Mansa Musa

Mansa Musa (Ruled 1312-1332) Emperor of the West African Empire of Mali. He made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca and established trade routes to the Middle East. He helped to spread Islam and made Timbuktu an important city of trade & education.

John Locke

John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher and political theorist during the Enlightenment. He wrote Two Treaties on Government which explained that all men have Natural Rights, which are Life, Liberty, and Property, and that the purpose of government was to protect these rights. People have the right to overthrow the government.

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian astronomer. One of the founders of Europe's Scientific Revolution, one of his main contributions is the application of the telescope to astronomy. He was able to prove Copernicus’ heliocentric (sun-centered) theory correct. He was put on house arrest for his challenge to church teachings.

Peter the Great

Peter the Great (1672-1725) Czar of Russia. He was responsible for the westernization of Russia in the 18th century. In one of his modernization efforts, he forced his men to cut off their beards or pay a tax to keep it.

Yasir Arafat

Yasir Arafat (1929-2004) He war the president of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Considered by many to be a terrorist because of his violent opposition to the creation of Israel. He was accepted as the legitimate authority to speak for the Palestinians. His goal was to create a homeland for the Palestinians displaced by the creation of Israel.

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) A totalitarian communist leader of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1953. He is known for his extreme brutality in getting rid of his political opponents in the Great Purge, his failed policies of collectivism (collective farming), and a forced famine of the Ukrainian Kulaks. His Five Year Plans helped to industrialize the Soviet Union.

Simón Bolívar

Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) 19th century revolutionary and military leader who is responsible for Latin American independence from the Spanish Empire – Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, & Bolivia. He helped to create a Gran Colombia which was the first union of independent nations in Latin America.

Marco Polo

Marco Polo (1254-1324) Italian explorer and author. He made numerous trips to China and returned to Europe to write of his journeys. He is responsible for much of the knowledge exchanged between Europe and China during this time period. Served Kublai Khan for 17 years.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931- ), leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His policies of Perestroika (economic reform) and Glasnost (openness), which aimed at revitalizing communism, ended up contributing to the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union.

Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) Communist leader of China after Mao Zedong. Ruled China from 1978 until 1997. His Four Modernizations helped to modernize China and allowed for some small-scale capitalism in a communist economy. He is responsible for human rights violations with the creation of the One Child Policy and the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989).

Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) Vietnamese nationalist leader who is responsible for ousting first the French, then the US from his country. Supported by both communist China and the Soviet Union, he guided Vietnam through decades long warfare to emerge as a communist nation.

José de San Martín

José de San Martín (1778-1850) 19th century revolutionary leader who is responsible for Latin American independence from the Spanish Empire – Argentina & Chile.

Zheng He

Zheng He (1371-1433) Chinese naval explorer who sailed along most of the coast of Asia, Japan, and half way down the east coast of Africa before his death. He is known for his very large navel fleets and they showed Chinese superiority.

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) Austrian-born totalitarian dictator of Germany. He co-founded the fascist Nazi Party, and gained control of Germany in 1933. He started World War II with the invasion of Poland because the English policy of appeasement was unsuccessful. His “Final Solution” was his plan to eliminate all Jews and other undesirables in Europe; he was responsible for the Holocaust (a genocide).

Kemal Atatürk

Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) Nationalist leader of Turkey who is responsible for modernizing and westernizing his country after World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. This enabled Turkey to resist imperialist attempts at takeover by various European powers.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) Emperor of the French. He took power of France in a coup d etat (military take-over) after the French Revolution. He is responsible for many reforms, a code of unifying laws, as well as conquering most of Europe. He lost at his invasion of Russia because of the cold climate. He was finally defeated at Waterloo.

Czar Nicholas II

Czar Nicholas II (1868-1918) Czar of Russia between 1894 and 1917. He was overthrown during the Russian Revolution of 1917 because of his poor leadership. Later, he and the rest of the Romanov family were killed by the Bolsheviks.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) A black South African leader who protested the policy of Apartheid and spent over thirty years in prison for his actions against the white minority rule. After his release from prison, he became the first black president of South Africa.

Toussaint L’Ouverture

Toussaint L’Ouverture (1743-1803) Revolutionary leader who is responsible for ousting France from Haiti during the Latin American Revolutions in the early 19th century. Haiti became the first free black colony.

Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468) German printer and European inventor in the use of movable type. His invention led to an increase in literacy rates & the spread of ideas more rapidly. He printed the first full-sized Bible which helped lead to the Protestant Reformation.

Jomo Kenyatta

Jomo Kenyatta (1894-1978) Nationalist independence leader who help free Kenya from British imperialism after World War II.

Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro (1926- ) Leader of the Cuban Revolution and communist dictator of Cuba. He is responsible for making Cuba a communist nation which has often been at odds with the United States. The US failed to oust him from power in the Bay of Pigs invasion. The Cuban Missile Crisis, during the Cold War, was when he allowed the Soviets to place missiles in Cuba that threatened the US.

Emperor Meiji

Emperor Meiji (1852-1912) Emperor of Japan from 1867 to 1912. He was responsible for the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the rapid modernization and industrialization of Japan. This is also referred to as the Meiji Restoration because the emperor was restored to power instead of the shoguns ruling. Japan also became an imperialist nation.

Otto von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) Nationalist leader for Germany. He was appointed Prussian chancellor in 1862 and began a program of war to unify all the German states under the control of Prussia. He used “blood and iron” to create a unified German nation in 1871.

Matthew Perry

Matthew Perry (1794-1858) Commodore. United States Navy officer who is responsible for opening Japan to trade and imperialism.

