Historical Who Am I Riddles

[Sar1n]

My first thought was Saruman .

[Abdülmecid I]

Nice! His character was similar to Saruman's, that's for sure, but, unlike him, he was clean shaved and wore glasses. A few extra hints: The red beret is very useful in providing the historical and geographical context, the crossed ocean was the Atlantic and the word "column" is included in a famous catchphrase he may have been the first to say.

[Cookiegod]

Emilio Mola?

[Abdülmecid I]

Correct! Mola was born in Cuba, back then deep into seditious mood against the empire. He left the island for Spain, fought in Morocco and planned the 1936 coup against the republican government. Mola was behind the organisation and led the insurrection in Pamplona. The Carlists in Navarra, easily recognizable thanks to their red berets, were one of the main fighting force for the Nationalists. When general Batet asked Mola, if he planned to overthrow the Republic, Mola lied to his face, had him arrested in the first days of the military uprising and later executed (allegedly following Franco's demands). Two of Mola's primary antagonists in the fascist side were neutralised early in the war. General Goded was captured and later executed in Barcelona and general Sanjurjo, the original head of the rebels, was killed in an airplane crash in Portugal. Mola himself was also killed in a plane accident, one year later. Airplanes filled with Franco's potential competitors had a tendency of falling down. In the case of Sanjurjo, it was almost certainly the result of an accident and the victim's vanity, but Mola's case is less clear, although there is no tangible proof that the Generalissimo was involved.

Mola was a pretty treacherous fellow in general, despite his so innocent appearance:

[Cookiegod]

Yo, yo,
Step up, you'll be shocked when I spit and start static
I'll rip your style and add it to my long list of patents
I'm stealing stuff, there's just no putting it gently
I don't alternate my flow, I diss you directly

[Sar1n]

Thomas Alva Edison.

[Cookiegod]

I actually meant me, but you get the point and the turn.

[Sar1n]

I'm afraid this might take a few days. I'm unfortunately sick, have a headache and so I can't really focus.

[ggggtotalwarrior]

It’s ok Buddy. Just help your sentient ship/Cthulhic overlord conquer the galaxy while enslaving your mind first and get back to us when it’s done ��

[Kilo11]

Hey! It Geg!

And I agree with him, Sar1n! Take the time to get yourself better. None of us are going to die if we don't get the next riddle right away. Well, Cookie might die, but that's okay.

[ggggtotalwarrior]

I can’t die if I’m already dead inside

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Well Sar1n hasn’t been around so I figure I’ll restart this:

I was a man of great riches and wealth
yet for all my money, couldn’t buy health
From fame and fortune I did so decline,
slowly losing my hearing and my mind

In all my industries, I pushed boundaries,
Thriving in a time of excess
And still to this day I am remembered,
as a man of both follies and success

While I was unable to ensure my dreams were seen through,
Looking ever upward, my spirit of innovation stays true.


I have no idea if this is as easy as I think or way too vague but as a hint I will say this is not a warfare figure nor are they a typical figure for this thread

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Hint: this figure lived in the 20th century

[Kilo11]

If I could ask for a further hint, is this an inventor, or a tycoon? Cause I have some thoughts, but they split between those directions, and that is making me fumble a bit.

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Tycoon for sure

edit: but also a bit of an engineer or inventor to a lesser extent

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Hint via new stanza:

A man of many lovers,
Yet my true mistress was the sky
I left my business to others
And pursued my dreams to fly

[Abdülmecid I]

Everything seems to point towards Howard Hughes.

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Yes Repped

[Abdülmecid I]

I used the Lobachevsky method to write it down:


Last night, the cries of the cat-fetishists kept me smiling. And I had a delicious meal. I saw the cooking of the bovine, tender beef over a harsh fire...
The rebels, all gone! We have had victories aplenty in the lands of cedar and crocks. And the philosopher's best buddy, I turned into a pulp rather bloody.

Yet even now after my demise, I am the envy of lesser people. They tell terrible lies about me. They do not understand, so they lie. But the classics, they are the masters of falsehood. New sources will come, I am sure of it. So. I will have no more false visions... And I think the haters will be quiet tonight.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Leon Trotsky?