World Leaders

This general category includes a selection of more specific topics.

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Presidents & Heads of States First Ladies Vice Presidents Prime Ministers Kings Queens Emperors & Empresses Sultans Pharaohs Dictators Governors Senators Other Politicians

Featured Articles

John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States (1961–63), who faced a number of foreign crises, especially in Cuba and Berlin, but managed to secure such achievements as the Nuclear Test-Ban...

Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle was a French soldier, writer, statesman, and architect of France’s Fifth Republic. De Gaulle was the second son of a Roman Catholic, patriotic, and nationalist upper-middle-class family....

Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini was the Italian prime minister (1922–43) and the first of 20th-century Europe’s fascist dictators. Mussolini was the first child of the local blacksmith. In later years he expressed pride...

Peter I

Peter I tsar of Russia who reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V (1682–96) and alone thereafter (1696–1725) and who in 1721 was proclaimed emperor (imperator). He was one of his country’s greatest...

George W. Bush

George W. Bush 43rd president of the United States (2001–09), who led his country’s response to the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and initiated the Iraq War in 2003. Narrowly winning the electoral...

Philip II

Philip II was the 18th king of Macedonia (359–336 bce), who restored internal peace to his country and by 339 had gained domination over all of Greece by military and diplomatic means, thus laying the...

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill British statesman, orator, and author who as prime minister (1940–45, 1951–55) rallied the British people during World War II and led his country from the brink of defeat to victory....

Frederick II

Frederick II king of Prussia (1740–86), a brilliant military campaigner who, in a series of diplomatic stratagems and wars against Austria and other powers, greatly enlarged Prussia’s territories and made...

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd president of the United States (1933–45). The only president elected to the office four times, Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th...

Kemal Atatürk

Kemal Atatürk soldier, statesman, and reformer who was the founder and first president (1923–38) of the Republic of Turkey. He modernized the country’s legal and educational systems and encouraged the...

government

Government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—are...

Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev was the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1953–64) and premier of the Soviet Union (1958–64) whose policy of de-Stalinization had widespread repercussions throughout...

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan Mongolian warrior-ruler, one of the most famous conquerors of history, who consolidated tribes into a unified Mongolia and then extended his empire across Asia to the Adriatic Sea. Genghis...

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was a New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention (1787), major author of the Federalist papers, and first secretary of the treasury of the United States (1789–95), who was the...

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party (from 1920/21) and chancellor (Kanzler) and Führer of Germany (1933–45). His worldview revolved around two concepts: territorial expansion and racial supremacy....

Augustus

Augustus first Roman emperor, following the republic, which had been finally destroyed by the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, his great-uncle and adoptive father. His autocratic regime is known as the principate...

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams was the sixth president of the United States (1825–29) and eldest son of President John Adams. In his prepresidential years he was one of America’s greatest diplomats (formulating, among...

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States (1969–74), who, faced with almost certain impeachment for his role in the Watergate scandal, became the first American president to resign from...

Otto von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck prime minister of Prussia (1862–73, 1873–90) and founder and first chancellor (1871–90) of the German Empire. Once the empire was established, he actively and skillfully pursued pacific...

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th president of the United States (1963–69). A moderate Democrat and vigorous leader in the United States Senate, Johnson was elected vice president in 1960 and acceded to the...

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I queen of England (1558–1603) during a period, often called the Elizabethan Age, when England asserted itself vigorously as a major European power in politics, commerce, and the arts. Although...

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great king of Macedonia (336–323 bce), who overthrew the Persian empire, carried Macedonian arms to India, and laid the foundations for the Hellenistic world of territorial kingdoms. Already...

Washington delivering his inaugural address

presidency of the United States of America

Presidency of the United States of America, chief executive office of the United States. In contrast to many countries with parliamentary forms of government, where the office of president, or head of...

David Cameron

David Cameron British Conservative Party leader who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom (2010–16). Cameron, a descendant of King William IV, was born into a family with both wealth and an aristocratic...

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was the 40th president of the United States (1981–89), noted for his conservative Republicanism, his fervent anticommunism, and his appealing personal style, characterized by a jaunty affability...

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson 28th president of the United States (1913–21), an American scholar and statesman best remembered for his legislative accomplishments and his high-minded idealism. Wilson led his country...

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is a Russian intelligence officer and politician who has served as president (1999–2008 and 2012– ) of Russia and as the country’s prime minister (1999 and 2008–12). One of the 21st century’s...

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong principal Chinese Marxist theorist, soldier, and statesman who led his country’s communist revolution. Mao was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1935 until his death, and...

