50 Most Famous World Leaders We Should All Know About

50 Most Famous World Leaders We Should All Know About

Throughout history, we have encountered many leaders that have shaped the course of the world. As we dig deep into history, we encounter statesmen and stateswomen alike who have shaped the course of leadership, emperors and monarchs with a unique story attached to them. Most of these leaders are renowned for their leadership in military conquests with others being known for their social and political reforms.

From iconic figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, who championed for justice, to politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and Franklin D. Roosevelt to Monarchs like Queen Elizabeth II, their accomplishments have indeed outlived them. Their leadership and actions have shaped the scope of our world today. Let’s delve into our list of the 50 most famous world leaders we should all know about. 

1. Cleopatra VII

Cleopatra VII was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the last Hellenistic period state in the Mediterranean and the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander.

Cleopatra’s legacy survives in ancient and modern works of art. Roman historiography and Latin poetry produced a generally critical view of the queen that pervaded later Medieval and Renaissance literature.  She has become a pop culture icon of Egyptomania since the Victorian era, and in modern times, Cleopatra has appeared in various commercial products.

2. Nelson Mandela 

© copyright John Mathew Smith 2001

Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation. 

Mandela gained international acclaim for his activism. Globally regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba, and described as the Father of the Nation.

3. Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King Jr was an activist who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement until his assassination. King advanced civil rights for people of colour in the United States through nonviolence and civil disobedience. 

King participated in and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, labour rights, and other civil rights. King was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  His death was followed by national mourning, as well as anger leading to riots in many U.S. cities. 

4. Mahatma Gandhi 

Elliott & Fry, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political activist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. 

In 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women’s rights, and building religious and ethnic unity. Gandhi is considered to be the Father of the Nation in post-colonial India. Read more on Top 20 Famous Indian People. 

5. Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was a British statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, during the second world war and afterwards. Ideologically an economic liberal and imperialist, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. 

Churchill remains popular in the UK and is widely considered one of the most influential figures of the 20th Century.  Churchill is generally seen as a victorious wartime leader who played an important role in defending liberal democracy. Historians often rank Churchill as the greatest prime minister in British history.

6. Abraham Lincoln

Alexander Gardner, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Abraham Lincoln was an American statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the Union through the American Civil War to defend the nation as a constitutional union and succeeded in abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.

Lincoln is remembered as a martyr and a national hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts to preserve the Union and abolish slavery. Lincoln is often ranked in both popular and scholarly polls as the greatest president in American history.

7. Franklin Roosevelt 

Franklin Roosevelt was an American statesman and politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing the New Deal in response to the worst economic crisis in American history. 

In 1940, he ran successfully for reelection, becoming the only American president to serve for more than two terms. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II. Nonetheless, historical rankings consistently place him as one of the greatest American presidents.

8. Barack Obama 

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Barack Obama was the first African-American president. He served as the 44th president of the United States for two consecutive terms. Obama’s first-term actions addressed the global financial crisis. In his second term, Obama took steps to combat climate change, signing a major international climate agreement and an executive order to limit carbon emissions. 

During Obama’s terms as president, the United States’ reputation abroad, as well as the American economy, significantly improved.  Outside of politics, Obama has published three bestselling books: Dreams from My Father, The Audacity of Hope and A Promised Land. 

9. John F. Kennedy 

John F. Kennedy was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person to assume the presidency by election and the youngest president at the end of his tenure. 

Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. After Kennedy’s death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Revenue Act of 1964. Kennedy ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. 

10. Margaret Thatcher

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Margaret Thatcher was the first female British prime minister and the longest-serving of the 20th century. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies that became known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the Iron Lady, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.

A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted a realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain, and the complicated legacy attributed to Thatcherism has been debated into the 21st century.

11. Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer serving as the current president of Russia.  Putin is the longest-serving Russian president. 

During Putin’s first tenure as president, the Russian economy grew on average by seven per cent per year, after economic reforms and a fivefold increase in the price of oil and gas. Putin also led Russia during a war against Chechen separatists, reestablishing federal control of the region. Currently, under Putin’s leadership, Russia has undergone democratic backsliding.  Read more on Top 15 Most Famous Russian people. 

12. Hillary Clinton

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Hillary Clinton is an American politician who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State under President Barack Obama. Hillary also served as the first lady of the United States as the wife of President Bill Clinton.

A member of the Democratic Party, she was the party’s nominee for president in the 2016 presidential election, becoming the first woman to win a presidential nomination by a major U.S. political party. Clinton won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College vote, thereby losing the election to Donald Trump. Currently, Hillary serves on the faculty of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

13. Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini was an Italian dictator and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 1943. 

As dictator of Italy and principal founder of fascism, Mussolini inspired and supported the international spread of fascist movements during the inter-war period.

