Introduction
What does it mean to be a leader? Does it require that a person hold political office and rule masses? Does it include only those who made a positive impact on society or also those who wreaked devastation and destruction? Do humanitarians or activists who never held office but who had the ability to stir thousands and millions with a vision of a different, better world merit inclusion? Many very different types of leaders are profiled in this book, which is arranged chronologically by date of birth. It ends with Osama bin Laden and Barack Obama. One is a mastermind of terrorist acts that have killed thousands and another a politician who overcame the weight of hundreds of years of slavery and discrimination against blacks to become the first African American elected president of the most powerful country in the world. They are opposites in almost every imaginable way. Bin Laden leads a global jihad against Western values, and Obama, the symbolic leader of the West, was the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. They are linked, however, in their ability to inspire loyal followers—in bin Laden’s case to commit destruction and in Obama’s to believe that ordinary citizens, acting together, can change a sometimes seemingly bleak world for the better—and in their lasting impact on the world in which they and future generations will live. The world today has some 6.7 billion people, most of whom adhere to one religion or another. In the 13th century BCE, Moses delivered his people from Egyptian slavery and received the Ten Commandments, establishing Judaism as the world’s first great monotheistic religion. Although Jews make up but a small fraction of the world’s population today, monotheism flourishes, with Christians and Muslims together accounting for more than half the world’s population.
Jesus’ Christian followers were once persecuted by the Romans until Constantine I the Great became the f irst Roman emperor to convert to Christianity; now, more than two billion people call themselves Christians. In the 7th century Muhammad founded Islam, and he is considered by Muslims to be the last of the Great Prophets; his name is now invoked several billion times a day by nearly 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. Others, such as Confucius in 6th–5th-century-BCE China and Buddha in the area around Nepal and India about the same time, have inspired hundreds of millions of people, and their teachings remain central to the daily lives of vast numbers today. And, though these figures still have relevance thousands of years after their deaths, the world continues to produce religious leaders—Martin Luther and his Reformation in Europe, Ruhollah Khomeini and his Islamic Revolution in Iran, John Paul II and his more than 25-year leadership as head of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Dalai Lama—who have represented challenges to existing religious views or have spread the reach of their religious doctrine. While some have founded religions, others have founded countries. George Washington is almost universally revered in the United States as the “Father of His Country,” securing independence on the battlefield and then turning down an offer to become king. The American Revolution began the process of independence in the socalled New World, which had been subject to colonial domination by European powers. Less than 40 years after the American Revolution had been won, another American revolution of sorts, led by Simón Bolívar in Latin America, helped throw off Spanish rule there. Bolívar’s name is still a symbol to revolutionary leaders in Latin America. Indeed, Hugo Chávez leads his own “Bolivarian Revolution” in Venezuela today.
In Europe, too, new countries were formed in what are generally thought of as ancient lands—Giuseppe Garibaldi helped create a unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861, while Otto von Bismarck helped forge a German empire in 1871. Old empires fell away and were replaced with modern states in the 20th century. Vladimir Lenin established in Russia the world’s first communist regime, one that, though it collapsed nearly 75 years later, continues to have a lasting influence on our world. Out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, Kemal Atatürk helped found modern Turkey. Eamon de Valera won Irish independence from Great Britain. Ibn Sa’ūd created a country, Saudi Arabia, that bears his family’s name. And, Mao Zedong led a 30-year struggle in China, creating a communist state in 1949 that 60 years later continues to rule over the world’s largest population. Sometimes individuals have led peaceful resistance movements that have freed their people—as Mohandas Gandhi did in India. After World War II, as peoples yearned to become free, David Ben-Gurion in Israel, Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, Julius Nyerere in Tanzania, and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam fought for and achieved their country’s independence in different ways. Nelson Mandela in South Africa is yet another story of resistance—sometimes armed and sometimes peaceful. He was jailed from 1964 to 1990 by his apartheid government, which legally discriminated against the overwhelmingly black population in favour of minority whites, before being released, helping end apartheid, ushering in a peaceful transition to democracy, and becoming the first black president of the new, multiracial South Africa. Some of the world’s greatest leaders have earned their place here from victories—and defeats—on the battlef ield. Alexander the Great won a vast 4th-century-BCE empire that eventually stretched from Europe to India
