Poirot,
The allied Armies were caught flat footed and unprepared in the middle of Winter in the Ardennes, sixty thousand of them perished, was Eisenhower stupid as well? Let's not even "Go there" and talk about Norway or Crete, let alone Singapore or the Phillipines
See I merely make observations on that era from an informed, neutral standpoint, Hasbeen and Lexi are hopelessly biased and ill informed, their misinformation demands a response.
Might I also point out that there is no enduring Eisenhower or Stalin cult of personality, my estimation of Hitler, Napoleon and Julius Caesar as messianic figures rather than mere "Stupid" politicians holds true.

Jay,

If you're saying that the likes of Napoleon and Hitler possessed an ability to infect their followers with a kind of mass hysteria, I'll go along with that. The human mind is susceptible to the expression of such personalities - especially in a collective framework when facing a common enemy or sharing a common goal.
It doesn't follow, however, that these men were particularly intelligent or wise.

Jay, perhaps I was being too ironic for you.

I am aware (as a historian) of the complex reasons for the US civil war, but I was merely matching your total oversimplifying (invention? conspiracy theory?) of Iraq/Afghanistan to 'female aggression and warmongering'. I'm surprised you didn't go the whole hog and suggest that all the "empowered women" were Jewish as well as feminists!

Ghandi was being ironical re western civilisation, his 'it would be a good idea' implied that it hadn't been tried yet! Ditto my comment re political feminisation! It doesn't exist, but it might be a good thing - and it would not involve baying for anyone's blood! When I saw George Bush standing on the aircraft carrier saying we won (or whatever) I saw the same old big power male politics going back to the Romans.

Actually your comments on the causes of the US Civil War undermine your own argument. Just as the anti-slavery line was a superficial one covering "the proper context of the war - a culture clash etc", Your nonsense about feminisation /baying for the blood of middle eadstern men is a superficial one covering the real causes, which are many and complicated.

I'm not following this nonsense any more, I'm a feminist so I have to go out and bash a few men today (I had better spell it out - that's irony again).

Poirot,
Not Hysteria, faith, devotion, even love.
They were messianic figures, you can add to the list figures such as Mohammed, Imam Ali, Joseph Smith, Shaka Zulu, Crazy Horse, the list of "Men of Action" is endless.

Cossomby,
Yeah everyone who doesn't agree with you is crazy.
BTW insults are conduct unbecoming of an academic, I'm just stirring the pot and it appears that in the face of a confrontational, or hostile attitude your side just withers away or claims "No Platform!".
The Predator drone is the emblem of the struggle for "Human Rights" in the early 21st century, it's such a female weapon don't you think?
No mess, no nasty confrontations if you strike while the enemy's back is turned, much like those mousetraps that enclose the little beasties when they've done their work, the lady of the house just pick up the contraption and disposes of it without having to look at the victim.

Alas, I've succumbed.

Jay, I'm not an academic. And I'm not feeling hostile - I really have no desire to bash up some men, literally or mataphorically - I was being ironic.

And I was trying to use humour to counter nonsense.

Seriously, the predator drone as a female weapon?? really?? Looks like a raping phallus to me. Are you sure the feminist thing (even as a stir) isn't just a way to dissociate yourself from the horrible appalling things men invent to kill people?

Jay,

You are grasping at straws equating something called a Predator "drone" to femaleness.

And I disagree - "hysteria" is an apt description for the sort of effect that seductive leaders have on collective humanity.