14. Indira Gandhi 

U.S. News & World Report photographer Warren K. Leffler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Indira Gandhi was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the third prime minister of India. She was India’s only female prime minister and a central figure in Indian politics as the leader of the Indian National Congress. She was the third longest-serving woman as head of government in the world.

As prime minister, Gandhi was known for her political intransigence and unprecedented centralization of power. Her supporters cite her leadership during victories over geopolitical rivals China and Pakistan, the Green Revolution, a growing economy in the early 1980s, and her anti-poverty campaign that led her to be known as Mother Indira among the country’s poor and rural classes.

15. Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin served as the first and founding head of the government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Under his administration, Russia, and later the Soviet Union, became a one-party socialist state governed by the Communist Party. 

Ideologically a Marxist, his development of the ideology is known as Leninism. Lenin is viewed by his supporters as a champion of socialism and the working class with progressive policies that institutionalized universal literacy, universal healthcare and equal rights for women.

16. Emperor Hirohito 

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Emperor Hirohito was the 124th emperor of Japan, reigning from 1926 until his death in 1989. By 1979, Hirohito was the only monarch in the world with the title Emperor. He was the longest-reigning historical Japanese emperor and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world.

He was the head of state under the Meiji Constitution during Japan’s imperial expansion, militarization, and involvement in World War II. Japan waged a war across Asia in the 1930s and 1940s in the name of Hirohito, who was revered as a god. In 1946, under pressure from the Allies, the Emperor formally renounced his divinity. The Constitution of Japan of 1947 declared the Emperor to be a symbol of the state.

17. Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last monarch of the House of Tudor. In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and siblings had been. As she grew older, Elizabeth became celebrated for her virginity. A cult of personality grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day.

Elizabeth’s reign became known as the Elizabethan era. The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, the prowess of English maritime adventurers, such as Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh, and for the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Read more on 15 Most Famous Queens in History. 

18. Deng Xiaoping

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Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese revolutionary and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People’s Republic of China from 1978 to 1989.  Deng gradually rose to supreme power and led China through a series of far-reaching market-economy reforms earning him a reputation as the Architect of Modern China.

The reforms carried out by Deng and his allies gradually led China away from a planned economy and Maoist ideologies, opened it up to foreign investments and technology, and introduced its vast labour force to the global market, thus elevating a billion people from poverty and turning China into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

19. Sun Yat-sen 

Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese political philosopher who served as the first provisional president of the Republic of China. He is called the Father of the Nation in the present-day Republic of China. Sun is considered to be one of the greatest and most important leaders of modern China. 

Sun’s chief legacy is his political philosophy known as the Three Principles of the People. The three principles are often translated into and summarized as nationalism, democracy, and welfarism. The principles also appear in the first line of the national anthem of the Republic of China.

  20. Julius Caesar

Jaques de Gheyn II (1565–1629), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. After assuming control of the government, Caesar began a program of social and governmental reforms. Caesar has frequently appeared in literary and artistic works, and his political philosophy, known as Caesarism, has inspired politicians into the modern era. 

21. Emperor Meiji

Emperor Meiji was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. 

His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration, a series of rapid changes that witnessed Japan’s transformation from an isolationist, feudal state to an industrialized world power.

22. Catherine the Great

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Catherine the Great was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III.

Under her long reign, inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment, Russia experienced a renaissance of culture and sciences, which led to the founding of many new cities, universities, and theatres, along with large-scale immigration from the rest of Europe and the recognition of Russia as one of the great powers of Europe.

23. Haile Selassie

Haile Selassie is widely considered a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, and the key figure of Rastafari, a religious movement in Jamaica that emerged shortly after he became emperor in the 1930s.

Haile Selassie attempted to modernize the country through a series of political and social reforms, including the introduction of the 1931 constitution, its first written constitution, and the abolition of slavery. Haile Selassie’s internationalist views led to Ethiopia becoming a charter member of the United Nations.

24. Queen Elizabeth II 

Photograph taken by Julian Calder for Governor-General of New Zealand, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Queen Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. 

She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states over the course of her lifetime and remained the monarch of 15 realms by the time of her death. Her reign of over 70 years is the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female head of state in history. Read more on Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Queen Elizabeth II of England. 

25. Kim Jong-un 

Kim Jong-un is a North Korean politician who has been the supreme leader of North Korea since 2011. Kim Jong Un is the first leader of North Korea to have been born in the country after its establishment. He was also the successor to his father and grandfather.

Kim rules North Korea as a dictatorship, and his leadership has followed the same cult of personality as his father and grandfather. Kim expanded the country’s nuclear weapons program, which led to heightened tensions with the United States and South Korea, as well as China. 

