What historical personalities were obsessed with, and how it affected the destinies of states

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Power and fame can literally drive a person crazy. Throughout history, there have been many influential people who have had very strange quirks. And it is not at all surprising that in some of them these eccentric habits manifested themselves in dangerous manias and not only.

1. The king of Prussia was possessed by giants

Frederick William I ruled Prussia from 1713 until his death in 1740. During this time, he increased the size of the Prussian army from thirty-eight thousand to more than eighty thousand people. In addition to growing general ranks, Frederick was also preoccupied with developing his personal regiment of unusually tall soldiers. These soldiers were officially known as the Great Grenadiers of Potsdam, better known as the Potsdam Giants. There was only one criterion that had to be met in order to join the ranks of the giants: a person had to be at least 183 centimeters tall. As soon as he got there, he was treated very well, fed the best food, paid impressive sums and equipped him with a comfortable, practical and beautiful uniform.

Often, most of the men and boys volunteered to join the regiment, but despite this, the possessed king had other ways of "recruiting". He often bought the tallest sons from the families, and those who with all their might resisted the will of the ruler, were eventually kidnapped and taken under total control. However, the leaders of other countries, in order to strengthen civil relations, sent the highest people to the king as an offering. But even this was not enough for Wilhelm. Haunted by his own ideas and obsessions, he tried his best to make these soldiers even taller, stretching them on a rack almost daily. Such experiments in most of their cases led to the fact that the soldier was simply crippled or even killed.

2. Juana I was obsessed with her late husband

Queen Juana I of Castile, often referred to as "Joan" or "Juana insane," was the daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Juana married Philip the Fair of Austria when she was still a teenager, and they had children shortly after. Philip increasingly cheated on his wife, which led Juana into fits of rage and despair, which further and further exacerbated her fragile mental health. When Philip died in 1506 at the age of twenty-eight, Juana's psychological condition deteriorated. They say that she caressed and kissed Philip's body and did not part with him until he was embalmed and buried in a monastery near Burgos.

Soon after, she opened the coffin again to look at it, kissing the feet of the deceased. The body and coffin followed her to Torquemada, guarded by armed guards, who were ordered to keep other women away from him. In addition to all this, the distraught woman went on other travels, carrying a coffin with her, until in 1509 she was taken into custody, imprisoned in a palace, where she spent the rest of her life.

3. Caligula was crazy about his horse

Guy Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Important! NOT to be confused with Guy Julius Caesar), the great ancient Roman commander and politician. These are different people who lived in different periods of time. Date and place of the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar: March 15, 44 BC, Rome) was better known as Caligula. He was one of those who belonged to the Julian-Claudian dynasty, and was also the Roman emperor from 37-41. from the Nativity of Christ. Caligula made his fair share of conflicting decisions, including incestuous relationships with his sisters.

But his love for his sisters paled in comparison with the love he had for his horse Incitatus. According to some historical accounts, Caligula gave the horse a marble stall and house, and even invited Incitatus to dinner, where he was fed oats mixed with golden flakes. Another rumor claims that the emperor made Incitatus consul, although this is disputed by historians.

4. Sultan Ibrahim and his "lump of sugar"

Ibrahim I was born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Fearing the usurpation of his throne, the elder brother of Ibrahim killed all his younger brothers, except for Ibrahim, because he did not pose any threat to him due to the lack of mental stability. Ibrahim I was obsessed with lust, had a large harem and ordered his people to look for a one-of-a-kind woman: the most obese, plump, who would be called a "cow" in the common people. As a result, they found such a woman and gave her a nickname, which literally translates as "sugar cube".

5. Ivan the Terrible loved to torture animals and people

Ivan IV (aka Ivan the Terrible) was crowned and proclaimed the first tsar of all Russia in 1547. He was an extremely paranoid ruler and obsessed with the idea of maiming and killing people. Despite the fact that Ivan tortured and killed many people throughout his adult life, his passion for violence began at an early age. As a child, he spent all his free time torturing small animals. Little Vanya caught birds and mutilated their bodies for fun, including pulling out bird feathers, gouging out their eyes and cutting their bodies, enjoying the process. He also found stray cats and dogs, lured them to him, and then threw them from high places, watching them break and still half-alive beat in agony and dying convulsions.

6. Russian Tsar Peter III loved to play with soldiers

Tsar Peter III was indeed born in Germany, but after his parents died, he was taken into the care of his aunt Elizabeth, Empress of Russia. Peter did not rule for long in the middle of the 18th century, until his wife Catherine the Great deprived him of power and he was killed. But before that, King Peter didn't seem to care about being a ruler because he just wanted to play with his toys - yes, his toys. According to reports including Katerna's memoir, he spent a lot of time setting up and playing with his toy soldiers instead of intimacy with his wife.

7. Louis XIV loved to give enemas

Louis XIV held the throne longer than any European monarch, ruling France for seventy-two years. Louis was known as the Sun King, but he had a tendency to stick things where the sun didn't shine. Like many other nobles in his day, Louis often used enemas, believing they were conducive to good health. According to rumors, obsessed with this idea, throughout his life he gave himself thousands of enemas. And according to one historical source, the water in enemas often contained a floral herbal decoction and smelled of rose, bergamot, or angelica.

