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History has a way of distorting the truth... Join us as we explore the real stories behind some of history's most misunderstood figures! From Marie Antoinette's infamous (and fictional) "Let them eat cake" line to Cleopatra's brilliance beyond her beauty, we're setting the record straight on legends whose reputations or achievements were twisted by contemporaries or modern myths.
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00:00As a girl, and as a young woman, Pocahontas became a link between two very different cultures on the brink of war.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be talking about people from the past you think you know.
00:13We'll be looking at historical figures whose reputations or achievements were misrepresented or misunderstood,
00:19either by their contemporaries or by later history.
00:30Oliver Cromwell.
00:33Like many religious men, Cromwell experienced a crisis of faith in his thirties,
00:39from which he emerged with a burning confidence in his own salvation.
00:44He was born in 1599 to what we might call a middle-class family,
00:48and then he rose to become one of England's most powerful and controversial leaders.
00:53Cromwell helped overthrow King Charles I in 1649,
00:56turning the country into a commonwealth with no monarch,
01:00and ruled as Lord Protector starting in 1653.
01:03He enacted strict Puritan laws,
01:05and his maniacal determination to conquer Ireland killed thousands of people.
01:10Mr. Cromwell, I do confess that I did greatly misjudge you,
01:14for I did mark you as an ambitious man.
01:18To these ends, my lord, I am ambitious.
01:22Then you have my respect, sir.
01:24But he also ended the war with the Netherlands,
01:27invited the Jewish people back to England 360 years after they'd been banished,
01:32and even turned down the role of king when it was offered to him.
01:35Depending on who you ask,
01:37Cromwell was either a visionary champion of democracy and religious liberty,
01:41or a ruthless tyrant.
01:43I was fool enough to think we were fighting to better the world.
01:47The king lives or the man.
01:51Patronage or opportunity.
01:53Marie Curie.
01:54In her lecture in Stockholm,
01:56Marie specifies and underlines her part in the researches carried out with her husband.
02:01She says,
02:02Today we know Curie as one of the most brilliant scientists who ever lived,
02:16and still the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.
02:20But during her lifetime,
02:22she dealt with constant sexism from male colleagues,
02:25who either ignored her achievements,
02:27or tried to give credit to her husband instead.
02:30When she applied to the prestigious French Academy of Sciences in 1911,
02:34she was denied membership just because she was a woman.
02:37It was like a new world opened to me.
02:40The world of science,
02:42which I was at last permitted to know in all liberty.
02:45The Academy didn't admit its first woman until 1962.
02:50On top of all that,
02:51as a Polish woman living in France,
02:53she faced xenophobia and anti-Semitism from critics and the press,
02:57and she wasn't even Jewish.
02:59She persevered despite the prejudice,
03:01leaving behind a legacy as one of history's greatest scientists.
03:05I want to tell you about radium.
03:09A most peculiar and remarkable element,
03:14because it does not behave as it should.
03:18Claude Monet.
03:19This is his studio.
03:20It was, yes,
03:21and it is still exactly like in Monet's times.
03:24Paintings that we know and love all around us.
03:29Though he's now hailed as the inventor of impressionism,
03:32Monet didn't always enjoy such a glowing reputation.
03:35When he and his colleagues first exhibited their work in the 1870s,
03:39critics trashed it.
03:40Monet's loose brushstrokes,
03:41vibrant colors,
03:43and focus on fleeting light were considered sloppy and unfinished.
03:47Some even thought it was a slap in the face to a traditional painting.
03:50In fact,
03:51the term impressionism came from a critic mocking Monet's painting Impression Sunrise
03:56as little more than a sketch.
03:58Many saw the style as radical and unserious,
04:01and dismissed it as the work of an amateur.
04:03However,
04:03we now understand Monet to be a true innovator,
04:07especially in the use of light and color.
04:09His vision redefined modern art.
04:11It was,
04:12I want to paint what I can see,
04:14but he had a superpower.
04:15He didn't see as we do.
04:18Yeah,
04:19that's it.
04:20Emily Dickinson.
04:21She is a poet who looked very deep and saw very clear.
