Modern World Leaders Flashcards
Alberto Fujimori
1938- Peruvian pres from 1990-2000 - After term, fled to Japan, then extradited and convicted of murder, corruption, bribery, etc. - Serving a 25 year jail term
Alfredo Stroessner
1912-2006 - President y dictator of Paraguay 1954-89 - Took over in a coup - 2nd longest rule in Latin America (Castro) - Ruthless regime backed by USA for anti-communist stance
Anwar Sadat
1918-1981 - 3rd pres. of Egypt 1970-81 - Served twice as Gamel Nasser’s VP - Helped overthrow King Farouk in 1952 - Won 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for Camp David Agreement on Israel-Egypt peace , 1st Muslim laureate - Assassinated by fundamentalist army officers
Charles de Gaulle
1890-1970 French statesman y army officer - Leader of Free France resistance (1940–44) y head of the Provisional Gov of French Republic (1944–46) - Pres of France (1959-69), founded current 5th Republic - Strongly for independent modern France, y was cold towards UK y US
Chiang Kai-shek (Jiǎng Jièshí - 蒋介石)
1887-1975 Chinese leader from Zhejiang - President of the Republic of China (1950-75 - Taiwan); Chairman of the National Government of China (1928-31, 1943-48) - Influential member of the Kuomintang, y a close ally of Sun Yat-sen - After defeat by Mao Zedong in 1949, his govt fled to Taiwan, where he ruled as a dictator, y imposed a period of marshall law known as the White Terror (1949-1987)
David Ben-Gurion
1886-1973 Israeli - Primary founder and 1st Prime Minister of Israel - Born in Poland - Major Zionist leader - Founded Israel 5/14/1948 - Served as PM 1948-63
Éamon de Valera
1882-1975 Irish statesman from NYC - Pres of Ireland (1959-73); Taoiseach 3 times (between 1937-59) - Commander in the Easter Rising (1926), y leader during the War of Independence (1919-21) y Irish Civil War (1922-23) - Founded the Fianna Fáil (Soldiers of Destiny) political party in 1926, after split with Sinn Féin party
Eva “Evita” Perón
1919-52 Argentine - Worked as a radio y film actress before marrying future pres. Juan Peron in 1945 - 1st Lady 1946-52 - Founded the Female Peronist Party, worked for poor y labor rights - Very popular “Spiritual Leader of Argentina” - Died of cancer at age 33
Francois Duvalier
1907-71 Aka “Papa Doc” - Pres of Haiti 1957-71; “President for Life” 1964-71 - Elected on a Populist platform - Started rural militia called Tonton Macoute, resulting in murder of 30-60k Haitians - Was formerly a good doctor, hence the nickname - Succeeded by son “Baby Doc”
General Secretaries of USSR
- Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-91)-Dissolved
- Konstantin Chernenko (1984-85)-Died
- Yuri Andropov (1982-84)-Died
- Leonid Brezhnev (1964-82)-Died
- Nikita Khrushchev (1953-64) -Removed
- Joseph Stalin (1922-52)-Died
Haile Selassie I (Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael)
1892-1975 Ethiopian leader - Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-75); Regent (1916-30) - Respected for international cooperation incl UN charter member; criticized for human rights - Considered the messiah in Rastafarianism - Overthrown in a coup leading to Civil War
Indira Gandhi
1917-84 Indian politician - Only female PM of India (1966-77 y 1980-84) - 2nd longest PM after her father Nehru - Known for political ruthlessness - Went to war with Pakistan in support of Bangladesh - Assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards after ordering military intervention against Sikh insurgents
Jawaharlal Nehru
1889-1964 Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh - 1st Prime Minister (1947-64) - Emerged as paramount leader of Indian indep. movement under the tutelage of Gandhi - Considered to be the architect of modern Indian nation - Father of PM Indira Gandhi
Josip Broz Tito
1892-1980 Yugoslav revolutionary y statesman from Croatia - Pres of Yugoslavia 1953-80; PM 1944-63; Marshal of Yugoslavia 1943-80 - Benevolent Communist dictator, well-liked and respected worldwide
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
1876-1948 Indian politician from Karachi - Founder of Pakistan (1947) - Worked with Indian National Congress, until split over power-sharing resulted in separate Muslim homeland - Died only a year after independence
Otto von Bismark
1815-98 Prussian statesman - 1st Chancellor of Germany (1871-90) - Unified the German states into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership - Great diplomat who maintained German power y kept Europe at peace
Robert Mugabe
1924- President of Zimbabwe (1987-2017) - Leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) since 1975 - Led fight against white-ruled Rhodesia (1960-74) - Chairman of African Union (2015-16) - Following a 2017 coup, Mugabe resigned the presidency
Syngman Rhee
1875-1965 Korean leader - 1st Pres. of South Korea 1948-60 - Alum of Harvard y Princeton - Led South Korea during Korean War - Regarded as an anti-Communist strongman - Resigned after protests over his unlimited term extensions and escaped to Hawaii with his Austrian wife Francesca Donner
Vaclav Havel
1936-2011 Czech writer y statesman - Pres of Czechoslovakia 1989-92; Pres of Czech Republic 93-03 - Participated in Prague Spring y Velvet Revolution - Wrote the plays The Garden Party; The Memorandum
Vidkun Quisling
1887-1945 Norwegian politician - Head of Gov during WWII German occupation - Formed pro-Nazi puppet government and participated in Final Solution - Executed by firing squad
Vyacheslav Molotov
1890-1986 Soviet politician y diplomat - Leading figure in the Soviet gov from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Stalin - Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars (1930-41); Minister of Foreign Affairs (1939-56) - The principal Soviet signatory of the Nazi–Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939 (also known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact) - Molotov Cocktail is a term coined by the Finns during the Winter War (1939-40)
Yasser Arafat
1929-2004 Palestinian leader - 1st Pres of Pal. Nat. Authority (1994-2004); Chairman of PLO 1969-2004 - Founder y leader of Fatah political party - Won Nobel Peace Prz in 1994 along with Yitzhak Rabin y Shimon Peres for Oslo Accords on Israel-Palestine relations
