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Most Gifted/Able/Intelligent Politician/diplomat in history

blackjack50

blackjack50

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As the title says. Who do you see as one of the most intelligent and able and gifted politicians/diplomat in history? Why do you feel that way?

Personally for me it is Otto Von Bismarck. Without him, a unified Germany would not have happened. Granted...maybe no world wars...but had he remained in power there also would have been no wars. His political and diplomatic maneuvering essentially set Germany up as a powerful empire. His alliances essentially kept Germany on the receiving end of good fortune.

He even understood that Russia was the key to keeping a war out of Germany. The guy was a genius. Too bad the Kaiser was a damned fool
 
Bismarck for me, too, though Kissinger is close, even if he isn't exactly popular or trendy to like. Stilwell is another. More than just honorable mentions go to Metternich, Elizabeth I, Tallyrand, Fredrick II, Meiji, and William of Orange.

Okay, I'm stealing form this guy:

DP W1999A: The Greatest Diplomats

.. but only because his page has jogged my memory.

Oh yeah, and Gorbachev. And Henry II.
 
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Anybody else find it odd no Romans are ever considered for a topic like this? One of the longest reigns of Empire in the West would surely have produced some diplomats, one would think.
 
Ghengis Khan,
He gave cities the option of surrendering or being destroyed and ALWAYS kept his promise on that
 
stonewall50 said:
As the title says. Who do you see as one of the most intelligent and able and gifted politicians/diplomat in history? Why do you feel that way?

Personally for me it is Otto Von Bismarck. Without him, a unified Germany would not have happened. Granted...maybe no world wars...but had he remained in power there also would have been no wars. His political and diplomatic maneuvering essentially set Germany up as a powerful empire. His alliances essentially kept Germany on the receiving end of good fortune.

He even understood that Russia was the key to keeping a war out of Germany. The guy was a genius. Too bad the Kaiser was a damned fool
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Oberon said:
Bismarck for me, too, though Kissinger is close, even if he isn't exactly popular or trendy to like. Stilwell is another. More than just honorable mentions go to Metternich, Elizabeth I, Tallyrand, Fredrick II, Meiji, and William of Orange.

Okay, I'm stealing form this guy:

DP W1999A: The Greatest Diplomats

.. but only because his page has jogged my memory.

Oh yeah, and Gorbachev. And Henry II.
Click to expand...

I too am an admirer of Bismarck, although he's not my No. 1 because, as one of my smart professors once noted: "The Bismarck system required a Bismarck to operate it, and those are rare."

My choice? Prince Talleyrand. Served eight successive French governments, each inimical to its predecessor and successor. Kept his his head (literally) and lived to honorable very old age. And did I mention he kept France whole and powerful even after Napoleon's collapse?
 
Jack Hays said:
I too am an admirer of Bismarck, although he's not my No. 1 because, as one of my smart professors once noted: "The Bismarck system required a Bismarck to operate it, and those are rare."

My choice? Prince Talleyrand. Served eight successive French governments, each inimical to its predecessor and successor. Kept his his head (literally) and lived to honorable very old age. And did I mention he kept France whole and powerful even after Napoleon's collapse?
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Mine is Ben Franklin. I feel confident that it does not even need further description to those at all familiar with history.

Oops, sorry, this was supposed to be a general thread post, my bad.
 
My opinion as someone with limited historical knowledge would be Lincoln. He had the skills to lead us through the Civil War, keep the union together and end slavery. Washington was a great man, but he was at a time with many other great men to help support him. Lincoln, imo, put the country on his back and trudged through the war one slow, miserable step at at time, and this is a guy who was maybe overly sensitive emotionally. It's really incredible.
 
JC Callender said:
My opinion as someone with limited historical knowledge would be Lincoln. He had the skills to lead us through the Civil War, keep the union together and end slavery. Washington was a great man, but he was at a time with many other great men to help support him. Lincoln, imo, put the country on his back and trudged through the war one slow, miserable step at at time, and this is a guy who was maybe overly sensitive emotionally. It's really incredible.
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I focused on the "diplomat" part of the question. Had it been simply "greatest political leader" then I would have said Lincoln.
 