04:25She's often portrayed as a tragic recluse who was obsessed with death.
04:29The reality was very different.
04:31It's true that during the last two decades of her life,
04:34Dickinson almost never left her family's estate.
04:36But according to her sister,
04:38that's just how she liked things.
04:40While caring for her sick mother,
04:42Dickinson found that simply being around her books
04:45and the beautiful gardens around her house suited her.
04:48At the start of the 1860s,
04:50Emily Dickinson had written about 200 poems.
04:54By decades close,
04:55she would add another 1,000 to her secret collection.
04:59Her withdrawal from society was accelerating.
05:02She made a complete break with organized religion
05:05and ceased attending church at all.
05:07She still had a vibrant social life.
05:10She wrote over a thousand letters to friends all over the country.
05:13And while death is a frequent theme in her poems,
05:16she also wrote many about flowers,
05:18her Christian faith,
05:19spiritualism,
05:20and other abstract topics.
05:22Turns out, being an extreme introvert
05:24doesn't mean there's something wrong with you.
05:27You publish your books which are full of misinformation,
05:31and yet people read them.
05:33They admire you.
05:34They interview you.
05:36Whereas everything I write,
05:37I have to keep to myself.
05:39Try writing something and not showing it to anyone.
05:42Then you'll know what real loneliness feels like.
05:44Nikola Tesla.
05:45Tesla's tendency toward exaggeration
05:47and the manner in which he announces his ideas to the press
05:50caused the inventor a good deal of public criticism.
05:54We must be able to transmit scenes from other places over long distances.
05:58You've heard the name Tesla,
06:00and you probably know that he was an eccentric man with some peculiar habits.
06:04You might have even heard about his financial troubles
06:06and his less-than-cordial relationship with Thomas Edison.
06:10But do you know that Tesla actually contributed to modern science?
06:13His work on alternating current
06:15completely revolutionized electrical systems worldwide,
06:19making our modern power grids possible.
06:21Tesla continued inventing,
06:24securing patent after patent.
06:26Yet he was peculiar,
06:28dogged by troubling, persistent obsessions.
06:31He was enormously popular and celebrated,
06:34but he had a lot of odd phobias and routines.
06:39Everything that he does should be divided by three.
06:41He also conducted experiments
06:43and invented devices that still sound like science fiction today,
06:48like Tesla coils,
06:49which transmit electricity without wires.
06:52Was he kind of a weird guy?
06:53Yeah, but aren't most geniuses?
06:56I believe that I may be
06:59the first person
07:02who has ever heard the sound
07:04of one planet greeting another.
07:08Hypatia.
07:09The sun
07:10must be at the center of everything.
07:14With us, the earth,
07:17traveling
07:17in a circle around it.
07:20She lived in Alexandria
07:21around 400 AD
07:23and was widely respected
07:24as a brilliant mathematician,
07:26astronomer,
07:27and philosopher.
07:28She worked as a teacher,
07:29counselor,
07:30and even an advisor
07:31to the Roman governor of the region.
07:33In the year 1415,
07:35she was murdered by an angry mob,
07:37either for political or religious reasons,
07:39the jury is still out.
07:401400 years later,
07:42the Victorians became obsessed with her
07:44as a tragic martyr,
07:45a weak and helpless victim,
07:47and even an erotic heroine.
07:49They painted nude portraits of her,
07:51wrote romantic novels about her,
07:52and used her death
07:53to stir up anti-Catholic sentiments.
07:56Even today,
07:57artists and filmmakers
07:58continue to misrepresent Hypatia
08:00to serve their own ends.
08:02Have any of you ever wondered
08:03at the thought
08:04that your...
08:05that your feet...
08:07your feet
08:08are standing
08:09on the very center of the cosmos
08:12that holds
08:13all things together
08:15and pulls them together?
08:17Galileo Galilei.
08:19His early experiments
08:20laid the foundation
08:21for modern physics,
08:23and his observations
08:24revealed new truths
08:26about the universe.
08:28He didn't invent the telescope,
08:29but he did make
08:30major improvements on it.
08:32This enabled him
08:32to discover Jupiter's moons,
08:34prove the Milky Way
08:35was packed with stars
08:36just like our sun,
08:38and even show
08:38that Venus had phases.
