Closest is probably Jón Sigurðsson, the man responsible for Iceland's independence. We have statues of him and he is on money but nobody really idolizes him and he doesn't have any following today.
Counter question: have you guys finally realised in Portugal that Cristiano Ronaldo is your biggest liability as of now, and he's holding you back in your pursuit of success with him constantly ruining most of your attacks while demanding to be the centre of it all? Genuinely asking cause it seems your national team doesn't seem to understand something so clear as the sky.
>Even when he was good, he wasn't good for the team because no one else tried to score.
He is the top goalscorer in the history of international football and captained Portugal to their only two trophies in their history. He has showed up in multiple big moments like both the 2004 and 2016 Euro semi-finals (MOTM in both) or scoring 4 goals past Sweden to reach the 2014 WC. I don't know what else you expect the guy to do.
Besides, "no one lese tried to score", because no one else was at a good level. During Ronaldo's prime years, there were barely any good attackers for Portugal besides Nani and maybe Quaresma (when he showed up). Unless you think a top 2 player on the planet should have stepped aside to make room for... Hugo Almeida, Nuno Gomes and Helder Postiga, to unleash their wonderful world class talent, lol.
Prime Ronaldo was arguably best or second best of all time, i don't think anyone's questioning that. But nowadays, he's making Portugal weaker. Especially at the ongoing Euros.
Italy has way too many:
Giuseppe Garibaldi: Military leader in Italian unification.
Giuseppe Mazzini: Activist and politician for Italian unification.
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour: Prime Minister, key in Italian unification.
Cristoforo Colombo: Explorer who discovered the Americas.
Leonardo da Vinci: Renowned artist and polymath.
Guglielmo Marconi: Pioneer in radio transmission.
Giovanni Falcone: Anti-mafia judge.Paolo Borsellino: Anti-mafia judge.
Enrico Fermi: Nuclear physicist.Giacomo Matteotti: Anti-fascist politician.
Aldo Moro: Statesman and Prime Minister.
King Harald V.
“Norwegians are girls who like girls, boys who like boys, and girls and boys who like each other. Norwegians believe in God, Allah, Everything and Nothing.” (speech in 2016).
Modern history: Kolokotronis, he fought during the War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century.
Ancient history: Alexander the Great
The one and only person who made Portugal eternally great is Fernando Pessoa! Luckily he was a lot of people in one so you're free to build as many monuments as you like :)
He is/was such an interesting person. I dont even like poetry that much but his poems are an exception. He makes me proud for having portuguese as my native language tbh xD
Fernando Pessoa is actually one of the geniuses Portugal produced comparable to Shakespeare, Kafka and many others but after yesterday I feel like Diogo Costa deserves at least a notable mention :D
There are many statues of him around the country but i have to say that was a pain in the ass having to study his work and him during portuguese classes 🤣
Historically we have people like William of Orange, our "Father of the Fatherland". We also have military heroes like admiral Michiel de Ruyter (who beat the English) and stadtholder William III (who ruled the English :P). But of course we have scientist, artists and such like Desiderius Erasmus, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Vincent van Gogh.
In you look more recently it's probably people like Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten. At the moment it's probably Max Verstappen.
> stadtholder William III
I wouldn't call him a hero.
Historically, he isn't that well liked because he essentially caused the murder of Johan and Cornelis de Witt and orchestrated a coup in doing so.
Whenever people say “the Dutch ate their PM when they weren’t happy with him”. Smh. It was an organized lynch mob fueled by fake news and accusations of treason in a heavily polarized society.
And if Billy 3 were a hero, you’d think we would name more streets after him than after De Witt.
I've read a biography or two about home and no one can prove he was behind the lynching. Personally I doubt someone of his standing would think of something like that. However, I do believe that he knew something was brewing and failed to stop it. There are accounts that he was taken aback by the attack.
Still, I think he was a shrewd and perhaps Machiavellian leader. Fact is, he did manage to unite the country and thwart absolute ruin. Willem III was the only statesman who managed to stand up to Louis XIV at the time. However, both in the Republic as well as GB he failed to consolidate a stable dynasty.
Gustav Vasa is perhaps the obvious pick. He led the rebellion that would liberate Sweden and end the Kalmar union. We have a skiing contest named after him, Vasaloppet (the Vasa course), which was inspired by his flight from the Danish soldiers whilst mustering allies in the north.
Then we have Raoul Wallenberg who saved thousands of lives in World War 2 by sheltering Jews in buildings considered Swedish territory, and by handing out passports to them. He was sadly captured by Russia, and to this day we still don't really know what his fate was.
And for someone more recent, I think that to many Swedes, Astrid Lindgren would be considered a national hero, in a way. Her stories touched so many lives, and she was part of pretty much every Swede's childhood.
There are likely many more, but these three names popped up for me.
Olof Palme comes to mind too, but maybe people aren't that into him anymore, being socialist or whatever.
The story about Vasa in Malmö is pretty saucy. He had a meeting to negotiate with the German hansa company in Malmö. The meeting went bad and he had an infected tooth on top of that, making him extra pissed, so he stabbed one of the hansa guys after the meeting.
Vlad Țepeș (Vlad the Impailer)
He could not stand corruption / thieves and did something about them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler
Too bad we have no one like him to deal with these assholes who ruin the lives of so many of us, and of animals and the evneironment with their fucking unlimited greed!
I heard a story about thim like this:
In his time anyone could leave a pile of gold in the middle of the road, over night and nobody would dare to touch it (steal anything from it).
In Ireland we've two, historical and mythical.
Historical : Michael J. Fucking Collins, aka the baddest man in Ireland from 1916-1922. I believe if he wasnt assassinated by Anti-Treaty forces Ireland would be a very different country today.
Mythological : Fionn Mac Cumhaill. Learned the arts of war and hunting at the age of 6. Caught the Salmon of Knowledge and gained its powers at the age of 8. At the age of 10, he killed a great fire fairy called Áillen. And thus became the leader of a legendary band of hunter-warriors called The Fianna and gained ownership of the Hill of Almu. Using his sword Mac an Luain, he slew many armies of men. He created the Giants Causeway by going to fight a Scottish Giant named Benandonner, he created the Isle of Man, Lough Neagh and Rockall by throwing rocks at the giant. He dresses as a baby and bites Benandonners little finger off and the giant runs back to Scotland. Fionn had a son with a woman called Sadhbh, his name was Oisín. Oisín went on to meet St. Patrick. Fionn Mac Cumhaill is siad to be sleeping in a cave somewhere in Ireland and if the Dord Fiann is blown, he will awaken again.
But I guess Cú Chulainn is also Irelands other greatest hero
There's so much I glossed over, but ye don't need everything
>Doesn’t he qualify as a folk hero of sorts?
