World Leaders, Then and Now
Vladimir Lenin
1870-1924 Russian revolutionary leader and theorist who guided the Bolsheviks to power during the October Revolution of 1917. He believed that the revolution should be conducted professionally, with soldiers disciplined as if they were in the military. His philosophy and planning techniques have affected other revolutions in other countries. Presided over the first government of the USSR.
Benito Mussolini
1883-1945 "Il Duce" In 1924, he declared a dictatorship in Italy. He founded fascism and ruled Italy for 20 years. He abolished other political parties and took control of industry, schools, and the press. After being defeated in WWII, he was executed by his own people.
Adolf Hitler
1889-1945 Fuhrer of Germany and leader of the Nazi Party. Elected president of Germany in 1933 on tide of German Nationalism. Started WWII by invading Poland in 1939. His philosophic beliefs of Aryan superiority led to the extermination of more than six million Jews over the course of WWII. Wrote Mein Kampf. Committed suicide rather than be captured by the advancing Russians.
Jawaharlal Nehru
1889-1964 He worked with Mohandas Gandhi to achieve India's independence. He was the first PM (1947-1964) of newly independent India. Believe in policy of nonalignment.
Charles de Gaulle
1890-1970 French brigadier general who organized France's Free French Forces in WWII. Became president of a shadow French government during the war and headed up the provisional government afterward. Elected president of France's Fifth Republic, serving from 1958 to 1969. He granted independence to French colonial territories in Africa.
John F. Kennedy
1917-1963 35th US President. Won the hearts of the public by embodying American ideals. Challenged Americans to "Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country." Handled the Cuban Missile Crisis during his Presidency. Assassinated before he completed his third year.
Eva Peron
1919-1952 She helped her husband President Juan Peron of Argentina rise to power and became one of the most famous women of her day. In 1951, she was blocked from running for the vice presidency by leading Argentine military officers, who feared that in time she might eventually become president.
Kim Campbell
1947- Served as the first prime minister of Canada (June-November 1993)
Joko Widodo
2016 President of Indonesia
Fuad Masum
2016 President of Iraq
Enrique Peña Nieto
2016 President of Mexico
Bashar al-Assad
2016 President of Syria
Xi Jinping
2016 President of the People's Republic of china (General Secretary of the Communist Party)
Narendra Modi
2016 Prime Minister of India
Benjamin Netanyahu
2016 Prime Minister of Israel
Ali Khamenei
2016 Supreme Leader of Iran
Fu Hsi
2900 B.C. According to myth, reigned as the first ruler of China. Taught people how to fish, hunt and domesticate animals.
Attila the Hun
406-453 A.D. Legendary king of the Huns who extended his power in Europe during the fall of the Western Roman Empire. After seizing new land, he demanded large tributes from the people.
Pericles
495-429 B.C. Athenian statesman who ruled over a period marked by expansionism as well as citizens taking part in the government. Restored and built temples, including the Parthenon on the Acropolis. He died of the plague after having residents of lands being attacked by the Peloponnesian Army brought to the city. The overcrowded conditions made the plague spread rapidly. His rule is known as a golden age or the Age of _________
Hosni Mubarak
4th president of Egypt from 1981-2011. He replaced Anwar Sadat. Ousted from power during the Arab Spring and replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Porfirio Díaz
A Liberal general who established a long-lasting dictatorship that eventually led to the Mexican Revolution. In 1876 he issued the Plan of Tuxtepec and seized power from the Liberal president Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. He then dominated Mexican politics for the next 35 years, and served as president continuously between 1884 and 1911 despite his earlier use of the slogan "Effective Suffrage and No Re-Election." While in office, skillfully manipulated federal, state, and local politics, suppressed dissent, tamed the fractious Mexican army, opened Mexico to foreign investment, and oversaw the beginnings of the country's industrial development.
Benito Juárez
A Liberal lawyer who became the first indigenous president of Mexico, and who led the opposition to the French-backed empire of Maximilian von Habsburg. Born to a Zapotec family in the state of Oaxaca, he became a key figure in the Liberal movement that deposed Santa Anna, and which initiated legal and social changes known as La Reforma ("the Reform"). An 1855 law named after he sought to eliminate special privileges given to members of the church and military, and was incorporated into a new constitution ratified in 1857.