08:40Galileo's observations
08:41of the universe
08:42made him confident
08:43that the Earth
08:44orbited the sun,
08:45not the other way around,
08:47which got him in big trouble
08:48with the Catholic Church.
08:50It is a debate
08:51about the world systems.
08:52Is the sun
08:53the center of the universe?
08:55Or is the Earth
08:57the center of the universe?
08:59He brings forward
09:00all his wonderful discoveries
09:03with the telescope.
09:05His infamous trial
09:06and house arrest
09:07tend to dominate his legacy,
09:09overshadowing
09:09just how groundbreaking
09:10his actual science was.
09:12Even after the church
09:13banned all his books
09:14and forbid him
09:15from ever publishing more,
09:17he continued researching,
09:18experimenting,
09:19and writing.
09:20In the scientific world,
09:21Galileo is often named
09:23alongside Einstein
09:24as a father of modern physics.
09:26Astronomy emerged
09:28into the marketplace.
09:31At that particular time,
09:33if one man
09:35had put up a fight,
09:38it might have had
09:41vast repercussions.
09:44Vlad the Impaler
09:45Vlad was an orthodox Christian
09:48with a growing reputation
09:49as a sadist
09:50and a monstrous appetite
09:53for revenge.
09:54But as long as he fought
09:56against the Ottoman Turks,
09:58he was accepted
09:58in the Catholic center
09:59of Christendom.
10:01Also known as Vlad Dracula,
10:03the Prince of Wallachia
10:04did some horrible things
10:05that would qualify
10:06as war crimes
10:07in the modern day.
10:08However,
10:09most of the atrocities
10:10attributed to him
10:11probably never happened.
10:12He earned his nickname
10:13by impaling his enemy's
10:15corpses on stakes,
10:16including civilians.
10:18But the stories of him
10:19drinking blood,
10:20nailing people's turbans
10:22to their heads
10:22and other horrors
10:23were mostly written
10:24long after his death.
10:26The other kings
10:27and rulers of his time
10:28had surrendered
10:28and they all paid tribute.
10:30But Vlad fought on
10:31with a sheer hatred
10:33that defies description.
10:35Vlad definitely wasn't
10:37a vampire
10:37and didn't even truly inspire
10:40Bram Stoker's character
10:41of Dracula.
10:42Stoker wrote his novel
10:43without knowing much
10:44about Vlad
10:45and likely just used his name
10:46because he was associated
10:48with Romania.
10:49Vlad is actually considered
10:50a national hero in Romania
10:52for successfully fighting
10:53off the Ottoman Empire.
10:55Here occurs the shocking
10:56and frightening history
10:57of the wild berserker
10:59Prince Dracula.
11:01How he impaled people
11:02and roasted them,
11:03boiled their heads
11:04in a kettle.
11:05How he skinned them alive
11:06and hacked them into pieces
11:09and then drank their blood.
11:11Genghis Khan.
11:12There's this strange thing
11:14where the name
11:15ended up as Genghis Khan.
11:17We think that the way
11:20the word got written
11:21in Persian,
11:22the pronunciation changed.
11:25Like Vlad Dracula,
11:26the first Khan of the Mongol Empire
11:28is typically portrayed
11:29as nothing but a ruthless conqueror.
11:31But the reality
11:32is much more complicated.
11:33In his quest
11:34to conquer the world,
11:35yes, he actually believed
11:37he was destined
11:37for world domination,
11:39his army killed
11:40millions of people.
11:41But he also got a lot done.
11:43He created a postal system
11:45and trade routes
11:46that connected huge regions
11:47of Eurasia,
11:48enacted legal reforms
11:49to protect women,
11:51and outlawed
11:51the kidnapping of brides.
11:53He determined to apply
11:54all the lessons
11:55he had learned
11:56throughout his life.
11:58The importance of loyalty,
12:00allegiance,
12:01and total control,
12:03backed up by brutality.
12:05Khan was also a major proponent
12:07of religious freedom,
12:08which was rare
12:09for the early 13th century.