8. Christian VII Danish was obsessed with touching himself

Christian VII became king of Denmark at the age of seventeen, despite his childish behavior and fits of insanity. The young ruler displayed many antisocial acts, but the most famous of them was his obsession with self-satisfaction. According to the stories of the royal physician (who had a long affair with the king's wife, Princess Caroline), the young man was a chronic masturbator. He handled so much that it prevented him from fulfilling his royal duties. Later experts believe that Christian VII's problems were actually caused by schizophrenia or porphyria.

9. Amalia of Bavaria had "glass delirium"

Alexandra Amalia was a princess of Bavaria in the middle of the 19th century. Princess Amalia was an eccentric woman with a love of literature, who produced many literary works. However, in addition to her obsession with writing, she had other strange hobbies. The princess most likely suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder and was obsessed with a cleanliness that went beyond the ordinary. She refused to wear any color other than white.

It is also worth mentioning that the woman was convinced that she had swallowed a glass piano: a similar mental disorder was called "glass delirium" or "glass delusion", from which other people have suffered, claiming that their bodies are made of glass. That is why Alexandra walked with great care, especially when passing through the doors, so as not to damage the piano inside or, God forbid, break it.

10. Napoleon loved licorice

Most people are aware of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French emperor and military leader who conquered most of Europe in the 1800s. Many famous facts and myths are known about Napoleon, but the person with the complex also had lesser-known quirks. One of them is his addiction to licorice. The man carried it with him wherever he went, and was rumored to eat it daily, and also used licorice for pleasure and treatment of a variety of ailments, using it in the form of lozenges. As a result, Napoleon ate so much licorice that his teeth turned black and it was, alas, impossible to regain their natural color.

11. Qin Shi Huang was determined to find the key to immortality

Qin Shi Huang founded the Qin Dynasty and is considered the first emperor of China. He had everything a mortal could dream of, and he was not ready to give up on it all. The great Chinese emperor spent most of his time, effort and money trying to find the key to eternal life.

Qin believed the ancient legend that in the middle of the sea there are three "mountains of spirits" that are inhabited by immortals. He sent search parties there to find the magic herb that gives immortality. The Emperor often drank elixirs and potions that he thought would prolong his life. These potions, created by alchemists, often contained jade and poisonous mercury, which most likely caused his death.

12. Fedor I loved to ring church bells

Fyodor I was the last tsar from the Rurik dynasty and the son of Ivan the Terrible, backward in development. Ivan and his father had two completely different ideas about a good pastime. Although Ivan the Terrible never gave up on good old-fashioned murder, his son preferred quieter ways of entertainment. Fedor was very religious and prayed often. He visited various churches and monasteries throughout the region, and his favorite pastime was ringing church bells to invite visitors to the church. As a result, this very strange hobby for the tsar firmly entrenched him with the nickname "Fyodor the bell-ringer".

13. Nero took great pleasure in killing Christians

Nero was a tyrannical and self-centered Roman emperor who took the throne at the age of sixteen. The young emperor had a weakness for art, sexual debauchery and murder. Nero was not particularly picky when it came to murder. He was willing to kill anyone, including (presumably) his mother, half-brother, and one of his wives. However, he took a special interest in the destruction of Christians.

In 64, Nero was accused of starting a great fire that destroyed most of Rome. But nowadays, historians believe that this was based more on hearsay than fact. Despite this, according to rumors, Nero quickly shifted the blame to the Christians and ordered them to be persecuted. He also took great pleasure in killing them, and was sadistically inventive in his methods of execution in relation to them. According to Tacitus, Nero executed Christians by crucifying them, feeding them to wild dogs, or burning them.

fourteen. Vlad III loved to impale people

Vlad III was the ruler of Wallachia in the 15th century and was known as Vlad the Impaler. He loved to pierce his enemies with stakes and leave their bodies on the ground.

But the murders didn't end there. Basarab also gutted, skinned and removed the heads of his victims while they were alive. After another successful victory over the Ottomans, Vlad impaled about twenty thousand people and left them outside the city of Targovishte to view the advancing Ottoman army. Seeing this terrible sight, the Sultan ordered his people to retreat to Constantinople. The classic story of Dracula is believed to be based on this Romanian sovereign.

15. King of Bavaria Ludwig II was very fond of building castles

Ludwig II became king before the age of twenty after the death of his father. He loved art, especially opera and theater. His love for castles and his desire to build them was most likely due to the fact that he grew up in the breathtaking Hohenschwangau Castle. Ludwig was inspired by the Palace of Versailles, the great Trianon in France and the romantic music of Wagner.

The king spent most of his time focusing on the design and construction of intricate fairytale castles. His creations include Linderhof Palace and Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, which may have been the model for Disney's Cinderella Castle. Ludwig also commissioned projects such as Herrenchiemsee, a partial copy of the Palace of Versailles, which was never completed.

Obsession is a terrible force that often leads to dire and sometimes completely irreversible consequences. However, this is a direct proof of this. After all, as it turned out, the Habsburgs had their own quirks and addictions, which, alas, played against them.