Famous leaders A-Z

Boudicca

In around AD 60, the Iceni tribe of eastern England rose in revolt against the Romans. The king of the Iceni had died and left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and to the Roman...

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. He led his Roman soldiers in a successful campaign (58–51 BC) to conquer all of Gaul (modern-day France), and...

Charlemagne

Charlemagne (AD 742–814) became king of the Franks in 768. At the time, the Frankish lands covered most of modern-day France and Belgium. Charlemagne means "Charles the Great...

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was a soldier, politician, statesman and writer who served in World War I, and then, as prime minster during World War II, led Britain to victory over Nazi...

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) was an English military and political leader, during and after the English Civil War. He served as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England...

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948) was a leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, and an advocate of non-violent protest. Considered the "father" of...

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) was leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party, and führer (leader) of Germany. At the core of his beliefs was that the "Aryan" race, typified by the...

Joan of Arc

Saint Joan of Arc (1412–1431), also known as the Maid of Orleans, is a national heroine in France. Her feast day, 30th May, is a French national holiday. Joan of Arc was a...

John F. Kennedy

In January 1961, John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) became the youngest person ever to be sworn in as president of the United States, at the age of 43. Amongst other things, his time as...

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) was a Baptist minister who became a leader of the civil rights movement in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. He used methods of non-violent civil...

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was the 16th president of the United States (1861–1865), and one of the country’s greatest leaders. He is celebrated for his tolerance and...

Nelson Mandela

From the 1940s until 1994, Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) was a leader in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. During that time he was held as a political prisoner for 27...

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong (also written as Mao Tse-tung, 1893–1976), sometimes called Chairman Mao, was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and leader. From 1935, he was leader of the Chinese...

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) was a French military and political leader who rose to power at the end of the French Revolution. He became Emperor of France in 1804, and...

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) was the 32nd president of the United States, and the only US president to be elected to office four times. Roosevelt—often known by his...

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) was one of the most ruthless leaders of modern times. As secretary-general of the Soviet Communist Party, he ruled the Soviet Union as a dictator. He...