12:10Like Dracula,
12:11today he is considered
12:12a hero in his homeland.
12:14Mary, Queen of Scots.
12:24While we wish you
12:25a long and healthy life,
12:27and that no injury
12:28or illness befall you,
12:30we shall only do you
12:32the favour
12:32of betrothing
12:33your special friend,
12:35Lord Robert Dudley.
12:39Once you name us heir.
12:41Depending on which biography
12:42you read
12:43or which movie you watch,
12:44you might think of Mary Stewart
12:46as a schemer and conspirer,
12:48a tragic failure,
12:49or a naive romantic.
12:51But as the cousin
12:52of Elizabeth I,
12:53she had a claim
12:54to the English throne,
12:55which put her
12:55at the centre
12:56of non-stop political drama.
12:58She technically inherited
12:59the Scottish crown
13:00at just six days old,
13:02though she didn't actually
13:03rule as queen
13:04until she was 19.
13:05She's sort of unmoored
13:07when she arrives
13:08in Scotland,
13:09and she's got these
13:10big, brash Scottish lords
13:12who are really
13:13not too sure
13:13about having this,
13:15you know,
13:15bonny wee lassie
13:16as their queen.
13:17There were numerous plots
13:18against her
13:19from both the English
13:20and the Scots,
13:21and Elizabeth was paranoid
13:22that either Mary
13:23or one of her children
13:24would try to steal
13:25the throne from her.
13:26Mary was forced
13:27to navigate
13:28an incredibly dangerous
13:29political environment
13:30that ultimately resulted
13:31in her execution.
13:32She's already writing
13:34to the Catholic earls
13:35asking for their help
13:38to free her
13:39by force of arms
13:41if necessary.
13:43Unfortunately for Mary,
13:45it would not be that easy.
13:47Thomas Edison.
13:49When he set out
13:50to work on electric lighting,
13:52he realised pretty early
13:54that the vision
13:55encompassed everything
13:58and that this was going
14:00to be a slog.
14:00Let's get one thing
14:02out of the way.
14:03Thomas Edison
14:03didn't invent
14:04the lightbulb.
14:05Alessandro Volta
14:06beat him to that
14:07by 78 years.
14:09In fact,
14:09many inventors
14:10developed electric lamps
14:11before Edison
14:12began working on one.
14:13He did co-create
14:15a filament
14:15that lasted
14:16much longer than others,
14:17making the lightbulb
14:18commercially viable.
14:19But the majority
14:20of his 1,093 patents
14:22were for things
14:23invented by people
14:24working for him.
14:26What a roaring silence
14:27from the brightest minds
14:28of America.
14:29He's using Hiram's design.
14:30What's Hiram
14:31stole from me?
14:34Not by Edison himself.
14:35He was known
14:36for stealing credit
14:37for others' ideas
14:38and even sued people
14:40for their patents.
14:41When Tesla's
14:42alternating current system
14:43started to become
14:44more popular
14:44than Edison's
14:45direct current,
14:46Edison tried to turn
14:47public opinion
14:48against the Serbian.
14:49There's no question
14:50Edison was brilliant,
14:51but he always looked
14:52out for number one.
14:53The pressure
14:54in the battle
14:55of the currents
14:55remained intense
14:56because vast fortunes
14:58were at stake.
15:00Both sides fought
15:01desperately to sell
15:02new power stations.
15:03However, Edison's
15:04early hold on the market
15:06was slipping away
15:07to Westinghouse.
15:08The Buddha
15:09With the fourth
15:10and final noble truth,
15:12the Buddha laid out
15:13a series of instructions
15:14for his disciples
15:15to follow,
15:16a way of leading
15:17the mind to enlightenment
15:18called the Noble
15:20Eightfold Path.
15:21Like many important
15:22religious figures
15:23who lived thousands
15:24of years ago,
15:25it's hard to know
15:26what's true about the Buddha
15:27and what's a myth.
15:28But we can tell you
15:29one thing for sure.
15:30The smiling, fat Buddhas
15:32you often see
15:33in Chinese restaurants
15:34aren't the original Buddha,
15:35aka Siddhartha Gautama.