Antonio López de Santa Anna
A general who served as president of Mexico 11 different times between 1833 and 1855. After gaining independence, many Latin American nations fell under the rule of caudillos, or charismatic leaders who exercised both military and political power. As one of these figures, he cultivated an image of himself as a savior of the Mexican nation, and even held an elaborate funeral for the leg that he lost during a conflict with France known as the "Pastry War."
Nelson Mandela
A leader of the African National Congress the first democratically-elected president of South Africa. In the 1960s he was a young radical; along with Oliver Tambo and others, he founded a militant group called Umkhonto we Sizwe (the "spear of the nation") to carry out acts of sabotage against the apartheid government.
Lord Palmerston
A long-serving Secretary of State and the first Prime Minister of the Liberal Party that succeeded the Whigs. He kept Britain neutral during the American Civil War. (PM 1855-1858, 1859-1865)
David Lloyd George
A native Welsh speaker who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Asquith. Taking control during World War I, he represnted the UK at the Paris Peace Conference, leading to the Treaty of Versailles. After the war he split the Liberal Party by aiming to continue the coalition government together with the Conservative Bonar Law: the coalition collapsed after embarrassment over the independence of Ireland and a scandal over the sale of honors. (1863-1945, PM 1916-1922)
Miguel Hidalgo
A parish priest who became the leader of Mexico's first independence movement. After Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 1808 and ousted the Spanish king Ferdinand VII, political movements advocating Enlightenment ideas of representative government and local self-determination sprung up in many of Spain's American colonies. He belonged to one such group, which officials in the viceroyalty of New Spain attempted to suppress. In response, he called his congregation together and issued a call for revolt known as the "Grito de Dolores," or "Cry of Dolores" on September 16, 1810. The rebels captured the cities of Guanajuato and Guadalajara, but were unable to take Mexico City.
Agustín de Iturbide
A royalist general who changed his allegiances to become the first ruler of independent Mexico. Like many Creoles, or people of European descent born in the Americas, he feared that the insurgency would upset colonial hierarchies of race and class. In 1820, however, a liberal revolution in Spain caused conservative Mexican elites to reconsider the benefits of independence. He reached out to the insurgent leader Vicente Guerrero, and agreed to endorse legal racial equality in exchange for Guerrero's military support.
Robert Mugabe
Became the first president of post-colonial Zimbabwe in 1980 and has led that country ever since. Zimbabwe was the successor state to Rhodesia, the white-supremacist state in south-central Africa led by Ian Smith.
Angela Merkel
Chancellor of Germany (Leader of the Christian Democratic Union; in office since 2005)
Benito Juárez
Conservative backlash soon led to the War of the Reform, which lasted from 1857 to 1861, and left the victorious Liberals with little money in the national treasury. France's emperor Napoleon III then used Mexico's foreign debts to as a pretense for an invasion known as the "French Intervention," which briefly imposed the Austrian archduke Maximilian as Mexico's second emperor. As the elected president of Mexico, he evaded capture by French and imperial troops while rallying Republican forces. After the departure of the French, Liberal troops captured and executed Maximilian on the Hill of the Bells in the city of Querétaro. He returned to Mexico City, and remained president until his death.
Venustiano Carranza
Constitutionalist and Convention forces battled until 1915, when his adherents gained the upper hand and the Convention split into separate factions, some of which continued to fight the Constitutionalists for years. He went on to call for a new constitution, to be based on the Liberal Constitution of 1857. The ensuing Constitution of 1917 went far beyond the minor reforms that him had envisioned, and promoted land redistribution, workers' rights, anticlericalism, and national ownership of Mexico's natural resources. Over the next several years, he proved reluctant to enact the 1917 constitution's more radical provisions, or to give up control of the government. Obregón forced him to flee the capital in 1920, and likely had a role in his subsequent assassination.
Agustín de Iturbide
Early in 1821 he released the Plan of Iguala, which is also known as the "Plan of the Three Guarantees" or "Plan Trigarante" because it called for Mexican independence, a wholly Catholic state, and the equality of all races. His Army of the Three Guarantees soon forced Juan O'Donoju, the last viceroy of New Spain, to acknowledge Mexican independence in the Treaty of Córdoba. In 1822 he became the first emperor of Mexico, but a revolt led by Antonio López de Santa Anna forced him into exile in 1823. When he returned to Mexico in 1824, he was quickly executed.
