Famous Leaders in History

"Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand." - Colin Powell

Without a good leader, even the smallest of tasks can turn into a scenario of complete chaos. It is important to have someone at the helm of things who can be in charge and who can ensure that a group works towards a common goal. Christian Bovee very famously marked out six qualities of a good leader. These qualities included the ability to make other people feel important, the ability to promote a vision and objective, the ability to follow a rule, acceptance of mistakes committed by themselves, avoidance of criticism of others in public, and staying true to action. There is a reason that most leaders have a huge following. Following a good leader provides the follower to imitate those qualities that we find admirable. There are many famous leaders in history who have inspired others by setting an example.

Whether living in the ancient era, or in the modern-day world, these leaders have been responsible for shaping the world as we know it today. The biggest events recorded in the annals of history are in some way or the other connected to these great leaders in history. In this article we give you a list of some of the most famous leaders in history.

Famous Women Leaders in History

The list below comprises the world's famous women leaders who have contributed hugely to the world as we know it. These women are inspirational to have fought for the various causes that they believed in and for also fighting gender prejudices along the way. There is not a single list of famous leaders that can be complete without a mention of these women.

Angela Merkel Aung San Suu Kyi Benazir Bhutto Catherine II Cleopatra Dalia Grybauskaitė Princess Diana of Wales Eleanor Roosevelt Elizabeth I Golda Meir Hatshepsut Hillary Clinton Hsiao-ch'in Indira Gandhi

Janet Jagan Saint Joan of Arc Margaret Thatcher Mary McAleese Queen Beatrix Queen Elizabeth II Queen Isabella of Spain Queen Margrethe 2 Queen Victoria Rosa Parks Sheikh Hasina Wajed Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vaira Vike-Freiberga Wu Zetian

Famous Male Leaders in History

These men took up causes and rebellions that a majority had lost faith in. While there are also names of dictators in this list, it cannot be refuted that these men despite the widespread devastation that they caused, managed to garner huge support for their cause. These great leaders stayed true to their beliefs.

Abraham Lincoln Adolf Hitler Al Gore Albert John Luthuli Alexander Suvorov Alexander the Great Ariel Sharon Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini Barack Obama Benito Mussolini Benjamin Franklin Bill Clinton Charlemagne Dalai Lama Desmond Tutu Douglas MacArthur Erwin Rommel Fidel Castro Francisco Pizarro Franklin Roosevelt Gamal Abdel Nasser General Dwight Eisenhower Genghis Khan George Patton George W. Bush George Washington Henri La Fontaine Henry Kissinger Hernando Cortes Ho Chi Minh Horatio Nelson Idi Amin Jacques Chirac

Jawaharlal Nehru John F. Kennedy Joseph Stalin Julius Caesar Kim Dae Jung Kofi Annan Lech Walesa Mahatma Gandhi Mao Zedong Martin Luther King, Jr. Mikhail Gorbachev Napoleon Bonaparte Nelson Mandela Oscar Arias Sanchez Raul Castro Richard Nixon Richard the Lionheart Ronald Reagan Saddam Hussein Stonewall Jackson Subhash Chandra Bose Sun Yat Sen Tarja Halonen Theodore Roosevelt Thomas Jefferson Tony Blair Tunku Abdul Rahman Ulysses S. Grant Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Vladimir Putin Winston Churchill Yasser Arafat Yitzhak Rabin

These famous people are some of the greatest leaders. These famous leaders have motivated people and molded the place we live in. It is because of these leaders that the world has undergone the momentous changes it has witnessed.