Heroes and Villains in History:Rather than being black or white our world consists of different shades of grey. One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter. There are people who the world either venerates as heroes or abhors as villains. But it must be kept in mind that what these people did or what world knows they did, is just the repercussion of the decisions they made and actions they took in crucial moments of their lives in tandem with what life put on their plates. Had these actions been a bit different or had they been taken at a different time these people would have been unknown to us or might have even been on the opposite side of the table. It depends completely upon the witness to decide who the hero is and who the villain is.

1. Spartacus:The very name of the slave rebellion leader Spartacus generated terror in the minds of the 73 BC Romans. He was a man who scared Rome with his military might and made Rome realize that if you treat anyone below human standards, you would not be punished for your sins, but by your sins. Spartacus is till date revered as a man who fought back against slavery and oppression against the Roman Empire in its heydays.Once a great gladiator who satiated the bloodlust of the Roman populous, Spartacus led an escape of Gladiators and slaves from the Roman Empire and led them to war against it.He along with his team of 70 slaves escaped to the dormant volcano of Vesuvius where he made his first display of military brilliance against the Roman army of 2000. He in a very cunning manner looted the Roman militia of their valuable stocks of military arms and armor from their tents in the middle of the night.However, this victory at Mount Vesuvius was just the beginning of a much larger campaign which would change the way the civilized world saw slaves. This victory of Spartacus encouraged more slaves and gladiators to join their rebellion, swelling his army to 40,000.Seeing that these Revolts might have some devastating repercussions, the Senate sent two legions of militia to track the insurgents and bring them to justice. Due to insubordination in the ranks of the Roman militia the army was badly mauled, adding to the humiliation of Romans and sprouting optimism in the slaves hearts. A series of other battles took place between Romans and the Gladiator army in which Spartacus reached an upper hand, though not without losses. Fearing that Rome might recall its veterans from Spain and hoping to reignite a revolt in Sicily, Spartacus made a failed attempt to make it to Sicily, but was betrayed by the his aides. Spartacus was now marooned on the hostile parts of Italy; he had by then realized that his by far successful and lucky rebellion would meet its end. Outmaneuvered and outmatched, Spartacus was forced to fight a battle which he knew he would lose. When the dust of war settled, the rebellion had reached its untimely end. But even in his death Spartacus defied the Romans. They scoured the whole battlefield but the dead body of Spartacus was never found.

2. Joan of Arc:Joan of arc also known as the maid of New Orleans was born in a peasant family on 6th January, 1412. She was a pious child and frequently went to church. At the age of 13 she began hearing some voices and receiving apparitions of divine personnels but couldn't recognize them. She called herself a messenger of god and that her missions was made clear by god to wipe out the English heretics, free the states of France help King Charles VII and bring back the glory of catholic state of France. She gained the French monarchs trust by recognizing him through his disguise while he was making an attempt to feign an assassination against himself. She cut her hair short and wore armor. She led the French armies to victory against the English and recovered New Orleans in the battle of herrings in 1429. After that, she made a series of victories and regained many French territories from British powers. At this time king Charles feared her growing influence and deceived her by not sending sufficient reinforcement. As Joan was illiterate the bishop of Beauvais, made her make some damaging statements in lieu of which he charged her as heretic, adulteress and demonic possessed and sentenced her to be burnt alive. While under trial she was tortured but still managed to always retain her dignity. When asked if she knew she was in God's grace, she answered: 'If I am not, May God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.'" The question was a scholarly trap. Church doctrine held that no one could be certain of being in God's grace. If she had answered yes, then she would have convicted herself of heresy and would be remembered in history as a heretic witch. If she had answered no, then she would have confessed her own guilt and would have been executed and her name might not have ever figured in history! It was her smart reply that led her to be vindicated and canonized as a saint by the same church that condemned her. It was this one act of hers that immortalized her as a French hero and not a heretic witch or a nameless warrior.

