History isn't what actually happened in the past. History is a story assembled from a certain limited number of data points that relates what we *think* happened in the past, to which we then ascribe various causes and consequences which may actually have been mere corelations.

The above means that I have no trouble swallowing Grandfather quixotic history or it's unlikely side effects. The few lines we have about Grandfather are merely the most important points for latter galactic history, not the detailed process by which these points were gained. For example, when Grandfather "took over the world" this doesn't mean that his first step was necessarily to gather an army and conquer the planet. It merely means that he was able to exercise effective final authority sufficient to support his various projects. Perhaps he set up something like the Illuminati and the simply let all the boring bits (Presidents, cabinets, armies, the Young Droyne Scouts, etc) totter along without his august attention.