29 of the Coolest People from History You’ve Never Heard Of

‘Olga of Kiev murdered an entire nation of Drevlians in righteous vengeance’
29 of the Coolest People from History You’ve Never Heard Of
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With the sheer amount of humans included in all of history, there’s little to no chance you’ll get to learn about all of them. Especially if they’re not from a European country, unfortunately. Yet the long saga of humanity has plenty of heroes that deserve a bit more credit, and possibly a Netflix limited series.

If you want to learn about some new historical figures with lore that would slot them solidly above half of Marvel’s roster, keep reading. History buffs over on Reddit happily volunteered some true bad motherfrickers from way back that more people should know. Feeling dejected about your own standing, courage and current problems may be an unfortunate side effect.

Lt_Rooney 7y ago Major Dighy Tatham-Warter whose Wikipedia entry reads like the synopsis of an amazing WWII action-comedy. Among other noteworthy items, he carried an umbrella everywhere because he had trouble remembering passwords and reasoned that anyone who saw him would assume that only a bloody fool Englishman would carry an umbrella into battle. At one point he disabled an armored car using his umbrella. Не was eventually captured but escaped and led 150 escaped POW's back across the lines to freedom, on bicycles. After the war is he credited with inventing the modern safari, where animals are photographed instead of killed.
Col_Walter_Tits . 7y ago Not unknown but seems to be far less commonly known is Subutai, the main general under Genghis Khan and his son Ogedei. Was a brilliant strategist that could coordinate armies separated by hundreds of miles. Не also conquered more territory than any other military commander in history.
GSV-Kakistocrat 7y ago Read this sentence: Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, was an Austrian-born Russian anti-Bolshevik lieutenant general in the Russian Civil War and then an independent warlord whose Asiatic Cavalry Division wrested control of Mongolia from the Republic of China in 1921 after its occupation. When I read his biography I had to keep fact checking because honestly, this guys life seems utterly unbelievable. Не formed his own Mongol horde in goddamn 1921. Не was obviously an irredeemable asshole, but what a wild life.
Clit-cheese a 7y ago The nameless Berserker of Stamford Bridge. Не held off an entire English Army alone on a small bridge, with just his big daneaxe. No arrow could bring him down. Only later did someone poke him from underneath the bridge into his balls... Не instantly went to Valhalla.
7y ago Mannerheim is fairly unknown outside of Finland, he was the tsar's bodyguard and one of the first Europeans to meet Dalai Lama, escaped Russia during the revolution and came to Finland to lead the whites in Finnish civil war. Later lead the Finnish army in Winter War and Continuation War, giving the Red Army a good fight and then became Finland's sixth president. The highest military award you can earn in Finland is named after him as well.
Opheltes 7y ago Prince Michael of Romania (1921-2017) Не became King of Romania at the age of 6 following the death of his grandfather. (His father Carol has previously renounced the throne). The regency didn't work out so well, so Carol reclaimed the throne when Michael was 8. Carol was deposed by the Nazis in 1940 when Michael was 18. Michael took the throne, but the government was run by a Nazi puppet, whom Michael overthrew in 1944 when the country switched sides. After the war, the monarchy was abolished by the communists, so he became an ordinary citizen. But
cazurite . 7y ago Edited 7y ago Zenobia, queen of the Palmyrene Empire. She was a warrior and well educated, fluent in several languages. After her husband was murdered, she became regent of her son. She seized control of territories in the east, conquered Egypt, and built a powerful empire. Later, she was captured after a Roman siege and executed. She is known as a heroic queen and a freedom fighter who inspired Catherine the Great.
Safewordharder . 7y ago . Edited 7y ago Olga of Kiev. Murdered an entire nation of Drevlians in righteous vengeance for slaying her husband over a tax dispute by using doves. Still got to be a Saint.
Maxwyfe . 7y ago Vera Atkins was a spy for the allies and worked with the man who is said to have inspired the character of James Bond. One of her specialties was improvising weapons on the fly. Her exploits are chronicled in a really excellent book called Spymistress.
Despacito-am-i-right 7y ago Carolus Rex or Charles the 12th of Sweden. Single handily fought Russia and others leading only a small army of Swedes. Despite being out numbered he would some how pull out a win. Also know as a warrior king he would lead his men into battle something not as common in this time period. Не was unfortunately killed in battle close to the end of the great northern war
BasedWrangel 7y ago Perhaps not the typical version of cool, but another humanitarian who I hadn't heard about until fairly recently. Chiune Sugihara, the vice consul of the Empire of Japan in Lithuania. Не helped roughly 5-6 thousand Eastern European Jews obtain travel visas to the Japanese Empire, risking his life and that of his family in the process. I can't recall exactly where I read it, but I recall that many of those 6,000 visas were drafted up by hand, and I have a vague reminiscence of there being an article or something that described Sugihara frantically handing these
matty80 7y ago Julie d'Aubigny. Basically think 'Arya Stark' but real, French, and a highly promiscuous bisexual. She was a singer by profession but hired a master swordsman to teach her how to fence, and quickly became ridiculously good at it. She and this instructor got into a fight with some French nobleman and she challenged him to a duel, won it, but then had to flee the gendarmerie because duelling was technically illegal by the 17th Century in France. She dressed up in disguise a lot of the time, including frequently in men's clothing, and as a result was
. 7 7y ago Phùng Thi Chính was a Vietnamese warrior who lead troops into battle against the Chinese while pregnant. Went into labor on the front lines, gave birth, and kept fighting carry her newborn.