3. Genghis Khan (Temjin):The story of Genghis Khan is the story of a mans quest for survival against all the circumstances that life threw at him. Its the story of a man who would rise from an ordinary boy, Temjin in the unknown steppes of Mongolia to one of the greatest war machines, Genghis Khan who would subjugate whole of Asia and Eastern Europe making the largest contiguous empire in the history of world.As destiny would have it, at a young age of 8 his father was assassinated and his family was abandoned by his tribe. Forced to live in destitution, Temjin inculcated in him hardiness and brutality.In a climate of tribal warfare, thievery, raids, corruption and continuing acts of revenge, Temjin was married out to Borte for the need of alliances. But as the legend goes, on their wedding night the rival tribe Merkits attacked his tent and kidnapped his wife. Faced with dilemma whether to try to save his wife or to protect his own, the man who one day would become the conqueror of Eurasia decided to spur his horse and make a run from the scene!Burning with revenge and love for his wife he approached his blood brother Jamukha. Jamukha, kept his oath to Temjin and together they ravaged the Merkits, reducing them to oblivion and Temjin was re-united with his wife. However, this incident resulted in Jamukha fearing the rising sun of Temjin and taking up arms against him. Little did Jamukha know that he would be the first major victim of Genghis military brilliance? Although in command of a larger army, Jamukha was defeated and was turned in by his own general. Temjin then offered his friendship to Jamukha, asking him to return to his side but Jamukha refused the offer of friendship and reunion, saying, there only exists one Sun in the sky and he asked for a noble death instead. Once free from internal rebellions Temjin took the title of Genghis Khan the universal ruler and truly lived up to it. His first step to domination was to conquer China, which at the time was one of the worlds most prosperous and civilized nations. In his quest to conquer the mighty civilization, Genghis merely relaxed outside the capital city walls, cutting off their entire food supply. After three long months Zhongdu, the capital became a graveyard where, more people were dying of starvation and diseases than of Mongol arrows. Once the city became weak Genghis finally attacked it. The Chinese retaliated with arrows and fire, leading to a mass killing of first line of attackers, but the funny thing was that the first lines of attackers were all Chinese slaves and prisoners captured in the Mongol raids, so in other words, Chinese were killing their own people!Genghis Khan possessed a special hatred against any civilization having large cities and towns and, adding to this the Shah of Persia had made a mockery of Genghis by humiliating his diplomats, who had very politely asked Shah to surrender his kingdom. By some accounts the end result of this bloody business was that th of the population was wiped out and the magnificent cities of Babylon and Samarkand (Islamic capital of that time) were leveled to the ground. According to stories, so fierce was Genghis wrath that he even went so far as to divert a river through the Khwarezmid the Persian emperor's birthplace, erasing it from the map!

4. Vlad III The Impaler (Dracula):The story of Vlad III, the prince of Wallachia is the story of the wrath of a man who was once a boy that legend holds was sexually tortured and exploited by the Turks upon being taken hostage. Its the bloody legacy that this brutal man left behind that inspired the 1897 novel by Bram Stoker based on the life of Count Dracula.Its odd that the name known for stirring nightmares actually belonged to a crusader of a religious cause who protected his nation against the approaching Turkish onslaught. He was not only a ruler, but a fine gentleman, a wise politician, a warrior, an erudite and a well learned man. He ruled thrice in 1448, 1456-1462 and in 1476. But is only remembered for the legends of the very cruel punishments he bought on the populous. A mass murderer with the knowledge of Turkish, Romanian, Latin and German was born in the land of constant uncertainty, Transylvania. During his lifetime Vlad III, became famous as a tyrant taking sadistic pleasure in torturing and killing people. Impalement or decelerated killing was his preferred methods of torture and execution. He was very clever, and proved to be one of the greatest military geniuses ever on the earth. He generally launched his attacks late at night. The Turkish Sultan, angry with Vlads resistance once stormed towards the capital city, but lo and behold, he was confronted by a most gruesome sight: thousands of stakes held the remaining carcasses of some 20,000 Turkish captives, a horror scene which was ultimately nicknamed the "Forest of the Impaled." This terror tactic, deliberately stage-managed by Vlad the Impaler was definitely successful; the scene had a strong effect on the Sultans most stout-hearted officers forcing them to admit defeat. To secure his rule he had many leading nobles killed. In his aim of protecting Wallachia, he didn't spare the sword for anyone.He tortured people by ordering them to be skinned, boiled, decapitated, blinded, strangled, hanged, burned, roasted, hacked, nailed, buried alive, stabbed, etc. He also issued laws allowing hacking off noses, ears, sexual organs and limbs as a method for punishing thieves. Once while negotiating with Turks, he got riled up because the Turks would not remove their Turbans as a sign of respect to Vlad (Turks could only show their respect to Allah). So Vlad had the Turbans nailed to their heads. This is how brutal the repercussions of a childs torture had on his adult mind.