Leaders biography

Martin Luther King Jr. Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, the young Martin was considered a precocious student who paid little attention to his studies and found great discomfort in religion. That all began to change in his junior year, when he took a Bible class and renewed his faith. By , he had earned a degree from Morehouse College before moving on to the Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania.

Following years of successful civil rights activism, MLK and 61 other activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in King had such a profound impact on American race relations that his efforts resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of , which authorized the federal government to desegregate public accommodations.

MLK would continue his activism until his assassination on April 4, His killer, James Earl Ray, was eventually apprehended after a two-month manhunt. He proved, just like Gandhi, that non-violent protests can influence tremendous change. MLK gave his life to the civil rights movement. Nearly 50 years after his death, his legacy is stronger than ever.

Day, an observed federal holiday in the United States. Getting there was a story so epic that it was made into a Hollywood biopic in Much like Martin Luther King, Jr. He not only directed peaceful demonstrations against the deeply racist South African government, he went on to claim the Nobel Prize in for helping to end apartheid. Mandela was neither a politician nor an opportunist, but a man deeply committed to improving the lives of his people and applying the same message of freedom and equality to all nations.

I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days. His commitment to ending apartheid landed him and others in prison in on charges of treason. Although they were acquitted, Mandela began to recognize that an armed struggle was necessary to achieve real change. Mandela was eventually sentenced to life in prison in for political offenses.

He would spend the next 27 years in jail, where he endured cruel punishment and contracted tuberculosis. During that time, Mandela was offered early release if he renounced armed struggle — a condition he flat-out refused to consider. One year later, Mandela was elected leader of the African National Congress after it was also unbanned by de Klerk.

For that reason, he is one of the most celebrated people in modern history. Mandela died on December 5, , at the age of The prized physicist had a profound impact on our understanding of the universe, including basic concepts such as time, light and gravity. To this day, his work is being used to guide physicists to new frontiers, helping us to understand our significance on the grandest scale.

Born in Germany in , Einstein was slightly different than all the boys. By age 26, Einstein had obtained his PhD. The same year he published 4 important papers on topics ranging from the nature of light to mass-energy equivalence. He had a vivid imagination, questioned everything and found new ways of thinking about old problems.

He also had an unrelenting work ethic that pushed him to action even on the day of his death, where he was reportedly working on a speech for a television program. In addition to his timeless quotes and deep sense of humour, Einstein is remembered for overcoming adversity. His ability to keep a positive attitude and provoke creative thought experiments were at the centre of his genius.

Kim rules North Korea as a dictatorship, and his leadership has followed the same cult of personality as his father and grandfather. During his presidency, he was given the honorary title of Mzee and lauded as the Father of the Nation, securing support from both the black majority and the white minority with his message of reconciliation. Lee has been widely recognised as the founding father of Singapore for his leadership in turning an undeveloped country into a developed country.

In the process, he forged a highly effective, anti-corrupt government and civil service. His administration was primarily socialist as well as nationalist. It funded national industrial and energy projects, developed a strong national education system and promoted a pan-Africanist culture. Under Nkrumah, Ghana played a leading role in African international relations during the decolonization period.

Fidel Castro Fidel Castro was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from to , serving as the prime minister of Cuba from to and president from to Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.

Leaders biography

The longest-serving non-royal head of state in the 20th and 21st centuries, Castro polarized opinion throughout the world. Her reign of 63 years is known as the Victorian era and was longer than any of her predecessors. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire.

In , the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India. With her husband, she reigned during what was arguably the wealthiest period of ancient Egyptian history. Nefertiti and her husband were known for their radical overhaul of state religious policy, in which they promoted the earliest known form of monotheism, Atenism, centred on the sun disc and its direct connection to the royal household.

He was a member of the Nerva—Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers known, but later, as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to AD. He served as Roman consul in , , and He described himself as a Marxist. He is known colloquially as the Liberator of America.

His legacy is diverse and far-reaching within Latin America and beyond. He is regarded as a hero and national and cultural icon throughout Latin America; the nations of Bolivia and Venezuela are named after him, and he has been memorialized all over the world in the form of public art or street names and in popular culture. He was the first emperor to convert to Christianity.

Upon his ascension, Constantine enacted numerous reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire and a pivotal moment in the transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. He is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity, and he did much for pushing Christianity towards the mainstream of Roman culture.

Read more on the most Popular Roman Emperors. She was given a state funeral upon her death, a prerogative generally reserved for heads of state. King Solomon was regarded as the wisest man to ever have lived in the earth. Solomon is also portrayed as wealthy and powerful in the Bible. After the completion of the temple, Solomon is described in the biblical narrative as erecting many other buildings of importance in Jerusalem.