15:38That's Budai,
15:39real name Kiechi,
15:40a Chinese monk
15:41who lived around
15:422,000 years after Gautama
15:44and is often nicknamed
15:45the Laughing Buddha.
15:46Westerners tend to romanticize,
15:48oversimplify,
15:49and straight up misunderstand
15:51Buddhist teachings,
15:53particularly concepts
15:54like karma and enlightenment.
15:56In reality,
15:57the Buddha's ideas
15:58were complex
15:59and some modern adherents
16:00devote their entire lives
16:02to fully understanding
16:03his path to enlightenment.
16:05O lord of my own ego,
16:07you are pure illusion.
16:10You do not exist.
16:14The earth is my witness.
16:18Pocahontas.
16:19She was not a princess
16:20in the European sense.
16:23If she was,
16:24then all the other daughters
16:25of Powhatan would have been,
16:26and Powhatan society
16:27was not that specialized
16:29and was not that prosperous
16:30that they could afford
16:31to have people
16:32who simply pass their lives
16:34in leisure.
16:35Don't take your history lessons
16:36from Disney movies.
16:38Pocahontas wasn't even
16:39her real name.
16:40She was born Amanute
16:42and was also called
16:43Matoaka.
16:44Pocahontas was a childhood nickname
16:46that probably meant
16:47something like
16:47playful one.
16:48She was around 11
16:49when she met John Smith,
16:51and while she and other
16:52Powhatan people
16:53did bring the colonizers food
16:55and kept them from starving
16:56to death,
16:57she didn't save him
16:58from execution.
16:59I'm being ready with her clubs
17:01to beat out my brains.
17:02Pocahontas,
17:03the king's dearest daughter,
17:04got my head in her arms
17:11and laid her own upon mine
17:13to save me from death.
17:14Smith made that story up.
17:16Pocahontas was kidnapped
17:17by the English in 1613
17:19and pressured into converting
17:21to Christianity.
17:22She later married the merchant
17:23John Rolfe,
17:24who may have truly loved her,
17:25and they had a son,
17:27but she died of an illness
17:28at just 20 or 21 years old.
17:30Your dear mother, Rebecca,
17:33fell ill in our outward passage
17:35at Grave's End.
17:41She gently reminded me
17:43that all must die.
17:45It is enough, she said,
17:46that you, our child,
17:47should live.
17:49Sacagawea
17:50With her people,
17:51Sacagawea would be
17:52a vital link for interpretation.
17:53The captain started
17:55by speaking English
17:56to François Labiche,
17:58a Frenchman
17:59who was the lead interpreter
18:00for the expedition.
18:02Most Americans
18:03know her only as the guide
18:04for the Lewis and Clark expedition,
18:06but even that little factoid
18:08isn't really accurate.
18:09Sacagawea was a member
18:10of either the Shoshone
18:12or Hidatsa nation.
18:13At around 13,
18:15she was sold into marriage
18:16to a French-Canadian trapper
18:18named Chabanou,
18:19along with another indigenous girl.
18:21The three were hired
18:22onto the expedition
18:23as interpreters.
18:25Sacagawea only helped
18:26with navigation a few times.
18:28Across the years
18:28of separation from her tribe,
18:31Sacagawea recognized
18:32Kameiwate,
18:33the Shoshone chief.
18:34She gave birth
18:35to her first child
18:36during the exploration,
18:38and according to William Clark,
18:39having a native woman
18:40and a baby with them
18:41was enough to show
18:42other tribes
18:43that they were peaceful.
18:44After she died of an illness
18:45at around 25,
18:47Chabanou gave up their kids
18:48for adoption to Clark.
18:50There is much we both can do
18:52for our people.
18:55Many things we have learned
18:56from each other
18:57we can teach to them.
19:01Patience,
19:02kindness,
19:03and the wisdom
19:05to know the truth.
19:07Anne Boleyn.
19:08I've heard what your courtiers say,
19:10and I've seen what you are.
19:12You're spoiled
19:13and vengeful
19:15and bloody.
19:16Your poetry is sour
19:18and your music is worse.
19:19She's usually portrayed
19:20as a conniving temptress
19:22who seduced Henry VIII
19:23and convinced him
19:24to abandon the Catholic Church.
