The question remains—king or kingmaker? Is it better to be the power figure or the one pulling the strings from the shadows? These next entries have never been household names, but their influence on history is undeniable.
1- Chanakya
Chanakya, also identified as Kautilya, was a fourth-century BC philosopher who served as teacher and advisor to Chandragupta and helped him establish the largest empire on the Indian subcontinent. During Chanakya’s time, most of India consisted of smaller kingdoms called Mahajanapadas, except for the northern region, which was home to the Magadha Kingdom ruled by the Nanda dynasty. Most of the information we have on Chanakya comes from semilegendary accounts, so it’s hard to distinguish fact from fiction. However, they all agree that King Dhana Nanda insulted Chanakya somehow, and the philosopher swore that he would destroy the Nanda dynasty.[10]Chanakya aligned himself with the young Chandragupta Maurya, who may or may not have been orphaned and of noble lineage, depending on the source. The two slowly began to raise an army to challenge the ruling dynasty. The war itself is also poorly documented, referenced mostly in secondhand accounts from Roman and Greek historians. However, around 321 BC, Chandragupta overthrew the Nanda dynasty and became the first ruler of the Maurya Empire. He based his political and economical policies on the Arthashastra, an ancient Indian treatise typically attributed to Chanakya. So did his successors, including his grandson, Ashoka, who is credited with extending the empire and spreading Buddhism.
2- James Farley
US politician James Farley is probably most remembered today for a corruption scandal dubbed “Farley’s Follies.” While serving as postmaster general in 1933, Farley took preprints (un-gummed and imperforated sheets of stamps), autographed them, and gave them to acquaintances as gifts. When philatelists heard of his actions, they decried them as abuse of power, as Farley had used his position to gain access to new stamps and turn them into valuable rarities. Of course, this was just a minor episode in a career that spanned decades and saw Farley serve as advisor to dignitaries and politicians and even as chairman of Coca-Cola International. However, Farley’s greatest success was engineering four triumphant elections for Franklin D. Roosevelt.Farley and FDR met in 1924 at the Democratic National Convention. Four years later, Farley served as campaign manager for Roosevelt’s victorious gubernatorial candidacy. He did the same thing in 1930. In 1932 and 1936, Farley helped FDR get elected president of the United States. In return, Roosevelt named him postmaster general, chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, and chairman of the Democratic National Committee. It was at this time that people started recognizing James Farley’s tremendous clout and referred to him as “kingmaker,” something which annoyed the president.[9]The “king” and “kingmaker” had a falling out in 1940, when Roosevelt decided to run for a third term instead of supporting Farley’s presidential candidacy.
3- Godwin, Earl Of Wessex
Between 1016 and 1035, Denmark, Norway, and England formed the short-lived North Sea Empire under King Cnut the Great. The empire collapsed with the king’s death, but those two decades saw the appearance of so-called “new nobles,” who managed to rise from relative obscurity to prominence at Cnut’s court.Chief among them was Godwin, who became the first earl of Wessex around 1020. After Cnut’s death, his son, Harold Harefoot, fought with Alfred, son of Ethelred the Unready, over the English throne. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Godwin conspired with Harold to lure the young prince to his death. First, the earl of Wessex professed his loyalty to Alfred and convinced him to go to London. He led him into an ambush in which Alfred’s men were killed, and the prince was blinded. He was sent to Ely Monastery, where he died shortly.Harold died in 1040 and was succeeded by his brother Harthacnut, who was also Alfred’s half-brother. Angered by the assassination, the new king had Harold’s body dug up, decapitated, and thrown in the sewer. Godwin managed to escape severe punishment by convincing Harthacnut that he was only following orders and providing a lavish ship as a gift.A new power struggle occurred in 1042, after Harthacnut’s death, between Magnus I of Norway and Edward the Confessor, son of Ethelred. Godwin’s support of Edward was considered crucial to securing the throne.[3] During Edward’s reign, the earl of Wessex was regarded as the second most powerful man after the king. His son, Harold Godwinson, became the new earl after Godwin’s death and later ascended to the throne when Edward died without an heir, thus becoming the last Anglo-Saxon king of England before the Norman invasion.
4- The Sayyid Brothers
By the time Emperor Aurangzeb died in 1707, he left the Mughal Empire a mighty domain which almost stretched over the entire Indian subcontinent. However, what followed was a series of short-lived reigns of emperors who were either crowned or deposed according to the interests of two highly influential courtiers—Hussain and Hassan Sayyid.[7]Aurangzeb’s successor was his son, Mu’azzam, who became Emperor Bahadur Shah. He ruled until 1712, after which he was succeeded by his son, Jahandar Shah. The new emperor’s reign was short, though, as he angered many people by elevating a dancing girl to the position of queen consort. The Sayyid brothers decided to back one of Jahandar’s nephews, Farrukhsiyar, who defeated his uncle at Agra and became emperor in 1713. Both brothers were given titles and high-ranking positions with the court.The relationship between the Sayyids and Farrukhsiyar deteriorated after a few years, as the emperor regularly sought out other advisors and left out the brothers. Eventually, this escalated to war in 1719. The Sayyids won, deposed Farrukhsiyar, and installed one of Bahadur’s grandsons, Rafi ud-Darajat, as the new emperor. He acted mainly as a puppet ruler as the Sayyid brothers became the true power brokers of the Mughal Empire. However, Rafi ud-Darajat ruled for roughly 100 days before dying. He was followed by his elder brother, Rafi ud-Daulah, who filled the same role. Unfortunately, he also died after 100 days. The new emperor was Muhammad Shah who, although young, had no interest in serving as a puppet for the Sayyid brothers. Instead, he gathered support from many disgruntled nobles and ended their reign by assassinating one sibling and defeating the other in battle.
5- Wiremu Tamihana
During the 1850s, tensions were rising in New Zealand between Maori tribes (known as iwi) and white Europeans (called the Pakeha) over the latter’s continuous encroachment on indigenous Maori land. This prompted the Kingitanga, or Maori King Movement, which sought to unite the iwi under one monarch. Eventually, Waikato iwi chief Te Wherowhero became the first Maori king, but another man named Wiremu Tamihana was dubbed “kingmaker” by the Pakeha for his instrumental role in the movement.Leader of the Ngati Haua iwi, Tamihana was well-liked by the Pakeha for founding several flourishing Christian communities and trading with European settlers in Auckland. He was one of the main forces behind the Kingitanga and not only put forward Te Wherowhero as a candidate but convinced other iwi to accept his kingship. When the latter was confirmed as king in 1859, Tamihana placed a Bible on his head in a ritual which his descendants still perform on new Maori kings today.[6]Even with a newly elected king, the disputes between Maori and Pakeha led to an armed conflict known as the Taranaki Wars in 1860. Tamihana tried to act as mediator and sought a peaceful resolution, but other iwi leaders preferred to fight. The wars ended in a government victory, which led to significant confiscation of Maori land.
