seconds after being given them and ready to dish out some punishment.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Being close with former presidents like Andrew Jackson and James Polk was pretty much how he avoided any serious repercussions for most of his career, much to Winfield Scott's chagrin.
- Undying Loyalty: For all his faults, he remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, despite being from the South. He was still removed from command at St. Louis due to doubts about his loyaltynote . This contrasts Pickett, who would join the Confederacy, and later was one of the leaders of Pickett's Charge.
American Civil War
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
"In your hands and not in mine is the momentous issue of civil war. You can have no conflict without being yourself the aggressor."
The 16th President of the United States, and the leader of the Union.- Beware the Nice Ones: Abe may seem like a friendly grandpa on the surface. But deep down, he can also be incredibly shrewd.
- Boom, Headshot!: How he dies, courtesy of John Wilkes Booth, at the back of his head.
- Cool Old Guy: He loved a long-winded story and a good pun, and was also an astute lawyer.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Just like in real life, he gets shot in the back of the head by Booth after leading the United States through a turbulent civil war.
- Deadpan Snarker: He often had some biting wit.
- The Determinator: One of the traits that made him a great leader. Despite being a sensitive man and being affected by the death of his son, he never gave up.
- The Hero Dies: Gets assassinated by John Wilkes Booth days after Robert E. Lee surrenders, just like in real life.
- Tempting Fate: On the day of his assassination, he was visibly cheerful and told his wife that it was now time to be happy.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His beloved son Willy died when he was still in office.
- Pungeon Master: Noted to be a good-humored man who loved him some wordplay. Upon giving Grant control of the armies in the east, he proceeds to fire off a Hurricane of Puns using Grant's surname, much to the general's irritation.
- Signature Headgear: His top hat.
- Surrounded by Idiots: The incompetency of his Army Generals is among the reasons the Union lost several battles in the early stages of the war.
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
"So you're telling me, you guys nearly started a war with the strongest naval power in the world over a shooting of A PIG?"
"I hate you! I've always hated you!"
The highest-ranking Union general at the start of the American Civil War, whose advanced age, poor health, and old-fashioned military mindset lead to his being replaced with McClellan. He played a bigger role during the Pig War, where he was the Only Sane Man on the American side and was brought in by President Buchanan to sort the whole thing out.- Ascended Extra: Scott has a much larger role in the "Pig War" video, being the Only Sane Man on the American side and a major player in negotiating a settlement.
- Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: He pulls out his belt to whack Harney with it.
- Formerly Fit: Scott was once a physically able American military officer, but by the 1850s he was prohibitively old, riddled with gout, and too fat to mount a horse or board a ship without aid.
- Old Soldier: Scott was one of the longest-serving American generals in history. Unfortunately, his skills and mindset did not necessarily mesh well with the advance of time.
- Only Sane Man: In the Pig War episode. Scott is practically the only American official who isn't either a nervous wreck (President Buchanan) or a trigger-happy lunatic (Harney, Pickett, the tax collector, the sheriff...)
- Perpetual Frowner: His avatar's neutral expression is a dour frown. Given the kind of situation he tends to find himself in, it's easy to see why.
- Rage Breaking Point: A spectacular one in the Pig War. After negotiating with the British to jointly occupy the San Juan Islands, he firmly orders General Harney, who has had a history of bucking Scott's orders, to not put Captain Pickett on the island again. Harney agrees to this...for all of five seconds when he orders Pickett back onto the island when he thinks Scott is out of earshot. Scott is unamused.Winfield Scott: Alright you psychopath, I've been waiting YEARS for this! (Proceeds to beat the crap out of Harney with his belt) I hate you! I've always hated you!
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's definitely a crank, but his main goal is preventing a stupid war and he gives the Royal Navy credit for its role in defusing the volitile situation.
- Stout Strength: Scott was enormously fat by the end of his career, but he still mows over Pickett and absolutely destroys the much younger, fitter Harney when he finally gets his hands on the lunatic.
- Surrounded by Idiots: He considers everyone else involved in the Pig War to be imbeciles (except the Royal Navy officers who tried to defuse the situation), and with good reason.
George B. McClellan
George B. McClellan
"I didn't lose, I merely failed to win."
Young, cautious, and cowardly Union general, known for his not stellar ability to command the Army of the Potomac.- Crippling Overspecialization: George trained the Army of the Potomac to fully functional military force, and was able to rebuild it after the disaster of the Second Battle of Bull Run. George wasn't the best at guiding that force, but surely good at organizing it.
- Distinction Without a Difference: "I didn't lose. I merely failed to win!"
- Dirty Coward: Downplayed. He is scared to encounter Confederate Forces, as he fears that he doesn't have enough soldiers.
- Face–Heel Turn: He ran as the Democratic Party's nominee against Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election. He then promptly got annihilated.
- A Father to His Men: His cautiousness was due to him trying to avoid the losses of his beloved Army of the Potomac. This caused him to lose opportunities to win decisively against the Confederacy and possibly shorten the war.
- Jerkass: His deep concern for the lives and wellbeing of his soldiers aside, this man was an arrogant, bumbling, ungracious humbug. Like many of Lincoln's military command, McClellan had no respect or deference to his commander-in-chief on any level at all, on one occasion flat-out snubbing Lincoln and going to bed when the President visited McClellan's home. Now that's what I call disrespectful.
- Little "No": McClellan's usual response when Lincoln asks him to do anything he thinks is too daring.
- Miles Gloriosus: McClellan's gargantuan ego exists in a directly inverse relationship to his nearly nonexistent strategic talents.