Attila commanded the Huns, leading them in invasions against the Balkans, Greece, and Italy. His empire, however, died shortly after he did in 453 CE. Charlemagne had himself crowned Holy Roman emperor in 800, following military conquests that expanded his kingdom outward from what is modern-day Germany. A millennium later, Napoleon led French forces in Europe to stunning victories, but his defeats in Russia and, later, at Waterloo proved his downfall. Outside of Europe, Chinggis Khan was one of the greatest warriors the world has ever seen, leading his Mongols in amassing an empire that stretched from Mongolia to the Adriatic Sea in the 12th–13th century. At about the same time, Saladin, founder of the Ayyūbid dynasty, fought in the Middle East against Christian Crusaders, capturing Jerusalem to end nearly nine decades of occupation by Christians. The 20th century brought advances in technology— making war even more devastating than it was during Napoleon’s time. It is estimated that some 35 to 60 million people died during World War II, and for this reason the leaders of the major combatants usually top any list of influential leaders. Italy’s Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, the world’s first fascist dictator, joined an alliance in Europe with Germany’s Adolf Hitler under whose dictatorial rule most of Europe fell and some six million Jews died in the Holocaust. Together, Hitler and Mussolini formed the Axis with Japan in the Pacific. Hirohito, emperor of Japan, though playing a limited political role, was the symbolic leader of his country. His national radio address in 1945, the first time many Japanese had heard his voice, announced the country’s surrender, and the next year he renounced his quasi-divine status, helping to engineer Japanese democracy after the war. Franklin D. Roosevelt, though afflicted with debilitating polio, managedre-election to four terms as president of the United States and led the Allies. He was joined by Winston Churchill, whose steely nerves helped calm Britain during relentless bombing by the German Luftwaffe, while Charles de Gaulle led the Free French against German occupation. A fourth ally was Joseph Stalin, whose rule in the Soviet Union resulted in purges, famine, and the deaths of some 20 million; initially signing a pact with Hitler, he joined the Allies following Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union. From the ashes of World War II came dreams to build a Europe that would be free from the traditional EnglishFrench-German rivalry that had plunged the continent into two world wars. Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman may never have led a government, but they helped found the European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner of today’s European Union. The EU now encompasses 27 countries—from Portugal in the west, Malta in the south, Finland in the north, and Romania in the east—helping to integrate the continent both politically and economically and ward off war. Upholding the European ideal was but one way in which statesmen and activists have influenced the arc of history without ever possessing formal power. Frederick Douglass, one of the greatest human rights leaders of the 19th century, helped lead the American abolition movement. Though slavery had been abolished in the United States in 1865, African Americans still suffered from discrimination, so in the next century Martin Luther King, Jr., used nonviolent protest and civil disobedience, modeled on Gandhi’s movement in India, to achieve political equality before he was struck down by an assassin’s bullet in 1968. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Franklin, was a tireless campaigner for human rights, playing a major role in drafting and gaining adoption of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights—considered humanity’s Magna Carta (Great Charter) to many. Eleanor Roosevelt was but one woman whose imprint has been made on a society traditionally dominated by men. One of her predecessors as first lady, Abigail Adams, wrote in 1776 in a letter to her husband, John Adams, the great revolutionary and the second president of the United States, “I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.” (Neither Adams nor her husband made the list of 100.) Too often, however, women have not been remembered in history. Still, their contributions have been enormous. Cleopatra, who ruled as queen of Egypt for decades, eventually committed suicide, and history was rewritten to portray her as predatory and immoral rather than as the woman she was: strong and smart, a philosopher and a scientist. Women were also discriminated against in the hereditary monarchies of Europe, which favoured males in deciding who would rule. Though her father, Henry VIII, had divorced or had killed several wives to find one who would produce a male heir, Elizabeth I eventually became queen of England, ruling for 45 years and giving her name to an age. Catherine II the Great of Russia was empress for more than three decades, and during her time she brought Russia into full participation in the political and cultural life of Europe. While Elizabeth and Catherine ruled from palaces, Joan of Arc earned her mark on the battlefield. She died at age 19, burned at the stake, but before then she led the French to win improbable battles, mostly due to the confidence that her men had in her, despite her youth, gender, and lack of military know-how. Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady,” became Britain’s first woman prime minister in 1979 and helped win the Cold War. Other strong women have reached the
pinnacle of power only to be murdered. Indira Gandhi of India served four terms as prime minister of the world’s largest democracy but then was assassinated by extremists, while Benazir Bhutto, in neighbouring Pakistan, was the first woman in modern history elected to lead a predominantly Muslim country, and while campaigning in 2007 for what would most likely have been another term as prime minister was killed by an assassin. Today, Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, continues the fight for freedom, the face of hope in an authoritarian Myanmar (Burma) whose leadership has mostly kept her under house arrest. Selecting the most influential anything is inherently fraught with difficulties, and choosing those individuals who have left a lasting impression on the world—both during their times and long after they perished—was nearly impossible. The stories that follow represent both the best—and worst—of humanity and provide a journey across time and across the globe—a trek that will provide keen insight into the art of leadership and the countless followers who were drawn into a cause, an upheaval, or a new dawn. 