17 Famous Feuds Where the Wrong Person Became the Hero
History is filled with epic rivalries and dramatic conflicts in which public perception crowned a victor. But looking deeper, many celebrated ‘heroes’ weren’t as righteous as we’ve been led to believe. Sometimes, the narrative gets twisted by effective PR, societal bias, or simply the winner writing the history books.
Here is a list of 17 famous feuds where history may have cheered for the wrong champion. These instances show how easily public opinion can be shaped and how the ‘villain’ of the story might actually have been the one with the moral high ground.
Tesla vs. Edison
Nikola Tesla worked under Thomas Edison before their infamous falling out over electrical current systems. While Edison is celebrated as America’s great inventor, he waged a dirty campaign against Tesla’s superior alternating current system, including publicly electrocuting animals to prove AC’s ‘dangers.’
Tesla died penniless despite his revolutionary contributions to electricity, while Edison built an empire partly on others’ innovations and ruthless business tactics.
Jobs vs. Wozniak
Steve Jobs is venerated as Apple’s visionary leader, but the company wouldn’t exist without Steve Wozniak’s engineering genius. When creating the first Apple computer, Wozniak did the actual building while Jobs handled marketing.
Yet when Atari offered Jobs money for designing a game, he told Wozniak they’d receive $700 and split it evenly—when in reality, Jobs received $5,000 and gave Wozniak just $350. Wozniak only learned of this deception years later.
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Salieri vs. Mozart
Antonio Salieri has been portrayed as Mozart’s jealous rival who may have contributed to his death, most famously in the film ‘Amadeus.’ Historical evidence shows that Salieri was actually supportive of Mozart and helped promote his works.
The two composers had a professional relationship rather than a bitter rivalry, and Salieri enjoyed considerable success during his lifetime. The myth of their deadly feud was largely fictional, unfairly casting Salieri as the villain.
Columbus vs. Native Americans
Christopher Columbus is still celebrated with a national holiday, portrayed as a brave explorer who ‘discovered’ America. The reality was far darker—his arrival led to the enslavement, torture, and genocide of indigenous peoples.
Columbus personally oversaw brutal labor systems and punishments including cutting off hands for minor offenses. Native Americans weren’t savage obstacles to progress but rather victims of colonial violence whose sophisticated civilizations were decimated.
Rome vs. Carthage
The Punic Wars, in which Rome defeated Carthage, are frequently depicted as the triumph of civilization over savagery. Less well known is the fact that Rome conducted one of the earliest known genocides in history when it obliterated Carthage, killed or enslaved all of its people, and purportedly salted the land.
In reality, Carthage was a highly developed maritime society with remarkable artistic and technological accomplishments. Roman propaganda effectively portrayed them as evildoers who sacrificed children in order to defend their destruction.
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King George III vs. American Revolutionaries
American history portrays King George III as a tyrannical madman oppressing the colonies, but the reality was more nuanced. Many of his policies were reasonable attempts to recoup costs from defending the colonies during the French and Indian War.
His ‘madness’ was actually porphyria, a painful physical condition. While colonial grievances had merit, the revolutionary narrative overstated his villainy and downplayed complex economic factors driving independence.
Hatfields vs. McCoys
The legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud symbolizes backwoods vengeance, but the conflict was more complex than commonly portrayed. The McCoys are often seen as righteous victims, but both families engaged in brutal violence.
Economic factors played a major role—the conflict intensified when the Hatfields, who had greater political power and wealth from timber interests, used their influence to gain legal advantages. The media sensationalized the story, turning a complex dispute over economic resources and Civil War tensions into a simple tale of mountain vendettas.
Sitting Bull vs. Custer
General George Custer is often portrayed as a valiant soldier who died fighting savages at Little Bighorn. In reality, Custer was reckless, glory-seeking, and violated treaties by invading sovereign Native American territory during a gold rush.
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were legitimate military leaders defending their people’s land and rights against colonial aggression. The ‘Last Stand’ narrative transformed an illegal military incursion into a heroic myth that justified further conquest of Native lands.
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Stalin vs. Trotsky
After Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin systematically eliminated rivals including Leon Trotsky, who was eventually assassinated in Mexico. Stalin’s historical rehabilitation in certain circles paints him as a necessary strongman who industrialized the Soviet Union.
