What, in your opinion, are some of the great ironies of history?
One that comes readily to my mind is the Roman Empire becoming officially Christian (under Emperor Constantine) after having crucified the founder of Christianity.
Another is that while General Grant was leading the fight against the South in the Civil War, his wife Julia would often visit his camp — and bring along her slave, Jule!
Thomas Jefferson owning slaves…
Hitler having some Jewish blood in him?
That the great warrior race of pre-20th century Europe was the French.
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus takes a small time Roman politician under his wing and helps him develop his political and military career.
Later Gnaeus finds himself fighting (and ultimately failing at the cost of his own life) to defend Roman Republic from said small time politician.
the politician was Julius Caesar.
garius: Ditto for Gaius Marius and Lucius Sulla, except Marius’s insanity killed him while he was trying to eliminate all of Sulla’s supporters. The consequences weren’t as drastic for the Roman world, however…
Th Soviets sitting in judgement over the Germans for war crimes in Nuremburg.
Columbus’s crackpot ideas leading him to discover the Americas through sheer dumb luck.
Columbus, though some spectacular miscalculations and self-delusions, thought that Japan was only about 2,500 miles west of Europe and therefore easily reachable by the sailing vessels of the time.
The learned men of the time laughed at him, not because they thought the world was flat (educated people knew it was round) but because all available information indicated Japan was over 10,000 miles away - far beyond the rainge of a 15th-century caravel without reprovisioning.
The learned men were right. Columbus was dead wrong.
But his looney idea led him to make one of the most spectacular discoveries in history - and one whose significance he himself never realized.
Hulk Hogan claiming at one time to be a “serious” proffesional athlete.
I know this isn’t really ironic, it’s just a play on words, so bear with me.
Jesus Christ, when crucified, wore a sign saying “King of the Jews.” He was Jewish. His parents were Jewish. He lived in Israel (predominantly Jewish country). But Jesus Christ was the father of Christianity, which is not Jewish.
I know this is because Jesus is the Savior within the Christian religion, I just think it’s wierd. (I am a Christian, by the way—just not devout.) 
Napoleon was not French.
[someone had to do it]
rain on your wedding day?
a black fly in your chardonnay?
a free ride when you’ve already paid?
isn’t it ironic?
[/someone had to do it]
In all seriousness - interesting stuff.
Without going into detail, I’d say that this is pretty arguable. Pre-20th century France ( if we date back to the partition of Charlemagne’s empire, when France in the modern sense began to coalesce ) had long stretches of political irrelevance ( or at least periods when it wasn’t noticeably dominant ) and a long string of military failures. Plenty of successes as well - But I don’t think you can claim they were any more successfully warlike than everyone else in Europe over such a long period.
No, I suppose he was Corsican and Jewish?
The English Reformation is simply teeming with irony.
The Anglican church was created because Henry VIII wanted to divorce and legally remarry–and the Church of England still does not fully recognise the vaildity of second marriages. (I simplify, but still…)
Within two years of William Tyndale being burnt at the stake, mainly for having a Bible published in the vernacular, the Great Bible (95% of which is a word-for-word copy of Tyndale) was accepted as the official Bible of the church.
In Ipswich during the reign of Edward VI, one of the best-known Protestant writers and translators was Richard Argentyne. After Mary came to the throne, Argentyne embarked on a new career as a prosecutor of–Protestant writers and translators.
Bishop Bonner of London was, during the reign of Mary, a fervent opponent of the Bible in English–a position he most strongly expounded in his work The Homelies, which contained large sections of…the Bible in English.
The biggest irony of all? Henry VIII died a Catholic.
Along the line of this…
Hitler was Austrian.
Stalin was Georgian.
[Austrain Voice]
HA HA! YA! You are now gedding som-vere Jell-O
[/Austrian Voice]
Any misunderstandings you may have from that translation come from Brad Pitt’s old acting skills.
In line with your OP, Libertarion:
Now only is it ironic that Grant himself owned a slave for a short period of time, but on the other side: One of the greatest division commanders in the confederate army, Pat Cleburne, wrote a paper in 1863 advocating the induction of black slaves into the Confederate Army. To further the irony, in 1864 when the Confederate Congress ultimately debated the same issue, Lee himself not only advocated this position, but further suggested that those who served with honor be made full (read voting) citizens of the South.
ACK! Libertatian. not Libertarion. Apologies.
[sub]shoulda cut’n pasted…grumble grumble grumble…[/sub]