- Non-Standard Character Design: He is depicted as a stick figure with his head being a photograph of the man, instead of a base model with the head stylized by OverSimplified.
- Sore Loser: He... doesn't take losing the election well, despite Lincoln consoling him.
- Young and in Charge: George is quite young in comparison to the Union General Staff, and was appointed by Lincoln in the hope to get things moving. He didn't.
Ambrose Burnside
Ambrose Burnside
"His qualifications are his name is Burnside, and his freaking dope-ass sideburns."
Union general who is known for two things, his mustache and the disaster at Fredericksburg.- From Bad to Worse: Burnside was the substitute of McClellan after he was kicked by Lincoln for not being aggressive enough. The first encounter of Burnside's forces with the Confederates was the Battle of Fredericksburg, where the entrenched Confederates were able to stop the Union dead in its tracks and inflict horrifying casualties.
- Reluctant Ruler: Burnside didn't want the job because he knew himself that he wasn't a good general, and took it because Lincoln asked him three times. Tragically, Burnside's estimation of himself turned out to be the right one; though he was known as a good man and an acceptable small-scale commander, his promotion past the rank of colonel proved to be a catastrophe.
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
"Why Stonewall Jackson get a cool nickname and I don't? I want a cool nickname."
Skilled and daring commander with a passion for whiskey. Well known for both his campaigns on the Mississippi and in the East.- The Alcoholic: Grant was a big fan of whiskey.
- Atrocious Alias: After responding to a Union soldier that he will not accept nothing but unconditional surrender from the Confederates, he wants to be called "Unconditional Surrender Grant", because he wants a cool nickname like Stonewall Jackson. The looks and groans of the other officers say everything.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Him and William T. Sherman, as they worked together in the Battle for Vicksburg.
- Beard of Sorrow: He's a hardheaded, solemn alcoholic who is discussed as frequently grieving for his lost soldiers, qualifying him more for this trope than Lee and his beard.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Grant was quite a boozer, but he was nonetheless one of the most effective Generals of the Union during the war, if not the best.
- The Butcher: Grant was called this by the Union population, due to his recklessness and disregard for his own casualties. In reality, Grant was very sensitive to the large casualties he took, but understood the manpower advantage the North had and that exploiting that advantage would lead to a quicker end to the war.
- Functional Addict: He was quite the boozehound, but also one of, if not the most, successful generals the Union had — Lincoln even tells his own command staff off for insulting Grant by telling them to send him more whiskey.
- Lame Pun Reaction: When he was appointed to the Army in the East, he had an encounter with Lincoln, where he made some puns using the General's surname. Grant's response was a cold "Please Stop".
- We Have Reserves: His plan of action during the Campaign in the East is to keep pushing, as he knows that he can replace his losses and that Lee can't.
William T. Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman
"Strike at the people, and the army collapses."
General Grant's second in command, right hand man, and best friend. Known for pioneering the modern idea of total war during his March to the Sea.- Anti-Hero: Oversimplified portrays Sherman as a merciless man who was nevertheless a force for good, making note of both his terror tactics against Southern civilians and the many slaves he cut free from their bonds during the March to the Sea.
- Good Is Not Nice: As one of the Union's best and highest-ranked generals, Sherman was firmly on the side of good. At the same time, his March to the Sea was a merciless scorched-earth campaign that forever shifted warfare toward total war, the concept of deliberately tearing a warring country's civilian population out from under it.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Ulysses S. Grant, his long-time best friend, of whom Sherman was once quoted as saying, "Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by Grant when he was drunk, and now we stand together always."
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Sherman waged an absolutely brutal campaign against the civilian population and economic base of his enemy, arguably making him a war criminal by the standards of the time. It just so happened that said enemy was the Confederacy and said economic base was held up by slaves, of whom Sherman freed literally thousands, making it very difficult to root against him.
- Pragmatic Hero: Sherman was a ruthless bastard but his results spoke for themselves. His merciless, scorched earth campaign helped bring the Union victory.
- Salt the Earth: His strategy to assist Grant further north and end the war sooner consisted of marching through the heart of the south and tearing up its infrastructure, burning its farms and essentially taking or destroying anything that could in anyway support the southern war effort. It worked.
- The Strategist: While historians note him as being merely a decent tactician, he is widely agreed to have been a genius strategist, with only Grant being on his level in the war. His March to the Sea is considered a remarkable military achievement that broke the back of the Confederacy and, for better or worse, changed warfare forever.
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria
Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Empire during the time before and after the Civil War.- The Cameo: Victoria makes an appearance in the Pig War episode, where British and American soldiers throw her in the air to celebrate her birthday.
- Hypocritical Humor: Queen Victoria is outraged and saddened by the description of American slavery in Uncle Tom's Cabin, but doesn't lift a finger to address equally harsh conditions in the factories and sweatshops fueling Britain's industrial revolution. All Played for Laughs.
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
General of the Confederate Army.- The Ace: Lee was a brilliant tactician who scored several victories for the Confederacy throughout the American Civil War. In the end, he didn't lose because of a lack of skills, but because of logistical inferiority.
- Graceful Loser: Lee shook hands with General Grant after negotiating terms of surrender.
- The Heavy: The effective driving force of the Confederate States on the battlefield
- Never My Fault: Averted. After losing the Battle of Gettysburg, he took responsibility for the loss of the war.
- Sherlock Scan: Lee was able to read the minds of many of his enemies, and knew George McClellan was cautious and weak.
