Important Historical Figures

Jomo Kenyatta (Africa)

• Nationalist who after WWII demanded from Britain independence and a self-government
• Became president of first the Kenya African Union (KAU)
• Became the first prime minister then the first president of Kenya in 1964

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Turkey)

• Founded the Republic of Turkey and was its first president
• Modernized the country
• Social and political rights
• Made the country secular
• Industrialized Turkey

Gamal Abdul Nasser (Egypt)

• Was a revolutionary who was able to successfully take part in overthrowing the existing government
• 1956, he was elected president of Egypt
• Lessened relations with the West
• Nationalized the Suez Canal
• Created internal reforms
• Had a major involvement in the Six Day War (against Israel)
• Resigned, due to taking responsibility to the war

Anwar Sadat (Egypt)

• Elected president of Egypt, 1970
• Launched the Arab-Israeli War of 1973
• Promoted and worked towards peace into the Middle East
• First Arab leader to recognize the existence of Israel

Mao Zedong (China)

• A Communist leader of China
• In 1949 he declared the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC)
• Held strict/oppressive communist reforms once he gained power
• Very pro peasant and farmer and agriculture, wants to give more power to the peasants and farmers
• 1958, Great Leap Forward - Extreme industrial and agricultural production
• 1966, Cultural Revolution - A period of social unrest and political persecution. Many of the acts were carried out by the Red Guard, who was comprised mainly of Chinese youth.

Mohatma Gandhi (India)

• India nationalist leader
• Established India's independence from Britain through passive resistance (non-violent revolution)
• Held civil-disobedient campaigns against the British
• Led boycotts against British goods

Toussaint L'Ouverture (Haiti)

• 1791, held a black slave uprising against the French colonies in Haiti
• 1801, succeeded in gaining independence from French control
• Became the first president of the new republic
• Under Napoleon troops were sent to Haiti were Toussaint was defeated and captured. He was then sent to France where he was imprisoned and soon after died.

Niccolo Machiavelli (Italy)

• The Prince, how a ruler should rule their country
• Human nature - men are wicked, greedy, liars
• "Is better to be feared then to be loved"
• Reputation and image are very important
• Pragmatic
• Lion and Fox
• Worked under the Medici family

Karl Marx

• Communist Manifesto and Das Capital
• All of history is a class conflict
• Final Class struggle
• "Haves" (Bourgeois) vs. "Have nots" (Proletarians)
• Proletarians wind up winning the class struggle
• Violent revolution is the only way to overthrow the Bourgeois
• Must occur in an already industrialized country
• Proletarians wind up owning the means of production, no more privet ownership
• Classless society
• Capitalism is doomed

Martin Luther

• Began the Protestant reformation, Lutheranism
• 95 Thesis
• Salivation by faith alone
• Clergy can marry
• Against the peasant revolts
• Only two Sacraments
• Baptism and Eucharist

Mansa Musa

• King of the Mali empire in Africa
• Large gold deposits in the Mali empire
• Made a pilgrimage it Mecca from 1324 to 1325
• Replaced by the Songhai Empire

Simon Bolivar (Latin America)

• A revolutionary and military leader also a politician, who had a major role in the wars for South American independence
• Responsible for the independence of: Venezuela, Columbia, Equador, Peru and Bolivia
• Never accomplished his goal of creating a federation of Spanish American nations

Jose de San Martin (Latin America)

• Fought for South American independence
• He was able to gain independence for Chile and secure the independence of Peru
• At some points worked alongside Simon Bolivar

Den Xiaoping (China)

• Chinese communist leader
• Ruled China after Mao Zedong
• Main goal to stabilize and strengthen China through the use of communist rule
• Four Modernizations - Agriculture, industry, military and science/technology
• Created rapid economic development through his programs
• Tiananmen Square Protests - Held by students who protested for a democracy in China, Deng reaction to the situation wound up massacring the protesters

John Locke

• Social contract
• Three basic rights: "Life, liberty and property"
• People born with a clean slate
• Can overthrow/change style of the government if it infringes on the three basic rights

Jean Jacques Rousseau

• Social contract
• Conflict between majority rule and individual rights
• General will
• Realizes human emotion —> intellectual founding father of Romanticism
• Emile
• Children should not be forced to learn

Peter the Great (Russia)

• Built St. Petersburg, the new capital of Russia
• "European Tour"
• Machiavellian ruler
• Reforms
• Separate church from the state
• "Window to the West"
• Iconoclast, challenges old institutions
• Heavy taxes
• Military expansion
• Reorganizes the bureaucracy
• Business infrastructure disappears after his death

Indira Gandhi (India)

• Prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1984
• After a War between East and West Pakistan, East Pakistan declared its independence as Bangladesh and many Bengalis fled to India. Gandhi tried to get international help but was unsuccessful. India then went to war with East Pakistan (Bangladesh), East Pakistan surrendered and became an independent country, Bangladesh.
• Gandhi was declared of minor election fraud and forced to resign in her 1971 campaign. However, before final appeals she declared a state of emergency in India. All civil rights were suspended and many people became imprisoned.
• During her 21 months of emergency rule, she created programs to help with economics and reduce inflation.
• Sent hundreds of troops to remove Sikh and other terrorist from India, where hundreds of people were killed.
• 1984, She was assassinated by two of her Sikh body guards

Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan)

• Woman Prime Minister
• Removed in office in 1996

Jawaharlal Nehru (India)

• Largest democracy in the world
• First Prime minister
• Devoted to modernization of country
• 1949, war broke out between India and Pakistan over control of Kashmir

Ayatollah Khomeini (Iran)

• Conservative Islamic leader, exiled
• Banned western influences, restored traditional Islamic value and law
• Seized U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 69 hostages
• Shi’a sect of Islam, got in war with Saddam Hussein

Sun Yat-sen (China)*

• Fought to establish a Republic of China
• Three major principles (nationalism, democracy and socialism)
• Became temporary president of the Chinese Republic

Bernardo O’Higgins (L. America)

• Joined by San Martin in Chile in 1816
• Freed Chile in 1818
• Became the first President of Chile-resigned 6 years later

Zheng He (China)

• Ming dynasty-Emperor Yongle used Zhen He
• Seven overseas expeditions (1405-1423)
• Largest expeditionary forces in Indian Ocean for century
• Explored Southern Asia, Persia, Arabia and Eastern coast of Africa

Ibn Battutu (Middle East/Africa)

• Muslim traveler, tour of countries in Islamic World
• Admired splendor of Timbuktu and lack of crime

Pol Pot (Cambodia)

• Leader of Communists known as the Khmer Rouge
• Attempted to transform Cambodia into an agricultural society-killed ½ million
• 1978, Vietnamese overthrew the Khmer Rouge-dominated Cambodia until 1989

V.I. Lenin (Russia)

• Arrived in Petrograd in April 1917, led Bolshevik army
• Placed control of factories in the hands of workers and ordered redistribution of farmland among peasants
• Signed treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which withdrew Russia from WWI
• Announced NEP (New Economic Policy) allowing a small capitalist market

Joseph Stalin (Russia)

• Established a Totalitarian state in Russia
• Used secret police-Great Purge (Stalin executed anyone who opposed him)
• Created government sponsored youth groups-controlled newspapers, radios and motion pictures
• Command economy-imposed first Five-year plan to increase production
• Collectivized farming
• Woman worked alongside men in factories and public works-Levels of schooling under government control

Boris Yeltsin (Russia)

• Elected Yeltsin as the first elected president of the Russian Republic
• Formed the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS
• Lowered trade restrictions, ended subsidies to government-constricted industries and ended price controls

Mikhail Gorbachev (Russia)

• Favored policies that would bring reforms to the Soviet Union
• Policy of Glasnost, or openness, encouraged Soviets to share opinions on how to improve
• Perestroika, restructuring of the economy…allowed partial capitalism
• Democratization- new elections led open elections
• Foreign policy favored arms control
• Encouraged other Communist rules to reform their countries

Nelson Mandela (South America)

• Leader of the ANC (African National Congress)
• F.W. de Clark legalized ANC and released Nelson Mandela (imprisoned)
• 1994, Nelson Mandela elected president and a majority for ANC in the National Assembly

Fidel Castro (Cuba)

• 1959, Castro overthrew U.S. backed Batista
• At first, he made improvements in economy, healthcare and conditions for women
• Later showed himself a dictator who cancelled elections, imposed censorship and imprisoned/executed his opponents

Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

• Sought aid from Communists and led several revolts
• Geneva Conference-Vietnam split on 17th parallel-North (Ho Chi Minh and Communists) and South (democracy)
• Redistribution program garnered popular support in worth

Adolf Hitler (Germany)

• Goals to prevent communism and reverse terms of Treaty of Versailles
• Wrote “Mein Kampf”, which outlined his goals for Germany-create master race “Aryans”
• Revived economy promoting industrialization and constructing public works
• Kristallnacht-Nazi’s attacked Jews in their homes and in streets and destroyed Jewish business
• Brought troops to Rhineland, unification of Austria and Germany, Sudetenland, Czech and then attacked Poland
• Created Blitzkrieg

Matthew Perry (US/Japan)

• 1853 sailed into Edo Harbor (Now Tokyo) to break Japanese isolationism
• Brokered the Treaty of Kanagawa-allowed U.S. use two Japanese ports

Emperor Meiji (Japan)

• Under Meiji, began to become and international industrial and military power
• Gained the throne through the Meiji Restoration
• They organized a modern army and navy, created a system of public education, promoted industrial development, and built modern systems of transportation and communication.
• Won wars against China in 1895 and Russia in 1905. In 1910, Japan made Korea a colony.