Important People in AP World History

Adam Smith

Scottish professor of philosophy. Developed the idea of free enterprise, critical of mercantilism. Wrote Wealth of Nations.

Alexander the Great

son of Philip II; received military training in Macedonian army and was a student of Aristotle; great leader; conquered much land in Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Mesopotamia; goal was to conquer the known world

Chiang Kai-Shek

General and leader of Nationalist China after 1925. Although he succeeded Sun Yat-sen as head of the Guomindang, he became a military dictator whose major goal was to crush the communist movement led by Mao Zedong. (p. 788)

Constantine

Roman emperor (r. 312-337). After reuniting the Roman Empire, he moved the capital to Constantinople and made Christianity a favored religion.

Fidel Castro

Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927)

Genghis Khan

A Mongolian general and emperor of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, known for his military leadership and great cruelty. He conquered vast portions of northern China and southwestern Asia.

Ho Chi Minh

leader of the Communist Party in Indochina after WWII; led Vietnamese against the French, then North Vietnamese against the United States in the Vietnam War

Ignatius of Loyola

(1491-1556) Spanish churchman and founder of the Jesuits (1534); this order of Roman Catholic priests proved an effective force for reviving Catholicism during the Catholic Reformation.

John Locke

English philosopher who advocated the idea of a "social contract" in which government powers are derived from the consent of the governed and in which the government serves the people; also said people have natural rights to life, liberty and property.

Josef Stalin

was general secretary of the Communist party, became the leader and dictator of Russia after Lenin's death. He brought Russia out of recession and made Russia the second leading industrial superpower during the Second World War Followed Lenin, pragmatist,

Julius Caesar

Made dictator for life in 45 BCE, after conquering Gaul, assassinated in 44 BCE by the Senate because they were afraid of his power

Karl Marx

German philosopher, economist, and revolutionary. With the help and support of Friedrich Engels he wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867-1894). These works explain historical development in terms of the interaction of contradictory ec

Mao Zedong

Leader of the Chinese Communist Party (1927-1976). He led the Communists on the Long March (1934-1935) and rebuilt the Communist Party and Red Army during the Japanese occupation of China (1937-1945). (789)

Martin Luther

a German monk who became one of the most famous critics of the Roman Catholic Chruch. In 1517, he wrote 95 Theses, or statements of belief attacking the church practices.

Maximilien Robespierre

The incorruptable;" the leader of the bloodiest portion of the French Revolution. He set out to build a republic of virtue. His execution ended the Reign of Terror.

Miquel Hidalgo

The Catholic priest who led a revolt against Spanish rule around 1810, but was unsuccessful and executed.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe. (p. 863)

Mohandas Gandhi

A philosopher from India, this man was a spiritual and moral leader favoring India's independence from Great Britain. He practiced passive resistance, civil disobedience and boycotts to generate social and political change.

Muhammad

the Arab prophet who founded Islam (570-632)

Nelson Mandela

South African statesman who was released from prison to become the nation's first democratically elected president in 1994 (born in 1918)

Ngo Dinh Diem

South Vietnamese president that was catholic and strongly opposed communism. His poor leadership and corrupt government spelled doom

Simon Bolivar

The most important military leader in the struggle for independence in South America. Born in Venezuela, he led military forces there and in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Suleiman

Known as the Magnificent. Ottoman sultan who brought the Ottoman Empire to its height; he succeeded in defeating the Habsburgs and capturing Vienna.

Sun Yat-sen

First leader of the Nationalist revolution against the Manchu dynasty.

Timur-i Lang

Last major nomad leader; 14th-century Turkic ruler of Samarkand; launched attacks in Persia, Fertile Crescent, India, southern Russia; empire disintegrated after his death in 1405., Also known as Tamerlane; leader of Turkic nomads; beginning in 1360s from

Leon Trotsky

Russian revolutionary intellectual and close adviser to Lenin. A leader of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), he was later expelled from the Communist Party (1927) and banished (1929) for his opposition to the authoritarianism of Stalin.

Vladimir Lenin

Russian founder of the Bolsheviks and leader of the Russian Revolution and first head of the USSR (1870-1924)

Winston Churchill

A noted British statesman who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns. He predicted an iron curtain that would separate Communist Europe from the rest of the West.

Wu Ti

Han "Warrior Emperor" who greatly expanded the empire, (140-87 BCE); promoted peace; supported Confucianism; Conducted trade with the Parthian Empire in the Middle East. He also conducted the first civil service examinations in the world.

Zheng He

An imperial eunuch and Muslim, entrusted by the Ming Emperor Yongle with a series of state voyages that took his gigantic ships through the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia to Africa. (pp. 355, 422)