# If you could go back in time and kill one person, who would it be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 8, 2001, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-kill-one-person-who-would-it-be/86093 "2001-10-08T12:02:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-kill-one-person-who-would-it-be/86093/61 "2001-10-10T22:57:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jmatthewb \* > **I did not say all wars. I said most wars** Again I disagree. Most wars were not fought over religion. Let’s cover a few of the more popular wars. Vietnam (nope) The french in Vietnam (nope) Korea(nope) WW2 (nope) WW1 (nope) Crimean war (nope) The many wars and military actions of England durring the spead of colinization (boer (might be mispelled) actions in Inda and so on (nope) The civil wars in almost every south american country (nope) The American Civil war (nope) The War of 1812 (nope) The Revolutionary war (nope) The French indian war (nope) The many times the French and Eglish duked it out… I see no main religious reason there. I never recall Rome going to war in the name of their gods, only for expansion and conquest. Gengas Khan and his westward expansion (nope) The crusades Absolutely! > [@](#): > > . If you look into it closly you will find religion lurking behind most motives. If you look closer still, you will find human nature, and the quest of power glory and wealth the root of most motives leading to violence and war. To keep from hijacking this thread I shall start a new thread. Osip ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-kill-one-person-who-would-it-be/86093/62 "2001-10-10T23:04:27Z")
Doh! Civil wars in most south american countries _whack_ I really ment Revolutionary wars… Just had to clear that up. Grrr ok am off to start new thread! Osip ---
**Author:** ![Protesilaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Protesilaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Protesilaus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-kill-one-person-who-would-it-be/86093/63 "2001-10-11T02:08:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > \*\*Constantine. He made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, and Christianity has been the worse for it ever since. Because of Constantine, we have fundies who believe America should be a theocracy. \*\* But he was also responsible for the creation of Constantinople, and the consequences of its never having been created would probably have lead to there being no Emperor Justinian, and hence, no complete compilation of Roman law. Since the Roman system of law has effected ours so much, this would probably have very negative consequences. To fix the problem without killing Constantine, I would suggest instead killing [Maxentius](http://myron.sjsu.edu/romeweb/empcont/e185.htm), his opponent at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, in order to prevent the battle from ever taking place. That was the one where he had the vision that lead to his interest in Christianity in the first place. As things stood, Maxentius died at Milvian Bridge anyway. ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-kill-one-person-who-would-it-be/86093/64 "2001-10-11T04:50:52Z")
I guess Godwin’s Law doesn’t apply here ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Stewart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dave\_Stewart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Stewart)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-kill-one-person-who-would-it-be/86093/65 "2001-10-11T11:25:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pkbites \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Dave Stewart \* > > **I can’t believe that someone would want to shoot FDR. Many non-Americans consider him the best US president ever, for his role in WW2.** > > First of all, who said I would shoot him? The OP mentioned killing someone in the past, but I’ll choose the method is you don’t mind. > > Second of all, I don’t give a rats ass what non-Americans think of our President. I think he royaly screwed up this country, and unfortunately a large majority of idiots in this country can’t see that and instead praise him!:rolleyes: > > Oh, well! When I get back to 1928 he’s dead!!! > Right after I make certain investments in the stock market!😛 \*\* As a non-American with the gall to have an informed opinion on the US president who led the free world against the Axis, I humbly apologise to you for that opinion rendered totally insignificant by reason of the devastating accident of birth leading to my unfortunate and entirely regrettable status as a non-American. I would like to nominate Otto von Bismarck. Would the Kaiser have been in possession of a country as well-run as Germany before he famously “dropped the pilot”, if not for Bismarck? Would he then have seen fit to declare war in WW1, decimate France, and wipe out the flower of a generation in the trenches? ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-kill-one-person-who-would-it-be/86093/66 "2001-10-11T12:35:13Z")
Grigory Efimovich Rasputin, to see what the Tsarina would have done without his influence. Kaiser Wilhelm, and the guy who assassinated the rulers of Austria, would there have been a World War I? How would Germany have been affected? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-kill-one-person-who-would-it-be/86093.md?page=3)