5 Nobodies Who Rose To The Heights Of Power

for most of history the highest positions in society were bar to all but those of noble birth however every sub often the Wheel of Fate would show that it could raise men up from the humblest of beginnings just as easily as it could crush those at the top resulting in incredible tales of rags to riches were the most unlikely people overcame the disadvantage of birth and obtained more power than anyone could have thought possible thanks to a combination of ability tenacity and a healthy dose of luck era 5 men who beat the odds and rose to the very heights of power number 5 I Velo the cabbage few men in history have experienced life at both the lowest depths and loftiest heights of society yet in the early 13th century a mysterious Bulgarian peasant showed the world that a man could overcome his birth no matter how humble rising to the rank of Emperor as he made his mocking detractors eat their words displaying incredible charisma and military mastery on the battlefield as he simultaneously drove back the encroaching Mongol hordes while repeatedly crushing formidable armies sent to topple him by the mighty Byzantine Empire nicknamed the cabbage to ridicule his humble origins he would show the jeering elites that he was no mere peasant to be mocked personally slaying the Bulgarian Tsar on the field of battle seizing his crown and even marrying his widow yet despite leading perhaps the most successful peasant revolt in history Emperor Ivaylo of Bulgaria remains relatively unknown to the wider world his motivations and deeds shrouded in mystery like the majority of Europe's population at the time my Veiler was born into life as a simple peasant forced to spend his days enduring back-breaking labor for meeker rewards the kind of grinding borderline existence that made life hard but made men harder a trait that would serve him well in the trials to come yet despite such humble origins Ivaylo could not shake the sense that a greater destiny awaited him and he a set of experienced religious themed divisions which harbinger his accomplishment of legendary deeds that would rid Bulgaria of all her troubles and in the 13th century troubles were one thing that Bulgaria possessed in abundance in addition to the usual hardships of the time such as disease poverty famine and internal unrest her people were plagued by devastating raids carried out by rampaging hordes of Mongols in the North incursions that the Bulgarian nobility proved powerless to stop meanwhile in the south the mighty Byzantine Empire persisted with the continual meddling in Bulgaria's internal affairs to the detriment of her native population with ordinary Bulgarians bearing the brunt of this dual menace and with the kingdoms governing elites unable or unwilling to throw back the invaders it appears as though I've a low decided that enough was enough if the nobility were unwilling to take action in the defence of the Bulgarian people then he would avail Oh was no ordinary peasant and his personal charisma coupled with claims that he was in direct contact with heaven quickly attracted a huge number of followers amongst the disaffected populace inhabiting the Bulgarian countryside for it was they who had suffered most at the hands of the Mongols looting the homeland perceived by his army of followers as a holy Savior directly anointed by God by 1277 ad the time was right to finally convert words into action and Ivaylo led his inexperienced peasant army against the formidable might of the Mongolian Raiders who for so long had ravaged their lands against all the odds this seemingly untrained and ill-equipped force of farmers inflicted several decisive defeats on the Mongol Raiders and by the autumn of 1277 Bulgarian territory had finally been cleansed of all Mongol occupation the upstart rebel leader mockingly labelled as the cabbage by his so-called betters due to his low birth at eaving a feat that had eluded the Bulgarian nobility for decades in the wake of his incredible victories my vales popularity amongst ordinary Bulgarians soared to Newfound heights with many hailing him as the rightful Emperor after all how could the existing Tsar Constantine claim legitimacy when he had barely lift a finger to protect his people from the ravages of the Mongol Raiders nevertheless the reigning Bulgarian Tsar did not take kindly to being upstaged by a man of such low birth and at the end of the year he personally marched out to meet Ivaylo on the field of battle hoping to crush the rebellion once and for all and restore the status quo yet tsar constantine wasn't the first man to underestimate i fail at the cabbage and he wouldn't be the last buoyed by their incredible victories over the mongols the peasant army attacked and crushed the royal bulgarian army in a dramatic battle which saw avaylo personally cut down the tsar who thought himself immune from harm atop his golden chariot with the leader dead on the blood-soaked earth the remaining royalist forces switched sides flocking to the banners of the seemingly invincible cabbage and the peasant rebel soon took control of most of Bulgaria with just the capital city of Tarnovo holding out under the control of the deceased czars widowed Empress Maria yet the Mongols were not avail only threat as the chaos was unfolding the perfidious Byzantines to the south were watching on with interest Emperor Michael the 8th saw an opportunity to install a