I think it’s a publication bias thing. Because so much was written about these people in their day, they become mascots for the time period. And what they did, while objectionable, is impressive. They had a massive influence on recorded history.

My own theory is that there is so much written in these times because of the massive inequality then. Books, statues, etc are expensive. In times of ecomonic equality, especially before the press, people would be less likely to waste time and resources on such things. Thats money better spent on improving their and their communities lives. But when you have massive inequality and a narcisist in charge, you get books, statues, and massive projects dedicated to the men who can afford them.

What do you mean “objectively studying history”, what is objective about History? What you’re studying is a narrative, that has been put together by experts, based of what remains from that past. There is nothing “objective” about History, it is an educated guess. Even written records are narratives told from the perspective and culture of the ancient writer.

This is to say that, the reason we don’t judge historical figures through a modern lens is that to do so is to ignore history. It doesn’t matter what your think about Alexander the Great, it matters what his contemporaries (both friends and enemies) had to say about him (objectively biased narratices). For another example think about what the Greeks wrote about the Persians during their many wars, and vice versa. They are conflicrive accounts. Both biased and political. So again, what history is correct, objective?

Do we glorify them, or do we just learn about them because they had a huge impact on the world?

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone holding Genghis Khan up as a role model.

I don’t think we glorify them, but we consider them significant figures in history. Remembering and talking/studying history and significant figures allows us to learn more about ourselves as well as learn how things can be done better than they once were. But I don’t really see these people glorified. Nobody calls them heroes or people to emulate.

We also glorify horrible people from the present, so why not?

Once they pass out of living memory, they can be whoever you want them to be. Or you could study them I guess, but that sounds like boring nerd stuff to most people.

Genghis Khan is actually an anti-example, since he’s vilified. It’s not at all clear other kings would have done any different given an unstoppable army, but yet he catches more shit than all his enemies combined.

You should be more worried about why we glorify horrible contemporary people, or from the more recent past. Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Ellen DeGeneres, the list is endless. There are a lot of people that even glorify Hitler himself.

And wrt Alexander the Great, having killed a lot of people does not make a person horrible. My grandfather killed a lot of people, probably hundreds. He never wanted to talk much about it. He was a great guy and a hero. Alexander the great killed a lot of people, but in doing that he eliminated the enemies of his people. He is recorded in history for spreading civilization, arts, education. He founded many cities that flourished, some of them even stand today. He freed a lot of cities that were ruled by his people’s enemies. His conquests are one of the major reasons modern western civilization exists. He did all that as a military leader and he killed a lot of people.

Because for centuries, western society has valued one thing above pretty all else: winning.

If someone’s an asshole, but they’ve gotten on top in something, people may say, “They’re an asshole, but hey you gotta admire that they’re so good at [insert subject].”

That’s why so many people admire Ray Kroc. Yeah, so what if he brought McDonald’s to a position of national and international dominance? That doesn’t mean he’s worthy of our respect. If anything, the way he rose to the top, being as disgusting as it was, should mean he’s anything but worthy of our respect.

Victory in something by itself shouldn’t be respected; what you do to get to victory matters equally as much, if not more.

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The source of this quote is generally attributed to George W. Bush aide Karl Rove:

The aide said that guys like me were ‘in what we call the reality-based community,’ which he defined as people who ‘believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.’ […] ‘That’s not the way the world really works anymore,’ he continued. 'We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do’.

I fucking loathe how right Rove was and is.

who does that exactly?

I mean, the hitler comparison falls off with those specific examples, but I get that you’re saying.

First, they were successful for the most part.

Second, it is the far past. The distance in time means that most people will only ever know about the biggest brush strokes of their biography and actions. The records of the eras aren’t exactly rife with full detail for every bit of their lives. And what is there, most people encounter at the superficial level of a high school world history class.

That kind of class isn’t geared towards detail, nuance, or moral judgement. It’s about the overview.

Since all of the ones you listed are also pretty damn interesting, and made major impacts to human society (for good or ill, that’s not the point of the answer to the question as asked). This in turn means that they’re memorable compared to some random king or emperor that was just doing their job and running their nation without trouble.

In other words, they aren’t boring. And, tbh, they weren’t fascists. They never had that level of complexity to their goals. Fascist != dictator by default. That part means that until and unless you start looking at the horrible things they did, there’s no convenient modern label to apply to them in a general history class to point to them not being good people.

Remember, most entry level history classes might have a week to cover the entirety of the Roman Empire; devoting time to Caesar’s nastiness just isn’t relevant to the goal of that kind of class. The only reason he’s worth going into any detail about at all is that he changed Rome to such a degree that it’s a pivot point, and cant be entirely skipped like the majority of historical roman leaders.

From there to “glorification” is a matter of fiction. We don’t have the kind of detail that allows for interesting documentaries, so what we get outside of advanced history classes (which people won’t likely take unless they’re intending to be historians) is infotainment and outright fiction using the names of people. Once you start making books and shows and movies, entertainment and profit are the goals, not historical accuracy or even adhering to actual facts at all. Most of what people think of about Caesar is from Shakespeare.

So you then have people with disjointed and filtered ideas about historical figures, mashed together from a few facts and a lot of fiction.

Honestly, even with more recent figures, you run into the same thing. How many people do you think could give a detailed and accurate biography of either president Roosevelt? Or JFK? Or Regan? Man, there’s people that couldn’t tell you anything about the current world leaders beyond their name.

Who is “we”? Many of us go to lengths to point out how important historical figures had dark aspects to their lives. This actually makes history far more interesting and relevant.

Who’s “we”? I don’t glorify these people.

Conversely why do we act horrified that someone in the past didn’t act according to standards that only exist today and pressures that don’t.