Curious to hear from more people on whether any of these were portrayed positively in their schooling. My memory of grade school history was that none of these were praised, just noted that they had a huge impact.

Heck, strongest memory of Genghis Khan from grade school is the factoid that 1 in 200 people are descended from him because he raped so many women as he slaughtered his way around Eurasia.

Julius Caesar? Dictator that became so hated by his own political allies, they assassinated him.

Alexander, titled "the Great" for his military prowess, nothing more. Known in my grade school history curriculum for being way ahead of his peers in military strategy. And the whole probably gay by today's understanding but they probably didn't have the same words and ideas about sexuality back then.

Edit: I also learned that Hitler was a hell of a politician. Lots of people in Germany at the time struggling in a post WWI mess, Hitler out-manuevered all other politicians to get to where he did with a substantial power base supporting him.

Are you seriously this naive? Or is this your first time reading about human history?

same feeling as when people talk fondly of "the great roman empire".

I posted this question on Mastodon some time ago:

Is there any modern geopolitical issue that can't be blamed on Alexander "the great"?