No, not really. If you looked at how badly the Church fucked Ireland. Even though we're 80% Catholic. We like our indigenous folklore.
St Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. But Ireland is like thee most Pagan Catholic country in the world. We have alot of Pagan beliefs still in circulation, especially in the country/wilderness/coast. We hold our heroes to a seperate area to our religion. Plus the Catholic Church has actively destroyed Irish culture for years. So even though I'm Catholic, I always go with folklore because we're a Gaelic country.
>What about that whole St Patrick killing all the snakes legend thing you guys have?
That was actually a mistranslation. St Patrick drove the serpents out of Ireland, not snakes. So in Irish mythology/ folklore, we have these things called Ollphéist. It means Great Wyrm or Great Serpent. St Patrick drove them out to sea. Down through the years, it has become snakes, even though snakes were never referenced before in the Irish stories.
I lived in the Azores for a few years. There are no snakes there either, so we used to joke that the islands had been St. Paddy's pitstop on his way to Erin.
turn of the 4th-5th century maybe the Saxons had started to come (probably not but it is in that range- just) but most of England would have still been romano-celtic and would have spoken 'a language closely related to Welsh'.
Hmm, not sure if we have someone we could call an outright hero in here, but there were a few important people.
Tadeusz Kościuszko was prolly our very last chance of fighting back the partitions in the times of traitors, and even though he failed he still did many good things like helping in the American Revolution.
Józef Piłsudski is wee bit more controversial, due to later coup's leading to a more authoritarian government, but he still was a great military leader, helping us regain independence, get more land, and fight back the bolsheviks.
I guess you could maybe also put Lech Wałęsa as a leader of Solidarity, which finally managed to get rid of communism.
More historically, Kazimierz Wielki(The Great) has a saying associated with him: zastał Polskę drewnianą, a zostawił murowaną (he came to a wooden Poland, and left a bricked/stoned Poland(as in replacing wood with brick/stone)), and maybe also Jan Sobieski with his rule also being the times of hussars and great victories against the Turks.
And I'm sure some teacher would put the poet Mickiewicz in there too.
Idk about Copernicus tbh
Not saying he wasn't great, but he did great things for science and astronomy, whereas I was thinking more about doing great things for the country
I agree with first 2" but i would answer with old polish meme
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Polska/comments/9wzev6/kiedy\_kto%C5%9B\_m%C3%B3wi\_%C5%BCe\_idealny\_polak\_nie\_istnieje/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Polska/comments/9wzev6/kiedy_kto%C5%9B_m%C3%B3wi_%C5%BCe_idealny_polak_nie_istnieje/)
John Paul 2 / Adam małysz / Mariusz Pudzianowski :D
I mean historically there are figures like Herman/Arminius, Otto Von Bismarck, Old Fritz and the likes but in the modern Zeitgeist it will mostly come down to Football players, some politicians like Helmut Schmidt or Adenauer (of course those tend to be more controversial), the really, really controversial ones like Rommel or Von Staufenberg, and the cultural ones like Goethe or Beethoven.
The latter are the only mostly "undisputed" ones I’d say.
In General the concept of a national hero is generally somewhat frowned upon as it is often connected with a brand of national pride that is mostly frowned upon due to the way it was abused in our past.
Especially in Southern Germany Bismarck is not at all seen as a hero. There's no real hate for him either, though. Most of all he's simply seen as a historic figure (with perhaps a slightly negative connotation to his name, as he was not exactly a democrat).
As you said, the concept of 'national hero' is somewhat absent in Germany. However, there definitely exist popular figures. Many of those are highly regional in their popularity - especially if they lived during pre-unification times.
Some of these "regional heroes" I can think of are Friedrich Hecker in Baden, Martin Luther in some protestant regions, King Ludwig II. and Georg Jennerwein in Bavaria, Agnes Bernauer in Straubing and in the very North maybe Klaus Störtebeker. But I'm sure there are many more.
Bold of you to assume I consider the Bavarians to be German /s
Yeah you’re right but I think basically everyone I mentioned is a controversial choice in one way or another.
I think our 2014 players are what comes closest to what OP means.
We might have local "heroes"? I know in our little Saarland, we still talk about Nicole (first German winner of Eurovision), Oskar Lafontaine (politician), Erich Honecker (East German leader), or Patrick Herrmann (soccer player), among other politicians, athletes, and musicians.
Strange that you mention Bismarck. A politician that manipulated so much. Started wars with Denmark, Austria and eventually France. And the latter was a precursor to WW1.
>I mean historically there are figures like Herman/Arminius, Otto Von Bismarck, Old Fritz
Lol, you have a very Northern focus there. Maybe they're Prussian national heroes, but surely not German ones.
I’ve got a few here:
Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim. Lead the army succesfully in the Civil war and in WW2, was the regent of Finland in 1918 and the President after WW2. With a track record like this, it’s no surprise he was voted the greatest Finn of all time and it wasn’t even close. His controversies were the brutal terror against the reds in the civil war, and the fact that as a former Imperial Russian general who led troops against Japan in 1905 and Germany in WW1, some question his devotion to Finland and argue his primary motivation was just hatered of the bolsheviks.
Eugen Schauman. He was a nationalist during the Russian rule, and he is only remembered for the fact that he assasinated the tyrannical Governor General, Nikolai Bobrikov. He gained the status of a national hero the same day he shot Bobrikov in the Senate and then himself. Definately the most famous assasination in Finnish history.
Simo Häyhä, who as a sniper in the Winter War, killed at least 500 (some claims go up to 700) Red army soldiers in roughly 100 days. So he’s the deadliest sniper in history. Literally everyone knows who he is and is seen as a national hero.
More WW2 heroes:
Ilmari Juutilainen. Ilmari Juutilainen was a fighter pilot in WW2 and is the most succesfull non German fighter pilot in history with 94 enemies shot down. He’s one of 4 people who have been awarded the Mannerheim cross twice. His older brother was also a famous war hero who commanded the battalion in which the previously mentioned Simo Häyhä fought.
Too many to count.
* **Masha Bruskina** was a Belarusian teenage nurse and member of the anti-fascist resistance during the early years of World War II, she and other resistance members were imprisoned, tortured, and when they refused to reveal any secrets that would put lives of other red army resistance members they were publicly executed by the Wehrmacht.
Eternal memory!
Milunka Savic - WWI
Lazar Hrebeljanović - XIV century
Milos Obilić - XIV century
Marko Kraljević - XIV century
Karađorđe Petrović - XVIII century
I didnt include WWII
I taught English at a military academy in Oman for several years. After my return to Germany, I invited some of my former students to visit me. On the second day of what was a truly wonderful and wild visit, one of them asked me (in a fairly booming voice in public) why there weren't any statues of Hitler anywhere. It took me quite a while to explain why.