puppet Tsar of his own choosing upon the Bulgarian throne and thus bring his neighbor further within his sphere of influence the chosen man was Ivan the son of an earlier Bulgarian Emperor who currently resided in Byzantium Emperor Michael the 8th married his daughter to Ivan to cement their alliance and after receiving a satisfactory Pledge of Allegiance proclaimed him as Emperor Ivan the 3rd of Bulgaria the Byzantines dispatched enormous gifts to the Bulgarian Nobles to buy the support for Ivan and incited the Mongols to recommence their raids on the Bulgarian north while diplomats were dispatched to Tarnovo to arrange for the surrender of the widowed empress maria who was currently being besieged by the cabbage at the same time ivan simultaneously stormed into bulgaria at the head of a potent Byzantine army to finally rid his new kingdom of the upstart rebels with the nobility rapidly turning against him that in fact rival emperor at his throat the mongols once again pillaging the countryside and with the capital still under the control of the previous emperors widowed things looked bleak for ivaylo however he would once again improve his resilience and show his enemies that he was not to be underestimated in an unlikely turn of events the widowed empress maria offered her hand in marriage to ivailo the man who had slain her husband after realizing that her sons claim to the throne would not receive support from the byzantine puppet emperor keen for this added sense of legitimacy my Velo accepted her proposal and entered Tarnovo where he was officially proclaimed emperor of bulgaria yet there was little time for the cabbage to revel in his newfound laurels almost immediately he marshaled his forces and marched against the byzantine banged pretender to his throne winning a series of improbable victories despite being massively outnumbered with his old enemies the mongols ravaging defenseless towns and villages unchecked he turned north to once again put an end to the looting however the army he encountered was no simple raiding party and he found himself trapped at the fortress of drast star for several months during which time the Bulgarian nobility spread false rumors of his death leading to the gates of the capital being thrown open to his rifle Ivan stranded in the occupied capital my fellows new bride Maria was captured and exiled to Constantinople along with her young son however the cabbage still refused to give in and during the spring of 1279 he carried out a dramatic escape smashing through the encircling Mongol lines and returning to besieged the Bulgarian capital where he inflicted yet another defeat on the meddling Byzantines who attempted to rescue the puppet leaving the force Emperor Ivan trapped in his capital with no more aid from his humiliated masters in Constantinople forthcoming ivan fled the city however the stubborn bulgarian nobles refused to open the gates dive a low perhaps still resenting his peasant origins instead electing yet another emperor in the form of the fleeing Ivan's brother-in-law despite inflicting legendary defeat on both the Mongols and Byzantines Ivaylo was still unable to unify the country under his leadership and weary of continual war with no end in sight his support base began to wither away the ordinary man who made up the bulk of his army abandoning the cabbage and returning to their farms by 1280 ivailo is remarkable but short-lived rain was coming to an end just as suddenly as it had begun and reduced to a shadow of his former power he was forced to flee into exile approaching the court of his old enemy the mongol warlord no Chi Khan fade yet the cabbage could not escape the Byzantine emperors vengeful reach and bearing a burning grudge against the peasant who had humiliated him on multiple occasions Michel the Eighth sent the car in a vast sum of treasure and the hand of one of his illegitimate daughters in marriage in exchange for I've a loes life a trade which the Mongol gladly accepted on ceremoniously ordering I've a Lowe's execution during a feast for the crime of being an enemy of his newfound father-in-law thus ending the story of one of the most accomplished but forgotten men in history number 4 basil the first the tale of a penniless peasant escaping a life of slavery before rising to become the most powerful man on earth might sound like a work of fiction or the plot line to a Hollywood movie however although the ascent of basil the first sounds almost unbelievable it remains no less true his meteoric rise to the very heights of power a demonstration of how talent hard work scheming and a dash of utter ruthlessness can elevate a man no matter how humble his origins gifted a fortune by a mysterious female benefactor the young basil would catch the eye of the reigning emperor winning his favour and friendship and even marrying his mistress before ultimately turning on his friend and adoptive father murdering him in cold blood and seizing his throne in a disturbing example of how even the strongest bonds can be corrupted by jealousy and unfettered ambition yet despite his rise to power being rooted in murder and betrayal basil the first become one of byzantium greatest emperors his dynasty proving to be one of the longest surviving in the Empire's history born into a peasant family in the Byzantine province of Macedonia in 811 AD at the age of just two years old basil and his entire family were captured and enslaved by