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth
An actor living in Washington DC who was also a deep sympathizer for the Confederate cause.- Chekhov's Gunman: Quite literally. He's introduced attending Lincoln's second inauguration. After the end of the war, Booth assassinates Lincoln with a pistol shot in the head.
- Knight of Cerebus: All scenes featuring Booth are serious and brooding, with no jokes whatsoever, and murders President Lincoln.
- Minor Major Character: Despite being the reason President Lincoln ended up dying, he's only properly introduced near the tail end of the second part of the American Civil War video.
World War I
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
"Hey."
An Austrian noble whose assassination triggered World War I.- Honor Before Reason: His decision to visit the men in the hospital who had been wounded by the attempt on his life earlier that day, rather than go into hiding or leave the city, led him to come face-to-face with another assassin. He was shot and killed.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Ferdinand's assassination led to a series of events that kicked off World War I.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Europe was already a mess of entangled alliances, and powerful people champing at the bit to try using early 20th century technology in a war. His death was the spark that exploded into WWI.
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
"Group huddle?"
28th president of the United States, who initially wanted America to stay out of WWI.- Alliterative Name: Woodrow Wilson.
- Neutral No Longer: Wilson initially went out of his way to keep America out of World War I, even running for re-election on the platform "He kept us out of the war", though popular sentiment in the United States was generally anti-German. When the Zimmerman telegram to Mexico — an invitation for Mexico to attack the United States — was intercepted by Britain and shown to the Americans, that all went out the window.
Conrad von Hotzendorff
Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf
"How about I don't?"
Chief of staff of the Austria-Hungarian army during the beginning of WWI, and a subpar tactician.- Brainless Beauty: The narration calls him "handsome", but immediately points out he wasn't the best in actual warfare.
- General Failure: Hotzendorff had a nasty tendency to ignore his ally Germany's suggestions, try his own tactics, then come running back to Germany for help when things started going badly.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Like most of Europe's military leaders, Hotzendorff was instructed and drilled in 19th-century wars, and proved grossly underprepared for the sheer brutality of 20th-century industrialized warfare.
T.E. Lawrence
Thomas Edward Lawrence
- Red Baron: He earned the name "Lawrence of Arabia."
Hitler
Paul von Hindenberg
Paul von Hindenburg
"Good heavens!"
President of the Weimar Republic, and Hitler's predecessor as leader of Germany.- Reasonable Authority Figure: Downplayed. While a bit of a controversial figure for his policies and military reputation, he was disturbed by Hitler's violent and racist rhetoric.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: He followed Franz von Papen's suggestion to make Hitler into the Chancellor after he lost the presidency due to a combination of factors, and figured between he and Von Papen, they could keep a leash on Hitler's more extreme ideas, making him into their puppet despite his popular support. It seemed to work... right up until Hindenburg died, and everything went wrong.
Alois Hitler
Alois Hitler
"This enraged Adolf's father, who punished him severely."
Adolf's father, a strict, quick to anger Austrian official.- Abusive Parent: In case you haven't guessed it already, he would punish his sons severely for any wrongdoing.
- Anachronism Stew: Alois somehow was in the Three Kingdoms video, during the assault of the imperial forces at the palace to kill the Eunuchs, doing what he does best.
- Corporal Punishment: Alois was quick to take out his anger on the eldest son, Alois Jr. until he ran away at 14. Then Adolf took most of the beatings.
- Kissing Cousins: He had multiple affairs in his life and after his second wife died he got Clara, his cousin, pregnant. He got four children out of that relationship, but three out of four of them died, the last one was Adolf.
- Remarried to the Mistress: During his first marriage, he had an affair with a house servant, and married her as soon his first wife died.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
- Adolf Hitlarious: Oversimplified doesn't shy away from making fun of Hitler. Especially his childhood years, which enraged Hitler's father, who punished him severely.
- Big Bad: Of the WWII episodes (at least in the European theatre), as leader of Nazi Germany. In terms of the war in general, he's part of a Big Bad Duumvirate with Italian Duce Benito Mussolini and Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
- Freudian Excuse: Zig-Zagged. Though Oversimplified makes it into a Running Gag, it's also presented very clearly that Hitler had an unpleasant, relentlessly abusive childhood. However, it's never used as an excuse for his actions.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Born the son of a minor Austrian official, he served as a soldier in WWI and lived much of his life on the streets. In the 1920s he would find power in a small political party — and in the 1930s, he would take over the whole country and start World War II.
- Killed Offscreen: The video never directly references his suicide but it happens.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's Hitler for crying out loud!
- Nazi Protagonist: Central figure of the Hitler episodes (obviously), and the future head of the NSDAP.
- Talking Your Way Out: When put on trial for the failed Munich Putsch, Hitler was able to persuade the judge. While he did go to prison, the prison cell was barely a punishment at all.
- Villain Protagonist: Of the "Hitler" episodes, which (naturally) focuses on him. Other than pointing out his terrible childhood and his misfortunes after WWI, at no point does Oversimplified make any attempt to present him as sympathetic.
- Villain with Good Publicity: In his own lifetime, at least. He manages to rise in popularity in Weimar Germany, able to escape punishment from the law thanks to his supporters. And then he actually takes over the country — and with it, all media.
Russian Revolution
Tsar Nicholas I
Tsar Nicholas I
The Tsar of Russia from 1825 to 1855.- Anonymous Ringer: He's never named and is presented to the audience as a generic 19th Century Tsar figure, but his moustache and hairstyle heavily hint his identity.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Nicholas blows up an advisor with a rocket launcher for hinting that he should liberalise the Empire.
