4 Badass Moments From History You’ve Never Heard of

Extraordinary hardships breed extraordinary individuals, and from time to time these people impart their hopes, fears, and desires in words that resonate throughout history. Their legacies have left a lasting impression on the human race. These men have shown that when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Without further ado, let us look at the story behind the four most badass moments that will pretty much blow you away.

"If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send another." - Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz Tito was the former president of Yugoslavia from 1953 to 1980, but before that he was a conscript in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, and when World War II broke out, became the leader of one of the most successful partisan movements resisting Nazi occupation.

While other Western bloc nations owed their freedom from the Nazis to the Russians, Yugoslavia had largely expelled the Germans on their own, and thus when Tito took the reins of power for himself, he felt that though he allied with Joseph Stalin's communist views, he owed little to the Soviet Union and that Yugoslavia should be free to pursue its own interests.

Taking a rather dim view of this attitude, Stalin sent assassin after assassin to kill Tito and thus replace him with someone far more malleable.

Unfortunately for Stalin, his assassins were less than effective, very often being discovered by Tito's close-knit security team.

Finally, having enough, Tito wrote a letter to Stalin, saying simply stop sending people to kill me.

We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle. If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send a second.

Tito would go on to die in 1980, outliving Stalin by twenty-eight years.

"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson.

Founding Father of the United States of America, Jefferson was a firebrand and outspoken critic of the policies of King George, vying for US independence. With views that were openly and wildly liberal for his time, Jefferson was devoutly religious, and yet firmly opposed to the clergy, stating that "in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty… they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon."

He even went so far as to publish his own bible, which contained only the words of Jesus and the evangelists. Jefferson's views also extended into slavery- despite being a slave owner himself he advocated the eventual emancipation of all slaves and was widely acknowledged as treating his slaves benevolently, offering them financial incentives, allowing them to build homes and keep their own chickens and crops.

His slaves enjoyed the time off during the winter months, and he gave them Sundays and Christmas off while forbidding whippings except in extreme cases of fighting or stealing. Unfortunately, Jefferson's views on blacks were firmly lodged in the popular opinion of the day which said that blacks were mentally and physically inferior, thus he thought that slaves would need an adjustment period before being set free, so they could best integrate into society.

However, Jefferson warned that for the nation's continued use of slaves they would one day have to answer to God himself- a prediction that came true during the American Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in US history.

"Go f*** yourself." — General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, German Army

There are few military men as great as General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, who during World War I fought against the British Empire in East Africa.

Recruiting black Swahili soldiers to fight against the British who had subjugated and exploited them for generations, General Lettow-Vorbeck ran one of history's most successful guerilla campaigns and was never defeated- only surrendering to the British upon learning of the Armistice in November 1918.

The General was known to live a warrior's code of chivalry, honour, respect for one's enemies, and humanitarian treatment for his men and civilians alike.

At a time when other nations viewed black soldiers as inferior and disposable, General von Lettow-Vorbeck treated his black soldiers no different from his white soldiers, even promoting those worthy into officers.

After surrendering to the British, the General refused to yield the field of battle until receiving assurances of decent treatment and early release for his black troops- not just the white ones.

Returning to Germany as a war hero, he brought some of his black officers with him to serve in the German Freikorps, while campaigning a conservative opposition to the Nazis, whom he saw as morally inferior and hate mongers.

When Hitler offered him an ambassadorship to the Court of St. James in 1935, the old General responded, "Go f*** yourself."

Outliving Hitler, the General died at the age of 93 in 1964, and the West German government flew in two of his former Askari soldiers as state guests, so they could attend the funeral of their beloved General, who had never stopped campaigning for their welfare even until his death.

A few months later, the West German army voted to deliver back pay to the surviving 350 Askaris still living in Africa.

"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live." — Martin Luther King, Jr.

Born in 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister who quickly became a prominent activist during America's civil rights era. Inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi, King preached that only nonviolence could win out over injustice, and only love could defeat hatred.

Yet while most of America was firmly on his side, the South was far more reluctant to join his enlightened views, and King was the subject of numerous death threats.

Asked if he was afraid of losing his life because of his outspoken activism, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. replied, "A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."

Unfortunately, King would prove that he was a man who lived up to these own ideals and refused to back down even after death threats against him and his family grew in intensity. Assassinated on April 4th, 1968, in Memphis Tennessee, his death turned him into a global icon and martyr and inspired his followers to pursue the dream of equality even harder.

While his assassin had sought to silence the great man, in death King's words became more powerful than ever, and his passing marked the beginning of the end for the victorious civil rights movement.

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