Famous Military Leaders a to z

Hafez al-Assad served as president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He is widely criticized for his brutal tactics but also praised for stabilizing the country.

Marcus Antonius is best known as the Roman general who was a lover of Cleopatra. The two committed suicde after their defeat by Octavian.

Soldier and revolutionary leader José Gervasio Artigas is regarded as the father of Uruguayan independence, which occurred years after his exile.

Attila the Hun was one of the most successful barbarian rulers of the Hunnic Empire, attacking the Eastern and Western Roman empires.

As Emperor of Rome from 161-180, Marcus Aurelius kept the empire safe from the Parthians and Germans, but is best known for his intellectual pursuits.

American empresario Stephen Austin, a.k.a. “the father of Texas,” created the first Anglo American colony in the Tejas region of Mexico, later to become Texas.

Vernon Baker was a highly decorated soldier and the only living black WWII veteran to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Nazi leader Klaus Barbie was head of the Gestapo in Lyon from 1942 to 1944, and was held responsible for the death and deportation thousands.

Jean-Bedel Bokassa was the president of the Central African Republic (1966-1976) and a self-proclaimed emperor of the Central African Empire (1976-1979).

Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military leader who was instrumental in the revolutions against the Spanish empire.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a military general who became the first emperor of France. His drive for military expansion changed the world.

Subhas Chandra Bose was a 20th century organizational and military leader who fought for India’s freedom from British rule.

Venustiano Carranza was a revolutionary during Mexico's civil war and became the Mexican Republic's first president in 1917.

Kit Carson was an American frontiersman, trapper, soldier and Indian agent who made an important contribution to the westward expansion of the United States.

Marxist Cuban political leader Fidel Castro helped lead the Cuban Revolution, and served as president of Cuba from 1976 to 2008.

Charles of Blois was a rival duke of Brittany in the mid-1300s.

Michael Collins was a hero of the Irish struggle for independence, who directed guerrilla warfare during the intensification of the Anglo-Irish War.

British navigator James Cook discovered and charted New Zealand and Australia's Great Barrier Reef on his ship Endeavor, and later disproved the existence of the fabled southern continent Terra Australis. His voyages provided the first accurate map of the Pacific.

Hernán Cortés, marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, was a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain.

Jacques Cousteau was a French undersea explorer, researcher, photographer and documentary host who invented diving and scuba devices, including the Aqua-Lung. He also conducted underwater expeditions and produced films and television series, including the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. 

Cuauhtémoc was the last Aztec Emperor, ruling from 1520 to 1521. He was tortured and killed by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1522.

Idi Amin was a Ugandan president best known for his brutal regime and crimes against humanity while in power from 1971-1979.

Willie Davenport was an Olympic athlete and medal winner and one of only a few Americans to compete in both the Summer and Winter games.

One of Spain's most famous writers, Miguel de Cervantes created one of the world's greatest literary masterpieces, Don Quixote, in the early 1600s.

Charles de Gaulle rose from French soldier in World War I to exiled leader and, eventually, president of the Fifth Republic. He served as president from 1959 to 1969.

Prince Andrew, the brother of Prince Charles, is the Duke of York and fourth in line to the British throne.

Arab statesman Faisal I was king of Iraq from 1921 to 1933 and a leader in advancing Arab nationalism during and after World War I.

Henry Ossian Flipper was the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point. As second lieutenant with the 10th Cavalry, he was framed for embezzlement.

J.F.C. Fuller was a 20th century British military officer, author, advocate of tank warfare and supporter of fascist movements.

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye is best known for his explorations of the northern U.S. and Canadian provinces.

John Glenn was the first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth, completing three orbits in 1962. He has also served as an Ohio senator.

Che Guevara was a Marxist revolutionary allied with Fidel Castro who went on to become an iconic cultural hero.

Alexander Hamilton, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and major author of the Federalist papers, was the United States' first secretary of the treasury.

Walter Haut is best known for drafting a 1947 press release for the U.S. Army that claimed a "flying disc" had landed in Roswell, New Mexico.

John Hawkins was a 16th century British naval commander and slave trader who entered into conflict with Spain.

Rutherford B. Hayes was the 19th president of the United States and oversaw the end of the rebuilding efforts of the Reconstruction.

Adolf Hitler appointed Rudolf Hess deputy of the Nazi party in 1939. Following World War II, Hess was convicted at the Nuremberg Trials and sentenced to life in prison.

Heinrich Himmler was commander of Hitler's Schutzstaffel, and later of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. After World War II, he committed suicide to escape capture.

Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. He initiated World War II and oversaw fascist policies that resulted in millions of deaths.

Statesman Samuel Houston was a key political figure in the creation of the state of Texas. He was elected the first president of the Republic of Texas in 1836.

Kim Il-sung was the leader of North Korea from 1948 until his death in 1994, heading a communist and highly militaristic administration.

Kim Jong-un became the leader of North Korea in 2011, having inherited his position from his father Kim Jong-il.

Paul Kagame is a Rwandan military leader and politician who is best known for defeating Hutu extremist forces to end the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Toussaint l'Ouverture was a leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution.

Bernard Law Montgomery led the British Eighth Army in North Africa during World War Two and oversaw British participation during the D-Day invasion.

T. E. Lawrence was a British Army officer during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule. He became known as Lawrence of Arabia, based on the 1962 film.

James Longstreet was the principle general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, serving under Robert E. Lee.

Macbeth was king of Scotland during the 11th century. He was also the basis for Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

Alfred Thayer Mahan was an American naval officer and historian who was an exponent of sea power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Maurice was duke and elector of Saxony (southeastern Germany) during the 16th century.

Maximilian was the Archduke of Austria and the Emperor of Mexico from 1863-1867. He was executed in 1867 by President Benito Juárez's victorious forces.

John McCain is a military hero and Republican U.S. Senator defeated by Barack Obama in the 2008 United States presidential election.

Mohammed was the founder of the religion of Islam, accepted by Muslims throughout the world as the last of the prophets of God.

The fifth president of the United States, James Monroe is known for his "Monroe Doctrine," disallowing further European colonization in the Americas.

Thomas H. Moorer was a U.S. Navy admiral and naval aviator who later served as chief of naval operations (1967-70), and then as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1970-4).

Henry Morgan was a Welsh Admiral who raided Spanish settlements in the late 17th century. He is accounted as one of the most notorious buccaneers in history.

Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon I, was emperor of France from 1852 to 1870. His downfall came during the Franco-Prussian War, when his efforts to defeat Otto Von Bismarck ended in his capture.

Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia was commander in chief of Tzar Nicholas II's army during WWI. The Russian Revolution ended his career.

Chester W. Nimitz was commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during World War II. A brilliant strategist, he commanded all land and sea forces in the central Pacific.