the king of Bulgaria khan krum such a calamity would have crushed an ordinary man and it must have seemed as though a brutal and short life of abuse and toil lay ahead of him however by some incredible stroke of luck when he was 25 he undertook a daring escape fleeing servitude with a group of Greek captives and finding sanctuary in Thrace lands held and protected by the might of the Byzantine Empire penniless and alone in the world basil couldn't have had worse odds of becoming emperor standing more chance of an early death in some backstreets gutter than a life on the imperial throne however once again the fate would smile upon him by simple chance he gained employment as a groom in the service of a man with royal connections and while carrying out his duties somehow managed to gain the attentions and favor of a wealthy high-society widow who became his patron the kind of financial backing that would fuel that meteoric rise that lay ahead of him yet his most beneficial connection was made during a simple wrestling competition having already gained the reputation of his formidable strength basil was said to have interrupted a match to challenge the reigning champion a Bulgarian a man whom he would have understandably held a grudge against due to his previous enslavement by the clan of Bulgaria in front of a huge watching crowd that contained none other than the Emperor himself basil crushed the Bulgarian champion to the deafening roars of approval from his Byzantine compatriots risen to the level of national hero for his impressive performance he soon became the Emperor's bodyguard trusted companion and close friend and as a strange sign of this newfound friendship was ordered to marry Emperor Michael's favorite mistress Basil's new wife would bear him a son named Leo hub of a reneging question regarding who the boy's father was rapidly answer eat away at his relationship with the Emperor and he couldn't escape the feeling that the marriage was little more than a sham to keep Emperor Michels illegitimate son close by regardless of the child's parentage basil was not prepared to go back to life as a wandering peasant and the next bloody step on his journey would see his star rise even further the precise details concerning exactly what happened are open to interpretation but it seems as though basil either uncovered or outright faked a plot by the Emperor's encore to assassinate Michael the third and usurp his throne outraged by this perceived betrayal by such a close family member the Emperor ordered his uncle to be executed and wishing to show himself as ever the loyal friend it was basil who carried out the state sanctioned killing with the Emperor's powerful uncle out of the way basil was adopted into the imperial family as Michael's son and promoted to the position of Co emperor has reward for his faithful service however this elevation meant that an ambitious man who was potentially capable of cold-blooded murder was now just one step away from the throne whether the Emperor was merely blind to the danger or simply overconfident in his ability to deal with his ambitious friend he had now painted a target on his own back basil soon discovered that a man's affections could be fleeting and when the Emperor began to favor another courtier jealousy and fear inspired him into insidious action to secure his future the Emperor's drunken threats to replace basil with a new co Emperor proving to be the last straw and sealing his fate with the Emperor engaged in one of his frequent alcohol-fueled parties basil tampered with the doors of his personal chambers to prevent them from locking correctly when the Emperor finally retired for the night basil and several accomplices gained entry without being detected and put both Emperor Michael and his new favorite courtier to the sword brutally cutting them down in an attack so frenzied that it's set to have left for the murdered Emperor's body with both hands severed with Michael the third slain basil automatically became the sole ruling and and it's a testament to the departed my cause unpopularity that there was virtually no consequences for basel despite having committed regicide the political elites and ordinary citizens of the empire happy to be rid of a man they had nicknamed the drunkard yet the reign of basil the first proved to be just as surprising as his ascension to power he might think that a man who had obtained the crown through betrayal and murder would prove to be a tyrant half of his 19 years on the throne was marked by competence and success despite possessing no formal education or administrative experience a series of brilliant military campaigns restored much of the Byzantine empires ailing power and influence seeing her forces return to southern Italy and the Adriatic while in the East the ever rising tide of the Saracens was pushed back at home a massive program of repairs and Public Works restored Constantinople to something resembling its former glory however it was his creation of a code of laws known as the Basilica that would have the farthest-reaching effect the new codified legal system governing the Empire until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 some 600 years later Basil's demise proved to be just as theatrical as his life but perhaps less regal than he would have liked the aging Emperor succumbing to a fever contracted following a hunting accident which saw him caught in the antlers of