Decades of Darkness/YMMV

"British ambassador: Why have you declared war on Great Britain?! Alexander II: Because every Great Game must end in checkmate."
 * Moral Event Horizon - Some of the methods the *US use to suppress rebels in British Columbia and Venezuela, among other unfortunate places, such as the "fire squads": an area is blockaded, and the squads go in and use fire to destroy all crops and induce famine. Those who flee are taken to camps and given food... and slavery. The rebels and the few who remain are ruthlessly gunned down in a systematic sweep. Ouch.
 * Magnificent Bastard - *US president Hugh Griffin, and of course *Otto von Bismarck!
 * Napoleon III, the lesser known French counterpart of Griffin and Bismarck, also counts.
 * Alexander II, the Russian Emperor during the Great War.