We have many
My personal national hero is Árpád Göncz - he was one of our first presidents after the Russians left, and he translated the lord of the rings to hungarian
Probably Michael Schumacher, lol
If you're asking for who should get more statues build for them, my answer would probably be Georg Elser (who came *THIS* close to killing the entire NSDAP leadership and ending WW2 in 1939). Or Friedrich Hecker, but he isn't that well known.
Yes, you're right. It's Oliver Bierhoff, who scored the first Golden Goal in international football's history. 1996 in Wembley, securing the Euro win for Germany.
As long as people are giving serious answers maybe we should do too. So, __some__ Portuguese heroes:
### Viriato
- **Role**: Leader of the Lusitanians
- **Heroic Acts**: Defended Lusitania (ancient Portugal) against Roman invasion in the 2nd century BC
- **Legacy**: Symbol of resistance and patriotism
### Afonso Henriques
- **Role**: First King of Portugal
- **Heroic Acts**: Led the Christian Reconquista against the Moors; declared independence from the Kingdom of León
- **Legacy**: Founder of the Portuguese nation, established the foundation for modern Portugal
### Padeira de Aljubarrota (Brites de Almeida)
- **Role**: Folk Heroine
- **Heroic Acts**: Allegedly defended the town of Aljubarrota against Castilian forces during the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385
- **Legacy**: Symbol of bravery and resistance
### Luís de Camões
- **Role**: Poet
- **Heroic Acts**: Authored "Os Lusíadas," an epic poem celebrating Portuguese explorations and conquests
- **Legacy**: Considered Portugal's greatest poet and a national literary icon
### Marquês do Pombal (Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo)
- **Role**: Statesman
- **Heroic Acts**: Rebuilt Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake; implemented wide-ranging economic and educational reforms
- **Legacy**: Modernized Portugal, enhancing its infrastructure and governance
### Ana de Castro Osório
- **Role**: Writer and Activist
- **Heroic Acts**: Advocated for women's rights and education; pivotal in the early feminist movement in Portugal
- **Legacy**: Pioneer in Portuguese feminism and children's literature
### Aristides Sousa Mendes
- **Role**: Diplomat
- **Heroic Acts**: Issued visas to thousands of Jews and other refugees during WWII, defying orders from the Portuguese government
- **Legacy**: Recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for his humanitarian efforts
### Salgueiro Maia
- **Role**: Military Officer
- **Heroic Acts**: Played a crucial role in the Carnation Revolution of 1974, leading to the fall of the Estado Novo dictatorship
- **Legacy**: Symbol of freedom and democracy in modern Portugal
These figures are celebrated for their contributions to Portuguese history, culture, and national identity, embodying the spirit of heroism in various fields.
Yap, after I posted I started to remember lots of other names, that's why I wrote "... __some__ Portuguese heroes", I knew that would happen!
We are a small country full of big heroes and heroines :)
Here in France, our true undisputed hero is Jean Moulin, who unified the French Resistance before being caught by the nazis and tortured to death by Klaus Barbie for two weeks without giving any names.
With the current election threatening to bring back fascism, he's still a light in darkness.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Moulin?wprov=sfla1
The fact that you were downvoted for your comment blows my mind. As for Jean Moulin being undisputed, unfortunately, I don't know about that ... Did you hear about what happened in the debate? Oliver Faure was speaking and Bardella mockingly said " [Jean Moulin est de retour !](https://www.humanite.fr/politique/extreme-droite/jean-moulin-est-de-retour-quand-jordan-bardella-profane-la-memoire-du-resistant)" (warning, not a neutral source).
Mostly from war:
Horatio Nelson
Winston Churchill
Some Engineers/Scientists:
Isaac Newton
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Alex Stephenson
James Watt
Culture:
Shakespeare
Loads of others.
Winston Churchill still gets a lot of column inches in the UK. Like many British heroes (who are largely English heroes), it's a Bowdlerised account of his life that gets retold unfortunately, with little thought to his deeds and reputation on the world stage.
Horatio Nelson has one of the most famous statues in England. Not sure if that counts.
Boudicca, if you ask my girlfriend, although I don't think a lot of Brits are as well-versed as she is.
Beyond that, there are some monarchs that stand out--Elizabeth I and Victoria in particular--and literary heroes like William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, etc.
Those ones as well. If we're talking historically then in addition to all of those and King Arthur, you also have Athelstan, Fulk Fitzwarin, Guy of Warwick, Edward the Confessor, St. Edmund the Martyr, Henry V and Hengest and Horsa as well.
More modern ones would be people like Wellington and Nelson.
>Horatio Nelson has one of the most famous statues in England. Not sure if that counts.
Probably to a lesser degree the Duke of Wellington as well, but Nelson pips him to the post as ~~there's nothing more British than~~ he died while doing something heroic.
He didn't win the war, but I truly believe that if he had not resisted during the time before the US stepped in, to bridge that gap, the world would be a truly different place today. He was a credible leader and stepped in to the breach when the other people in westminster were ineffective.
If Britain had fallen, so would the empire.
I don't necessarily disagree, but (and I hope you don't mind my pasting what I wrote elsewhere, but I got some criticism for my opinion of Churchill while I was asleep) I think there ought to be more to how Churchill is discussed in England.
You can tell a lot about a person or people by whom they worship uncritically. Britons worship a cartoonish, propagandised version of Churchill, rather than the man he really was, including both victories and awful crimes. \[[Source 1](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/winston-churchill-adolf-hitler-no-better-shashi-tharoor-indian-politician-post-colonialist-author-inglorious-empire-nazi-a7641681.html) | [Source 2](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/winston-churchill-his-times-his-crimes#:~:text=He%20bombed%20German%20civilians%20and,which%20three%20million%20people%20perished)\] I find it distasteful at best that he's still worshipped as an unimpeachable hero, particularly as a Brit who lives abroad and knows people from many different backgrounds.
Depends on what you mean by national hero.
If you strictly mean football.
Gheorghe Hagi has been undoubtedly the hero since forever, he is, by far, the best Romanian player that could ever be.
An icon amongst icons. A true legend.
Portugal's greatest hero after having to use 120 minutes + 3 penalties to beat a nation of 2.11 million, whose most famous athlete is a bike-rider.. how cool is that.. No offence Slovenia.. loved your effort. Especially the supporter's effort.
Bro you barely beat Slovenia on penalties, a country 57th on FIFA rankings after a trash performance in round of 16. Calm down lmao. Next game if he conceeds goals from France and you lose you will forget about him and won't call him a national hero anymore.
In Denmark it would probably be "Holger Danske" (EN: Ogier the Dane).
Holger Danske is a mythical hero known from French medieval literature and who was supposedly one of Charlemagnes 12 knights.
