Suuuuuure, Mao Zedong "founded" China, if by "founded" you mean "kicked out the existing government and replaced it with death and famine". He founded the People's Republic of China (a government) (but was not a founding member of its ruling party!), but China existed for a long time before Mao started massacring for pleasure, and I'm certain it will continue to exist even after the totalitarian government finally collapses.
The modern-day nation-state of The People's Republic of China (aka China) was founded by Mao, but there have been many other different states that existed in the same geographical area. Some of them have been called China by English-speakers, or some variation of that. That doesn't make them all the same thing. This is part of the nationalist fallacy.
Well a lot of them are quite disputable. If China was founded by Mao, you might as well say Germany was founded by Helmuth Kohl or France by Charles De Gaulle.
^ that would make pretty good sense, though it would also make sense to date the modern German state back to 1949. Those peddling nationalist fiction would have you believe that the French Republic is somehow that same thing as the Kingdom of Francia, Gallia, or the Frankish Empire, and that the FRG is one and the same with Prussia or the Holy Roman Empire. That's silly. Reality does not conform to humanity's desire to see narratives with neat divisions, simplistic categories, and unbroken continuity.
First of all, from what I can gather, Mao was indeed one of the founding members of the CCP.
Second, it's a pretty funny reasoning to say Mao replaced the preceding governments with famines. What do you think the country had before Mao ? To quote Wikipedia : "Between 108 BC and 1911 AD, there were no fewer than 1,828 recorded famines in China, or once nearly every year in one province or another". 1911-1949 was all of the same. Mao's precisely the guy under whose leadership China got rid of famines ! The Great Leap Forward famine was the last one for a reason (in part, ironically, because of GLF policies, namely the colossal work that was put into reparing and extending the irrigation system and terracing the land for future mechanization)
We may also mention that life expectancy casually rose from 35 to 65 years, and that by the end of the Cultural Revolution even Chinese peasants had access to basic free healthcare. Not someone I would spontaneously associate with death.
This needs to be viewed in the global context. Agricultural productivity had dramatically increased around the world. New technologies were available which ended natural famine almost everywhere. His famine is notorious because it was not natural, but needless and caused by political mismanagement.
A curious thing happens when you apply this same logic to the Holodomor famine in 1930s USSR. Using global context of the 1930s... including the worldwide Great Depression and the long history of famines under tsarist Russia...
The idea that causing a famine is a good way to end famines is ridiculous. I guess if your intention is to kill a lot of people so there’s more food to go around, but I think that is generally frowned upon.
I think the quiz is more about which people are mythologized today as the founding father, rather than historical accuracy. Many of the other countries on the quiz also have a long history (India, Turkey...) and many of the people being treated as heroes weren't particularly humane either (Genghis Khan, etc).
Chlodovech (known in English as Clovis) didn't found France, he founded Frankia/Francia/Frankish (Empire) or whatever you call it. I tried all of those, none were accepted.
Not sure what you mean. Cyrus administered a huge empire in a pretty enlightened way (e.g. respecting the local religions/customs of those he ruled). He codified protections for diversity into his statecraft -- not common 2500 years ago. His legacy impacted Athenian conceptions of human rights, among others. History does not record if he could twerk, if that's what you're getting at...
This quiz is flawed. I think with founder the quizmaster wanted to ask about the person who has been instrumental on founding/forming the modern meaning of their respective nations. Jinnah-Pakistan is no doubt applicable in this sense but the idea of India was established through the Islamic and British rule and influence of 1000 years while the concept of the nation has been here for millennia. Gandhi is just a small piece of the civilization. Again it's all my view. Peace. :)
@SIMULATION That's what happens when you expose yourself too much to the right wing extremism. Mahatma Gandhi was one of the greatest personalities to take birth in the Subcontinent.
First tried "Portugal" for Pedro I, then went through all of South and Central America but skipping Brazil somehow! Should have stuck with the Portuguese.
Perhaps another idea for a quiz? First known ruler(s) of the regions of present day countries? I am sure the comment section would explode haha. (Besides the fact that it is a massive job)
As stated above, not all kingdoms/states/nations that exist in roughly the same geographic area are the same thing. Qin Shi Huang could be considered a founder of China. So could Mao TseTung.
Its kind of alluded to in the description that these are simply figures that at least some people consider as the founders of each country, even if they may not been.
There seems to be a lot of inconsistencies. You say Mao founded China, while he only founded the modern-day People's Republic. Meanwhile, Cyrus the Great supposedly founded Iran, but if we were going with the modern-day country like you did with China, then it would probably be Ruhollah Khomeini.
Since when Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV) is the founder of Russia? He was the first tsar, but the founder of Russia as an independent state is Ivan the Great (Ivan III)
Second, it's a pretty funny reasoning to say Mao replaced the preceding governments with famines. What do you think the country had before Mao ? To quote Wikipedia : "Between 108 BC and 1911 AD, there were no fewer than 1,828 recorded famines in China, or once nearly every year in one province or another". 1911-1949 was all of the same. Mao's precisely the guy under whose leadership China got rid of famines ! The Great Leap Forward famine was the last one for a reason (in part, ironically, because of GLF policies, namely the colossal work that was put into reparing and extending the irrigation system and terracing the land for future mechanization)
We may also mention that life expectancy casually rose from 35 to 65 years, and that by the end of the Cultural Revolution even Chinese peasants had access to basic free healthcare. Not someone I would spontaneously associate with death.
Especially because it wasn't commonly called Iran until midway thru the 20th century
I would like to see a quiz on who losted them.
Russian Empire: Nikolai II
Confederate States of America: Davis (or maybe credit for that should go to Lincoln)
Aztec Empire: Moctezuma
Yugoslavia: Tito
Incan Empire: Atahuallpa
Ptolemaic Egypt: Cleopatra
United States of America: Trump