Tactical_Bacon99 . 7y ago There are plenty of them. One of my favorite doesn't actually involve a person but a bear. Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear bought as a pet. His owner was part of a Polish artillery section and they eventually trained the bear to help haul ammunition from the depot to the guns. It's a cool story. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(bear)
HushedShadow . 7y ago Miyamoto Musashi by far, he's was a samurai from I believe from feudal japan. basically this guy was every weeb fantasy, he never lost a fight and dual wielded a katana and wakizashi, after awhile he was so good he thought the swords were too easy and switched to using a bokken (wooden sword) and still never lost, the dude was a badass
BananaSlander 7y ago Bass Reeves Bass Reeves (July 1838 - January 12, 1910) was the first black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi River. Не worked mostly in Arkansas and the Oklahoma Territory. During his long career, he was credited with arresting more than 3,000 felons. Не shot and killed 14 outlaws in self-defense.
nuclearfish65 7y ago exekias, 5th century BC ( we're fairly sure of that) Athenian pottery artist essentially was the first person to produce incised depictions of human characters with any level of details because his techniques allowed for smaller more intricate details. This technique was then adopted by the majority of potters and was still in at the time of the fall of Byzantium nearly 20 centuries later.
Heroic00 . 7y ago Mary Elizabeth Bowser. She was a spy in the Confederate Whitehouse (working as a servant) and leaked a bunch of stuff to the Union. Jefferson Davis knew there was a spy, but never suspected her because she was black.
SomebodyintheMidwest. . 7y ago Not very obscure, but Yi Sun-Shin was a Korean admiral that, with a combination of factors, completely and almost single-handedly halted the Japanese invasion of Korea and destroyed a significant portion of the Japanese navy with only a handful of ships.
TheCatfinch 7y ago Edited 7y ago Tokugawa leyasu This man was allergic to death and had a talent for surviving where no one else would have. After a battle between his army and that of Takeda Shingen's (another cool dude to look into) Tokugawa made it back to his castle with 5 soldiers. FIVE! So you know what he does to repell the massive army of thousands of soldiers? They light every single torch on the wall and while pounding a massive drum, they throw open the gates of the fortress. This is such a ballsy move that Takeda thinks
7y ago Vasil Levski, Bulgarian revolutionary during the final decades of the Ottoman Empire. Used disguises to evade capture for years and created an elaborate autonomous government that angered Ottoman and Bulgarian overlords alike, including a mail service and constitution. Until him, most anti-Ottoman antagonists used guerrilla warfare, but he saw the need to develop a stable government to take over after Ottoman rule. When he was captured he absolutely refused to name any of his со- conspirators and suffered greatly for it before he was finally hung outside of Sofia. Не had the kind of foresight rare in
. 7y ago Here is your new favourite hero: Witold Pilecki. Не infiltrated the Auschwitz concentration camp and disguised himself as an inmate in order to produce a report on the mass murder happening. Не managed to escape at night, overpowering a guard and cutting a phone line. Unfortunately he was executed on false accusations after the war. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold Pilecki
Joetato 7y ago This one depends where you live. He's well known in Japan, but not so much outside it. Saito Musashibo Benkei, normally just called Benkei, was awesome. He's the subject of much Japanese folklore, and it's sometimes hard to tell what really happened and what is a story. Не was a fighter of great skill and loyalty. Не spent time as a ascetic monk and a warrior. One of his life goals was to take 1000 sword from 1000 samurai. He'd wander Kyoto at night looking for samurai. Не carried seven different weapons on his back (I feel
ptsfn54a a 7y ago A Soviet woman, Mariya Oktyabrskaya_ In 1941 the Nazis killed her husband, so she sold everything they owned, petitioned Stalin to allow her to buy a fricken tank and join the front line. She named it Fighting Girlfriend and in her first action killed about 30 nazis and took out an anti-tank gun by herself.
ThatPoleCat . 7y ago Jack Churchill AKA Mad Jack was a British Officer that carried nothing but: a Broadsword, Longbow, and Bagpipes into WW2
RandisHolmes . 7y ago . Edited 7y ago Lucrezia Tornabuoni. She married into the Medici banking family and basically ran the whole show. She ran operated the family business and politics. Later, she was also the chief advisor to her son Lorenzo the Magnificent, and in my humble opinion, the most competent family member. She also sponsored Renaissance art and wrote poetry and plays
7y ago Edited 7y ago Bertha Benz. When Karl Benz created his Motorwagen, in 1886, no one really cared about it. Until his wife took the car herself and with their two sons, went on a 66 miles trip to visit her mother. Thus becoming the first woman who drove a car, and the first person who drove a car for more than 100 km. Not only she had to solve several mechanical problems along the way, she and her sons also had to push the car ocasionally when it got stuck in the muddy road and on steep
7y ago Ching Shih Probably the most successful pirate of all time a pirate leader who terrorized the China Seas during the Jiaqing Emperor period of the Qing dynasty. in the early 19th-century. She commanded over 300 junks (traditional Chinese sailing_ships) manned by 20,000 to 40,000 pirates[11:71-men, women, and even children. She entered into conflict with the major nations, such as the British Empire, the Portuguese Empire, and the Qing_dynasty.[21 - Wikipedia She died a free woman on her own bed.
Limp_Distribution 7y ago Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 - 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general- purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is sometimes regarded as the first to recognise the full potential of a computing machine and one of the first computer programmers.

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