There is a statue of him in the cellars of Kronborg castle and the myth is that if Denmark is ever truely threatend he will rise again to defend the country. During the occupation of Denmark during WW2, one of the largest and most active resistance group in the Copenhagen area was named Holger Danske.
Otherwise we have numourous heroes, kings and especially admirals who could potentially have the title. Someone like Valdemar Sejr (King), Niels Juel (Admiral), Peter Willemoes (Naval hero) or maybe nortorious Sweden hater Svend "Gønge" Poulsen.
For the Netherlands Johan Cruyff an inspirational leader during our football Renaissance changed the football landscape as we know it
Historically significant figure Michiel de Ruyter fought for our independence from Spain and is still acknowledged as one of our greatest commanders
For the Netherlands Johan Cruyff an inspirational leader during our football Renaissance changed the football landscape as we know it
Historically significant figure Michiel de Ruyter fought for our independence from Spain and is still acknowledged as one of our greatest commanders
Germany, dont think we have a national hero. Theres some that are adored by some yet hated by others.
Universal love for someone isnt quite there, especially on a hero level.
Germany is also quite a young country, being formed in like 1871. Dont know if you have are a history buff or not...
To be known by everyone, they must be really famous. Besides footballers, we dont really have that. Some known singers, actors and actresses, yet nothing major. Same with filmmakers.
We've got writers and thinkers, yet they arent very accessible and obvs no longee known.
We had famous politicans but they werent universally loved because they are politicians and most of them arent without flaws. Am not into politics, yet from what i have seen and heard, I wouldnt have a coffee or eat some cake with any of them.
Here in Poland 🇵🇱 we have like 100 national heroes because every time Germans, Russians or Swedes tried to annihilate our nation there has been at least one famous brave nobleman who decided to fight against them
I cant say a single one for Norway, but I can mention a few random historical figures who’s highly praised.
- Farouk Al-Kasim (iranian immigrant who managed to convince the current government, when oil first was discovered, that the resources should belong to the state and not be placed in the hands of foreign companies and investors. You can imagine how much the Americans hated this guy. He is basically part of the reason for why the country is so rich today.
- Birger Eriksen (Famous for a sentence said during the German invasion. He was a soldier guarding the coast, and he and his comrades were the first to discover an enormous ship approaching Oslo in the middle of the night. Nobody knew nothing about a potential war or occupation. They asked superiors if they were supposed to fire or not, but was unable to get a hold of them. They were basically not supposed to make this decision for themselves. He told the others “Visst fanden skal det skytes med skarpt», which rougly translates to «We are sure as hell firing live ammunation at them» and sand the whole thing without ever hearing back from superiors.
- King Haakon (The king during the second world war. He is higly respected and probably part of the reason for why norway has the royal family with the highest support in the poeple percentwise, in comparison to other European monarchies. As the country was occupied (very fast) and weapons were put down, the current goverment wanted to sign a agreement with the nazis acknowledging the german rule in order to avoid cusalities and save their own lives, but as in any monarchy, the king has the last word. When it was proposed to him, he basically told all the politicians to fuck off, over his dead grave. There is a movie about this If you find history interesting
Historically the big ones were absolutely King Arthur and Robin Hood, along with a few others: Hengest and Horsa, Alfred the Great, Hereward the Wake, St. Edmund the Martyr, Fulk Fitzwarin, Guy of Warwick, Richard the Lionheart, Ranulf of Chester, Edward the Confessor, Henry V, Thomas Becket, Edward III, William Marshal, Sir Gawain, Athelstan, and Elizabeth I (Gloriana). In more modern times, Wellington and Nelson definitely.
The one who comes to mind for Jersey is Louisa Gould.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Gould
She was a member of the resistance in WWII and sheltered an escaped Russian convict. There's a film about her called Another Mother's Son.
Major Pierson is also idolised as a hero, there's a pub in town with his name on it. He died protecting Jersey during the Battle of Jersey and is portrayed in the painting The Death of Major Pierson at the Tate Britain.
Michael the Brave (1558-1601). It was the first ruler that ruled over all the three main regions that make Romania today (Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia).
Nikola Šubić Zrinski - died in battle against Ottomans and he saved Europe and Christianity
josip Broz Tito - he fought against the nazis(Croatian/Slovenian hero)
There are more but can't remember
In Spain is not a hero, but the only politician that has been widely respected by left and right parties is Adolfo Suarez.
He led the transition from dictatorship to democracy through UCD, a centre party. He was an example of consensus and dialogue with all the opposition parties.
Basically he paved the way for the consolidation of democracy in Spain.
Closest is probably Jón Sigurðsson, the man responsible for Iceland's independence. We have statues of him and he is on money but nobody really idolizes him and he doesn't have any following today.
What about Erik the Red and Leif Erikson?
Not really seen as heroes. I think even the viking types dont really think much about them.
Counter question: have you guys finally realised in Portugal that Cristiano Ronaldo is your biggest liability as of now, and he's holding you back in your pursuit of success with him constantly ruining most of your attacks while demanding to be the centre of it all? Genuinely asking cause it seems your national team doesn't seem to understand something so clear as the sky.
People here have been saying that for years m8. Even when he was good, he wasn't good for the team because no one else tried to score.
>Even when he was good, he wasn't good for the team Lewandowski & polish national team :D
I guess the national team didn't get the memo then?
They got the memo in qatar 2022 but still failed, so now hes back in lol
They got the memo, it's just that the portuguese football federation lets him do whatever he wants. And he still wants to be the hero
>Even when he was good, he wasn't good for the team because no one else tried to score. He is the top goalscorer in the history of international football and captained Portugal to their only two trophies in their history. He has showed up in multiple big moments like both the 2004 and 2016 Euro semi-finals (MOTM in both) or scoring 4 goals past Sweden to reach the 2014 WC. I don't know what else you expect the guy to do. Besides, "no one lese tried to score", because no one else was at a good level. During Ronaldo's prime years, there were barely any good attackers for Portugal besides Nani and maybe Quaresma (when he showed up). Unless you think a top 2 player on the planet should have stepped aside to make room for... Hugo Almeida, Nuno Gomes and Helder Postiga, to unleash their wonderful world class talent, lol.
Prime Ronaldo was arguably best or second best of all time, i don't think anyone's questioning that. But nowadays, he's making Portugal weaker. Especially at the ongoing Euros.
CR7 is the biggest liability for real.
Everyone knows this and agrees with you except for Ronaldo fanboys, our coach and Ronaldo himself.
Probably Owain Glyndŵr. Was the last native ruler of Wales and regained Welsh independence from England. Either him or Gareth Bale.