Tsar Alexander II
Tsar Alexander II
"The people love me! They're throwing flowers, confetti... and high-grade explosives?!"
Tsar of Russia from 1855 until his assassination in 1881 by Bomb-Throwing Anarchists.- Family-Unfriendly Death: Alexander got killed by an assassin's bomb in 1881, and lived just long enough to traumatize his young grandson with his horribly-scarred face and his Last Words.
- Revolutionaries Who Don't Do Anything: Well, more accurately, don't quite do enough. His emancipation of Russia's serfs in 1861 looked great on paper, but he had to make the major concession of making those serfs pay their landlords ridiculous amounts of money for the next several decades in exchange for their freedom — meaning their lives barely changed for the foreseeable future.
Tsar Alexander III
Tsar Alexander III
"Non-Russians? More interested in their cultural heritage than in loving me?"
Son of Alexander II and a fairly brutal autocrat compared to his reform-minded father.- Abusive Parents: Very tough on his son, calling him effeminate and weak.
- Disproportionate Retribution: His reaction to hearing his advisors praising the Russian Empire's cultural diversity? Blowing them up with a rocket launcher.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He abruptly dies of kidney inflammation before he can teach his son more than the bare-bones basics of ruling a country.
- Jerkass: Compared with his relatively reformist father and even his unpleasant but mostly inept son, Alexander III is a repressive, paternalistic brute and an outright terrible parent.
- Manly Facial Hair: He has probably the most impressive one in the immediate royal family. He dismisses his son's as "An ugly girly-girl beard".
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He oppressed non-Russian minorities, believing other cultures to be subversive.
Tsar Nicholas II
Tsar Nicholas II
"I'm not yet ready to be Tsar — I know nothing of the business of ruling."
Son of Alexander III, a weak ruler who got Russia into two disastrous wars, and left most of the better ideas about Russia's industrialization to one of his wiser advisors, Sergei Witte. Was ultimately overthrown by a popular uprising, and killed by a drunken firing squad with his entire family, ending the royal lineage forever.- Alas, Poor Villain: Nicholas was the final face of a repressive, tyrannical Tsarist system that he himself refused to change or improve upon in any way, in addition to being a bafflingly incompetent head of state in general, but the final fate of himself and his family is nothing short of horrific.
- Anti-Villain: He genuinely wanted to be a good ruler. But despite his best efforts to fix Russia, the tsardom's problems are Inherent in the System. And he's the head of that system.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: With Witte's help, he shows some surprising cunning curbing the social unrest in the wake of the Russo-Japanese War, setting other politicians and workers against each other and coming out on top in the end. Too bad he wastes his political capital befriending Rasputin.
- Didn't Think This Through: He promised free pretzels and beer to anyone attending his coronation... failing to realize that the peasantry were extremely starved and desperate for food. This ends up causing a stampede that leaves 1,500 people dead.
- Fatal Flaw: Despite knowing he wasn't ready to rule, he insisted on preserving his own autocratic power. In the end, as the narration notes, this left him with nothing.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Among others, Sergei Witte, who was really the one behind most of Russia's modernization.
- Incompletely Trained: His father died of kidney inflammation when Nicholas was 28, and barely taught him anything about being a Tsar. This resulted in a fairly weak ruler with some bad ideas.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Promised free pretzels and beer to anyone attending his coronation. This ended in a stampede of starving peasants that left 1,500 people dead. The fact that he went out and partied with the French almost immediately after this didn't do his reputation any favors. note
- Reluctant Ruler: He himself admitted he didn't know much about being Tsar but was determined to give it his best. It... ended badly.
- The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: He knew he wasn't really cut out for ruling a nation, and despite wanting to do his best, his inexperience caused a lot of problems for his country.
Sergei Witte
Sergei Witte
A Russian Finance Minister and later Prime Minister who launched the rapid industrialisation of the Russian Empire and who eventually convinced Nicholas II to establish a parliament.- Divide and Conquer: He uses this method to save the Tsarist rule from a complete collapse during the 1905 Revolution, exploiting the fact that the revolutionaries are divided into several groups that aren't cooperating. He fulfils the demands of the Russian liberals, weakening the revolution enough to allow the Tsar to reinstate order with the use of the military.
- The Good Chancellor: Witte was this to Nicholas II. He managed to industrialise and modernise the largely agrarian economy of Russia and worked to limit the outdated Tsarist autocracy by an establishment of a parliament.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: To the inexperienced and inept Tsar Nicholas II.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: His fate after getting replaced by Stolypin as Nicholas II's chief advisor is never mentioned. In real life, he remained active in Russian politics, but he never managed to gain as much influence as he had before the 1905 Revolution. He died from a brain tumor in his home in 1915.
Pyotr Stolypin
Pyotr Stolypin
A Russian Prime Minister who replaced Witte after the 1905 Revolution. His time in the office is notable for reforms and economic growth on one hand and for a spree of executions of the Tsar's opponents on the other.- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Succeeded Witte in this role as Tsar Nicholas II's new chief advisor.
- Repressive, but Efficient: On one hand, Stolypin greatly increased repressions in the Empire to prevent another revolution from happening (which included using the death penalty to such a degree the noose got nicknamed "Stolypin's Necktie"). On the other, he managed to stabilise the situation in Russia, introduce a number of important reforms and ensure a period of economic growth.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears from focus after Rasputin enters the scene. In real life, he served as Russia's prime minister until 1911, when he was assassinated by a shooter, while visiting a theatre.
Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Rasputin
"He's a crazy, drunken, beardy, horny scandal-ridden magic wizard man, and he smells like a goat!"
