this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024
613 points (98.6% liked)

me_irl

4791 readers
572 users here now

All posts need to have the same title: me_irl it is allowed to use an emoji instead of the underscore _

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] becausechemistry@lemm.ee 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not… really? Like, nobody strung up Washington for being a tyrant. Cromwell ruled England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland until he died. Castro ruled Cuba until he died. Stalin was one of Lenin’s lieutenants, and ran the Soviet Union until he died.

The French Revolution (of 1789, the big one) was infamous for this. The original batch of revolutionaries were mostly liberal-ish nobles and lawyers. The second wave (of what the original guys considered to be street trash) sent many of those guys to the guillotine if they didn’t get out of town fast enough. The third wave sent a bunch of second wave guys to the guillotine. Et cetera, until Napoléon grabbed the reins.

The American revolution might be the exception that confirms the rule, since the new regime (Congress and the President) seem to have not persecuted, legally or extra legally, any Americans or their allies who fought against Britain after the war was won. I at least could not find any examples of this. Benedict Arnold doesn't count since he did, beyond any doubt, commit treason against the revolution and rightfully was persecuted for his actions.

Cromwell's station in the revolution of Parliament against king Charles was very minor during the first half of the civil war. But he rose to prominence and thereafter many of his former allies were persecuted (with the exception of lord Thomas Fairfax).

Castro persecuted many of his former allies after Batista was ousted from Cuba, including Manuel Urrutia Lleó and Huber Matos Benítez (and also maybe Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán, since his accident happened during a very convenient moment)...

Stalin. REALLY???? He had Trotsky killed two continents away and more communist party members died because of him than because of the Tzar!