26. Jomo Kenyatta 

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Jomo Kenyatta was a Kenyan politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country’s first president and played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an independent republic.

During his presidency, he was given the honorary title of Mzee and lauded as the Father of the Nation, securing support from both the black majority and the white minority with his message of reconciliation.

27. Lee Kuan Yew 

Lee Kuan Yew was a Singaporean statesman who served as the founding Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990. Lee has been widely recognised as the founding father of Singapore for his leadership in turning an undeveloped country into a developed country. 

With overwhelming parliamentary control at every general election, Lee oversaw Singapore’s transformation into a developed country with a high-income economy within his premiership. In the process, he forged a highly effective, anti-corrupt government and civil service. 

28. Kwame Nkrumah 

Abbie Rowe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian politician. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An influential advocate of Pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity.

His administration was primarily socialist as well as nationalist. It funded national industrial and energy projects, developed a strong national education system and promoted a pan-Africanist culture. Under Nkrumah, Ghana played a leading role in African international relations during the decolonization period.

29. Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2011, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.

The longest-serving non-royal head of state in the 20th and 21st centuries, Castro polarized opinion throughout the world. His supporters view him as a champion of socialism and anti-imperialism whose revolutionary government advanced economic and social justice while securing Cuba’s independence.

 30. Queen Victoria

Alexander Bassano, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Queen Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years is known as the Victorian era and was longer than any of her predecessors. 

It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.

31. Louis XIV 

Louis XIV was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. Although Louis XIV’s France was emblematic of the Age of Absolutism in Europe, the King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures. 

During Louis’s long reign, France emerged as the leading European power and regularly asserted its military strength. Significant achievements during Louis XV’s reign, include the construction of the Canal du Midi, the patronage of artists, and the founding of the French Academy of Sciences.

32. Queen Nefertiti

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Queen Nefertiti was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. With her husband, she reigned during what was arguably the wealthiest period of ancient Egyptian history.  

Nefertiti and her husband were known for their radical overhaul of state religious policy, in which they promoted the earliest known form of monotheism, Atenism, centred on the sun disc and its direct connection to the royal household. She was made famous by her bust, now in Berlin’s Neues Museum.  Read more on 15 Most Famous African Women Who Changed The World. 

33. Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher.  He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers known, but later, as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.

34. Hugo Chávez

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Hugo Chávez was a Venezuelan politician and military officer who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. Across the political spectrum, Chávez is regarded as one of the most influential politicians in the modern history of Venezuela and Latin America. 

Chávez described his policies as anti-imperialist, being a prominent adversary of the United States’ foreign policy as well as a vocal critic of neoliberalism and laissez-faire capitalism. He described himself as a Marxist.

35. Simón Bolívar

Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire. He is known colloquially as the Liberator of America.

His legacy is diverse and far-reaching within Latin America and beyond. He is regarded as a hero and national and cultural icon throughout Latin America; the nations of Bolivia and Venezuela are named after him, and he has been memorialized all over the world in the form of public art or street names and in popular culture.

36. José de San Martín

National Historical Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

José de San Martín was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America’s successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire who served as the Protector of Peru. 

San Martín is regarded as a national hero of Argentina, Chile, and Peru, a great military commander, and one of the Liberators of Spanish South America. The Order of the Liberator General San Martín, created in his honor, is the highest decoration conferred by the Argentine government.

37. Emperor Constantine

Emperor Constantine was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337. He was the first emperor to convert to Christianity. Upon his ascension, Constantine enacted numerous reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities.

The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire and a pivotal moment in the transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. He is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity, and he did much for pushing Christianity towards the mainstream of Roman culture. Read more on the most Popular Roman Emperors. 

38. Eva Perón

Pinélides Aristóbulo Fusco, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Eva Perón was an Argentine politician, activist and philanthropist who served as First Lady of Argentina from June 1946 until her death in July 1952, as the wife of Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón.

Eva Perón was given the title of Spiritual Leader of the Nation by the Argentine Congress. She was given a state funeral upon her death, a prerogative generally reserved for heads of state. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the second female president of Argentina, claims that women of her generation owe a debt to Eva for her example of passion and combativeness. 

39. King Solomon 

King Solomon was the monarch of ancient Israel and the son and successor of King David. King Solomon was regarded as the wisest man to ever have lived in the earth. Solomon is also portrayed as wealthy and powerful in the Bible.

The Bible says Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem. After the completion of the temple, Solomon is described in the biblical narrative as erecting many other buildings of importance in Jerusalem. Christianity has traditionally accepted the historical existence of Solomon.

40. Joan of Arc

John Everett Millais, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Joan of Arc is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years’ War. Claiming to be acting under divine guidance, she became a military leader who transcended gender roles and gained recognition as a savior of France.  