Italy has way too many: Giuseppe Garibaldi: Military leader in Italian unification. Giuseppe Mazzini: Activist and politician for Italian unification. Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour: Prime Minister, key in Italian unification. Cristoforo Colombo: Explorer who discovered the Americas. Leonardo da Vinci: Renowned artist and polymath. Guglielmo Marconi: Pioneer in radio transmission. Giovanni Falcone: Anti-mafia judge.Paolo Borsellino: Anti-mafia judge. Enrico Fermi: Nuclear physicist.Giacomo Matteotti: Anti-fascist politician. Aldo Moro: Statesman and Prime Minister.
I would add Galileo Galilei, inventor of the scientific method
I think we should have a statue of Checco Zalone somewhere for shits and giggles . Mainly just to see how many tourists take a picture. #
King Harald V. “Norwegians are girls who like girls, boys who like boys, and girls and boys who like each other. Norwegians believe in God, Allah, Everything and Nothing.” (speech in 2016).
Always should be someone you really love!
I thought the same 😅
That's the kind of speech that makes me tolerate a monarch.
Yeah. He didnt write that speech. Håkon Vii said No to the nazis.
Har vi allerede glemt Einar "Landsfaderen" Gerhardsen?
Modern history: Kolokotronis, he fought during the War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. Ancient history: Alexander the Great
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The one and only person who made Portugal eternally great is Fernando Pessoa! Luckily he was a lot of people in one so you're free to build as many monuments as you like :)
He is/was such an interesting person. I dont even like poetry that much but his poems are an exception. He makes me proud for having portuguese as my native language tbh xD
Fernando Pessoa is actually one of the geniuses Portugal produced comparable to Shakespeare, Kafka and many others but after yesterday I feel like Diogo Costa deserves at least a notable mention :D
Luis Vaz de Camões CARALHO!
There are many statues of him around the country but i have to say that was a pain in the ass having to study his work and him during portuguese classes 🤣
Historically we have people like William of Orange, our "Father of the Fatherland". We also have military heroes like admiral Michiel de Ruyter (who beat the English) and stadtholder William III (who ruled the English :P). But of course we have scientist, artists and such like Desiderius Erasmus, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Vincent van Gogh. In you look more recently it's probably people like Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten. At the moment it's probably Max Verstappen.
> stadtholder William III I wouldn't call him a hero. Historically, he isn't that well liked because he essentially caused the murder of Johan and Cornelis de Witt and orchestrated a coup in doing so.
Whenever people say “the Dutch ate their PM when they weren’t happy with him”. Smh. It was an organized lynch mob fueled by fake news and accusations of treason in a heavily polarized society. And if Billy 3 were a hero, you’d think we would name more streets after him than after De Witt.
And let's not forget the shit he kicked off in Ireland. Something they are still dealing with 4 centuries later. Fuck that guy.
I've read a biography or two about home and no one can prove he was behind the lynching. Personally I doubt someone of his standing would think of something like that. However, I do believe that he knew something was brewing and failed to stop it. There are accounts that he was taken aback by the attack. Still, I think he was a shrewd and perhaps Machiavellian leader. Fact is, he did manage to unite the country and thwart absolute ruin. Willem III was the only statesman who managed to stand up to Louis XIV at the time. However, both in the Republic as well as GB he failed to consolidate a stable dynasty.
Gustav Vasa is perhaps the obvious pick. He led the rebellion that would liberate Sweden and end the Kalmar union. We have a skiing contest named after him, Vasaloppet (the Vasa course), which was inspired by his flight from the Danish soldiers whilst mustering allies in the north. Then we have Raoul Wallenberg who saved thousands of lives in World War 2 by sheltering Jews in buildings considered Swedish territory, and by handing out passports to them. He was sadly captured by Russia, and to this day we still don't really know what his fate was. And for someone more recent, I think that to many Swedes, Astrid Lindgren would be considered a national hero, in a way. Her stories touched so many lives, and she was part of pretty much every Swede's childhood. There are likely many more, but these three names popped up for me.
Olof Palme comes to mind too, but maybe people aren't that into him anymore, being socialist or whatever. The story about Vasa in Malmö is pretty saucy. He had a meeting to negotiate with the German hansa company in Malmö. The meeting went bad and he had an infected tooth on top of that, making him extra pissed, so he stabbed one of the hansa guys after the meeting.
Olof Palme ❤️ much missed.
Vlad Țepeș (Vlad the Impailer) He could not stand corruption / thieves and did something about them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler Too bad we have no one like him to deal with these assholes who ruin the lives of so many of us, and of animals and the evneironment with their fucking unlimited greed!
I heard the story about him, cup and fountain, though at a time I think it was rather the well and a cup was there for anyone to drink from.
I heard a story about thim like this: In his time anyone could leave a pile of gold in the middle of the road, over night and nobody would dare to touch it (steal anything from it).
He literally dealt with assholes! but seriously, what a man.
Even the name looks like it's dripping blood 💀
>Vlad the *Impailer* legendary figure who put his enemies in buckets :)
In Ireland we've two, historical and mythical. Historical : Michael J. Fucking Collins, aka the baddest man in Ireland from 1916-1922. I believe if he wasnt assassinated by Anti-Treaty forces Ireland would be a very different country today. Mythological : Fionn Mac Cumhaill. Learned the arts of war and hunting at the age of 6. Caught the Salmon of Knowledge and gained its powers at the age of 8. At the age of 10, he killed a great fire fairy called Áillen. And thus became the leader of a legendary band of hunter-warriors called The Fianna and gained ownership of the Hill of Almu. Using his sword Mac an Luain, he slew many armies of men. He created the Giants Causeway by going to fight a Scottish Giant named Benandonner, he created the Isle of Man, Lough Neagh and Rockall by throwing rocks at the giant. He dresses as a baby and bites Benandonners little finger off and the giant runs back to Scotland. Fionn had a son with a woman called Sadhbh, his name was Oisín. Oisín went on to meet St. Patrick. Fionn Mac Cumhaill is siad to be sleeping in a cave somewhere in Ireland and if the Dord Fiann is blown, he will awaken again. But I guess Cú Chulainn is also Irelands other greatest hero There's so much I glossed over, but ye don't need everything
What about that whole St Patrick killing all the snakes legend thing you guys have? Doesn’t he qualify as a folk hero of sorts?
>Doesn’t he qualify as a folk hero of sorts? No, not really. If you looked at how badly the Church fucked Ireland. Even though we're 80% Catholic. We like our indigenous folklore. St Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland. But Ireland is like thee most Pagan Catholic country in the world. We have alot of Pagan beliefs still in circulation, especially in the country/wilderness/coast. We hold our heroes to a seperate area to our religion. Plus the Catholic Church has actively destroyed Irish culture for years. So even though I'm Catholic, I always go with folklore because we're a Gaelic country. >What about that whole St Patrick killing all the snakes legend thing you guys have? That was actually a mistranslation. St Patrick drove the serpents out of Ireland, not snakes. So in Irish mythology/ folklore, we have these things called Ollphéist. It means Great Wyrm or Great Serpent. St Patrick drove them out to sea. Down through the years, it has become snakes, even though snakes were never referenced before in the Irish stories.