A mysterious healer and mystic who got into the good graces of the Russian royal family, and used his position to indulge in unbelievable debauchery, tarnishing their reputation badly before he was assassinated by some Russian nobles.- Extreme Omnivore: Eats several poisoned cakes, plates, tableware, and a lit candle while showing no sign of distress as the first part of his assassination.
- Gonk: Rasputin's balding, eyebrowless avatar is, to put it diplomatically...a little unsettling.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The narrator points out that his healing of Prince Alexei's hemophilia was probably due to his taking the boy off his doctor-prescribed aspirin. That said, the animation shows him coming back to life after being shot and flying around the room letting out horrifying sounds while the assassins try to shoot him again, though this part can be chalked up to Rule of Funny.
- Rasputinian Death: The real man was the Trope Namer, and the narrative shows a humorous version involving the royals struggling to take him out.
- Royal Favorite: Becomes close friends with Nicholas II and his court.
Father Gapon
Georgy Apollonovich Gapon
A Russian priest and revolutionary.- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He leads a well-intentioned peaceful procession with the goal of handing the Tsar a petition asking for improvement of living condition of the common people of the Empire. The procession causes the Tsar to flee St. Petersburg, leads to increased military presence in the capital and his peaceful protest ends in a brutal massacre of many civilians by the soldiers.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He is never mentioned after the Bloody Sunday of 1905. In real life, he briefly fled Russia after the 1905 Revolution erupted, but returned by the end of the year. He was then murdered in 1906 by Social Revolutionaries for his ties with the secret police.
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
"You all suck! The provisional government sucks, the Soviet sucks, even your fan-art sucks!"
An aggressive Communist revolutionary who spent years exiled to Siberia writing communist papers then took refuge in Germany, and finally came to power in Russia after the royal family was deposed.- Be Careful What You Wish For: He spent decades in exile awaiting the chance for a communist revolution in Russia that would let him take control. When it finally comes, and ends with him becoming the leader of the Soviet Union, the intense stress of the job — exacerbated by World War I, the Russian Civil War, and a boatload of other issues — results in him suffering a series of strokes and dying.
- Dirty Communist: On top of being depicted as a cruel tyrant, Lenin is also depicted as an asshole.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Lenin, for all his extremist actions during the revolution, knew Stalin couldn't be trusted with power (the fact that Stalin bad-mouthed Lenin's wife to her face didn't do him any favors either), and he wanted to make ensure Stalin didn't succeed him. Unfortunately, by that point, Stalin had gamed the system to his advantage pretty thoroughly, and Lenin was too weak from strokes to provide much opposition.
- Jerkass: Described as "A massive, ill-tempered jerk", and it shows.
- Hypocritical Humor: Lenin assures Fanny Kaplan that he's not trying to set up a dictatorship, right before announcing the formation of a Secret Police to repress and kill anyone not loyal to himself.
- Knight Templar: While he was short-tempered and a pretty ruthless authoritarian in power, it's noted that Lenin definitely did seem to believe that the ideals he was fighting for would truly benefit the people.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Quickly establishes a Secret Police becoming every bit as repressive and tyrannical as the Tsars. Still his tyranny is better than Stalin just by implications, but given that your standard is between Stalin and Nicholas II, it's not much to be proud of if you are even MARGINALLY better.
- Principles Zealot: This played a role in Lenin's tyranny. He did make good on the promises his revolution made, but he wasn't willing to work or compromise with any opposition, which led to repression of said opposition.
- Serious Business: Gets into vicious arguments and spews personal insults about Care Bears and whether cereal is a soup.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: His mother-in-law, apparently, as he lets out a Big "NO!" whenever he learns she's coming to visit.
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
"Thanks for coming to my TED Talk."
A Communist revolutionary who became Comissar for Foreign Affairs under Lenin. Was ousted and eventually killed under Stalin, who saw him as a threat.
- Idiot Ball: While normally extremely intelligent, his "No War, No Peace" strategy with Germany ended with catastrophic results that anybody could see coming from a mile away.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Compared to Lenin's ill-tempered zealotry and Stalin's violent Lack of Empathy, the calm, erudite Trotsky was a comparatively sane, rational option to eventually lead the Soviet Union, despite being an unashamed Bolshevik extremist in his own right.
- The Smart Guy: Less aggressive and more even-tempered than Lenin or Stalin, but more level-headed, a clever military leader, and Lenin's first choice to succeed him.
- The Strategist: Showed himself to be a shrewd tactician during the Russian Civil War.
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky
A Russian Minister of War and later Prime Minister of the Provisional Government.- Didn't Think This Through: He fails to foresee any consequences appointing anti-revolutionary general Kornilov the supreme commander of the army could have. When Kornilov tries to launch a coup, he releases and arms imprisoned Bolsheviks in order to combat him, failing to realise the consequences of that as well.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Flees Russia when the October Revolution happens.
Lavr Kornilov
Lavr Kornilov
A Russian general promoted by Kerensky to the position of the supreme commander of the armed forces.- Military Coup: Tries to launch one after Kerensky appoints him the leader of the Russian army. It fails and leads to him getting imprisoned.
- Put on a Prison Bus: He was arrested and imprisoned after his attempt to launch a military coup.
Prohibition
Carrie Nation
Carrie Nation
"Ladies, you do not know how much joy you will have until you smash, smash, smash."
An American prohibitionist who became famous for literally "smashing up" saloons, destroying whisky bottles and barrels with a hatchet and "Smashers" (Usually rocks and bottles).- Dry Crusader: A particularly aggressive prohibitionist who took things a step further than the usual protests.
