# What woman in history do you dislike the most? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 7, 2021, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379 "2021-03-07T06:13:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/61 "2021-03-09T00:51:56Z")
Don’t forget, almost every historian in Western Europe in 60AD was a Roman. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/62 "2021-03-09T01:42:28Z")
We don’t actually have to accept either. And they certainly aren’t dependent. Sometimes a historian tells both a truth and a lie. And sometimes they exaggerate. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/63 "2021-03-09T02:53:19Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > And Hitler was not a woman. Then why was his middle name Elizabeth? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/64 "2021-03-09T03:22:22Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But she tortured and killed men, women and children, many of whom werent even romans. That was Standard Operating Procedure at the time. In fact, Sutonius, the Roman general who defeated her also killed women, and slaughtered more Britons than Boudica did. In the battle in which Boudicca was defeated (from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudica)): > [@](#): > > The troops gave no quarter even to the women: the baggage animals themselves had been speared and added to the pile of bodies. The glory won in the course of the day was remarkable, and equal to that of our older victories: for, by some accounts, little less than eighty thousand Britons fell, at a cost of some four hundred Romans killed and a not much greater number of wounded. Suetonious conducted punitive campaigns against the Britons, which were too much even for Nero and got him sacked… > [@](#): > > Suetonius conducted punitive operations, but criticism by Classicianus led to an investigation headed by [Nero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero)’s [freedman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedman) [Polyclitus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyclitus_(freedman)).[[40]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudica#cite_note-40) Fearing Suetonius’s actions would provoke further rebellion, Nero replaced the governor with the more conciliatory [Publius Petronius Turpilianus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publius_Petronius_Turpilianus). The Romans tortured and crucified people they defeated, especially rebels. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/65 "2021-03-09T04:15:21Z")
Well, we pretty much have to accept what the archaeologists say. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/66 "2021-03-09T04:17:27Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > That was Standard Operating Procedure at the time. … I accept those were brutal times, but that doesnt make her a hero by any means. But note- **I** didnt pick her as my most hated. She was wronged, she went way overboard in her revenge. There are worse women by far. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/67 "2021-03-09T05:23:09Z")
Interesting question. What woman in history is responsible for the greatest number of deaths? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/68 "2021-03-09T05:32:55Z")
I have trouble fully despising Hanson because I feel a tad of pity for her. She is dumber than a rock. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/69 "2021-03-09T05:55:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I accept those were brutal times, but that doesnt make her a hero by any means. But note- **I** didnt pick her as my most hated. She was wronged, she went way overboard in her revenge. There are worse women by far. That was pretty much my point. She did some evil things, but they weren’t exceptional for the times. She seems an odd choice for worst. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/70 "2021-03-09T05:58:14Z")
Yeah, I went for Bathory. I mean, no excuse for _that._ Mind you many people consider _Boudica_ some sort of hero or “grrl-power” and that is kinda crazy too. But worst? Nah. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/71 "2021-03-09T06:14:02Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > Um, because he felt Mother Theresa was? Yes, I get that, but the unstated point was that hypocrisy was somehow worse than, oh, starting wars, supporting Apartheid, breaking an economy for generations to come, etc. > [@TheCuse](#): > > So what was your point? That hypocrisy has fuck-all to do with level of evil? That being an honest devil doesn’t excuse shit? I thought that was obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/72 "2021-03-09T06:14:07Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > What woman in history is responsible for the greatest number of deaths? Eve?. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/73 "2021-03-09T06:18:37Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > What woman in history is responsible for the greatest number of deaths? Either Isabella - she funded Columbus or Elizabeth I - she chartered the East India Company ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/74 "2021-03-09T08:43:20Z")
Thanks to [TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse) for taking up the cudgels, and exceedingly well at that! Thatcher was disliked by many, but the “Ding dong the witch is dead” business was seriously over the top and merely illustrates, IMHO, how toxic British politics have become. Over the years a number of political commentators have said that they thought Thatcher caught so much flak because she was a woman. A man is resolute, a woman is bossy. A man is a strong debater, a woman is bitchy. The ovaries can’t win. Saying Hitler was not a hypocrite might be true, but exceedingly irrelevant. In any case my comparison was with Mother Theresa. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/75 "2021-03-09T08:50:02Z")
" _An estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and British were killed…_ Weeeeell, who did the estimating? The only sources we have are Roman. Was Dio a Roman propagandist? Most of what we think we know about the pre\_Roman Britons comes from Roman sources, the Britons left no written record. Not to excuse Boudicca, but I would guess that the non-Romans in the towns were viewed as collaborators, and in any case the main reason the Romans had an easy time of it in Britain was that the locals fought each other constantly and could not present a united front. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/76 "2021-03-09T08:52:26Z")
“Looted public resources in order to funnel millions into the pockets of her cronies…” Can you be more specific? This sounds more like the current situation, not the one under Thatcher. The only instance that I know of, and it caught a lot of flak, was concerning her son Mark. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/77 "2021-03-09T10:29:38Z")
Well, [Queen Fredegund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredegund) doesn’t seem to have been a charmer. Though granted that the Merovingians in general do seem to have made something of a family hobby out of assassinating and messily executing one another left and right. And [Mabel de Bellême](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabel_de_Bell%C3%AAme) certainly seems to have been ruthless enough to easily qualify as a successful medieval dynast. But I’m not sure dislike is the right word for my feelings about those sorts of historical figures. I mean I’m sure I’d dislike them if I knew them personally 🙂. However they’re just to far removed from me for me to work up much real emotion about them. Sure they’re pretty repellent, but I guess my view of them tends to be a bit more clinical than personal. That’s even setting aide the inevitable haze of history that tends to leave only a very muddy view of the reputation of someone like a Boudicca. I mean did Cleopatra VII have her half-brother Ptolemy XIV poisoned? It seems plausible, maybe even probable, but it is hardly a sure thing. Sometimes good stories are just good stories and misogyny and partisanship was a real issue in particular with a lot of the monks that documented at least European history. And it’s not like these women even stand out from the general crowd of sadistic men. Mabel’s son Robert was probably a rather worse monster than his mother and as noted Fredegund was in stiff competition with some serious serial killers in her social circle. Pre-modern people in general just tended towards the pretty fucking brutal. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/78 "2021-03-09T10:33:22Z")
Of all the women with power in the history of the world, the one responsible for the most deaths is Queen Victoria. Tens of millions of colonial subjects died under her long reign, in the Irish and Bengal famines, in the colonial wars, and by disease and neglect in newly acquired territories. Ask the Tasmanians about British imperialism - oh, you can’t, because they are all gone. Of course, Victoria had very little real power, and barely even knew about these events - she was probably quite a nice person in herself, although she fell out with certain of her children. But she was the figurehead at the forefront of a sophisticated machine which exploited a vast segment of the world, and killed very many of them, directly or indirectly. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/79 "2021-03-09T10:37:50Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Isabella - she funded Columbus _And_ supported the Inquisition. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2021, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379/80 "2021-03-09T10:47:44Z")
The Spanish Inquisition was horrible, but it didn’t have a very high death count, really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-woman-in-history-do-you-dislike-the-most/937379.md?page=5)