World Leaders

1. World Leaders

2. Mohandas Gandhi • India. • Headed nationalist movement. • Nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience. • Salt March. • Rejected Caste System. • Encouraged western ideas.

3. Adolf Hitler • Germany. • Promised Germany that he would restore German pride after WWI. • Germans were a superior race. • Was a dictator. • Went against Treaty of Versailles. • Used propaganda in education and arts. • Tried to drive minorities out of Germany (Jews). • Helped cause WWII.

4. Joseph Stalin • Ruler of Russia. • Totalitarian dictator. • Wanted to spread communism. • Took over for Lenin. • Wanted to industrialize Russia (5 year plan). • Collective farms. • Cult of personality. • Great purge where he killed those who wanted to take over for him.

5. Nelson Mandela • Africa. • African National Congress. • Opposed Apartheid and launched boycotts and civil disobedience. • Freed and became president.

6. Mao Zedong • China. • In the 1930s he was leader of the Communists. • Won support of the peasants. • Rejected Confucian ideas. • People felt nationalists had allowed foreigners to dominate. • Wanted to modernize China. • Launched the “great leap forward” to increase output. • Cultural Revolution to make people loyal to Communism. Little red book.

7. Martin Luther • 95 theses. • Indulgences • Protestant Reformation. • Broke away from the Catholic Church.

8. Mansa Musa • Leader of the Mali Empire. • Ran efficient government. • Converted to Islam. • Controlled gold trade routes.

9. Philip II • Spain, divine right. • Hard working ruler, promoted golden age of Spain. • Relied on gold and silver to expand empire.

10. Genghis Khan • Leader of the Mongols. • Name means “World Emperor”. • Built the largest empire in the world, developed the best military technology.

11. Zheng He • Chinese admiral. • First explorer who went to the Arabian Peninsula, India and Africa. • Exchanged Chinese silks for luxury items.

12. Leonardo da Vinci • Artist during the Renaissance. • Mona Lisa. • Sketches for flying machines and submarines.

13. Michelangelo • Sculptor and artist during the Renaissance. • Statue of David. • Dome of St. Peter’s Church.

14. Louis XIV • King of France. • Sun King. • Took over at age of 5 and stayed for 72 years. • Built the palace of Versailles and created a highly organized government. • Left France in great debt and taxed the people very heavily.

15. Peter the Great • Czar of Russia. • Wanted to modernize and westernize Russia. • Made St. Petersburg the “window of the west.” • Built largest army in Europe. • Wanted a warm water port.

16. Thomas Hobbes • Wrote Leviathan. • People are naturally greedy and selfish. • Need absolute ruler to make sure people don’t have anarchy.

17. Copernicus and Galileo • Challenged the church’s view that the earth was the center of the universe. • Created the Heliocentric theory.

18. John Locke • Enlightenment thinker. • Believed that people had “natural rights”. • Rights were life, liberty and property.

19. Montesquieu • Enlightenment thinker. • Believed that no one person (or branch) should have to much power. • Believed that there should be 3 branches (Separation of powers).

20. Voltaire • Enlightenment thinker. • Believed that there should be free speech. • Believed in religious toleration.

21. Jean Jacques Rousseau • Wrote the “Social Contract”. • People are naturally good but corrupted by the evils of society. • Do the will of the majority not what is best for the individual.

22. Catherine the Great • Enlightened despot, which is a king or queen who believes in the idea that people should have more rights. • Russian leader. • Wanted to westernize Russia.

23. Maximilien Robespierre • Leader during the French Revolution. • Led the Reign of Terror. • Was executed after the reign.

24. Napoleon Bonaparte • Had a coup d’etat to take over France during the Revolution. • Created an empire and took over as Emperor. • Created the Napoleonic Code which was a legal code taking over much of Europe. • Invaded Russia which led to his fall.

25. Toussaint L’Ouverture • Slave who led a revolt and independence movement in Haiti.

26. Simon Bolivar • Leader of a revolutionary movement against the Spanish. • Called the “Liberator”.

27. Mazzini, Cavour and Garibaldi • Leaders of Italian independence movements during the 1860s.

28. Otto von Bismarck • Leader of German nationalist movements. • Blood and Iron trying to industrialize Germany.

29. Adam Smith • Laissez faire economics. • Government stay out of business during the Industrial Revolution. • Wrote “The Wealth of Nations”.

30. Muhammad • Founder of the Islamic faith. • Created the 5 pillars of Islam. • Born in Mecca and traveled to Medina.

31. Buddha • Founder of the Buddhist faith. • Called “the Enlightened One”. • Four Noble Truths and 8 Fold Path. • Said people should want to reach Nirvana.

32. Confucius • Founder of Confucianism. • China. • Said people should no their role in society- people should follow the proper relationships.

33. Justinian • Leader of the Byzantine empire. • Created Justinian’s Code- which are a series of laws which are followed even today.

34. Neville Chamberlain • Leader of the British at the beginning of WWII. • Followed a policy of appeasement.

35. Winston Chamberlain • Leader of Britain who pushed the British to carry on and not followed a policy of appeasement.

36. Vasco da Gama • Sailed around the coast (tip) of Africa to reach India. • Led the search to avoid the Muslims throughout the Middle East.

37. Ferdinand Magellan • 1st man given “credit” for traveling around the world.

38. Christopher Columbus • 1st explorer to sail west. • Discovered America.

39. Archduke Francis Ferdinand • Archduke of Austria-Hungary. • His assassination led to the beginning of WWI.

40. Karl Marx • Revolution by the working class (bourgeoisie) over the proletariat (Business owners). • Came up with the idea of Communism/Socialism.

41. Vladimir Lenin • Leader of the Russian Revolution. • Peace, land and bread. • Ended WWI with Germany. • Led the Bolsheviks.

42. Kemal Ataturk • Leader of “Modern” Turkey. • Wanted to modernize Turkey. • Replace Islamic law with European model.

43. Mussolini • Leader of Italy during WWII. • Helped create the Axis Powers. • Had a Fascist government.

44. Jomo Kenyatta • Led the independence movement of the Kenyans over the British.

45. Yasser Arafat Leader of the PLO. Fought against the Israelis. Wanted Palestinian independence.

46. Ayatollah Khomeini • Leader of the Iranian revolution. • Became the leader of Iran. • Wanted to get rid of western ideas in Iran.

47. Saddam Hussein • Leader of Iraq. • Invaded Kuwait, led to the 1st Gulf War. • Believed to have weapons of mass destruction.

48. Alexander the Great • Leader of the Greek empire. • Hellenistic culture. • Blending of the Greek, Indian, Egyptian and Persian cultures.

49. Slobodan Milosevic • Leader of Serbia. • Accused of War Crimes against those in Serbia, Croatia and Kosovo.

50. Mikhail Gorbachev • Last leader of the Soviet Union. • Believed in Glasnost and Perestroika. • Pushed for freedom and was leader when the Soviet Union collapsed.