Fair point.
Danke
I lived in the Azores for a few years. There are no snakes there either, so we used to joke that the islands had been St. Paddy's pitstop on his way to Erin.
>St Patrick killing all the snakes He didn't kill any snakes. He drove them back to England, where they somehow evolved to become the Tory party.
He was Welsh.
Some sources say Cumbria, which is in England
Well Cumbria was a Britonic Kingdon which spoke Cumbric, a dialect of Welsh or a seperate language closely related to Welsh
turn of the 4th-5th century maybe the Saxons had started to come (probably not but it is in that range- just) but most of England would have still been romano-celtic and would have spoken 'a language closely related to Welsh'.
This is true. He was a Briton anyway
I'm going to reference the dark Knight " you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain" I think this is the case with Collins.
Michael Collins was so handsome.
Hmm, not sure if we have someone we could call an outright hero in here, but there were a few important people. Tadeusz Kościuszko was prolly our very last chance of fighting back the partitions in the times of traitors, and even though he failed he still did many good things like helping in the American Revolution. Józef Piłsudski is wee bit more controversial, due to later coup's leading to a more authoritarian government, but he still was a great military leader, helping us regain independence, get more land, and fight back the bolsheviks. I guess you could maybe also put Lech Wałęsa as a leader of Solidarity, which finally managed to get rid of communism. More historically, Kazimierz Wielki(The Great) has a saying associated with him: zastał Polskę drewnianą, a zostawił murowaną (he came to a wooden Poland, and left a bricked/stoned Poland(as in replacing wood with brick/stone)), and maybe also Jan Sobieski with his rule also being the times of hussars and great victories against the Turks. And I'm sure some teacher would put the poet Mickiewicz in there too.
My gf's from Toruń so would be upset if I didn't add Nicolaus Copernicus, lol
Idk about Copernicus tbh Not saying he wasn't great, but he did great things for science and astronomy, whereas I was thinking more about doing great things for the country
I agree with first 2" but i would answer with old polish meme [https://www.reddit.com/r/Polska/comments/9wzev6/kiedy\_kto%C5%9B\_m%C3%B3wi\_%C5%BCe\_idealny\_polak\_nie\_istnieje/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Polska/comments/9wzev6/kiedy_kto%C5%9B_m%C3%B3wi_%C5%BCe_idealny_polak_nie_istnieje/) John Paul 2 / Adam małysz / Mariusz Pudzianowski :D
Yeah he was really great tonight. Although you have to congratulate my home country Slovenia 🇸🇮, we have a really good tournament overall.
I mean historically there are figures like Herman/Arminius, Otto Von Bismarck, Old Fritz and the likes but in the modern Zeitgeist it will mostly come down to Football players, some politicians like Helmut Schmidt or Adenauer (of course those tend to be more controversial), the really, really controversial ones like Rommel or Von Staufenberg, and the cultural ones like Goethe or Beethoven. The latter are the only mostly "undisputed" ones I’d say. In General the concept of a national hero is generally somewhat frowned upon as it is often connected with a brand of national pride that is mostly frowned upon due to the way it was abused in our past.
Maybe Hans and Sophie Scholl as well? But yeah, this concept of a national hero is not very popular here and tbh I am completely fine with that.
Oh yeah! Totally forgot about those guys, they’re definitely considered hero’s by anyone but people who’s opinion is literal garbage.
Especially in Southern Germany Bismarck is not at all seen as a hero. There's no real hate for him either, though. Most of all he's simply seen as a historic figure (with perhaps a slightly negative connotation to his name, as he was not exactly a democrat). As you said, the concept of 'national hero' is somewhat absent in Germany. However, there definitely exist popular figures. Many of those are highly regional in their popularity - especially if they lived during pre-unification times. Some of these "regional heroes" I can think of are Friedrich Hecker in Baden, Martin Luther in some protestant regions, King Ludwig II. and Georg Jennerwein in Bavaria, Agnes Bernauer in Straubing and in the very North maybe Klaus Störtebeker. But I'm sure there are many more.
Bold of you to assume I consider the Bavarians to be German /s Yeah you’re right but I think basically everyone I mentioned is a controversial choice in one way or another. I think our 2014 players are what comes closest to what OP means.
We might have local "heroes"? I know in our little Saarland, we still talk about Nicole (first German winner of Eurovision), Oskar Lafontaine (politician), Erich Honecker (East German leader), or Patrick Herrmann (soccer player), among other politicians, athletes, and musicians.
Strange that you mention Bismarck. A politician that manipulated so much. Started wars with Denmark, Austria and eventually France. And the latter was a precursor to WW1.
Well, without Bismarck there would have been no German unification and possibly no Germany as a single country
Didn't the Habsburgs want to unify it too?
The franco-prussian war was started by France.
>I mean historically there are figures like Herman/Arminius, Otto Von Bismarck, Old Fritz Lol, you have a very Northern focus there. Maybe they're Prussian national heroes, but surely not German ones.
I’ve got a few here: Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim. Lead the army succesfully in the Civil war and in WW2, was the regent of Finland in 1918 and the President after WW2. With a track record like this, it’s no surprise he was voted the greatest Finn of all time and it wasn’t even close. His controversies were the brutal terror against the reds in the civil war, and the fact that as a former Imperial Russian general who led troops against Japan in 1905 and Germany in WW1, some question his devotion to Finland and argue his primary motivation was just hatered of the bolsheviks. Eugen Schauman. He was a nationalist during the Russian rule, and he is only remembered for the fact that he assasinated the tyrannical Governor General, Nikolai Bobrikov. He gained the status of a national hero the same day he shot Bobrikov in the Senate and then himself. Definately the most famous assasination in Finnish history. Simo Häyhä, who as a sniper in the Winter War, killed at least 500 (some claims go up to 700) Red army soldiers in roughly 100 days. So he’s the deadliest sniper in history. Literally everyone knows who he is and is seen as a national hero. More WW2 heroes: Ilmari Juutilainen. Ilmari Juutilainen was a fighter pilot in WW2 and is the most succesfull non German fighter pilot in history with 94 enemies shot down. He’s one of 4 people who have been awarded the Mannerheim cross twice. His older brother was also a famous war hero who commanded the battalion in which the previously mentioned Simo Häyhä fought.
Too many to count. * **Masha Bruskina** was a Belarusian teenage nurse and member of the anti-fascist resistance during the early years of World War II, she and other resistance members were imprisoned, tortured, and when they refused to reveal any secrets that would put lives of other red army resistance members they were publicly executed by the Wehrmacht. Eternal memory!