Anwar Sadat
Egyptian President who replaced Nasser and was assassinated by Egyptian jihadists in 1981 due to his peace agreement with Israeli PM Menachem Begin during the Camp David Accords. Jimmy Carter was the president behind these talk. Both the Egyptian PM and Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize
Robert Walpole
Generally recognized as the first British Prime Minister, he established personal control over a Whig-dominated Parliament on behalf of the German-speaking George I. He rose to power after many rivals were tarnished by the collapse of the South Sea Company. His long tenure continued under George II, but his attempts to avoid British military commitments worldwide led to his downfall during the War of the Austrian Succession. (1676-1745, PM 1721-1742)
Francisco Madero
He led the 1910 revolution against Porfirio Díaz, and served as president of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. As the idealistic son of a wealthy Coahuilan family, he was in some ways an unlikely revolutionary. However, his idealism allowed him to challenge Díaz with a boldness that more powerful politicians and generals had lacked. After the Creelman interview was released, he wrote a book titled The Presidential Succession in 1910, which argued that it was time for Díaz to be replaced, and which revived Díaz's former slogan of "Effective Suffrage and No Re-Election."
Francisco Madero
He then ran for president, but was arrested before the election. After escaping from prison, he issued the Plan of San Luis Potosí, which called for a general revolt in November 1910. Dissatisfaction with the Díaz regime coalesced around him, who unseated the dictator and took power after democratic elections were held in the fall of 1911. However, he was unable to satisfy the far-reaching demands of the diverse coalition that had brought him to power. He was also disliked by the American ambassador Henry Lane Wilson and by former supporters of the Díaz regime, many of whom retained their positions in the government and army. In February 1913, Wilson encouraged General Victoriano Huerta to participate in a coup against him. After a period of fighting within Mexico City that is known as the Decena Trágica, or Tragic Ten Days, he was forced to resign. Huerta became president, and he was murdered a few days later.
Venustiano Carranza
He was the "First Chief" of the Constitutionalist army during the Mexican Revolution, and president of Mexico from 1917 to 1920. After the death of Madero, he issued the Plan of Guadalupe, and became the nucleus of opposition to Huerta's regime. His movement was supported by the generals Pablo González, álvaro Obregón, and Pancho Villa, who assembled armies in northern Mexico and pushed south to the capital. The southern general Emiliano Zapata also allied with him to remove Huerta from power. After Huerta was forced to resign in 1914, members of his movement held a convention in the city of Aguascalientes. The convention formed a new government that was supported by Villa and Zapata, but opposed by González and Obregón.
Porfirio Díaz
His supporters praised him as a brilliant statesman who had ended the upheavals of the mid-nineteenth century; his detractors stressed the inequality, corruption, and systematic brutality of the political and economic systems fostered by him and his positivist advisors, who were known as Científicos. In 1908 he discussed the possibility of his resignation during an interview with the American journalist James Creelman, which helped open the door to electoral mobilization, and eventually to armed rebellion. The Anti-Reelectionist forces of Francisco Madero revolted in 1910 and won their first victories in 1911, sparking uprisings elsewhere in the country. He promptly resigned under terms stipulated in the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez, and spent the last years of his life in comfortable European exile.
Antonio López de Santa Anna
However, he proved unable to prevent the loss of Mexico's northern territories. Despite routing the defenders of the Alamo, he was defeated by the forces of Sam Houston at the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto, and was forced to recognize Texan independence. A little more than a decade later, he seized control of the government during the Mexican-American War, only to lose major battles at Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec, and be forced into exile. He returned to Mexico in 1853 and tried to establish a permanent dictatorship, but was challenged by the Liberal Plan of Ayutla, and was driven from power in 1855.
Miguel Hidalgo
In 1811, he was captured and executed by the colonial regime. The leadership of the independence movement then fell to another priest named José María Morelos, who was himself executed in 1815. Although Hidalgo's movement was unsuccessful, September 16 is still celebrated as Mexico's official Day of Independence.
