Walesa, Lech
Leader of Solidarity - Polish labor union, Nobel laureate, and President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.
He was instrumental in the collapse of communism in Poland.
Yeltsin, Boris
President of Russia. He was elected before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. He served until 1999. Yeltsin was instrumental in keeping a cout d'?tat from occurring which would have returned hard line communists to power in Russia.
Rasputin, Grigory
Russian peasant and self-proclaimed holy man. He was friends with the ruling Romanov family, and sometime advisor to Czarina Alexandra.
(1872-1916)
Nasser, Gamal Abdel
President of Egypt from 1956 to 1970. He was the most influential leader of the Arab world during his lifetime. He supported the idea of Pan Arabism, where all Arab nations should unite.
(1918-1970)
Luther, Martin
Theologian and religious reformer who started the Reformation with his 95 Theses which protested church corruption, namely the sale of indulgences.
(1483-1546)
Khrushchev, Nikita
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964. Khrushchev was critical of Stalin?s policies and attempted to reverse some of them. He is responsible for placing nuclear missiles in Cuba which resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
(1894-1971)
Gorbachev, Mikhail
leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His policies of Perestroika and Glasnost, which aimed at revitalizing the Soviet Union contributed to the downfall of communism.
Stalin, Josef
The General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party from 1922 until 1953. Known for his brutality in dealing with opponents and his failed policies of collectivism that caused widespread famine across the Soviet Union.
(1879-1953)
Sun Yat-sen
Chinese nationalist leader who fought to end foreign domination. He formed the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, which overthrew the Manchu Dynasty and established a republican form of government in its place. Also known as Sun Yixian.
(1866-1925)
Pol Pot
Leader of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Pol Pot is responsible for the deaths of almost 2 million of his own people due to starvation, execution, and beatings.
(1925-1998)