a deer that is said to have tracked him 16 miles through the woods one of his final acts as Emperor being to order the killing of the attendant who cut him loose for daring to bear a knife in his presence number three John Hawkwood the Crown's and titles of kingship are often merely a facade concealing the true power lurking behind the throne a more subtle and discrete form of power that can be sofa middle that even Kings must bend to his will while most ambitious men are drawn to status and fame just as much as they are wealth and power some are content to let others take the limelight confident in the knowledge that it is they who were pulling the strings and filling their pockets in the process one such man an English mercenary captain named John Hawkwood who despite being lowborn and illiterate would elevate himself to untold riches accumulating a vast fortune thanks to his formidable skill in battle honed over decades of brutal warfare the immense wealth and influence he obtained a striking demonstration of the power that mercenary companies held in medieval Europe rampaging soldiers of fortune who were essentially armed gangs for hire to the highest bidder these hardened killers wildung their unique talents to often make themselves richer than the nobles who employed them as a captain of one of these mercenary companies awkward would earn and often outright extort sums of money greater than the Treasuries of entire nation-states in doing so becoming more powerful than most Kings could dream of with the fates and fortunes of Republic's and kingdoms rising or falling based upon which side of a conflict he chose to represent on the battlefield while no slave or peasant John Hawkwood nevertheless came from an unremarkable background born in an English village in around 1323 to ordinary parents and experiencing no great clarity's or hardships in his youth it was on track for a predictable but mundane existence said perhaps it's no surprise that he Hunger to escape the monotony and safety of his early life sensing that his fortunes lay further afield he left his home village and moved to the city of London to begin training as a tailor however perhaps dissatisfied with this line of work he soon joined up with the English army and departed for the battlefields of France at that time the Hundred Years War was raging between England and France as both nations Kings fought for control of the French throne each side believing that their claim was the legitimate one such a prolonged period of war had put both kingdoms on a war footing for so long that it was rare to find a man without any kind of military experience a situation that was a boon during wartime but a serious problem during the conflicts frequent bouts of peace with the signing of an extended truce in 1360 thousands of battle-hardened English soldiers found them Sir out of work almost overnight the life of war they had led for so long leaving them ill-equipped for civilian life like so many of his brothers in arms the longbowmen John Hawkwood faced the depressing prospect of returning home to nothing his deadly skills no longer required by the crown he had served so faithfully unwilling or simply unable to go back to their old lives a huge number of these experienced killers refused to disperse and leave France instead fragmenting into small gangs of bandits that wandered the French countryside pillaging plundering and extorting their way to riches yet these unemployed soldiers soon discovered that although their talents were no longer required by their former pay masters in London the murderous skills they had learned and honed on the battlefields of France were still highly sought after in other parts of Europe now calling themselves free companies these wandering bands of unemployed soldiers formed private armies for hire realizing that their trade in death was far more lucrative when entered into on their own terms their activities on countless French battlefields serving as resumes of blood to potential employers elsewhere on the continent after all why fight for a king when you can fight for yourself and in doing so make yourself as richest a king it was in Italy that the most lucrative opportunities awaited men of Hawkwood skill at that time Italy was a chaotic patchwork of rival kingdoms Republic's and city-states that were engaged in a near constant struggle for survival and supremacy short on manpower but packing plenty of cash the italians almost exclusively used mercenary companies over national armies preferring foreign troops who had no ties or loyalties to any one faction this hotbed of never-ending conflict was the perfect place for men like Hawkman and thousands of experienced veterans came flooding in from across Europe in search of their fortune the resulting free companies they formed delighted to find no shortage of wealthy customers eager to purchase the particular set of skills these ready-made battle-tested armies the perfect solution for ambitious men who needed large numbers of troops at short notice unwilling to return home to a normal life and unemployment awkward joined up with the white company in eastern France after his longbow unit was disbanded after some minor actions in France the band of mercenaries crossed into Italy in 1361 and thanks to a combination of ability tactical brilliance and shrewd manipulation awkward was elected captain General in January 1364 placing the entire company