Nelson Mandela
In 1964 he was charged with criminal activity in the Rivonia Trial; he was imprisoned for 27 years, most of them on Robben Island, a prison colony located off the coast of Cape Town. He was the leading figure in South Africa's transition away from apartheid; he and his predecessor, F. W. de Klerk, shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
William Gladstone
Noted Liberal Prime Minister who passed a Third Reform Act and modernized the military, but failed to achieve Irish Home Rule. Queen Victoria loathed him. During Disraeli's ministry his campaign sensationalized the "Bulgarian horrors," suggesting that Britain needed to resolve the "Eastern Question" about the fate of the Ottoman Empire. (1809-1898, PM 1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886, 1892-1894)
Montezuma
One of the last rulers of the Aztec empire. In 1519 he allowed armed forces led by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to enter the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán. Several months later, the Spanish imprisoned Montezuma within his own palace. After the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado took advantage of his captivity to massacre peaceful celebrants at a religious festival, the Aztecs selected a new ruler named Cuitláhuac, and the city erupted into conflicts that led to his death.
Francois Hollander
President of France (Socialist Party; President since 2012)
Vladimir Putin
President of Russia (Chairman of United Russia party. 1st term; 2000-2008; began 2nd term May 2012)
Lord Liverpool
Prime Minister at the time of victory at the Battle of Waterloo, and faced social turmoil including the Peterloo Massacre of protesters in Manchester. (PM 1812-1827)
Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada (Leader of the Liberal Party.; elected Nov 4, 2015; son of former Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau)
Theresa May
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Replaced David Cameron July 2016)
William Pitt the Younger
Strengthened the role of the Prime Minister and pursued war against revolutionary France. (PM 1783-1801, 1804-1806)
Lord North
The American War of Independence was lost during his ministry. (PM 1770-1782)
Haile Selassie
The Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. A 1936 invasion by fascist Italy forced him to live in exile in England until 1941, when he was restored to the throne with the assistance of the British military. Many members of the Rastafarian movement consider him to be a sacred and messianic figure. Ethiopia suffered a severe famine in the early 1970s, and he was overthrown in 1974. The military government that replaced him was known as the Derg.
Montezuma
The Spanish then fled during an escape that is called the "Noche Triste," or "Sad Night" because many conquistadors died while crossing the causeways that connected the island city of Tenochtitlán to the shores of Lake Texcoco. By 1521, the ravages of smallpox and the help of indigenous Tlaxcalan allies allowed Cortés to conquer Tenochtitlán and to capture Cuauhtémoc, the final Aztec emperor.
Margaret Thatcher
The UK's first female prime minister was known as the "Iron Lady." Her divisive 1980s Conservative premiership saw the collapse of British heavy industry and its replacement by a services-based economy, especially focused on banking. Re-elected in 1983 after winning the Falklands War, she clashed with the mine workers' leader Arthur Scargill as well as her right-hand man Michael Heseltine, and after losing popularity due to a poll tax was ousted by her own party in favor of John Major (PM 1990-1997). (1925-2013, PM 1979-1990)
Julius Nyerere
The leader of Tanganyika and then Tanzania from 1961 to 1985. (Tanzania was formed by the 1964 merger of Tanganyika with Zanzibar.) Tanganyika gained independence before he came to power due to negotiations between him and British Governor Richard Turnbull.
Kwame Nkrumah
The prime minister of the Gold Coast in 1952 and declared independence from Britain in 1957, renaming the country Ghana. He was the first African leader to declare independence from a colonial power.
Jomo Kenyatta
When Britain allowed elections to take place, his KANU (Kenya African National Union) party was successful; in 1964 Kenyatta became the country's first president. He used the slogan "harambee," which is Swahili for "all pull together," to encourage national unity and economic growth. His son, Uhuru, became Kenya's fourth president in 2013.
