Before Hitler...

[edaw1982]

...Who was the Big-Bad, the Scary bastard. The 'Oh my God you're just like _______ ' invoked to pull off a Godwins law.

Some people have said it was Napoleon, but I'd like to hear your opinions.

[LaCroix]

Attila (Known as "Flagelly Dei"). Maybe Dshingis Khan, depending on your location.

Inquisition? (I would expect that...)

Later, various Muslim kings - "Turks" as general term.

[Simon_Jester]

More likely to be Atilla the Hun or Ghengis Khan, both of whom were famous for utterly sacking cities. Napoleon and Alexander were very enthusiastic conquerors, but they were less likely to order whole populations massacred and their cities razed to the ground, so they didn't get the same reputation for atrocity.

I don't know about "the Turk." The Ottoman Turks' reputation for cruelty and tyranny was somewhat regional; probably very important in Austria (nods to LaCroix), but not so important in, say, Belgium.

[spaceviking]

I disagree with that assessment of the opinion of the Turkish threat in Europe, at least for the early 18th century. Could the Ottomans have successfully invaded Western Europe, Probably not. The fear of Turkish invasion was however an important rallying cry of christian Europe. To the extent that Louis XIV clandestinely supported the Ottomans on the assumption that had Leopold failed against the Ottomans he would be welcomed as the savior of Europe(and likely Holy Roman Emperor).

[madd0ct0r]

Yeah, the line "do you think the turks will invade this year" turns up in shakespeare.

I think the play was one of the ones set in Italy, but the idea had clearly spread to the UK.

[lord Martiya]

It depends on the place. For example, in the Ottoman Empire (and maybe in Hungary, not sure) the Big Bad was Vlad the Impaler due his habit of impaling any criminal or invader he could put his hands on, who in Wallacchia (and later the whole Romania) was regarded as an hero for the exact same habit bringing down the crime levels and scaring the invaders away.
Really, until Hitler the incarnation of evil of a nation was the archetypical hero of another.

[Demiurgas]

Vlad the Impaler. Not as powerful as other tyrants, but he murdered a fifth of his own people, occasionally impaling adulterous, lying, or other kinds of women through their vaginas with a stake, delimbing thieves and other injustices. If someone compares you to Dracula, you can safely rip off their balls without feeling sorry. (/kidding)

[lord Martiya]

In Romania it would be a compliment...

[LaCroix]

He was a vassal of Hungary, so no complaints from there, neither - he prevented a couple of attacks on Hungarian soil. He was basically a defender of the christian lands. The Ottomans did hate him with the passion of a thousand suns, though, and rightfully so.

[Eleas]

Then there was Timur (known in some quarters as "Tamerlane", a corruption of the Persian for Timur the lame), the Mongol warlord famed for (among other things) erecting minarets built from the skulls of his enemies.

[folti78]

He was a vassal of Hungary, so no complaints from there, neither - he prevented a couple of attacks on Hungarian soil. He was basically a defender of the christian lands. The Ottomans did hate him with the passion of a thousand suns, though, and rightfully so.

Yup, so much, that he's practically unknown around here, except for the impaling part and being the base of the Dracula myth. Locally the Ottomans were the local Big Bads for centuries. Mostly because their occupation resulted in nearly 150 years of low intensity warfare (with the occasional flareups when someone got enough troops to try to "straighten" the border) and they were a tad less enthusiastic to dole out impalement than Vlad when you missed your tax deadline or otherwise became a nuisance.

[LaCroix]

He was a vassal of Hungary, so no complaints from there, neither - he prevented a couple of attacks on Hungarian soil. He was basically a defender of the christian lands. The Ottomans did hate him with the passion of a thousand suns, though, and rightfully so.

Yup, so much, that he's practically unknown around here, except for the impaling part and being the base of the Dracula myth. Locally the Ottomans were the local Big Bads for centuries. Mostly because their occupation resulted in nearly 150 years of low intensity warfare (with the occasional flareups when someone got enough troops to try to "straighten" the border) and they were a tad less enthusiastic to dole out impalement than Vlad when you missed your tax deadline or otherwise became a nuisance.

Right, I mean, if you were to call some Hungarian a "Vlad Tepes", he would ask you why you call him a Vampire. And I really have to watch "Stars of Eger" now, I finally might be able to understand it fully...

[folti78]

Right, I mean, if you were to call some Hungarian a "Vlad Tepes", he would ask you why you call him a Vampire.

Or worse, why do you compare to him/her to a filthy Romanian? (long story, but there is some animosity left between the two nations, from 20th century history. Same with the Slovaks.)

[CJvR]

Attila seems like a safe bet, even Kaiser Wilhelm invoked him - to Germany's eternal annoyment. You dont get the title "Scourge of God" for nothing but before WWII tyrants were a local affair. There are probably many little tyrants running around in various history books and depending on who wrote those books they are either the worst human being in history or a great hero of the nation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTwq1_9VH68

[Thanas]

Ghenghis Khan and Ögedai would be others.

[spaceviking]

Was Genghis Khan feared in Western Europe? Or was it just the more Eastern areas?

[Thanas]

Not in Western Europe, but his successor clearly was.

Also, we should definitely include the Chinese population here and they definitely feared him.

[Simon_Jester]

Hitler didn't really present a direct threat to much of anyone outside Europe and the Middle East, but people in South America still remember him as "worst tyrant ever." So it seems reasonable for Ghengis Khan to have such a reputation in places like England and France that he never came close to invading.

[Thanas]

Hitler didn't really present a direct threat to much of anyone outside Europe and the Middle East, but people in South America still remember him as "worst tyrant ever." So it seems reasonable for Ghengis Khan to have such a reputation in places like England and France that he never came close to invading.

Only after the British and French colonial empires branched out. Before, there was simply no information coming from these areas. See Polo, Marco.