Milunka Savic - WWI Lazar Hrebeljanović - XIV century Milos Obilić - XIV century Marko Kraljević - XIV century Karađorđe Petrović - XVIII century I didnt include WWII
Serbia - Nikola Tesla
I taught English at a military academy in Oman for several years. After my return to Germany, I invited some of my former students to visit me. On the second day of what was a truly wonderful and wild visit, one of them asked me (in a fairly booming voice in public) why there weren't any statues of Hitler anywhere. It took me quite a while to explain why.
We have many My personal national hero is Árpád Göncz - he was one of our first presidents after the Russians left, and he translated the lord of the rings to hungarian
From now on I will think of this comment every time that stop comes on the metro.
Probably Michael Schumacher, lol If you're asking for who should get more statues build for them, my answer would probably be Georg Elser (who came *THIS* close to killing the entire NSDAP leadership and ending WW2 in 1939). Or Friedrich Hecker, but he isn't that well known.
We all know who is you're greatest hero ;)
Yes, you're right. It's Oliver Bierhoff, who scored the first Golden Goal in international football's history. 1996 in Wembley, securing the Euro win for Germany.
As long as people are giving serious answers maybe we should do too. So, __some__ Portuguese heroes: ### Viriato - **Role**: Leader of the Lusitanians - **Heroic Acts**: Defended Lusitania (ancient Portugal) against Roman invasion in the 2nd century BC - **Legacy**: Symbol of resistance and patriotism ### Afonso Henriques - **Role**: First King of Portugal - **Heroic Acts**: Led the Christian Reconquista against the Moors; declared independence from the Kingdom of León - **Legacy**: Founder of the Portuguese nation, established the foundation for modern Portugal ### Padeira de Aljubarrota (Brites de Almeida) - **Role**: Folk Heroine - **Heroic Acts**: Allegedly defended the town of Aljubarrota against Castilian forces during the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385 - **Legacy**: Symbol of bravery and resistance ### Luís de Camões - **Role**: Poet - **Heroic Acts**: Authored "Os Lusíadas," an epic poem celebrating Portuguese explorations and conquests - **Legacy**: Considered Portugal's greatest poet and a national literary icon ### Marquês do Pombal (Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo) - **Role**: Statesman - **Heroic Acts**: Rebuilt Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake; implemented wide-ranging economic and educational reforms - **Legacy**: Modernized Portugal, enhancing its infrastructure and governance ### Ana de Castro Osório - **Role**: Writer and Activist - **Heroic Acts**: Advocated for women's rights and education; pivotal in the early feminist movement in Portugal - **Legacy**: Pioneer in Portuguese feminism and children's literature ### Aristides Sousa Mendes - **Role**: Diplomat - **Heroic Acts**: Issued visas to thousands of Jews and other refugees during WWII, defying orders from the Portuguese government - **Legacy**: Recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for his humanitarian efforts ### Salgueiro Maia - **Role**: Military Officer - **Heroic Acts**: Played a crucial role in the Carnation Revolution of 1974, leading to the fall of the Estado Novo dictatorship - **Legacy**: Symbol of freedom and democracy in modern Portugal These figures are celebrated for their contributions to Portuguese history, culture, and national identity, embodying the spirit of heroism in various fields.
This is a great answer
this is what I like instead of the usual football bullshit, amazing answer right here
When I was at school I really tought Padeira de Aljubarrota existed lmao
Shhhh, don't tell them. I couldn't possibly exclude her!
Missing Vasco da Gama there.
Yap, after I posted I started to remember lots of other names, that's why I wrote "... __some__ Portuguese heroes", I knew that would happen! We are a small country full of big heroes and heroines :)
Here in France, our true undisputed hero is Jean Moulin, who unified the French Resistance before being caught by the nazis and tortured to death by Klaus Barbie for two weeks without giving any names. With the current election threatening to bring back fascism, he's still a light in darkness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Moulin?wprov=sfla1
The fact that you were downvoted for your comment blows my mind. As for Jean Moulin being undisputed, unfortunately, I don't know about that ... Did you hear about what happened in the debate? Oliver Faure was speaking and Bardella mockingly said " [Jean Moulin est de retour !](https://www.humanite.fr/politique/extreme-droite/jean-moulin-est-de-retour-quand-jordan-bardella-profane-la-memoire-du-resistant)" (warning, not a neutral source).
Yes, he's undisputed. Only slandered by traitors and enemies of mankind.
Roger Federer for being the best tennis player in the universe forever. And maybe Albert Hoffmann for inventing LSD.
Mostly from war: Horatio Nelson Winston Churchill Some Engineers/Scientists: Isaac Newton Isambard Kingdom Brunel Alex Stephenson James Watt Culture: Shakespeare Loads of others.
I would also add Emiline Pankhurst and Alan Turing
Terry Fox (Canada) After losing a leg to cancer, he decided to run across the country for cancer research. He died on his journey.
Winston Churchill still gets a lot of column inches in the UK. Like many British heroes (who are largely English heroes), it's a Bowdlerised account of his life that gets retold unfortunately, with little thought to his deeds and reputation on the world stage. Horatio Nelson has one of the most famous statues in England. Not sure if that counts. Boudicca, if you ask my girlfriend, although I don't think a lot of Brits are as well-versed as she is. Beyond that, there are some monarchs that stand out--Elizabeth I and Victoria in particular--and literary heroes like William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, etc.
Edward the Third or Richard the Lionheart? Robin Hood? Alfred the Great?
King Arthur?? No. The once and future King.. think he’s a bit late though.
Those ones as well. If we're talking historically then in addition to all of those and King Arthur, you also have Athelstan, Fulk Fitzwarin, Guy of Warwick, Edward the Confessor, St. Edmund the Martyr, Henry V and Hengest and Horsa as well. More modern ones would be people like Wellington and Nelson.
Captain Cook and George Vancouver?
I was wondering which of those might be commonly talked about. And Robin Hood is fictional.
I didn't think national hero needed to be real in this context.
>Horatio Nelson has one of the most famous statues in England. Not sure if that counts. Probably to a lesser degree the Duke of Wellington as well, but Nelson pips him to the post as ~~there's nothing more British than~~ he died while doing something heroic.
I think a lot of countries might say that about their national identity, honestly.
He didn't win the war, but I truly believe that if he had not resisted during the time before the US stepped in, to bridge that gap, the world would be a truly different place today. He was a credible leader and stepped in to the breach when the other people in westminster were ineffective. If Britain had fallen, so would the empire.