Tony Blair
Won a famous landslide election victory in 1997 to end 18 years of Conservative rule as his "New Labour" movement abandoned traditional socialism and moved the Labour Party to the centre. Re-elected in 2001 and 2005, his friendship and later enmity towards his Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown (PM 2007-2010) ended with Brown succeeding him as Prime Minister. His close relationship with George W. Bush led to the UK joining the invasion of Iraq in 2003; his domestic legacy was higher public spending and the devolution of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. (1953-, PM 1997-2007)
Clement Attlee
Won a huge Labour landslide victory in 1945 between the end of the war in Europe and victory in Japan. He founded the modern welfare state based on the Beveridge Report, including the National Health Service under his minister Nye Bevan. His Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin took the UK out of Palestine and sent troops to the Korean War. (1883-1967, PM 1945-1950)
Mobutu
came to power during the "Congo Crisis," which resulted in the assassination of elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and the death in a plane crash of United Nations Secretary General Dag HammarskjÃlld.
Bilqis
10th century B.C. One of the first queens to rule Sheba, located in present-day Yemen. Sheba remained a powerful state until the second century B.C. It profited from trade routes to Palestine.
Genghis Khan
1162-1227 This Mongol conqueror created the largest land empire in history-central Asia from the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Japan. His armies were disciplined and were known to terrorize people. He promoted trade between China and Europe.
Ramses II
1304-1237 B.C. Pharaoh of Egypt's 19th dynasty. Ruled over long period of tranquility after signing a peace treaty with the Hittites in 1283 B.C. He oversaw Egypt's last great peak of imperial power. Built temples at Abu Simbel, Karnak, and Luxor. Fathered more than 100 children.
Moctezuma I
1440-1469 Aztec emperor. Expanded his domain from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Sought to improve his lands aesthetically.
Isabella of Castile
1451-1504 Queen of Spain. She instituted the Inquisition in 1478 and expelled Muslims and Jews from her domain in 1492. Financed the voyages of explorer Christopher Columbus. Took a close interest in the conquest of Granada.
Julius Caesar
100-44 B.C. Roman general and statesman. As general he subdued the Gauls. Became dictator in 49 B.C. Instituted the Julian calendar. Murdered by Brutus and other nobles on the ides of March (March 15, 44 B.C.)
William the Conqueror
1028-1087 As Duke of Normandy, he invaded England in 1066 to claim the throne. Became King _________ I of England. Strengthened the crown's power and instituted feudal systems. Ordered the compliation of the Domesday Book.
Suleyman the Magnificient
1494-1566 Formed alliance with France against the Habsburg rulers of Europe and expanded the Ottoman Empire while he was sultan from 1520 to 1566. He supported the arts and many reforms.
Catherine de Medicis
1519-1589 Married King Henry II of France; of her several children, three would become kings and two would become queens. When she ruled France, she became involved in the conflict between Roman Catholics and Protestant Huguenots; some 50,000 were killed in the war.
Elizabeth I
1533-1603 Queen of England. As one of Henry VIII's children, she had to fight for the crown. She shepherded England into the Renaissance era while reigning over a golden age in literature and exploration.
Empress Jingo
169-269 A.D. Ruled Japan for 69 years and during this time invaded Korea. Her legacy led to a cultural exchange between the two countries, and China, which still affects modern Japan.
Chief Pontiac
1720-1769 Chief of the Ottawa people, he led a confederacy made up many Indian tribes-most living in the area between the head of Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico-against the British (1763-1765) in order to reestablish Native American autonomy. He signed a formal peace treaty, which he confirmed at Oswego in 1766.
Catherine the Great
1729-1796 Overthrew her husband Czar Peter III of Russia and declared herself empress. Greatly expanded Russian territory, pursuing legal reforms and intellectual pursuits; but during her reign, many peasants became serfs. Worked with the French philosophe Denis Diderot to try to bring Enlightenment ideals to Russia.
George Washington
1732-1799 Elected 1st president of the United States. Began his career as a surveyor and then went on to fight in the French and Indian War. While part of the Virginia House of Burgesses, he supported self-government. Made commander in chief of the Continental Army at the Second Continental Congress during the American Revolution.
Napoleon Bonaparte
1769-1821 Created French Empire as he conquered most of continental Europe. Ruled as Emperor from 1804 to 1815. Spread liberal reforms, especially in law, many of which are a part of France today. He was defeated at Waterloo, Belgium by the Duke of Wellington in 1815; he lived his remaining years in exile.
Shanakdakhete
177-155 BC Reigned in the ancient African empire of Nubia, bringing the civilization in northeastern Africa to its apex. Encouraged commerce and public building.
