In your opinion what peoples since the fall of the Roman Empire is the most villainous?

Question

Since the fall of Rome, many peoples have appeared on the world stage, infamous for their villainy. Who among them, in your opinion, is the worst?

I personally vote for the Spanish Conquistadors.

Brice - I stated infamous. Many peoples had cultural practices that we now consider highly objectional. It all springs from their disregard of other cultures.

Ted K - I'm long past homework. So I guess you meant as a general statement.

Runs-on-coffee - You are doing what the purpose of the question is. Thinking of various peoples and the reason for their villainy. Their are many. Is it a commentary on man?

Answer 1

The English committed no more atrocities than the Scottish Picts did to the Britons before. They are in no way comparable to the Nazis. Though Edward I was a jerk. And the Boston Massacre was no worse than the treatment of the tribal groups the US dealt with either. Talk about hypocritical.

Why do you limit the question with the fall of Rome. So many of the good, fun answers are from Rome. Otherwise, it would be Hitler, Himmler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Ivan IV, Temujin, Innocent III, Vlad Dracula, and Elizabeth Bathory. Some people might put Saddam Hussein in the list too.

Answer 2

What a messed up question. You are asking which race of people were the most cruel and evil... It would be better to ask which government or political regieme was the most villainous.

But continuing on that. The Spanish gov't attempted genocide and expanded the inquisition to purify their country. But the people were pious.

England was imperialistic, but no more so than others... they were just good at it. And the Boston Massacre is your evidence of their evil? I can point to a few examples each week from around the globe that would make that look like a tea party... c'mon, don't blow your history out of proportion

The Crusaders had their mix of good people and socio paths ... wait.... I got an answer:

Religious Zealots: Those are the most villainous. Anyone who does horrible things to others because they say their god told them so or their god is better. That encompasses a lot of countries now still (and not just in the mid east..) as well as the Crusades, the purges in China, India, The Thirty Years War, Reformation, .... but I won't go on...

Answer 3

The Nazis.
...and the Mongols ( Kans ).

note: A recent study on the DNA of the Puerto Ricans ended with the conclusion that 60% of the people have Taino ancestry. The idea that the Spanish Conquistadores are completly evil came from the English/ American "World". Just look at South America and check the millions of indians living freely there including Evo Moralez the President of Bolivia. The English colonization (or aniquilation) was by far more barbaric the Spanish one.

Answer 4

For current situations,
I agree with deejay. As an US citizen, I think george w. bush and dick head cheney need to be tried for war crimes.
It is clear that the war was not with Saddam's regime. but rather based in Afghanistan immediately after 9/11.
Does that make Saddam untouchable...probably not, but we should have required the leaders to follow the same laws that the rest of us have to abide by. (O I am sorry here... the neocons don't make laws that they themselves have to follow)

In the broader picture, I would list the Assassins.
Founded by or within the Hashshashin. A militant religious muslim sect. The group was active from the 8th to the 14th centuries and were the forerunners of the militant muslims that are active today throughout the world.

A good albeit broad question.

Answer 5

Intriguing? That leaves a lot of time and place.... In my opinion I would say...Nazi, KKK, the Huns ma bye. I am not a History export, but depending on the view point America's Hiroshima could be, but then again..... The Vic kings. Pirates. Gun slingers of the old west ( Billy the Kid) I am sure their are many I am not even aware of. After I finish in another 6 years going to college. Possibly I could right an intelligent answer to you.

Answer 6

I dunno about the most villanous, but I'd say the most unbelievable were the Borgia family, an influential Spanish family during the Renaissance.
There was a three-way incest started by Roderic Bogia's (Pope Alexander VI) love for his highly intellectual and desirable daughter, who was already entangled in a love triangle with her two brothers, Cesare and Giovanni.
The pope and Cesare (who was attractive and devious himself) would marry her and remarry her (what with the power the pope had to annul marriages) to gain political alliances to the family.
As if the pope himself wasn't corrupt enough...

Answer 7

Peoples are not villainous. People are. To say otherwise is to paint with too broad a brush.

Not ALL Christian crusaders were evil. Not ALL of the Conquistadores were rotten. Not even ALL Germans were anti-semitic, xenophobic racists during WWII.

Answer 8

~In whose opinion? Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did a job in Cambodia, but that didn't effect me much. Don't shortchange the National Socialists of Germany and the job they did on the Slavs, Serbs, Poles and Jews. Surely the genocidal campaigns of the US Bureau of Indian Affairs deserves to be in the top 5. Then we have the neocon right wing "christian" bigots who are trying to murder free will and independent thought today. But, each of them were doing what they believed was 'right', 'just' and 'moral'. Does that make them villainous just because you disagree with their goals and their means of achieving them? I mean, it's a matter of point of view. The Islamic extremists who want to drown the Devil Uncle Sam in a sea of blood are only villainous to the folks on the receiving end - much like they feel about the villains who are trying to kill them and destroy their society and culture.

Probably the most barbaric act of the post Roman world was the dropping of Little Boy and Fat Man (most particularly the latter) in August '45. I won't bore you with the details here - you can click over to my profile and check the answers on the issue there to see why the bombs were absolutely unjustified, immoral, unnecessary and of no utility whatsoever in bring to conclusion the Pacific War.

Now, for pure villains, my vote goes to Charlie Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Pat Robinson, Richard Nixon and Bill O'Reilly

Answer 9

Nazis. A pretty swallow answer, I know, but it scares me the contempt and indifference they showed.
On the other hand, Israel is not doing much better.
And arabs integralists are folowing the same way.
Htred is contagious aparently.

Answer 10

America- if your going to be a bunch of greedy murderous, arrogant, ill informed imperialists then at least have the decency to come out and say so- leaders of the free world-when did we vote on that one, exactly? Call it what it is, dominators of the world in general. Theres something singularly annoying about those goal post shifting gimps- they want all the perks of being the bad guys, but want the good guy parade as they take it all home. GIMPS. And your beer and telly is crap.

Oh yeah, well done on winning the world series again...lol