In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church and, two years later, was declared one of the patron saints of France. She is portrayed in numerous cultural works, including literature, music, paintings, sculptures, and theatre.

41. Augustus Caesar 

Augustus Caesar was the founder of the Roman Empire; he reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with imperial peace, the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta.

This meant the Roman world was largely free of armed conflict aside from expansionary wars and the Year of the Four Emperors. The Principate system of imperial rule established by Augustus lasted until the Crisis of the Third Century.  Read more Sensational Facts about Augustus. 

42. Otto von Bismarck 

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Otto von Bismarck was a German statesman and diplomat. As part of his domestic political maneuvering, Bismarck created the first welfare state in the modern world, with the goal of undermining his socialist opponents.

Bismarck is best remembered for his role in German unification. As head of Prussia and later Germany, Bismarck possessed not only a long-term national and international vision but also the short-term ability to juggle complex developments. Historians praise him as a visionary who was instrumental in uniting Germany and keeping the peace in Europe through adroit diplomacy.

43. Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman the Magnificent was the tenth and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 until his death in 1566. Under his administration, the Ottoman Empire ruled over at least 25 million people.

At the helm of an expanding empire, Suleiman personally instituted major judicial changes relating to society, education, taxation and criminal law. In the decades after Suleiman, the empire began to experience significant political, institutional, and economic changes, a phenomenon often referred to as the Transformation of the Ottoman Empire.

44. Pope John Paul II

Photo by White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was later canonized as Pope Saint John Paul II. 

Under John Paul II, the two most important constitutions of the contemporary Catholic Church were drafted and put in force: the Code of Canon Law which, among many other innovations, began the effort to curb sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, among its features, explaining and clarifying the Church’s position on homosexuality.  Read more Interesting Facts About Pope John Paul II. 

45. Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan was the fifth Muslim emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mughals reached the peak of their architectural achievements and cultural glory.

His reign is known for doing away with the liberal policies initiated by his predecessor Akbar. During Shah Jahan’s time, Islamic revivalist movements like the Naqsbandi began to shape Mughal policies.

46. Queen Isabella I

Museo del Prado, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Queen Isabella I was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon from 1479 until her death as the wife of King Ferdinand II.  After a struggle to claim the throne, Isabella reorganized the governmental system, brought the crime rate down, and unburdened the kingdom of the debt her half-brother King Henry IV had left behind. 

Together with her husband, Isabella was granted the title of Catholic Monarch by the Spanish Pope Alexander VI and was recognized in 1974 as a Servant of God by the Catholic Church.

47. Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon.[a] He succeeded his father Philip II to the throne in 336 BC at the age of 20 and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy military campaign throughout Western Asia and Egypt. 

By the age of 30, Alexander had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to northwestern India. He was undefeated in battle and is widely considered to be one of history’s greatest and most successful military commanders. Read  additional Top 10 Facts about Alexander the Great. 

48. Tutankhamun

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Tutankhamun was the antepenultimate pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. He was the endmost pharaonic descendant of an extensive monarchical bloodline, as his regal heritage encompasses many generations, spanning the dynasty, and likely further back. 

Tutankhamun ascended to the throne around the age of nine and reigned until his death around the age of nineteen. The most significant action of his reign is countermanding the religiopolitical changes enacted by his predecessor, Akhenaten, during the Amarna Period: he restored the traditional polytheistic form of ancient Egyptian religion, undoing the religious shift known as Atenism, and moved the royal court away from Akhenaten’s capital, Amarna.

49. Ivan the Terrible

Ivan the Terrible was Grand Prince of Moscow and Sovereign of all Russia from 1533, and the first crowned Tsar of all Russia from 1547 until his death in 1584. In the early years of his reign, Ivan ruled with the Chosen Council and established the Zemsky Sobor, a new assembly. 

Ivan also revised the legal code and introduced reforms, including elements of local self-government, as well as establishing the first Russian standing army, the streltsy. Ivan conquered the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan and significantly expanded the territory of Russia. 

50. Genghis Khan 

Genghis Khan was the founder and first khagan of the Mongol Empire, which later became the largest contiguous land empire in history. Having spent the majority of his life uniting the Mongol tribes, he launched a series of military campaigns that conquered large parts of China and Central Asia.

Genghis also codified the Mongol legal system, promoted religious tolerance, and encouraged pan-Eurasian trade through the Pax Mongolica. He is revered and honoured in present-day Mongolia as a symbol of national identity and a central figure of Mongolian culture.

In conclusion, these world leaders have shown exemplary leadership over their territories and the world generally. Some of their ideologies and schools of thought have been passed down generations after and are still being exercised to govern states and nations to date. Their legacy outlives them and their styles of leadership and stories are told wide and far, as examples to the current generation of leaders and those to come.