Simon Bolivar
1783-1830 The Liberator. Planned and led revolution in Venezuela, then entered Colombia to defeat the Spanish. Became president of the new republic of Colombia, where his power ran unchecked. He battled for the independence of Venezuela and Peru and organized the new republic of Bolivia.
Abraham Lincoln
1809-1865 Born in Kentucky, where he received little formal education. Moved to Illinois and was elected to the legislature, which kicked off a political career. Elected 16th president of the United States in 1860 and remained so during the Civil War. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the Gettysburg Address that same year. He was assassinated in 1865.
Sir John Alexander Macdonald
1815-1891 Served 2 terms as 1st PM of Canada (1867-1873; 1878-1891). Highlights include expanding Canada's territory, encouraging western settlement, protecting Canadian industry with tariffs, and building transcontinental railroads that connected the east and west coasts of Canada.
Queen Victoria
1819-1901 Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India, she reigned over the British Empire at its' peak. Landmarks include securing British rule in India, grappling with home rule in Ireland, and fighting the Crimean War. Her reign is known as the __________ian Age.
William Lyon Mackenzie King
1874-1950 Held office as PM of Canada for 21 years. Under his leadership the country developed a stronger autonomy and international presence. He facilitated good relations between Britain, Canada, and the US during and after WWII. He helped preserve the unity between the French-speaking and English-speaking parts of Canada and introduced unemployment insurance in 1940.
Sir Winston Churchill
1874-1965 Led Britain, as PM, during WWII. Began his career in politics when was elected to Parliament in 1900. By then he had been a soldier and well-known journalist. He recognized the threat of Nazi Germany early on. He became PM in 1940. He coined the term "iron curtain" after WWII was over.
Joseph Stalin
1879-1953 Led the USSR from 1924-1953. Forcibly took land fromer farmers, and millions were killed or sent to concentration camps in the Great Purge. After WWII, when he led the fight against invading German armies, he ushered the USSR into an age where it became a world power. He was a key player in the Cold War.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1882-1945 32 President. Elected 4 terms; died at the start of his 4th (1933-1945). After he died, the 22nd amendment allowed only two consecutive terms of office. His domestic program, the New Deal, promised relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression. He instituted a good neighbor policy that stated the US would no longer intervene in Latin America to protect private American property interests. He declared war on Japan after it attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; thus entering the US into WWII.
Getulio Dornelles Vargas
1883-1954 He headed an army-backed coup in Brazil. He took power as the provisional president until 1934, then as elected president. In 1937, he declared himself dictator of the "New State." During his rule he modernized Brazil's industry.
Chiang Kai-Shek
1887-1975 Trained military leader and Chinese Nationalist who headed the governments of China from 1928-1949 and the exiled Nationalist on Taiwan post 1949. Fought in the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and fought against the communists in the Chinese Civil War. With the threat of Japanese invasion, a truce was established with the communists during the Sino-Japanese War and World War II. In 1945, civil war with the communists resumed and by 1949, his Nationalist government was in exile in Taiwan.
Mao Zedong
1893-1976 Defeated the Kuomintang at Nanking and founded the People's Republic of China, establishing a communist government. Served as the chairman of the PRC from 1949-1959; he served as chairman of the Communist Party until his death in 1976. He launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, which was implemented by Red Guards. The goal was to purge capitalistic and bourgeois elements from society.
Indira Gandhi
1917-1984 Daughter of India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru. During her father's term she served as an adviser. She then served as minister of information and broadcasting until becoming the first woman PM of India from 1966-1977 (losing her post after being found guilty of using illegal election practices), and again from 1980 to 1984. She was assassinated.
Nelson Mandela
1918-2013 Became a symbol of resistance to oppressive white rule in South Africa and their policy of apartheid. Spent 27 years in prison. Won the 1993 Nobel Peace prize. Published his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, in 1994. One year after the first multiracial elections in South Africa, he served as first black president of South Africa from 1994-1999
Suharto
1921-2008 An Indonesian Army officer in 1965, he helped put down a communist coup d'etat-approximately 300,000 Indonesian communists were killed. Became president of Indonesia in 1967, serving until 1998. Created closer relations with the West, although his regime was criticized as being corrupt. Ousted from office after students rioted across the country to oppose his government.