Christianity has traditionally accepted the historical existence of Solomon. Claiming to be acting under divine guidance, she became a military leader who transcended gender roles and gained recognition as a savior of France. In , Joan of Arc was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church and, two years later, was declared one of the patron saints of France.

She is portrayed in numerous cultural works, including literature, music, paintings, sculptures, and theatre. The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with imperial peace, the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. This meant the Roman world was largely free of armed conflict aside from expansionary wars and the Year of the Four Emperors.

The Principate system of imperial rule established by Augustus lasted until the Crisis of the Third Century. Read more Sensational Facts about Augustus. His leadership helped stabilize the economy throughout Mughal India and establish the region as a center of culture. He was voted as one of the 10 greatest Britons in history during a BBC poll in Bonaparte became the Emperor of France and served in that position from to Robert E.

He served in the US armed forces for more than three decades and made a name for himself during the Mexican-American War. But he rose to prominence by commanding the Confederate forces during the American Civil War and winning several important battles. He helped reunite the nation after several states seceded and begin the Reconstruction process while the war was still going on.

Karl Marx Nationality: German Known for: Leader of the anticapitalist movement and formulated Marxism Marx was a German philosopher who published The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, two works which helped lay the foundation for Communism. She ruled from until , which is longer than any other female monarch ever. As a result, her reign is known as the Victorian era.

During her reign, which lasted until , the British Empire experienced a large expansion of territory. Famous Leaders — to Today Mahatma Gandhi Nationality: Indian Known for: Leader of Indian nationalism in India and helped the nation become independent In British-controlled India, Gandhi led the people of his nation to involve themselves in non-violent civil disobedience in order to obtain independence.

He led the people to challenge the salt tax, which was imposed by Britain by organizing the Dandi Salt March in He has received numerous awards for his leadership, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and he was also the first person to become an honorary US citizen. Joseph Stalin Nationality: Russian Known for: Leader of the Soviet Union from s to Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union for 30 years from until he died in This led to the USSR becoming an industrial power in the world.

After the Ottoman Empire was defeated, he was the main person credited with beginning and establishing the Republic of Turkey. Franklin D. He also established the New Deal, which was a series of social programs designed for reform and relief. As such, she helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. General George S. He successfully led an invasion of Casablanca in North Africa in and he also led his men to defeat the British during a battle called the Invasion of Sicily.

He also called for the execution of millions of Jews and others in the nation who were not of the Aryan race. He also ordered German forces to invade Poland, Czechoslovakia, and other countries. There are other famous world leaders who made choice that were beyond questionable, but this list includes some of the ones who history remembers more favorably.

George Washington George Washington was the military mind among the Founding Fathers, beginning with local revolutionary movements against British rule in the colonies and ending with the victory of the Revolutionary War and the independence of the United States. Franklin D. Roosevelt led the country through the Great Depression during the s and tried to keep America out of the war until the attack on Pearl Harbor forced his hand to join the Allied Forces with Great Britain and Russia.

After the Allied forces won the war, Churchill and company established the United Nations to avoid future cataclysmic conflicts. Dwight Eisenhower Some of the greatest leaders of World War II, like FDR or Prime Minister Winston Churchill, could turn the tide of battle with their inspiring speeches, while General Dwight Eisenhower made decisions on the ground that decided the fates of hundreds of thousands of lives.

Eisenhower's incredible organization and motivation skills, mixed with his ability to collaborate with other powerful world leaders, helped win the war for the Allied Forces and enamored the public to vote him in as the 34th president of the United States. Advertisement 2 Cunning Business Leaders Life and death don't need to be on the line for leadership to matter in a big way.

Steve Jobs The tech industry would not be what it is today without the vision and business success of Apple's former chief executive officer Steve Jobs. Advertisement Jobs did not win wars or fight injustice like many of the other great world leaders on this list, but his maverick rebellion against the status quo placed personal computers, phones and other smart devices in nearly every home and pocket in modern society.

Henry Ford Henry Ford was famous for his commitment to innovation and his collaborative leadership style. He's also credited with introducing the moving assembly line. The founder and former CEO of Ford Motors was a captain of industry but also a pioneer of inclusion in a time when women, minorities and people with disabilities were barred from the workforce.

That said, many of these individuals were also overworked, leading to later labor reform. Advertisement 5 Notorious Leaders These leaders had a massive impact on history, and not in a good way. But people followed them nonetheless — a lot of people — and ignoring their significance would erase the mistakes that we as humans need to learn from.