Napoleon I

Napoleon I French general, first consul (1799–1804), and emperor of the French (1804–1814/15), one of the most celebrated personages in the history of the West. He revolutionized military organization...

first ladies at the George W. Bush Presidential Center

first lady

First lady, wife of the president of the United States. Although the first lady’s role has never been codified or officially defined, she figures prominently in the political and social life of the nation....

Charlemagne

Charlemagne king of the Franks (768–814), king of the Lombards (774–814), and first emperor (800–814) of the Romans and of what was later called the Holy Roman Empire. Around the time of the birth of Charlemagne—conventionally...

India

India, country that occupies the greater part of South Asia. India is made up of 28 states and eight union territories, and its national capital is New Delhi, built in the 20th century just south of the...

Gustavus Adolphus

Gustavus Adolphus was the king of Sweden (1611–32) who laid the foundations of the modern Swedish state and made it a major European power. Gustavus was the eldest son of Charles IX and his second wife,...

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime minister of independent India (1947–64), who established parliamentary government and became noted for his neutralist (nonaligned) policies in foreign affairs. He was...

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin founder of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), inspirer and leader of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), and the architect, builder, and first head (1917–24) of the Soviet state. He...

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States (1953–61), who had been supreme commander of the Allied forces in western Europe during World War II. Eisenhower was the third of seven...

World Leaders Subcategories

Presidents & Heads of States

President, in government, the officer in whom the chief executive power of a nation is vested. The president of a republic is the head of state, but the actual power of the president varies from country to country; in the United States, Africa, and Latin America the presidential office is charged with great powers and responsibilities, but the office is relatively weak and largely ceremonial in Europe and in many countries where the prime minister, or premier, functions as the chief executive officer.

Articles

Andrew Jackson
president of United States
Kemal Atatürk
president of Turkey
Franklin D. Roosevelt
president of United States

First Ladies

“First lady” is the title for the wife of the president of the United States. Although the first lady’s role has never been codified or officially defined, she figures prominently in the political and social life of the nation. Some first ladies have used their influence to affect legislation on important matters such as temperance reform, housing improvement, and women’s rights. Since 1789, especially, the role of first lady has changed considerably. Although still dependent on individual personalities, it has come to include involvement in political campaigns, management of the White House, championship of social causes, and representation of the president at official and ceremonial occasions.

Articles

Pat Nixon
American first lady
Lady Bird Johnson
first lady of the United States
Betty Ford
first lady of the United States

Vice Presidents

Articles

John C. Calhoun
vice president of United States
John Adams
president of United States
Chester A. Arthur
president of United States

Prime Ministers

Prime minister, also called premier, the head of government in a country with a parliamentary or semipresidential political system. In such systems, the prime minister—literally the “first,” or most important, minister—must be able to command a continuous majority in the legislature (usually the lower house in a bicameral system) to remain in office.

Articles

Camillo Benso, count di Cavour
Piedmontese statesman
William Pitt, the Younger
prime minister of United Kingdom
Nikita Khrushchev
premier of Soviet Union

Hans Holbein the Younger: Portrait of Henry VIII of England

Kings

A king is a supreme ruler, sovereign over a nation or a territory, of higher rank than any other secular ruler except an emperor, to whom a king may be subject.

Articles

Henry IV
Holy Roman emperor
Charles V
Holy Roman emperor
Alexander the Great
king of Macedonia

Queens

Articles

Maria Theresa
Holy Roman empress
Françoise d’Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon
untitled queen of France
Queen of Sheba
queen of Sabaʾ

Emperors & Empresses

Emperor is a title designating the sovereigns of the ancient Roman Empire and, by derivation, various later European rulers; it is also applied loosely to certain non-European monarchs.

Articles

Hadrian
Roman emperor
Victoria
queen of United Kingdom
Kublai Khan
emperor of Yuan dynasty

Sultans

The term sultan was originally used to denote moral or spiritual authority, but it later came to denote political or governmental power and from the 11th century was used as a title by Muslim sovereigns.

Articles

Murad I
Ottoman sultan
sultan
Islamic title
Saladin
Ayyūbid sultan

Pharaohs

Pharaohs were the kings of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians believed their pharaoh to be the mediator between the gods and the world of men. After death the pharaoh became divine and passed on his sacred powers and position to the new pharaoh, his son. The pharaoh’s will was supreme, and he governed by royal decree.

Articles

Akhenaten
king of Egypt
Thutmose I
king of Egypt
Amenhotep I
king of Egypt

Dictators

A dictatorship is a form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations. The term dictatorship comes from the Latin title dictator, which in the Roman Republic designated a temporary magistrate who was granted extraordinary powers in order to deal with state crises.

Articles