Margaret Thatcher
1925-2013 Dubbed the "Iron Lady." Served 3 consecutive terms as PM of the UK (1979-1990). Ousted Argentine armies that occupied the Falkland Islands, which were claimed by both Argentina and the UK. Worked to decrease the role of the government in the economy. Privatized education, housing and health care. In 1990 she resigned due to heated controversy over tax policy and economic integration tactics with Europe.
Hirohito
1926-1989 This Japanese Emperor oversaw an intense period of imperialism that resulted in the Second Sino-Japanese War and Japan's entrance into WWII. He renounced his divine ordinance after Japan's surrender in WWII. Oversaw the country's rise to world economic power.
Benazir Bhutto
1953-2007 Went into exile after her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was overthrown as Prime Minister of Pakistan and then executed. She returned to become the 1st woman to serve as prime minister of Pakistan and to head an elected government in an Islamic nation. She was assassinated.
Kim Jong-Un
2016 Leader of North Korea
Shinzō Abe (pronounced ah-B; not Abe as in Lincoln)
2016 Prime Minister of Japan
Hannibal
247-183 B.C. Headed Carthaginian government after serving as commander and chief of Carthaginian Army in Spain, crossing the Alps to Italy with elephants and marching against Rome in 211 B.C. Defeated by Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama during the Second Punic War.
Alexander the Great
356-323 B.C. He succeeded his father, Philip II, as king of Macedonia and spread Greek civilization throughout the ancient world as he conquered new lands. During his reign, his kingdom spread from Greece to northern India.
Alexander the Great
356-323 B.C. The lands became bound together with common laws and currency. He ordered roads built and encouraged trade. He founded the city of Alexandria in 332 B.C. He is considered the greatest conqueror of classical times.
Nero
37-68 AD Two-thirds of Rome burned while he served as 5th emperor. He was blamed for setting the fire, but modern historians claim otherwise. He blamed Christians for the act and persecuted them. He rebuilt Rome with better fire precautions.
Cleopatra
69-30 B.C. Ruled Egypt with her brother Ptolemy in 51 B.C. When she lost power, Julius Caesar helped her gain it back in 49 B.C. When Caesar died, she made her son co-ruler (after killing her brother). She committed suicide with Marc Antony. After her son was killed, Egypt became part of the Roman Empire.
Charlemagne
742-814 King of the Franks (768-814). Subdued Saxon rebellion with mass executions. Patronized the arts. His realm supported by the Catholic Church. Pope Leo III crowned him the first Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day 800 A.D.
Romulus
753 B.C. Founder and first king of Rome. According to Roman mythology, he was born to a vestal virgin and the god of war, Mars. He and his twin brother Remus were thrown in a basket into the Tiber River after being born. A she-wolf rescued them, then a shepherd found them and raised them. He killed his brother, became a ruler, and was later worshipped as the god Quirinus.
Benjamin Disraeli
Before becoming Prime Minister, he was instrumental in the passage of the Second Reform Act as leader of the House of Commons. Britain's only Prime Minister of Jewish descent, He was also a successful novelist. He promoted a strong, imperial foreign policy including investment in the Suez Canal and the peace achieved at the Congress of Berlin. (1804-1881, PM 1868, 1874-1880)
Winston Churchill
Best remembered as the UK's wartime prime minister from the country's isolation in 1940 to victory in 1945. The son of a major Conservative politician, as a young man he was a Liberal who served in Asquith's cabinet, becoming First Lord of the Admiralty before resigning over the failure of Gallipoli. As Stanley Baldwin's (PM 1923-1924, 1924-1929, 1935-1937) Chancellor of the Exchequer he put the UK on the Gold Standard. Winning a second term as Prime Minister during the Korean War, in later life he also won the Nobel Prize for Literature and wrote A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. (1874-1965, PM 1940-1945, 1951-1955)
Mobutu
He changed the name of his country from "Congo" to "Zaire" (it reverted to "Democratic Republic of the Congo" after his fall). Despite its atrocious human rights record, His regime was supported by the United States because he took an anti-Communist position during the Cold War. Rebels led by Laurent Kabila overthrew him in 1997.