19:26That last part
19:27is technically true,
19:28but there was a lot more
19:29to Anne Boleyn.
19:31She captivated King Henry
19:32with her intelligence
19:33and wit,
19:34and she knew how to play
19:35politics at court.
19:36She was a major proponent
19:51of religious reform
19:52and of translating
19:53the Bible
19:54into the common people's language.
19:56Anne wasn't afraid
19:57to speak her mind,
19:58but unfortunately,
19:5916th century society
20:00wasn't kind
20:01to bold women.
20:02When she gave birth
20:03to a daughter
20:04instead of a son
20:04shortly after their marriage,
20:06Henry quickly started
20:07to tire of her
20:08and trumped up a reason
20:09to have her executed
20:10after just three years.
20:13Judge me, my lords,
20:15but never forget
20:16your verdicts
20:18will be judged by God
20:20in the greatest court of all.
20:24Niccolo Machiavelli.
20:25He knew very well
20:26the nature of human beings
20:28and how they behave
20:30or not behave.
20:31So, he is a man
20:33who is used
20:34to be in the world.
20:35To call someone
20:36Machiavellian
20:37means that they're
20:38manipulative,
20:39unempathetic,
20:40and overly ambitious.
20:41You can probably think
20:42of some people
20:43who fit that description.
20:44But the term has little
20:45to do with the real Machiavelli.
20:47He was an Italian
20:48Renaissance philosopher,
20:50historian,
20:51and political advisor.
20:52His most famous work,
20:53The Prince,
20:54describes various ways
20:56to gain power,
20:57both through virtue
20:58and through evil deeds.
21:00Scholars still debate
21:01whether the prince
21:02was more of a manual
21:03or just a description
21:04of reality.
21:05More than 400 years
21:06after he died,
21:07an American psychologist
21:09named Richard Christie
21:10started studying
21:11these ambitious extremist types.
21:13He was fascinated
21:14by Machiavelli's
21:15writings on power
21:17and used some of the descriptions
21:18to develop a scale
21:19that he called
21:20Machiavellianism.
21:22He died in June of 1527
21:26and legend always had it
21:28that a priest was brought
21:30to his deathbed
21:31and that he finally confessed
21:33that he was indeed
21:34the wickedest man
21:35there had been.
21:35Vincent van Gogh.
21:37I'll show what I see
21:39to my human brothers
21:40who can't see it.
21:42It's a privilege.
21:43I can give them hope
21:44and consolation.
21:45He was the definition
21:47of a tortured artist
21:48and sadly
21:49that might be
21:49the only thing
21:50you know about him.
21:51Van Gogh suffered
21:51from mental health struggles
21:53all his life
21:53but he also had
21:54an immense influence
21:55on the world of modern art.
21:57Van Gogh's use of bold color
21:58and thick brush strokes
22:00were radical
22:00which is one of the reasons
22:02he was so underappreciated
22:03during his time.
22:05I will consider myself happy
22:06if I can work enough
22:07to earn my living.
22:09It worries me
22:10that I have done
22:10so many pictures
22:11without ever selling one.
22:13His work was a precursor
22:15to the Expressionist movement
22:16which portrayed
22:17a distorted reality
22:18to evoke deeper
22:20emotional truths.
22:21He produced
22:21more than 2,000 paintings
22:23including some
22:24that are now amongst
22:25the most famous
22:26in the world
22:26like The Starry Night
22:28yet he only sold
22:29one painting
22:30while he was alive.
22:31To me
22:32Van Gogh is the finest
22:33painter in the world.
22:35Certainly the most popular
22:37great painter
22:38of all time.
22:40The most beloved.
22:41His command of color
22:42the most magnificent.
22:45He transformed the pain
22:47of his tormented life
22:48into ecstatic beauty.
22:51Mary Magdalene.
22:52And perhaps the gospel
22:53of Mary was just too radical.
22:56It presents Mary
22:57as a teacher
22:58and spiritual guide
22:59to the other disciples.
23:01She's not just a disciple.
23:03She's the apostle
23:04to the apostles.
