My fav example is Hongwu Emperor, paranoid and cruel tyrant who started successful dynasty, bringing peace and order to war torn China. His personality in later years reminds me of Stalin - he said once to execute thousands of citizens of Nanjing after one was heard talking about him without respect - not to mention thousands of officials with friends and families who fell victims to his paranoia. "First emperor" also seems like extremely cruel piece of work.
Speaking of Stalin, USSR was strong empire for decades after his death, whatever else you can say about it, as such surviving WWII which killed about few dozens millions overall.
Tyrans actually have pretty good track record on building sustainable empires particularly. Those were rarely forged without extreme cruelty, "fire and blood". Whether it was worth it is different thing entirely.
I think Aegon I is much more pertinent example. He and his sisters used their dragons much more than Dany possibly could (simply b/c hers are much smaller) and it led to creation of Westeros, yay! Losing dragons eventually led to Targs losing empire and subsequent civil wars. So if anything history of Westeros teaches any prospective monarch that smart use of dragons is a way to go...
Master thread on what the Show means for the book plot
in General (GoT)
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My fav example is Hongwu Emperor, paranoid and cruel tyrant who started successful dynasty, bringing peace and order to war torn China. His personality in later years reminds me of Stalin - he said once to execute thousands of citizens of Nanjing after one was heard talking about him without respect - not to mention thousands of officials with friends and families who fell victims to his paranoia. "First emperor" also seems like extremely cruel piece of work.
Speaking of Stalin, USSR was strong empire for decades after his death, whatever else you can say about it, as such surviving WWII which killed about few dozens millions overall.
Tyrans actually have pretty good track record on building sustainable empires particularly. Those were rarely forged without extreme cruelty, "fire and blood". Whether it was worth it is different thing entirely.
I think Aegon I is much more pertinent example. He and his sisters used their dragons much more than Dany possibly could (simply b/c hers are much smaller) and it led to creation of Westeros, yay! Losing dragons eventually led to Targs losing empire and subsequent civil wars. So if anything history of Westeros teaches any prospective monarch that smart use of dragons is a way to go...