David Cameron
He led a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government and has favored austerity economics and the elimination of the UK's fiscal deficit. Brexit lead to his resignation as Prime Minister in June of 2016 (PM 2010-2016)
Gamal Abdel Nasser
He nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, leading to a confrontation with Britain, France, and Israel. From 1958 to 1961 he served as president of the United Arab Republic, a short-lived federation of Egypt and Syria. He was succeeded in 1970 by his ally Anwar Sadat.
Julius Nyerere
He put forward his socialist plans in the Arusha Declaration of 1967. His policies were known by the term ujamaa, signifying family unity in Swahili. Under his leadership, literacy improved significantly, but poverty remained high, especially among rural laborers uprooted by his centralized economic planning. His Chama Cha Mapinduzi, or Party of the Revolution, remains as the dominant power in Tanzania politics.
Harold Macmillan
He said "you've never had it so good" as the British economy recovered in the late 1950s. Later he purged his cabinet in a mass sacking dubbed the "Night of the Long Knives." (PM 1957-1963)
Neville Chamberlain
He signed the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler and promised "peace for our time" with a policy of appeasement. British military failures in 1940 led to his replacement by Churchill. (PM 1937-1940)
Kwame Nkrumah
He supported pan-Africanism, an ideology that proposed continent-wide cooperation and union of African peoples. His regime racked up large debts through military reform and the building of the Akosombo Dam to create Lake Volta. A 1966 coup ended his rule over Ghana.
Robert Mugabe
He, the leader of the Zimbabwe National African Union, was a key figure in the civil and military struggle for African rights in Rhodesia. His regime has come under increasing criticism for his failure to prevent hyperinflation and his suppression of political dissent. Morgan Tsvangirai, a leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, is one of his chief rivals.
Idi Amin
In 1972 he expelled tens of thousands of Asians from Uganda. He allowed Palestinian hijackers to land a captured Air France plane at Entebbe Airport in 1976; Jewish hostages on board were freed by Operation Thunderbolt, an Israeli commando operation during which Yonatan Netanyahu, the older brother of the future Prime Minister Benjamin, was killed.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Leader of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. He supported the Free Officers Movement led by Muhammad Naguib that overthrew King Farouk in 1952, but he then took power while accusing of Naguib of allying with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Gaddafi
Leader of Libya from 1969 to 2011. His "Free Officers Movement," modeled after the Egyptian organization of the same name, overthrew King Idris I in 1969. The Little Green Book collects ideas and sayings associated with Gaddafi's pan-Arabist ideology. The U.S. and Britain criticized his terrorist associations and blamed him for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland which killed 270 people. After a discotheque in Berlin was bombed in 1986, the U.S. attacked several sites in Libya. He was overthrown and killed by supporters of the National Transitional Council during the Libyan Civil War in 2011.
Jomo Kenyatta
Leader of the Kikuyu people, fought against British control of Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s. He studied anthropology at the London School of Economics with Bronislaw Malinowski; his book, Facing Mount Kenya, is an account of traditional Kikuyu society under pressure from colonialism.
H. H. Asquith
Liberal Prime Minister who made sweeping reforms, including limiting the power of the unelected House of Lords with the Parliament Act in order to introduce the "People's Budget" of 1911 which established state pensions. Not a successful wartime leader, he lost control of a coalition government during World War I and was forced to resign in favor of David Lloyd George. (1852-1928, PM 1908-1916)
Robert Peel
Set out the founding principles of the Conservative Party in the Tamworth Manifesto and led the new party to its first general election victory. The Irish Famine accelerated his decision to repeal the Corn Laws, promoting free trade by removing grain tariffs. This act was achieved with Whig support and lost him the backing of his party. (1788-1850, PM 1834-1835, 1841-1846)
Theresa May
She became the UK's 2nd female prime minister in 2016 after the resignation of David Cameron (PM 2016-)
Idi Amin
The president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He was a military leader who came to power in a coup when Prime Minister Milton Obote was out of the country. While in power, he encouraged death squads such as the Public Safety Unit and the State Research Bureau, and he has been blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths. A 1979 invasion by Tanzania forced him from power; he fled to exile in Saudi Arabia.
