Politics & Leadership

Nefertiti

1370 BCE–1330 BCE · Egyptian queen, icon of feminine beauty

Ramesses II

1303 BCE–1213 BCE · Greatest pharaoh of ancient Egypt

Sun Tzu

544 BCE–496 BCE · Author of The Art of War

Leonidas I

540 BCE–480 BCE · Spartan king, hero of Thermopylae

Alexander the Great

356 BCE–323 BCE · Conquered the largest empire of the ancient world

Hannibal

247 BCE–183 BCE · Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps

Julius Caesar

100 BCE–44 BCE · Roman dictator who transformed the Republic

Cleopatra

69 BCE–30 BCE · Last active ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt

Augustus

63 BCE–14 · First Roman Emperor

Boudicca

30–61 · Celtic queen who revolted against Rome

Nero

37–68 · Roman Emperor, fiddled while Rome burned

Attila the Hun

406–453 · Ruler of the Hunnic Empire

Charlemagne

748–814 · Father of Europe, Holy Roman Emperor

William the Conqueror

1028–1087 · Norman king who conquered England

Saladin

1137–1193 · Sultan who recaptured Jerusalem

Genghis Khan

1162–1227 · Founder of the Mongol Empire

Kublai Khan

1215–1294 · Mongol emperor of China

Mansa Musa

1280–1337 · Richest person in history, Mali emperor

Joan of Arc

1412–1431 · Heroine of France, military leader

Henry VIII

1491–1547 · King of England, six wives

Suleiman the Magnificent

1494–1566 · Longest-reigning Ottoman sultan

Elizabeth I

1533–1603 · Queen of England, the Elizabethan era

Akbar the Great

1542–1605 · Mughal emperor who unified India

Tokugawa Ieyasu

1543–1616 · Founder of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate

Oliver Cromwell

1599–1658 · Lord Protector of England

Louis XIV

1638–1715 · The Sun King of France

Peter the Great

1672–1725 · Tsar who modernized Russia

Catherine the Great

1729–1796 · Empress who expanded Russia

George Washington

1732–1799 · First US President

Thomas Jefferson

1743–1826 · Author of the Declaration of Independence

Toussaint Louverture

1743–1803 · Leader of the Haitian Revolution

Marie Antoinette

1755–1793 · Queen of France, executed in the Revolution

Napoleon Bonaparte

1769–1821 · Emperor of France, military genius

Simón Bolívar

1783–1830 · Liberator of South America

Shaka Zulu

1787–1828 · Founder of the Zulu Kingdom

Abraham Lincoln

1809–1865 · 16th US President, ended slavery

Otto von Bismarck

1815–1898 · Unified Germany, the Iron Chancellor

Queen Victoria

1819–1901 · Longest-reigning British monarch of her era

Sitting Bull

1831–1890 · Lakota leader who defeated Custer at Little Bighorn

Woodrow Wilson

1856–1924 · 28th US President, League of Nations

Theodore Roosevelt

1858–1919 · 26th US President, Rough Rider

Sun Yat-sen

1866–1925 · Father of the Republic of China

Mahatma Gandhi

1869–1948 · Nonviolent independence leader of India

Grigori Rasputin

1869–1916 · Mystic who influenced the Russian royal family

Winston Churchill

1874–1965 · British PM who led WWII effort

Pancho Villa

1878–1923 · Mexican revolutionary general

Franklin D. Roosevelt

1882–1945 · 32nd US President, New Deal, WWII leader

Ho Chi Minh

1890–1969 · Revolutionary leader of Vietnam

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1890–1969 · WWII Supreme Commander, 34th US President

Charles de Gaulle

1890–1970 · Leader of Free France, French President

Haile Selassie

1892–1975 · Emperor of Ethiopia, Rastafari symbol

Mao Zedong

1893–1976 · Founder of the People's Republic of China

Golda Meir

1898–1978 · Fourth Prime Minister of Israel

Hirohito

1901–1989 · Emperor of Japan during WWII

Kwame Nkrumah

1909–1972 · First President of Ghana

John F. Kennedy

1917–1963 · 35th US President, Space Race

Indira Gandhi

1917–1984 · First female Prime Minister of India

Nelson Mandela

1918–2013 · Anti-apartheid hero, South African President

Eva Perón

1919–1952 · Argentina's beloved Evita

Patrice Lumumba

1925–1961 · First Prime Minister of independent Congo

Margaret Thatcher

1925–2013 · The Iron Lady, British Prime Minister

Fidel Castro

1926–2016 · Cuban revolutionary leader

Che Guevara

1928–1967 · Argentine revolutionary icon

Barack Obama

1961–present · 44th US President, first African American president