23:06Talk about people
23:07who were done dirty
23:08by history
23:08thanks to a sermon
23:09by Pope Gregory I
23:11in 591 A.D.
23:13Many Western Christians
23:14believe that Mary Magdalene
23:15was a sex worker.
23:16Gregory incorrectly
23:17conflated her
23:18with the unnamed
23:19sinful woman
23:20who anoints Jesus' feet
23:22in the Gospel of Luke.
23:23But there's no biblical
23:24or historical evidence
23:26for this.
23:34In reality
23:35she was probably
23:36pretty well off
23:37since we know
23:38she supported Jesus
23:39financially.
23:40In the apocryphal texts
23:41Mary Magdalene
23:42is described
23:43as the most beloved
23:44of Jesus' disciples
23:45and an important leader
23:47in early Christianity.
23:48At least the Eastern Orthodox Church
23:50gets it right.
23:51They have always taught
23:52that she was an upstanding woman
23:54considered equal
23:55to Jesus' apostles.
23:56I'm thanking God
23:58for bringing you here.
24:08Marie Antoinette
24:09She was just 14
24:11as she set out
24:12to conquer
24:12the French court
24:13armed only
24:15with her charms
24:16and the instructions
24:17of her mother.
24:19She was the snobby
24:20out-of-touch queen
24:21who supposedly said
24:22let them eat cake, right?
24:24As a young
24:25and probably naïve
24:26Austrian princess
24:27married into the French court
24:28she was an easy scapegoat
24:30for France's financial problems
24:32but the country
24:32was already drowning in debt
24:34when she arrived
24:35at the age of 15.
24:36France was in the midst
24:37of a political turmoil
24:38and many critics
24:39were determined
24:40to take it out
24:41on Marie.
24:42Her extravagance
24:43was becoming
24:43a ready explanation
24:45for the chronic financial crisis
24:47and the persistent discontent.
24:49Her spending
24:50and gambling habits
24:51were exaggerated
24:52while her charitable work
24:53was ignored.
24:54Much of what we think
24:55about her today
24:56is the result
24:57of smear campaigns
24:58waged against her
24:59in her own time
25:00and she never said
25:02let them eat cake.
25:03But when they went
25:04to the queen
25:05to tell her
25:06her subject
25:07had no bread
25:08do you know
25:09what she said?
25:11Let them eat cake.
25:13Before we continue
25:14be sure to subscribe
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25:29Cleopatra
25:30She herself
25:31lay under
25:32a canopy
25:32of golden cloth
25:34adorned like Venus
25:35while beautiful boys
25:37stood either side
25:38of her
25:39in adoration
25:40of their queen.
25:41She spoke
25:42nine languages
25:43navigated incredibly
25:45tense political alliances
25:46and served
25:47as the last pharaoh
25:48of the Ptolemaic
25:49kingdom of Egypt.
25:51Now
25:51all people want
25:52to talk about
25:52is how hot she was.
25:54Pop culture
25:55of the 20th century
25:56fixated on her
25:57relationships
25:58with Mark Antony
25:59and Julius Caesar
26:00and mostly ignored
26:01her actual achievements.
26:03Under your protection
26:04and I can ensure
26:07we both respect
26:08the power of Rome.
26:10She was a great
26:10military commander
26:11and an active administrator
26:13who had to handle
26:14all the usual crises
26:15that come with
26:16being a monarch.
26:17Cleopatra was brilliant,
26:18powerful,
26:19and determined.
26:20And yes,
26:21two Roman leaders
26:22fell in love with her.
26:23But she was far more
26:24than a pretty face.
26:26By your authority
26:27as pro-council of Rome,
26:29you will see to Egypt
26:30immediately
26:30the following territories.
26:32Judea, Jordan,
26:33Armenia, Phoenicia,
26:35the provinces of Sinai
26:36and Arabia,
26:37the islands
26:38of Cyprus and Crete.
26:40Did you know
26:41the real story
26:42behind any of these
26:43important figures?
26:44Or did you fall
26:45for the myths too?
26:46Let us know
26:46in the comments.
26:47of the myths?
26:47Let us know
26:48in the comments.
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