Not sure where you got ‘humble’ from. Humble has nothing to do with it. He wants his class to dominate the world. Even his rhetoric about the US dominating the world is mostly just political pandering in service of his desire to reestablish a feudal lord hierarchy. He wants the peasants to be put in their place, under he and is kind, where they can serve him. Nothing about this is complex, new or surprising.
He doesn’t really want to make it great, it’s just a catchy slogan that helps with getting voted in.
If you look at people with the epitaph “the Great” throughout history, you’ll find that being great just means being a huge bastard. Not universally true, but prevailing by quite a bit.
Greatness, in the historical sense, is not something to aspire to.
The following is the result of ChatGPT deep research, which may not be a wonderfully reliable source but is far better than I’m capable of.
The Dark Side of “The Great” Rulers
Historical figures dubbed “the Great” achieved extraordinary power or conquests – but greatness often came at a terrible human cost. Many of these rulers engaged in atrocities, excessive warfare, or severe oppression. In fact, a large majority of “the Great” figures were involved in brutal acts by modern standards. Based on historical records, roughly on the order of 70% or more of leaders called “the Great” committed significant atrocities or oppressive deeds. This is perhaps unsurprising – many earned the epithet through military conquest or iron-fisted rule in eras when cruelty was common. (By contrast, a minority of “Great” figures were comparatively benign or celebrated for cultural achievements – for example, Alfred the Great defended his kingdom but is not noted for massacres, and Sejong the Great of Korea advanced learning with little violence. Such cases, however, are exceptions.) Below are several notable “Great” figures and the terrible actions associated with them, to provide context and evidence of how “greatness” often went hand-in-hand with brutality.
Notable Examples of “Great” Figures and Their Atrocities
• Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) – Macedonian conqueror who built a vast empire, Alexander is revered as a military genius but also one of history’s most violent conquerors. He slaughtered civilians by the thousands and even wiped out entire populations that resisted him . For example, after besieging the city of Tyre, Alexander’s forces killed or sold into slavery tens of thousands of inhabitants. He also ordered the mass execution of prisoners on multiple occasions and murdered potential rivals (including executing palace officials en masse upon taking the Persian throne) . His campaigns were marked by ruthless destruction, raising the question of whether his “greatness” refers only to military success and not moral character.
• Charlemagne (Charles the Great, 748–814) – The first Holy Roman Emperor expanded his Frankish kingdom through continuous warfare. His Saxon Wars in particular were exceptionally brutal. In 782, Charlemagne ordered the mass execution of 4,500 Saxon prisoners in a single day, an event known as the Massacre of Verden . He fought a 30-year war of attrition to force the pagan Saxons to convert to Christianity – a campaign described by a contemporary as “full of atrocities” on both sides . Charlemagne’s reputation as “the Great” coexists with episodes of ethnic cleansing and forced conversion, demonstrating the severe oppression he employed to secure his empire.
• Genghis Khan (1162–1227) – The founder of the Mongol Empire is often called the “Great Khan” and is infamous for the scale of death and destruction unleashed by his armies. Mongol conquests resulted in millions of people killed and countless cities razed . Historians classify the Mongol wars as some of the deadliest mass killings in human history . Entire populations that resisted were annihilated – for instance, the Mongols exterminated the inhabitants of Nishapur and Baghdad, with chroniclers reporting death tolls in the hundreds of thousands. Genghis Khan’s legacy as a “great” conqueror thus comes with acts now considered genocidal, as the Mongols practiced systematic massacre of resisting cities and even obliterated whole nations in their path.
• Ashoka the Great (304–232 BCE) – An Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, Ashoka is remembered for embracing Buddhism and non-violence later in life – but only after he perpetrated a horrific atrocity. In his conquest of Kalinga (c. 261 BCE), Ashoka’s own inscriptions recount that 100,000 were slaughtered, 150,000 deported, and many more died of famine and disease as a result of the war . The immense suffering he caused horrified Ashoka, prompting his famed conversion to a pacifist policy. Nevertheless, his epithet “the Great” stems partly from the size of his empire, which was won through a catastrophic war. The Kalinga campaign stands as one of antiquity’s great slaughters, illustrating how a “great” ruler could also be absolutely terrible in action before seeking remorse.
• Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BCE) – The first emperor of a unified China (not usually called “the Great” in English, but effectively a “great unifier”), Qin Shi Huang ruled through tyrannical brutality. He is notorious for the burning of books and burying of scholars: in 212 BCE, he allegedly ordered 460 Confucian scholars to be buried alive for dissenting against his policies . He also enforced massive forced labor projects (the Great Wall and his mausoleum), where hundreds of thousands died. Entire rival noble families were eradicated as he centralized power. Qin’s ruthless methods unified China and earned him posthumous awe, but they involved oppression on a legendary scale. His reign exemplifies how “great” achievements (like unification and monumental building) were built on systematic cruelty.
• Peter the Great (1672–1725) – The Russian tsar modernized and expanded Russia, but with an extraordinary level of cruelty. Peter crushed rebellions “with a cruelty and bloodlust that Russia hadn’t seen since Ivan the Terrible” . In 1698, when the Streltsy (musketeer guards) revolted, Peter personally oversaw their brutal torture and execution – hundreds were beheaded, hanged, or broken on the wheel, and Peter even forced nobles to watch or participate. His harshest crime was against his own family: suspecting treason, Peter had his eldest son Alexei tortured to death in 1718 . Contemporary accounts describe Peter as merciless in punishing any opposition, whether rebellious peasants or high-ranking boyars. Despite his progressive reforms, his reign’s legacy includes thousands of victims of execution, torture, and forced labor (for projects like building St. Petersburg, which cost many serfs’ lives).
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796) – Empress of Russia and a self-styled “Enlightened” monarch, Catherine II also engaged in oppressive practices. She greatly expanded serfdom (essentially enslaving millions of peasants) and crushed the largest peasant revolt in Russian history. During Pugachev’s Rebellion (1773–1775), rebels rampaged across Russia until Catherine’s army defeated them; the leader Yemelyan Pugachev was executed by beheading and quartering as a warning to others . After suppressing the revolt, Catherine increased the nobles’ power over serfs to prevent future uprisings, condemning the peasantry to even harsher subjugation. She also partitioned Poland with other powers, subjecting that population to foreign rule. While celebrated for her patronage of arts and education, Catherine’s reign saw severe repression (censorship, political prisoners) and brutal punishment of any challenge to her authority – a darker aspect of her “greatness.”
(The above are just a few examples – many other “Great” rulers similarly combined grand achievements with ruthless violence. Cyrus the Great of Persia, for instance, was relatively lenient by ancient standards, but Darius the Great boasted of crucifying thousands of rebels ; Constantine the Great killed his own son and conquered rivals; Herod the Great executed his wife and sons and is infamous for biblical atrocities. From antiquity through early modern times, to be called “the Great” often meant one had overwhelming power – often obtained or maintained by spilling much blood.)
Conclusion: “Greatness” and Terribleness in History
In summary, history shows a strong overlap between greatness and brutality. The epithet “the Great” tends to be awarded for expansion of empire, military prowess, or powerful rule, which in pre-modern contexts virtually guarantees that atrocities and oppression were involved. By modern criteria of human rights and ethics, a very large percentage of these famed individuals – on the order of two-thirds or more – acted in ways we would label “absolutely terrible.” Whether it was mass killings, aggressive wars of conquest, or crushing oppression of populations, the dark side of these rulers is part of their legacy. The term “the Great” in their names refers to their impact and influence, not moral virtue. As the examples above illustrate, many of the most “great” leaders committed some of history’s worst cruelties, highlighting that historical greatness often came paired with grievous wrongdoing .
Ultimately, acknowledging this harsh reality provides important historical context: it reminds us that laudatory epithets can obscure the suffering imposed by these figures. While we remember their political and military accomplishments, it is equally critical to remember the atrocities behind the achievements. Thus, a balanced view would estimate that a significant majority of “the Great” personages were, in practice, far from great in humanity – a sobering insight into the cost at which empires and legends have been built.
Sources:
• Richard A. Gabriel, HistoryNet: Profile of Alexander the Great’s atrocities
• Medievalists.net: Analysis of Charlemagne’s Massacre of Verden (782)
• Destruction under the Mongol Empire, Wikipedia – Mongol conquests and mass killings
• World History Encyclopedia: Ashoka’s Edict XIII (Kalinga War casualties)
• Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars, Wikipedia – Qin Shi Huang’s persecution of intellectuals
• Russia Beyond: Account of Peter the Great torturing his son to death
• Factinate (Christine Tran): “Horrific Facts About Peter the Great” (quote on his cruelty)
• OER Commons / Britannica: Pugachev’s Rebellion and Catherine II’s repression (1775) .
