We all know who the best generals were, but who were the best

File: Queen_Elizabeth_I_Feeds_the_Dutch_Cow.png (1008KB, 726x560px) Image search: [Google]

1008KB, 726x560px

>Philip II
m8...
I love the Habsburgs, but Philip II kind of completely fucked Spain.
Toledo, the Spanish Armada, the Netherlands, all entailed political and diplomatic fuck ups.

>This satirical painting depicts a cow which represents the Dutch provinces. King Philip II of Spain is vainly trying to ride the cow, drawing blood with his spurs. Queen Elizabeth is feeding it while William of Orange holds it steady by the horns. The cow is defecating on the Duke of Anjou, who is holding its tail.

>The picture was painted in the period following the visit of François, Duke of Anjou (brother of King Henry III of France) to Queen Elizabeth's court in 1581–82 to discuss his marriage proposal and his military support for the Anglo-Dutch alliance against the Spanish. Anjou's subsequent mission to the Netherlands met with disaster when his army was massacred by the citizens of Antwerp in early 1583. William of Orange was assassinated the following year

>>455877
I actually meant Phillip II of Macedon senpai
Phillip II of Spain was awful

>>455878
Thank god.

File: 648px-Alexander_Hamilton_portrait_by_John_Trumbull_1806.jpg (55KB, 648x768px) Image search: [Google]

55KB, 648x768px

>>455860

>>455860
Bismarck
Elizabeth 1
Peter the great
Tito

Viatscheslav Molotov.
Machiavelli.

>>456115
How was Peter the Great really a good diplomat?
>>456138
And what did Machiavelli really achieve?

>>456149
Maybe he's not a diplomat but he managed to reform a pretty shitty state

>>455860
Napoleon
Louis Napoleon was pretty good for his people
Louis XIV

Park Chung Hee
Franco (not for his achievements for the country, but for his political cleverness)
Louis XIV
Genghis Khan
Hernán Cortés

>>455860
>Cesare Borgia
>everything he achieved unravels as soon as daddy dies
I think you meant to say Alessandro Borgia.

File: Ferdinand the Catholic Michel_Sittow_004 (1).jpg (31KB, 385x500px) Image search: [Google]

31KB, 385x500px

>>455860

>Machiavelli refers to King Ferdinand throughout the book, using him as an example of a ruler who has, through his shrewd political maneuverings, accomplished great things. King Ferdinand is said to preach peace and faith but his actions clearly betray his words. Yet, Machiavelli considers the king's apparent hypocrisy to be acceptable and even necessary. Machiavelli also praises King Ferdinand for undertaking great endeavors as to arouse awe in his subjects.

>>456484
>Napoleon
'best' implies some kind of ultimate success

File: Tomb_of_Frederick_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor_-_Cathedral_of_Palermo_-_Italy_2015.jpg (63KB, 400x600px) Image search: [Google]

63KB, 400x600px

Frederic II. of the Holy Roman Empire. He regained the Holy Lands... with diplomacy. The absolute madman.

>>455877
>I love the Habsburgs
At best they were average and at their worst they ruined empires

>no Richelieu
>no Talleyrand

pleb board desu

>>455860
Talleyrand and Disraeli made idiots out of everyone around them in the 19th century.

Kissinger for modern American politics.

>>457072
>At best they were average
At best Maximilian and his father were excellent matchmakers.
>be poor and lacking any authority in government
>get married to the Duchess of Burgundy
>marry your son to a Spanish Princess
>one generation later
>one of the most powerful dynasties in Europe

And at their average and worst, they were Quixotesque caricatures; negligent, selfish patrons of the arts; Maximilian ignorant to his absurd lack of humility in perpetually pursuing virtue, Charles unaware of how incongruous the classical aesthetic was to his Catholic virtue, and Rudolph II negligent to all important matters of state because he was too engrossed in alchemy and emerging science.

Add to that Rudolph I's life is a classic medieval German tale, and yes, I definitely love the Habsburgs, if not for their luck and hastily discarded success, then for their failings.

>>455877
Is this was they teach in England? He was the King when Spain Spain reached the height of its power and created the first global empire.

And it was never called Armada Invencible but Grande y Felicisma Armada.

>>457081
>>457179
Talleyrand's accomplishments are almost unbelievable. Hands down the greatest diplomat in history.

I'd throw out Ben Franklin and George Kennan for US candidates.

>>457491
Spain reached its peak under Charles V, Phillip started the decline, Bourbons fastened the decline and Napoleon put the nail in the coffin.