Trotsky, while no saint, advocated for a less authoritarian form of communism and criticized Stalin’s brutality. Stalin’s subsequent purges killed millions, suggesting history might have been kinder had the power struggle resolved differently.
Wright Brothers vs. Whitehead
The Wright Brothers are celebrated as aviation pioneers, but some evidence suggests German immigrant Gustave Whitehead flew two years before them in 1901. Witnesses claimed to have seen Whitehead’s flights, and he published designs for his aircraft.
The Smithsonian Institution controversially signed a contract stating they would never recognize anyone before the Wrights as first in flight in exchange for displaying their aircraft. This contractual requirement raises questions about whether historical accuracy was sacrificed for national pride.
Sparta vs. Athens
Especially after movies like ‘300,’ popular culture frequently hails Sparta as freedom warriors against Persian invaders. The truth? Sparta was a harsh slave state where the helot underclass far outnumbered the people and suffered regular fear and murder.
Though its democracy was flawed, Athens was very progressive for its time with philosophical and cultural accomplishments still affecting us now. Historically, Sparta’s military strength has eclipsed its repressive social order.
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Alexander Hamilton vs. Aaron Burr
The musical ‘Hamilton’ has cemented Alexander Hamilton as a progressive Founding Father while painting Aaron Burr as an unprincipled opportunist. Historical records show Burr was actually more progressive on issues like women’s rights and abolition than Hamilton.
Burr established a water company that secretly provided banking services to ordinary citizens when Hamilton’s bank primarily served the wealthy. Their famous duel resulted from years of Hamilton’s character assassination against Burr, not simply political differences.
Henry Ford vs. Labor Unions
Henry Ford is remembered for paying workers $5 a day and pioneering assembly line production. Less discussed is his vicious anti-union stance, including employing thugs to beat organizers and using his newspaper for antisemitic propaganda claiming unions were part of a Jewish conspiracy.
Ford’s famous wage increase came with strict behavioral controls over workers’ private lives. The actual heroes were the labor organizers who risked their lives fighting for reasonable working conditions against Ford’s exploitation.
United Fruit Company vs. Guatemala
The United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) is often portrayed as bringing development to Central America, while democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz was painted as a dangerous communist. In reality, United Fruit worked with the CIA to overthrow Guatemala’s government when Árbenz attempted modest land reforms to help impoverished farmers.
The company paid almost no taxes while controlling vast territories. This corporate-backed coup plunged Guatemala into decades of civil war and human rights abuses.
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Magellan vs. Lapu-Lapu
Ferdinand Magellan is celebrated for leading the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe, though he personally died midway through the journey. Filipino chief Lapu-Lapu, who killed Magellan in the Battle of Mactan, is often portrayed as a primitive obstacle to exploration.
From another perspective, Lapu-Lapu was a freedom fighter defending his people from foreign invasion. Magellan had been burning villages and forcing conversions to Christianity, making Lapu-Lapu’s resistance an early anti-colonial struggle rather than mere savagery.
McDonald’s vs. the Liebeck Coffee Case
The infamous McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit is often cited as the ultimate frivolous lawsuit, with 79-year-old Stella Liebeck portrayed as greedy for suing over spilled coffee. The reality was far different—McDonald’s kept their coffee at dangerously high temperatures despite hundreds of previous complaints.
Liebeck suffered third-degree burns requiring skin grafts and initially only asked for medical expenses. McDonald’s mounted an aggressive PR campaign to discredit her, turning a legitimate case of corporate negligence into a symbol of lawsuit abuse.
The Recording Industry vs. Napster
When Napster emerged in 1999, the recording industry portrayed itself as protecting artists from digital piracy. While copyright concerns were legitimate, record labels had long exploited musicians through predatory contracts that left many artists in debt despite creating hugely profitable music.
The industry’s legal victory over Napster protected an outdated business model more than artists’ interests. The true revolution was consumer demand for digital music, which Apple eventually addressed with iTunes while many labels resisted innovation.
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History’s Revised Perspective
Time has a way of revealing truths that contemporary accounts often miss. Many of these feuds demonstrate how power, money, and influence shape the narratives we inherit about conflicts.
The ‘heroes’ we celebrate sometimes earned their status through better publicity rather than superior morality or contributions. As we continue to reexamine history with fresh eyes and previously marginalized perspectives, our understanding of these famous conflicts evolves to include more nuance and often, more justice.
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