Non fiction people in books/stories who rise to great power and fall to their demise?

Question

Does anyone know any nonfiction characters who rise to lots of power and then fall to their defeat? Must be non-fiction.

I'm asking this because i have to make a childrens book about Napoleon's empire and its fall. Napoleon came from the lowest class level, became a very succesful officer, and won the favor of the French people and crowned himself king. Then he lead France to becoming most arguably the most power nation in the world until his empire's demise began once they were defeated after trying to conquer Russia. In case you didn't know

Answer 1

Julius Caesar, Hitler, Saddam Hussein come to mind.



Not only Russia; Napoleon's armies were also terribly drained of men and resources in their attempt to occupy/control Spain, the Spanish guerrillas (and to a lesser extent, the British and Spanish armies in the peninsula) wreaked havoc on the French, who from 1808 to 1813 lost somewhere between 300.000 and 500.000 soldiers there.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if this fits a children's book, but Anne Boleyn might be a good example. She was a common lady in the Tudor court who manuvered King Henry VIII into making her his queen. She cunned and connived for years to get Henry to set aside his old wife, Catherine of Argon, and to marry her. Eventually, she got to her position of power, but she still wasn't able to bear a son for King Henry, so he had her head chopped off. O_o Talk about a fall from power...



So, I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but it's the best example I could think of.

Answer 3

Well an obvious example would be Adolf Hitler, who rose to power in Germany and rebuilt his nation after its defeat in World War I, then threw it all away by attempting to conquer the world.

Answer 4

i do no longer recognize no count while you're searching for fiction or non-fiction, so i'm going to contain the two. King Arthur consists of concepts. based how far returned you pick to circulate, you additionally can use Oedipus Rex or the Mayor of Casterbridge. while you're searching for a character that babies would recognize and relate to, my suitable wager is King Arthur. the sole historic parent i recognize of that suits this description is Hitler.