under his sole command true to their craft awkward and the white company would fight for anyone with enough coin and their years in Italy would see them fight for numerous often competing factions including Milan Florence and even the Pope the formidable English longbow coupled with tactics perfected on the many battlefields of France deployed with devastating effect famed for the speed of his manoeuvring and discipline of his troops John Hawkwood became perhaps the most powerful mercenary leader in Europe and it's a testament to his reputation that he was often paid by States not to participate in a battle the employer content to deny his rifle access to the white company's services awkward ran his army for hire like any other independent private corporation the soldiers of fortune acting entirely in their own best interests without the burdens of loyalty or Allegiance and he became well known for flouting contracts disobeying his clients and even switching sides in a war falling in line with whichever state best served his own goals by serving no man but himself he made vast sums of money becoming wildly popular with the rank-and-file who saw their fortunes rise beyond anything they could have imagined under their captains astute leadership by the time he was 60 years old awkward had accumulated land holdings in both Italy and England amassing the kind of fortune that rival Ward even the most powerful medieval rulers often raking in as much as eighty thousand florins annually to put this into perspective a skill Hort Italian craftsman might expect to earn just 30 florins a year although he held no crown he had as much wealth and military power as any King yet even a man who rose to such Heights could not escape the whims of fate and he would die in Italy in 1394 before his planned returned to England for retirement much of the vast wealth he accumulated lost his family after outbreaks of the plague erased most of the land registers that proved his ownership number two Diocletian it has been said that cometh the hour cometh the man and in the very men empires greatest time of need such a maxim was proven accurate as a determined leader rose from insignificance to put the decaying Empire back on course this unknown son of a former slave ascending to the heights of power in a story that is one of the ultimate examples of a man rising from rags to riches thanks to his unstoppable will steely personality and administrative genius his 21-year long reign securing the Empire's crumbling borders purging its internal and external threats and reversing a seemingly terminal decline the unlikely emergence of Emperor Diocletian from the shadows of obscurity becoming a defining moment in Roman and world history born into a family of former slaves in modern-day croatia much of diocletian's early life is now lost to history however like many other ambitious men with humble beginnings he enlisted in the roman army at a young age well aware that a military career was the best path for raising one station in Roman society with dedication skill and a healthy dose of good fortune a man could attain glory for Rome and thus himself trading on his laurels to obtain rank and position that brought with it great power and wealth Diocletian adapted well to army life and his competence in military matters saw him rise rapidly through the ranks his martial exploits even catching the eye of Emperor Karras who promoted him to commander of the cavalry arm of the imperial bodyguard a prestigious role that cornered widespread respect amongst the rank and file of the Roman army the kind of mass support that was about to prove itself highly valuable in the turmoil to come it was in 283 ad the diocletian's life charted a course that even he would have thought unimaginable just months before while campaigning against the Persians Emperor Karras mysteriously died with some accounts suggesting he was struck by a bolt of lightning however the power vacuum his passing left behind was immediately filled by his two sons who declared themselves to be Co emperors of the empire new Marion ruling in the East and Karen s in the West yet knew Marion's reign in the East would prove short-lived and while traveling in a closed carriage away from prying eyes he is believed to have been assassinated exactly who murdered the new Eastern Emperor is unclear yet what is known as the man who shouldered the blame the late knew Marion's generals and Tribune's called an emergency meeting to choose a new emperor the candid men opting to elect the highly popular Diocletian over the late Emperor's Praetorian prefect and father-in-law arias Abba an ambitious man who essentially signed his own death warrant with his failed attempt to challenge Diocletian for power is maneuvering to garner support for election falling on deaf ears with the entire army gathered to witness Diocletian accept his imperial title the newly proclaimed Emperor announced that it was a per who murdered new Marion in the hopes of ascending to the throne in his son in law's place in full view of the watching soldiers Diocletian unsheathed his sword and ran it through Abbas chest before he had had a chance to answer the charges leveled against him this summary execution conveniently silencing a testament that may have implicated Diocletian in the murder plot although potential opposition in the east was now disposed of diocletian's power remained limited to the areas occupied