Jack Hays said:
I too am an admirer of Bismarck, although he's not my No. 1 because, as one of my smart professors once noted: "The Bismarck system required a Bismarck to operate it, and those are rare."
Click to expand...

Yes. But for me, that is actually why I rank him so high, the uniqueness of his achievements.

My choice? Prince Talleyrand. Served eight successive French governments, each inimical to its predecessor and successor. Kept his his head (literally) and lived to honorable very old age. And did I mention he kept France whole and powerful even after Napoleon's collapse?
Click to expand...

Yes, he was very astute, too.
 
Oberon said:
Yes. But for me, that is actually why I rank him so high, the uniqueness of his achievements.



Yes, he was very astute, too.
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Favourite Talleyrand quote "That's worse than a crime. It is a mistake!"

Anyway to answer the OP: Me. (It's OK to vote for an unrecognised genius isn't it? And I was a diplomat for thirty years).
 
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My guess:

Nobody is gonna nominate Neville Chamberlain.
 
a political leader undermined by literature (The Three Musketeers) was the brilliant statesman Cardinal DeRichelieu of France. HE realized that the catholic Holy Roman empire in the guise of the Austrian Hapsburg empire was a big threat to Catholic France which it bordered. SO he made a secret alliance with the Protestant Swedish (back when Sweden was actually a major league military power) King Gustavus Adolphus and also supported the protestant armies of Holland in order to help with conflicts with spain. His alliances with Protestant forces effectively ended to threat to France by the Hapsburg domination of the European continent
 
Oberon said:
Bismarck for me, too, though Kissinger is close, even if he isn't exactly popular or trendy to like. Stilwell is another. More than just honorable mentions go to Metternich, Elizabeth I, Tallyrand, Fredrick II, Meiji, and William of Orange.

Okay, I'm stealing form this guy:

DP W1999A: The Greatest Diplomats

.. but only because his page has jogged my memory.

Oh yeah, and Gorbachev. And Henry II.
Click to expand...

I almost forgot about Kissinger lol. He was a great for sure.
 
Jack Hays said:
I too am an admirer of Bismarck, although he's not my No. 1 because, as one of my smart professors once noted: "The Bismarck system required a Bismarck to operate it, and those are rare."

My choice? Prince Talleyrand. Served eight successive French governments, each inimical to its predecessor and successor. Kept his his head (literally) and lived to honorable very old age. And did I mention he kept France whole and powerful even after Napoleon's collapse?
Click to expand...

That is very true. And the only failing of Bismarck. I always wonder what he would have done if he had not been undercut by the Kaiser. Would he have made a longer term plan as he aged?
 
George Marshall
an affluent, democratic, and allied germany, italy, and japan are tangible evidence of the success of his political strategy, known as the Marshall Plan
 
stonewall50 said:
That is very true. And the only failing of Bismarck. I always wonder what he would have done if he had not been undercut by the Kaiser. Would he have made a longer term plan as he aged?
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He was already pretty old when the Kaiser sacked him.
 
TurtleDude said:
a political leader undermined by literature (The Three Musketeers) was the brilliant statesman Cardinal DeRichelieu of France. HE realized that the catholic Holy Roman empire in the guise of the Austrian Hapsburg empire was a big threat to Catholic France which it bordered. SO he made a secret alliance with the Protestant Swedish (back when Sweden was actually a major league military power) King Gustavus Adolphus and also supported the protestant armies of Holland in order to help with conflicts with spain. His alliances with Protestant forces effectively ended to threat to France by the Hapsburg domination of the European continent
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Yes. That was a truly complicated period of European history, often falsely portrayed as a 'religious war'; it was something else entirely, and Richelieu was on the 'right side' re foreign policy. Not so much so re domestic policy, though. I admit bias in favor of my Huguenot ancestors on the domestic side of French politics in that era.
 