- Hulking Out: Does this at one point while attacking a saloon, green skin and all.
- Karma Houdini: Carrie got arrested several times for her attacks on various saloons… and was let out without further penalty fairly quickly, whereupon she immediately started doing it again.
- Never Mess with Granny: Was getting up there in years by the time she became famous, but fearlessly attacked several saloons, regardless.note
Wayne Wheeler
Wayne Wheeler
"Now release the lions."
An American attorney and the longtime leader of the Anti-Saloon League. Uncompromising in his anti-alcohol viewpoints, he became a major political figure in Washington DC, the biggest event of his career being the passing of the Volstead Act and the 18th Amendment.- The Dreaded: Was very, very good at getting even rival groups of people to hyperfocus on one issue they could agree on, and pointing them at anything he liked. After he got 70 state representatives and the governor ousted in Ohio alone, he became this trope among other politicians.
- Drunk with Power: Upon becoming a major mover and shaker in Washington DC, he tends to “release the lions” on anyone who displeases him.
- Dry Crusader: Probably the most powerful in American history.
- The Horseshoe Effect: He exploited this trope to hell and back to get everyone to support prohibition. By taking advantage of it, he managed to get many opposing groups (liberal progressives and Christian conservatives, big business and trade unions, African Americans and white supremacists) to at least agree that alcohol needed to go.
- Knight Templar: Rigid and brutal in enforcing prohibition of alcohol. Among other things, he had alcohol produced for other reasons poisoned, resulting in several deaths.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: In order to deal with the public problems caused by alcohol, he spearheaded a movement to make it illegal.
George Remus
George Remus
"Run her off the road."
An American lawyer from Germany who became a successful bootlegger during Prohibition. After being arrested and going to prison, his second trial — for murdering his wife — made the news across the country.- Death by Woman Scorned: A gender-flipped example, and one that also brings financial betrayal into the mix. Remus' wife Imogene had been in charge of his finances and money while he was in prison, a fact which Remus confided to a cellmate. Said cellmate turned out to be a government agent plying him for information, but when he learned about this, he began to romance his wife, seduced her, quit his job, and convinced her to take all the money and divorce Remus for him. When Remus finally got out of prison, his wife, money, and possessions were all gone. Some time later, he killed Imogene for it.
- False Flag Operation: His modus operandi was to set up a pharmacy to buy bonded liquor for medicinal purposes, then have his own mobsters "hijack" the liquor during shipment and sell it to illegal bars. It made him very wealthy for a while, too.
- Insanity Defense: When Remus was put on trial for murder, his defense created the first "temporary insanity" plea. Amazingly, it worked.
- Karma Houdini: While he'd publicly admitted to killing his wife, the jury found him not guilty after only 19 minutes of deliberation.
Al Capone
Al Capone
"WHOOOOAAAAAAAAAH."
The infamous Chicago gangster who rose to power smuggling alcohol during prohibition. Cultivating a generous, laid-back public persona, he was also a frightening mobster who wiped out his competition with brutal efficiency.- Character Catchphrase: Tends to yell "WHOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" when called out for his crimes.
- Deadly Euphemism: Prefers to say he "eliminates" the competition, and other such nonthreatening terms.
- Dragon Ascendant: Was second in command to Johnny Torrio until Torrio was nearly assassinated and decided to quit the mob life, leaving Capone to take over the outfit.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Was known as "Scarface" by his enemies, but preferred the nickname "Snorky", himself.
- Justice by Other Legal Means: How do the authorities deal with possibly the most entrenched, brutal, terrifying mobster in Chicago's history? The IRS nails him for tax evasion. To keep his thugs from threatening the jurors as usual, the judge switched the jury out at the last minute.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Deliberately cultivated the public image of Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters for his organization. This was slowly eroded as his power grew.
Herbert Hoover
Herbet Hoover
"Stop wasting my time!"
31st President of the United States. Came into power just before the stock market crash of 1929, and his attempts at combatting it generally ended in failure. His attempts at enforcing Prohibition similarly ended badly.- Detrimental Determination: Was accused of this during the Great Depression, but was actually guilty of it when it came to Prohibition, generally ignoring the catastrophic fallout.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His stubbornness in refusing to repeal Prohibition was a major reason he lost the 1932 election to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Pauline Sabin
Pauline Sabin
"President Hoover, I helped fund your campaign, and now I want you to end prohibition."
An extremely wealthy, influential woman who had long fundraised for Republican presidents and politicians, and a former supporter of Prohibition. The rising crime rates and fallout from the 18th Amendment led her to form the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform, and in two years, it had five times the membership of the opposing Women's Christian Temperance Union.- Know When to Fold 'Em: A former supporter of prohibition, but upon seeing the damage it was causing, she changed her stance around.
- The Team Benefactor: Sabin was a major source of funding for the Republican party until Hoover refused to end prohibition, whereupon she became one for the Democrats.
Emu War
George Pearce
Sir George Foster Pearce
"At least I got a feather hat."
Australian Senator for Western Australia and Minister of Defense between 1932 and 1934, and main organizer behind the deployment of Meredith's squad during the Emu War.- Cruella to Animals: He thinks he can get the emus turned into feather hats.note
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Every attempt to convince the Australian Parliament that he misspoke about turning the emus into feather hats only results in him letting slip wanting a feather hat.
G. P. W. Meredith
Major G. P. W. Meredith
"Damn it Jones! Learn your vowels!"