by his forces and a far more powerful rival remained in the West in the form of Coronis the sole surviving brother of new Marion and son of the former emperor Carrie Nassau control of his dead brothers portion of the Empire has nothing less than his birthright and refused to recognize the legitimacy of this election of a mere Imperial bodyguard in the east it was now only a matter of time before East and West met on the field of battle to decide whose claim would prevail after dealing with a rebellion in northern Italy Karen s finally moved the East to crush Diocletian and his supporters once and for all the two forces meeting at the Battle of the Margus with Karen s in control of a larger more formidable army the battle should have been little more than a formality however the Western emperor was unpopular with his men and had made the fatal mistake of alienating his officers by publicly mistreating them and even seducing their wives in the myths of battle Karen s was slaughtered by his discontented troops and his remaining forces immediately defected to Diocletian side the son of a freed slave was now left in sole control of the entire Roman Empire he had despite becoming the most powerful man in the world now was no time to sit back and enjoy the privileges of his new rank Diocletian had inherited an empire in terminal decline her borders are sorted by enemies on all fronts with inflation spiraling out of control and the imperial treasury all but empty with time against him Diocletian set to work on the superhuman task of stabilizing and rejuvenating an empire in ruin realizing that internal strife had been the prime cause of the Empire's woes he moved the Institute of rule of four known as the Tetrarchy appointing a loyal friend as Co emperor in the West while he would remain as ruler of the East each man appointing a trusted Junior Emperor beneath them who would take over in the event of their deaths prior to this ruler for Rome had been plagued by assassinations and civil wars as warring factions vie to fill the lucrative power vacuum an imperial death created these destructive internal conflicts threatened to consign the Empire to the pages of history and it was hoped that four Emperor's would provide a more stable framework for the future diocletian's 21 year reign also saw the implementation of massive administrative economic and military reforms that would transform Rome from a threatened withering shadow of its former glory into a confident energetic and growing state is competent time at the helm perhaps adding several centuries to the Empire's span the army was doubled in size to deal with the existential threats present at every corner of the Empire as mass conscription z' were introduced along with a law that forced the sons of soldiers to enlist when they came of age instantly creating a Marshall class in society and thus a huge supply of fresh manpower to be incorporated into the legions manpower that was desperately needed to purge the ever-growing number of enemies Rome had accumulated a new administrative system was implemented to rein in the farthest flung outposts of the empire which had been becoming increasingly autonomous and independent minded the 50 existing provinces split into 100 while each of the 12 regions of the Empire were appointed prefect who reported directly to Rome forging continuity and creating a centralized link that brought all areas of the Empire no matter how remote directly under Diocletian supervision this larger army and bureaucracy would need to be funded by equally large increases in tax revenues taxation was thus reformed standardized and levied at significantly higher rates giving the state the larger budget required while the economy was put back on track with the issuance of a new currency that consisted of gold and silver coinage of far greater purity immediately rectifying the rampant inflation earlier to basements of the Empire's currency had unleashed yet perhaps just as surprising as his unlikely ascent to the throne was the fact that Diocletian also became the first Roman Emperor to voluntarily give up his immense power abdicating his position after a bout of ill health and spending his twilight years in retirement tending to his vegetable garden where he also became one of the few Roman emperors to enjoy a natural death born into a peasant family so poor that several of his siblings were given away due to lack of food it must have seemed to the young Zhu Yuanzhang that the entire world was his enemy as even nature conspired against him his remaining family members cruelly wiped out by a deadly combination of plague famine and floods yet a life beset by unbearable misfortune and suffering could not break the spirit of a man who would rise from the lowliest of origins to author the destiny of an entire nation in fact such turbulent origins merely served to forge him into a determined man of steel who would drive out the seemingly invincible Mongol hordes who had subjugated his people unifying all of China and his sole control and forming the Ming Dynasty this nobody who was once forced to become a wandering beggar just to stay alive now sitting upon the imperial throne his every desire satisfied his every wish granted China during the early 14th century was a land in turmoil the devastating Mongol invasions of the previous century had overthrown her people's entire world order at a cost of millions of lives and outsiders