Published: February 21, 2025
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Ah, great man theory. There's a reason most remotely competent historians abandon this model of reasoning by the end of their first year of graduate study.
Certainly history is sometimes influenced dramatically by highly capable people. Of course, hereditary monarchy being what it is, just as often key decisions are made by rulers who aren't very capable at all. See, for instance, the July Crisis.
I suppose I would also note that 'high IQ' does not appear, to me, to be the only form that 'highly capable people' take. The compression of every virtue to intelligence obscures more than it clarifies.