Major of the 7th Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery and commander of the unit sent to hunt emus during the Emu War.- Curse Cut Short: After Meredith's plan to use a machine gun on the back of a moving truck failed spectacularly and it was filmed by a newsreel crew, he threatened to "shove that camera up your a–", but he is cut short by the next scene.
World War II
Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
"You know what? I'm done with socialism. We need something new. Not based on class divisions tearing us apart, but based on unity through nationality. We'll conquer the Mediterranean, and reunite all Italian peoples just like the days of the Roman Empire. I'll call it Fascismo and it will guide the Italian nation through greatness."
The founder of fascism and eventual dictator of Italy who led the Kingdom into World War II alongside Germany, resulting in a... questionable military performance.- Bald of Evil: Although he started out with black hair, he selects a bald hairstyle before ascending as Italy's dictator.
- Cross-Popping Veins: His avatar is drawn with some, to indicate his rather aggressive personality and Perpetual Frowner look.
- Face–Heel Turn: Besides initially being a devout socialist, he originally was an anti-war activist and opposed the First World War, but when he realized the war could be used to bring down monarchies across Europe and start a socialist revolution, he started supporting the War, to the rejection of his fellow socialists, turning him to fascism.
- Fascist, but Inefficient: Mussolini was notoriously the most incompetent member of the Axis leadership, leading his country straight into long strings of military embarrassments and frequently needing Hitler to bail him out.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Though hugely overshadowed by his German counterpart's legendarily unhinged bigotry, Mussolini was a virulently chauvinistic Italian nationalist, as well as an anti-Semite in his own right.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No can do, Winston. But ya know what... here, have some weapons."
Click for his original appearance in World War II
President of the United States from 1933 to 1945, and representative of the States in the Allies during World War 2.
- Big Good: For the United States in WWII. While he initially didn't want to get his country involved, after the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, he took a more direct role in helping the Allies fighting against the Axis powers.
- Cassandra Truth: Along with Churchill, he warned Stalin that the Germans would eventually attempt to invade Russia. Stalin ignored them... oops.
- Killed Offscreen: The videos never mention his death in office shortly before the war's end, only pointing out President Truman having replaced him near the end of the second video.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Ran on the platform of overturning Prohibition, and later campaigned that he wasn't entirely against joining the war in Europe.
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
"If this is not free and fair, I don't know what it is!"
Georgia-born Bolshevik revolutionary that will rise to power in the Soviet Union after Lenin's death and the "disappearance" of many of his opponents.- Abusive Parents: Much like Hitler, he had a father who was very quick to punish him severely. Stalin himself recognizes how it's messed him up as a person.
- Almighty Janitor: He's given a mundane position of 'General Secretary', in contrast to more fancy ones like 'Minister of War'. They realize too late that his position allows him to place his supporters in key positions, and by the time they do realize it, he's too powerful to remove.
- Boring, but Practical: His role as General Secretary wasn't particularly fancy. However, it gave him the power to give other people jobs, which he used to gain support and become de facto leader of the Soviet Union after Lenin's death.
- Death by Irony: Died of a cerebral hemorrhage, since most of his best doctors were imprisoned as a result of his reign of terror and the remaining ones were too terrified to treat him.
- Dirty Communist: Safe to say, Stalin isn't depicted as a very nice guy.
- Freudian Excuse: After the Narrator explains how bad the situation in post-war Europe is, Stalin is thrilled because the more they suffer, the more likely it is that they will turn to communism. A general proceed to ask what is wrong with him. The response:Stalin: My father used to punish me severely.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Right up until Lenin's death, Stalin was, in the narrator's own words, a "gray blur". He was an ill-mannered, poorly-educated peasant who served as little more than a thug for the bolsheviks for most of his early political life, and Lenin knowing full well what kind of person he was wanted him absolutely nowhere near actual power. But Stalin had enough cunning political instinct to use the seemingly-insignificant position he was assigned, General Secretary of the Communist Party, to replace all of those around him with friends and people otherwise loyal to him. When Lenin passed, there was nobody left to meaningfully oppose Stalin's machinations, and this new government of cronies enabled him to ascend to dictatorship.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, even after Churchill and Roosevelt warned him, Stalin is caught by surprise and his plan is to literally dig a hole in the sand and hide his head, leaving the Soviet Army without a coordinated response to the invasion.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Stalin first made a pact with Nazi Germany at the beginning of WWII, then switched to the Allies after Hitler started invading the Soviet Union, and after the war ended, he turned against the other allied nations, kickstarting the Cold War.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Stalin lacked the talents and intellectual background of Lenin or Trotsky and was the last person Lenin wanted to take over. By the time Lenin passed, however, Stalin had amassed so much power that there was no way to stop it.
- Kicked Upstairs: Subverted. His promotion to General Secretary was intended to keep him away from any real power. Unfortunately, it ended up having the opposite effect.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Heavily downplayed in comparison to the insane bigotry of Hitler and the slobbering ultranationalism of Mussolini, but Stalin may very well have unwittingly caused his own death by killing or deporting Russia's best Jewish doctors.
- Token Evil Teammate: Of the WWII allies. He is a dictator of an oppressive regime, unlike his Western counterparts Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was succeeded by Harry S. Truman after his death, and Winston Churchill, who were elected leaders from democratic states. And after helping defeat Nazi Germany, rather than reestablishing democracy in the Soviet-occupied territories, Stalin turned them into communist puppet states.
Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
"You lied to me."
The prime minister of Britain who heads the Appeasement movement. It doesn't work and the Axis spark yet another World War.- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Just like in Real Life, Chamberlain has no shortage of moments like these.
- His "Appeasement" policies did not prevent another World War.