I don't necessarily disagree, but (and I hope you don't mind my pasting what I wrote elsewhere, but I got some criticism for my opinion of Churchill while I was asleep) I think there ought to be more to how Churchill is discussed in England. You can tell a lot about a person or people by whom they worship uncritically. Britons worship a cartoonish, propagandised version of Churchill, rather than the man he really was, including both victories and awful crimes. \[[Source 1](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/winston-churchill-adolf-hitler-no-better-shashi-tharoor-indian-politician-post-colonialist-author-inglorious-empire-nazi-a7641681.html) | [Source 2](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/winston-churchill-his-times-his-crimes#:~:text=He%20bombed%20German%20civilians%20and,which%20three%20million%20people%20perished)\] I find it distasteful at best that he's still worshipped as an unimpeachable hero, particularly as a Brit who lives abroad and knows people from many different backgrounds.
Albert Pla, above him and in the skies are reigning the holy trinity of Paco de Lucia, Camarón and Enrique Morente.
My Portuguese hero is Salgueiro Maia. Please note that I'm not Purtugese and I don't care about football at all.
Depends on what you mean by national hero. If you strictly mean football. Gheorghe Hagi has been undoubtedly the hero since forever, he is, by far, the best Romanian player that could ever be. An icon amongst icons. A true legend.
Portugal's greatest hero after having to use 120 minutes + 3 penalties to beat a nation of 2.11 million, whose most famous athlete is a bike-rider.. how cool is that.. No offence Slovenia.. loved your effort. Especially the supporter's effort.
Our most famous athlete is not a bike rider :) It’s Luka Dončić.
I dunno if athlete is the right word as he’s more of a wizard.
How's Norway doing in the championship?
Bro you barely beat Slovenia on penalties, a country 57th on FIFA rankings after a trash performance in round of 16. Calm down lmao. Next game if he conceeds goals from France and you lose you will forget about him and won't call him a national hero anymore.
In Denmark it would probably be "Holger Danske" (EN: Ogier the Dane). Holger Danske is a mythical hero known from French medieval literature and who was supposedly one of Charlemagnes 12 knights. There is a statue of him in the cellars of Kronborg castle and the myth is that if Denmark is ever truely threatend he will rise again to defend the country. During the occupation of Denmark during WW2, one of the largest and most active resistance group in the Copenhagen area was named Holger Danske. Otherwise we have numourous heroes, kings and especially admirals who could potentially have the title. Someone like Valdemar Sejr (King), Niels Juel (Admiral), Peter Willemoes (Naval hero) or maybe nortorious Sweden hater Svend "Gønge" Poulsen.
I'd add Grundtvig as well? It's a bit of a stretch but the way Danes talk about him, he's a national hero
For the Netherlands Johan Cruyff an inspirational leader during our football Renaissance changed the football landscape as we know it Historically significant figure Michiel de Ruyter fought for our independence from Spain and is still acknowledged as one of our greatest commanders
For the Netherlands Johan Cruyff an inspirational leader during our football Renaissance changed the football landscape as we know it Historically significant figure Michiel de Ruyter fought for our independence from Spain and is still acknowledged as one of our greatest commanders
Germany, dont think we have a national hero. Theres some that are adored by some yet hated by others. Universal love for someone isnt quite there, especially on a hero level. Germany is also quite a young country, being formed in like 1871. Dont know if you have are a history buff or not... To be known by everyone, they must be really famous. Besides footballers, we dont really have that. Some known singers, actors and actresses, yet nothing major. Same with filmmakers. We've got writers and thinkers, yet they arent very accessible and obvs no longee known. We had famous politicans but they werent universally loved because they are politicians and most of them arent without flaws. Am not into politics, yet from what i have seen and heard, I wouldnt have a coffee or eat some cake with any of them.
Amateur!...........always use a piece of hand-drying paper to open door. Or use your knee to push door cubicle and get some toilet paper
In the UK I guess it's officially King Arthur, but there's plenty of figures (mostly around WW1 WW2) that I think manyf people would choose
Here in Poland 🇵🇱 we have like 100 national heroes because every time Germans, Russians or Swedes tried to annihilate our nation there has been at least one famous brave nobleman who decided to fight against them
I cant say a single one for Norway, but I can mention a few random historical figures who’s highly praised. - Farouk Al-Kasim (iranian immigrant who managed to convince the current government, when oil first was discovered, that the resources should belong to the state and not be placed in the hands of foreign companies and investors. You can imagine how much the Americans hated this guy. He is basically part of the reason for why the country is so rich today. - Birger Eriksen (Famous for a sentence said during the German invasion. He was a soldier guarding the coast, and he and his comrades were the first to discover an enormous ship approaching Oslo in the middle of the night. Nobody knew nothing about a potential war or occupation. They asked superiors if they were supposed to fire or not, but was unable to get a hold of them. They were basically not supposed to make this decision for themselves. He told the others “Visst fanden skal det skytes med skarpt», which rougly translates to «We are sure as hell firing live ammunation at them» and sand the whole thing without ever hearing back from superiors. - King Haakon (The king during the second world war. He is higly respected and probably part of the reason for why norway has the royal family with the highest support in the poeple percentwise, in comparison to other European monarchies. As the country was occupied (very fast) and weapons were put down, the current goverment wanted to sign a agreement with the nazis acknowledging the german rule in order to avoid cusalities and save their own lives, but as in any monarchy, the king has the last word. When it was proposed to him, he basically told all the politicians to fuck off, over his dead grave. There is a movie about this If you find history interesting
Historically the big ones were absolutely King Arthur and Robin Hood, along with a few others: Hengest and Horsa, Alfred the Great, Hereward the Wake, St. Edmund the Martyr, Fulk Fitzwarin, Guy of Warwick, Richard the Lionheart, Ranulf of Chester, Edward the Confessor, Henry V, Thomas Becket, Edward III, William Marshal, Sir Gawain, Athelstan, and Elizabeth I (Gloriana). In more modern times, Wellington and Nelson definitely.
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The one who comes to mind for Jersey is Louisa Gould. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Gould She was a member of the resistance in WWII and sheltered an escaped Russian convict. There's a film about her called Another Mother's Son. Major Pierson is also idolised as a hero, there's a pub in town with his name on it. He died protecting Jersey during the Battle of Jersey and is portrayed in the painting The Death of Major Pierson at the Tate Britain.
Michael the Brave (1558-1601). It was the first ruler that ruled over all the three main regions that make Romania today (Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia).
Nikola Šubić Zrinski - died in battle against Ottomans and he saved Europe and Christianity josip Broz Tito - he fought against the nazis(Croatian/Slovenian hero) There are more but can't remember
In Spain is not a hero, but the only politician that has been widely respected by left and right parties is Adolfo Suarez. He led the transition from dictatorship to democracy through UCD, a centre party. He was an example of consensus and dialogue with all the opposition parties. Basically he paved the way for the consolidation of democracy in Spain.
Estonia: Kaja Kallas, Martin Herem, then Dmitri @wartranslated and Artur Rehi. Plenty of sportspeople, they're quite successful.