Oberon said:
Yes. That was a truly complicated period of European history, often falsely portrayed as a 'religious war'; it was something else entirely, and Richelieu was on the 'right side' re foreign policy. Not so much so re domestic policy, though.
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He was a maverick in the sense that earlier wars after the reformation were mainly motivated by religion since it was easy to rally say the English commoners against "Papist" spanish invaders or motivate the Spanish masses against the "Heretic queen" who murdered the Catholic Princess Mary Queen of Scots. Calvin crushed a few "Papist" armies by convincing his followers that the enemy was led by the devil himself. The Hapsburgs couldn't have foreseen that the good Cardinal would make an unholy alliance with the Protestant Lion, Adolphus Gustavus who may have been the greatest military leader Sweden ever had.
 
I have two in mind: Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Poland's Jozef Pilsudski.

In light of the repeated mentions of Kissinger in this thread, it is worth noting that Sadat outmaneuvered him. Sadat, looking to regain the Sinai from Israel, expelled Soviet advisers from Egypt in the hopes of getting the Nixon administration's attention, but was ignored. He then proceeded to go to war against Israel, knowing full well that Egypt would lose but shrewdly predicting that Nixon and Kissinger wouldn't let a potential American ally be destroyed by Israel. He then went on to sign the Camp David Accords, emancipating Egypt from decades of hostility with Israel. Current Arab leaders would do well to heed his example.

Pilsudski is, in my opinion, a fascinating figure. Not only was he a brilliant commander - his "Miracle at the Vistula" arguably prevented the Red Army from invading Hungary and Germany - but he was probably the most politically astute Polish nationalist of his era. During WWI, he realized that an independent Poland would require Russia and the Central Powers to be defeated, in that order, and so he aligned with Germany and Austria-Hungary against Russia but refused to be a mere puppet or go to war against Britain and France. While leader of Poland, he conceived of an "Intermarium," a federation/alliance of central and eastern European states to serve as a bulwark against German and Russian imperialism. His mistake in pursuit of this goal was alienating the countries (Lithuania and Czechoslovakia) that would be part of the bloc by going to war against them for Polish territory. While it was obviously wrong for him to seize power in a violent coup, his regime was nothing compared to those of Hitler or Stalin, and it seems to me that he was a democrat at heart who was dealing with a deeply reactionary and short-sighted populace (as exemplified by Roman Dmowski's anti-Semitic, ethnic nationalist National Democrats).
Frank Apisa said:
My guess:

Nobody is gonna nominate Neville Chamberlain.
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Chamberlain was obviously a very flawed statesman, but I personally feel he is unfairly judged for his most infamous political decision: Munich. Hitler's goal was to take all of Czechoslovakia, with the Sudetenland being a mere pretext. By giving Hitler what he ostensibly wanted, Chamberlain hoped to take away any excuse for Hitler conquering Czechoslovakia. Of course, he failed to follow up on this sound policy by militarily defending the remainder of Czechoslovakia and compensating Czechoslovakia somehow for its loss of industry and defensible borders, or at least by providing an exit for Czechoslovak Jews. People who criticize Chamberlain for handing over the Sudetenland, however, should keep in mind how unfeasible it would be for the US to openly confront Russia over its annexation of Crimea.
 
Well Machiavelli. That's a given to an extent.

Women: Elizabeth the First, Empress Wu of China, Golda Meir.

Best I can think of would have to be Washington. What he had to accomplish to be our first President and to set the example of limitations of power by walking away. He set so many vague ideas and notions into our traditions and ideas of what a politician can be.
 
Wow, no votes yet for Churchill? Gifted speaker and all-around intelligent leader. Oh, and he was a fellow geoist. :mrgreen:

He had several flaws, especially when it came to race. But he was the man Britain most needed during the war years.
 
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