Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Vol. 7 Ch. 63 - Commodore Yang Wen-Li - Capital Planet Heinessen: The Patriotic Knight Corps (Part III) & Imperial Fl…

[MangaDex]

 

[Korvalus]

Thanks for the translation LoF!

...Wow, how exactly people thought that Rudolf would make for a good leader, again? No wonder the Empire regressed socially that much.

 

[phamtasmal_pen]

Thanks for the translation LoF!

...Wow, how exactly people thought that Rudolf would make for a good leader, again? No wonder the Empire regressed socially that much.

It gets explained, but in a nutshell, he was a military officer who managed to defeat a fleet of pirates that have been terrorizing the Federation for years. His victory was a landmark of hope in a age of decline and made him a hero despite the various war crimes he committed while battling the pirates (nuclear weapons, destroying ships who surrendered).

He eventually leveraged his fame to enter politics and created his own political party. After gaining more and more power with each elections, he eventually became the president by popular vote and had the parliament also confer him the position of prime minister. At that point, he had all the political power and dissolved the Federation to create the Empire with himself as the emperor and did whatever the hell he wanted.