now are dominated every area of authority the passing of time had not dampened the Chinese people's burning resentment at the calamity inflicted upon them by the steppe nomads whom they viewed as savage barbarians and the Yuan Dynasty the Mongols created to rule China was deeply unpopular this dissatisfaction coupled with a series of crippling natural disasters had left the ordinary Chinese peasant in a miserable situation rebellions became more frequent and widespread and the huge cost of stamping out this spreading unrest caused immense financial problems for the government leaving them unable or simply unwilling to deal with the ephah growing bands of wandering outlaws and rebels pillaging the countryside as their troubles grew and the influence waned the Mongol power structure entered a death spiral this was an empire in its final years it was into this chaotic world that a peasant named zhu Yangzhou was born in another time line he would have simply spent his life working the fields and raising a family no different to the hundreds of millions of other peasant farmers who populated the sprawling Chinese Empire however you and Jiang was destined for greater things his fate shaped by the unimaginable torments of his youth with large-scale famines ravaging the land his parents were simply unable to obtain enough food to feed all of their eight children facing starvation they made the heartbreaking decision to give several of their children away to more fortunate families in a desperate attempt to ensure the survival of their remaining offspring yet even this extreme act would not be enough to stave off catastrophe and an especially severe drought destroyed the remaining crops wiping out the remaining family members until just you and Jiang and a sole surviving brother were left the young men forced to endure the harrowing task of burying the emaciated corpses of their parents and siblings destitute and alone in the world the orphaned yuan Jiang joined a nearby monastery in the hopes of avoiding a similar fate to his deceased relatives however even the monks had been unable to escape the famine and lacked the supplies to feed him facing starvation and death he left the monastery and became a wandering beggar traveling from village to village in search of whatever scraps of food he could forage his time on the road lasting several long years and teaching him that he was not alone in his hardships his journey allowing him to witness firsthand the immense suffering the common people endured in his early 20s he returned to the monastery however once more disaster would strike troops belonging to the ruling yuan dynasty attacked and destroyed his new adopted home while suppressing a local rebellion once again leaving him homeless for you and Jiang this was the last straw perhaps blaming the authorities for all of the cumulative suffering he had experienced in his short life he decided to take action and joined up with a local rebel force that was engaging in a growing insurrection against the Mongol Yuan Dynasty China had seen count revolts rise and fall since the coming of the Mongols however the severity of the recent famines and natural disasters had made the situation for ordinary peasants unbearable and the government's lack of any effective response to the root causes of their people's problems led to virtually all popular support a being away multiple rebel groups emerged across China the armed bands of peasants fighting government forces and each other for supremacy you an Jiang possessed an innate talent for leadership and amongst the chaos of war heroes rapidly through the ranks eventually gaining control over his entire rebel force by 1355 after conquering nanjing a year later he made the city his military capital and over the next ten years gradually spread his influence across China defeating rival rebel groups and Mongol government forces eventually driving the foreigners back to the far north of the empire by 1368 he had taken Beijing where he declared himself the first emperor of his newly formed Ming Dynasty a dynasty that would rule for the next 300 years and by 1383 all of China had fallen under UN Jang's control the man who was once a starving hobo now ranked amongst the most powerful men on earth his thirty year reign would be won characterized by ambivalence on one hand he enacted widespread reforms aimed at improving the lives of the peasant class reducing their taxes protecting the property rights and banning private slavery yet at the same time his paranoia and violent nature led to the deaths of tens of thousands of loyal and innocent subjects men who have often friends and old brothers in arms perishing in brutal purges for the crime of being in some way connected with an accused conspirator his newly formed secret police acting as judge jury and executioner against anyone suspected of even a shred of disloyalty so those are my choices for five nobodies who rose to the heights of power let me know who else he would have included in the list in the comments below and I'll see you again on the next video

Channel: Unknown5

Views: 219,837

Rating: 4.8892679 out of 5

Keywords: Diocletian, Zhu Yuanzhang, John Hawkwood, Ivaylo The Cabbage, history, documentary, historical videos, top 5, top 10, entertainment, education, byzantine empire, documentaries

Id: 18OdW3BOFXY

Length: 39min 20sec (2360 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 20 2020