Been playing a spot of Civilization VI lately. Its final expansion came out a while ago and work seems to be underway on Civ VII, which made me think of some potential leader changes.
I disliked a few for historical inaccuracy in VI. Victoria was not Queen of the English, but the British (especially daft as if they wanted a female English leader then Elizabeth I is an obvious candidate). Saladin wasn’t Arabic, he was Kurdish (although he did reign over Arabs so this is more accurate, although ironic).
On the flipside, I was surprised and pleased they went with
Basil II for the Byzantine Empire (which should be the Eastern Roman Empire)
and Trajan over Caesar for Rome.
My experience with the main Civ games is VI and II (which came out around 1999 or thereabouts). So it’s entirely possible that I’ll be mentioning people who had leader roles before.
France – Philip Augustus
I’ve never actually read books specifically on French history (excepting the Albigensian Crusade) but reading English medieval history does necessarily involve a lot of French stuff, mostly in warfare. I’ve always quite liked Philip Augustus, whose shrewd approach brilliantly exploited the admittedly open goal of Henry II’s familial infighting to great effect (and he came very close to actually conquering England). Less flashy or well-known than Napoleon but he was critical to the long term success of France as a nation.
England - Aethelstan
The grandson of Alfred the Great, Aethelstan was the first man who could claim to be king of all England. Building on the foundations of his father and grandfather, he won crucial victories, particularly Brunanburh against a coalition of enemies. This cemented a unified England, bringing together the Anglo-Saxon people.
Macedonia - Philip II
Alexander the Great still looms large in the public consciousness, and it’s easy to see why. But his father has been somewhat neglected by comparison. When Philip II became king his land was poor, wracked with war, and weak. Through astonishing military innovations (he was inspired by spending time at Thebes and witnessing Epaminondas’ success against the Spartans) he transformed the Macedonian armed forces from pretty feeble to the most powerful army in the world. He was also well along planning the invasion of Asia until he suffered an unfortunate bout of assassination. I think this is the least likely change to occur, but Macedonian history does have great men beyond Alexander and the foremost of these is Philip II.
Rome - Aurelian
Aurelian is one of those chaps almost nobody’s ever heard of but when they learn of what he did it’s impossible not to be impressed. When he took the purple the Empire had split into three, with the Gallic Empire of Gaul, Iberia, and Britannia in the west and the Palmyrene Empire breaking away in the east. He stitched the empire back together when it could have collapsed two centuries earlier than the western portion did, and along the way won victories over numerous barbarian tribes. (I’d change the name to the Western Roman Empire as well, and have the Byzantine Empire as the Eastern Roman Empire).
Carthage - Hannibal
Carthage is a free city in Civ VI (Dido is leader of Phoenicia). This is something of a travesty given how powerful Carthage was and how Hannibal is the greatest antagonist Rome ever faced. Who first crossed the Alps, in winter, in the face of hostile tribes? Who annihilated the Romans at Trasimene and Cannae? Who survived a decade in hostile territory, without defeat? Who would have won if it weren’t for that political lickspittle Hanno? Bring back Hannibal!
Thaddeus