- Ordering the RAF to drop propaganda leaflets instead of bombing the Germans and sending only 200,000 troops to France had a hand in the German victory over France at the start of the war.
- Attacking a German tanker in the vicinity of Norway alerted Hitler to the Allies' presence and spelled doom for both Norway and Denmark.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: With his Appeasement policies being completely useless and being responsible for the disaster in Norway, Chamberlain resigned.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
"I used the link in the description to get 2 months of Skillshare for just 99 cents."
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War 2, and Neville Chamberlain's successor. Proved considerably more effective at dealing with Hitler.- Big Good: For the United Kingdom during WWII. After the fall of France, he was the sole European leader to actively oppose Hitler and his warmongering tyranny. His determination inspired the British people to keep hope and to stand up to the fascist rule.
- Cigar Chomper: His character model is never seen without one.
- Determinator: Led the British resistence, ensuring the nation held out even as much of London was bombed.
- Renaissance Man: The narration paints him as something of one, crediting Skillshare for it to segue into a sponsorship message.
Harry S. Truman
Harry Truman
"Those guys are not cool, cannot be trusted, and we'll do everything we can to prevent the spread of communism around the world."
President of the United States from 1945 to 1953, and Roosevelt's successor.- Early-Bird Cameo: Shows up very briefly at the very end of the World War 2 videos, but only gets a speaking role (and a special character model) at the beginning of The Cold War.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Accidentally leaks nuclear secrets to Stalin by sending them through unsecured coffee-shop Wi-fi. This turns out to be an excuse to segue into a NordVPN ad.
Cold War
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
"We're gonna build a wall, and it's gonna be a big beautiful wall and it will keep out all the Mexicans."
A Soviet leader who succeeded Joseph Stalin. His reign saw most of the Soviet successes in the Space Race happen, the Berlin wall built and the Cuban Missile Crisis occur.- Happiness Is Mandatory: During his regime, Khrushchev allowed the Soviet citizens some cultural expression, only to ban Western pop culture because of his personal preference.
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
"Phew! Let's hope that's the biggest crisis of my presidency!"
The 35th American President involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion and in the resolutions of the Checkpoint Charlie stand-off and of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Tempting Fate: As shown in his caption quote, Kennedy said this after resolving a crisis at Checkpoint Charlie in 1961. It wasn't. And when he resolved the latter, he said it again. It also wasn't.
Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
"Hey! I'm a communist who hates America. You're a communist who hates America. You know what that means?"
A Communist dictator of Cuba who was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Falkland War
Luis Vernet
Luis Vernet
"HELP"
A Hamburgian merchant and governor of the Falkland Islands.
- Bullying a Dragon: Annoyed that American sealers and whalers were harvesting the waters around the Falklands without his permission, Vernet arrested them and confiscated their ships. In response, the American navy came down and destroyed his settlement of Puerto Luis.
- Egopolis: His trading settlement of Puerto Luis.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Initially a merchant who saw the loose cattle wandering the Falklands as a potential opportunity for wealth, he developed this after the government in Buenos Aires made him governor of the Falklands and gave him some weapons, going so far as to arrest American sealers and whalers who got too close to his territory and confiscate their ships. Then the American and British navies came down in quick succession, and shut him down.
Leopoldo Galtieri
Leopoldo Galtieri
The Argentinian Dictator responsible for starting the Falkland War.
- Near-Villain Victory: The Argentinian force sent to take the Falklands initially succeeded, reinforcing their position on the islands, and public opinion made Galtieri hugely popular for a time... then a much larger British naval force came back, and turned the tables in a short but vicious war.
- People's Republic of Tyranny: Was officially President of Argentina, despite taking the title in a US-backed military coup and retaining it until he was overthrown.
- War for Fun and Profit: Kicked off the Falklands War, taking it from the UK by force for the sake of distracting his people from their problems.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
"Thatcher was a somewhat controversial Prime Minister, but whether you loved her or hated her, there was no denying that she was tough. Like metal. Iron, for example."
The British Prime Minister leading the United Kingdom through the Falkland War.- Bullying a Dragon: Argentina decided to take the Falklands because they were a relatively remote piece of territory, the British were scaling back military spending, and they figured the UK might not even bother fighting for them. They were very wrong.
- Iron Lady: The original example, to the point where this was her nickname.
- Little "No": When Reagan suggests to Thatcher that she could just let Argentina have the islands, this was her response.
Football War
Oswaldo López Arellano
Oswaldo López Arellano
President of Honduras from 1963-1975, and an infamously corrupt leader. Leader of Honduras' forces during the Football War.
- Banana Republic: Made Honduras into one of the original ones, thanks to wealthy American banana companies bribing him to get fruit from Honduras tax-free.
- Military Coup: Came to power with one of these.
- The Scapegoat: Blamed illegal immigrants from El Salvador for Honduras' financial woes, to get the heat off him and his financial relationship with wealthy American banana companies.
- Vote Early, Vote Often: Arellano was accused of winning the 1965 vote in a clearly fraudulent election.
Amelia Bolaños
Amelia Bolaños
An 18-year-old Salvadoran football fan.
- Driven to Suicide: Amelia shot herself (in the heart) after Honduras won their first match against her country, El Salvador. The Salvadoran government proceeded to glorify her death and declared her a national hero.
- Patriotic Fervor: She was so dedicated to her country getting into the World Cup that when the team lost their first match, she couldn't take it anymore.
- Posthumous Character: Several Salvadoran football fans brought pictures of her to the stadium in the matches following her suicide.
