Who do you think were the 10 most important and world-changing leaders of the 20th century?
Who were the 10 most important world leaders of the 20th century?
These are the figures I think had the most influence and effect on world history, in approximate order. I've tried to include people who made a difference because of their actions and personalities, rather than people who happened to be in charge at big moments but did what anyone else would have done.
1) Stalin - preserved Russian revolution after Lenin's death, killed millions, modernised USSR, imposed communism on Eastern Europe, did most to defeat Hitler, influenced every corner of the world by spreading marxist ideas.
2) Mao Zedong - revolutionary who seized control of the world's most populous nation, ending decades of war and anarchy, and ruled it for decades more.
3) Hitler - started World War Two, killed millions, resulted in lasting changes to Europe and by extension the world.
4) Lenin - led Russian revolution and formed first communist nation.
5) Franklin Roosevelt - responsible for social programs of the New Deal which set the course of American domestic policy till the 1980s; also crucial in World War 2 in supporting Stalin and going to war in Europe.
6) Deng Xiaoping - turned China from a communist command economy and started it on the path to becoming the biggest economic force in the world.
7) Mikhail Gorbachev - ended communism in Europe.
8) Theodore Roosevelt - vastly important early in century, building American power, acting as an international statesman, reshaping domestic US politics.
9) Harry Truman - with his secretary of state George Marshall, he did more than almost anyone to set the post WW2 world order. Worked to build a strong West Germany, instrumental in founding of NATO and UN, development of US nuclear program, and start of Cold War.
10) Robert Schuman - French Prime Minister who played a central role in forming European Coal and Steel Community, the predecessor of the European Union. Also crucial in establishing a lasting peace between France and Germany after centuries of warfare.
Who were the 10 most important world leaders of the 20th century?
In order of when they were in power, not in order of importance:
1. Kaiser Wilhelm II - led Germany to becoming one of the most powerful nations, if not the most powerful nation in the world with, the largest army in the world, a navy second only to Britain and an economy second only to the US, all within a few decades of the German Empire's creation. Helped to create the situation that led to World War 1 by starting arms races with the allies, and supported Austria in starting the war.
2. Lenin - the founder of the Soviet Union and of modern communism, Lenin created the world's first socialist state and what would become one of the mightiest empires in history.
3. Mussolini - the founder of fascism and the %26quot;third way%26quot; ideology - the alternative to the supposed decadence of capitalism and the evil of communism. Tried (and failed) to create a New Roman Empire and was one of the key Axis leaders in World War 2.
4. Stalin - the man who defeated the Third Reich, killed tens of millions of his own people and turned the USSR into a superpower that dominated Eurasia
5. Roosevelt - solved the worst depression in World history, led the United States into WW2 without the economic might of whom, the war would not have been won. He was the father of the United Nations which has arguably stopped another world war from occuring.
6. Hitler - the man who turned Germany from a country with an economy in termoil with millions unemployed and an army of only 100,000 into a superpower that at it's height controlled everywhere from the Atlantic to the River Volga, started World War 2 - the most deadly war in history and caused the Holocaust, is obviously one of the most important, if evil, leaders in history.
7. Churchill - the saviour of Western civilization, Churchill against seemingly impossible odds defended Britain and defeated Germany in the most apocalyptic war in history. A hugely important figure and the greatest Briton in history.
8. Gandhi - led India to independence, brought an end to the most powerful empire in history and all without directly causing any violence.
9. Mao - ended China's century of humiliation and returned it to it's place as a world power. However, he killed more people than Hitler and Stalin put together.
10. Thatcher - started a new capitalist age, helped to bring an end to the Soviet Empire and restored Britain to it's status as a great power.
Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, Chamberlain, Truman, Kennedy, Kruzchev,Regan and Gorbachev- All played massive and important roles in emerging from the biggest threat to humanity in the century The Second World War and The Cold War and complelty changed the future of the earth.
Ghandi
Pope John Paul II
Adolf Hitler, Suddam Hussein, Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandella, Pierre Trudeau, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Mahatma Ghandi, Ho Chi Minh, Sun Yat-Sen, Benito Mussolini, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin.
More than ten. Pick and choose from that list.