Adam Smith

Adam Smith (1723-1790) British philosopher, writer, and economist during the Industrial Revolution. His book, The Wealth of Nations, describes his theory on free trade, otherwise known as laissez-faire economics. He is referred to as the “father of capitalism.”

Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian historian, statesman, and political philosopher of the Renaissance. His greatest work is The Prince, a book of political advice to rulers in which he describes the methods that a prince should use to acquire and maintain political power. This book was used to defend policies of despotism and tyranny. Machiavelli wrote that a ruler should take any action to remain in power, or that “the ends justifies the means.”

Louis XVI (16th)

Louis XVI (16th) (1754-1793) King of France between 1774 and 1792. He was overthrown during the French Revolution because of his poor leadership. He and his wife, Marie Antoinette were later beheaded by radical revolutionaries, the Jacobins.

Ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta (1304-1368) 14th Century African traveler & historian who visited most of the Islamic world. His journeys took him throughout Africa, the Middle East, all the way to China.

Slobodan Milosevic

Slobodan Milosevic (1941-2006) Former Yugoslavian President from 1997 to 2000. He fought to keep non-Serbs from gaining independence. During the 1990s, he used his army to terrorize ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, who were asking for self rule. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) finally put a stop to this violence. His policy of “ethnic cleansing” – getting rid of non-Serbs – was declared the Bosnian Genocide.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx (1818-1883), German political philosopher and writer that reacted to the problems caused by the Industrial Revolution. Co-author with Friedrich Engels of The Communist Manifesto which described the philosophy of society, politics, and economics, which is the basis for modern communism (Marxism). He theory is based on the division in society between the “haves vs. the have nots.” He believes that the proletariat (workers) will overthrow the bourgeoisie (upper class capitalists).

Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483-1546) Theologian and religious reformer who started the Protestant Reformation with his 95 Theses which protested church corruption, namely the sale of indulgences (selling forgiveness of sins). He developed the first Protestant Church (Lutheran) which teaches that salvation could be achieved by faith alone, not by good works.

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great (356 BCE-323 BCE) He conquered most of the ancient world from Asia Minor to Egypt and India, which began the Hellenistic culture which was a blending of Greek, Persian, Indian, and Egyptian influences.

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) Russian revolutionary leader of the Bolsheviks that overthrew Czar Nicholas II. He was the first leader of the new communist government of the USSR. His slogan “Peace, Land, and Bread” gained him widespread appeal during the revolution. During his leadership, he began the New Economic Policy which allowed some small-scale capitalism in a communist system.

Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-Shek)

Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-Shek) (1887-1975) Leader of the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party in China. Fought to keep China from becoming communist, and to resist the Japanese during World War II. He lost control of China in 1949, and fled to Taiwan where he setup a rival government.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) Military leader and nationalist, whose Red Shirt army liberated most of southern Italy, before conquering northern Italy. He was responsible for the unification of Italy.

Pol Pot

Pol Pot (1925-1998) Leader of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The Khmer Rouge was the communist party that he controlled. He is responsible for the deaths of almost 2 million (1/4 of the population) of his own people due to starvation, execution, and beatings. The Cambodian genocide is called the “Killing Fields”.

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong (1893-1976) Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists after the Long March. He established China as the People’s Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976. His Great Leap Forward was an effort to increase agricultural output and industrialize, but resulted in the largest famine in history. During his Cultural Revolution, he got rid of political opponents.

Kwame Nkrumah

Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) Nationalist independence leader who help free Ghana from British imperialism after World War II.

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan (1167-1227) One of the Mongol’s greatest leaders and founder of the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire was one of the largest empires in history.

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein (1937-2007) Brutal dictator of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He led his country in two wars, the Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988, and the Persian Gulf War 1990-1991. In the Persian Gulf War, Iraq invaded Kuwait over access to oil. He also committed genocide against the Kurds, a minority group in northern Iraq. US forces toppled his government in 2003.

Louis XIV (14th)

Louis XIV (14th) (1638-1715) Known as the Sun King, he was an absolute monarch that completely controlled France. One of his greatest accomplishments was the building of the Palace at Versailles. It is claimed that he once said, “I am the state.”

Maximilien Robespierre

Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) Radical revolutionary leader of the Jacobins in France. He was inspired by the Enlightenment and sought to wipe out every trace of France’s past monarchy and nobility. During his Reign of Terror, political opposition groups were sent to the guillotine to be beheaded, including King Louis XVI & Queen Marie Antoinette.

Ayatollah Khomeini

Ayatollah Khomeini (1902-1989) Leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Islamic fundamentalist leader who overthrew the Shah of Iran because he disagreed with the Shah’s modernization and movement way from traditional Islamic ideas. He established a theocracy based on traditional Islamic Law.

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) Italian explorer working for Spain who, in 1492, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and discovered the Americas for Spain. The Columbian Exchange (trade between the Old Work & New World) is named after him.

Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) English philosopher and political theorist. Wrote Leviathan. He believed that people are selfish & wicked, and therefore need an absolute monarch to control them, otherwise it would be a war of every man against every man.

Kim Jong Il

Kim Jong Il (1941-2011) Dictator of North Korea from 1994-2011. He is responsible for nuclear proliferation (build-up) in North Korea and maintained strict government control over all of his people.

Mohandas Gandhi

Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) Nationalist independence leader for India. He used non-violence and civil disobedience to gain his country’s freedom from the British Empire in 1947. The homespun movement and the Salt March are two examples of his use of non-violence & civil disobedience.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi (1945- ) a Burmese (in SE Asia) political leader that won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote democracy in the country of Myanmar (Burma) after spending over 15 years under house arrest for being a political dissident (someone who opposes gov’t policy).