Hannibal Barca

Military Leader · 356 BC – 323 BC

Alexander the Great was the king of Macedon who built one of the largest empires in history by his early thirties, spreading Greek culture across three continents.

• Conquest of Persia
• The Hellenistic Age

Why Hannibal admired and studied Alexander, modeling his bold, decisive generalship on him.

Military Leader · 100 BC – 44 BC

Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman whose conquest of Gaul and victory in civil war made him dictator of Rome, ending the Republic and paving the way for the Empire.

• Conquest of Gaul
• Crossing the Rubicon

Why Rome's most famous general, who rose a century after its most dangerous enemy.

Military Strategist · 544 BC – 496 BC

Sun Tzu was an ancient Chinese general and strategist, traditionally the author of The Art of War, the most influential treatise on strategy ever written.

• The Art of War
• Strategic philosophy

Why His battlefield artistry embodies the strategic principles Sun Tzu described.

Military Leader · 1162 – 1227

Genghis Khan was the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, a military genius who united the nomadic tribes of the steppe and forged the largest contiguous land empire in history.

• Founding the Mongol Empire
• Largest contiguous land empire

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Military Leader · 1769 – 1821

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose during the French Revolution, crowned himself Emperor, and dominated European affairs for over a decade.

• Napoleonic Wars
• The Napoleonic Code

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Military Leader · 1137 – 1193

Saladin was a Kurdish Muslim sultan who founded the Ayyubid dynasty, united Egypt and Syria, and famously recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders, earning renown even among his enemies for his chivalry.

• Recapturing Jerusalem
• The Battle of Hattin

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Emperor · 1542 – 1605

Akbar was the third Mughal emperor, who expanded the empire across much of the Indian subcontinent and is remembered for his administrative reforms, religious tolerance and patronage of the arts during a long and powerful reign.

• Expansion of the Mughal Empire
• Religious tolerance

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Emperor · 350 BC – 295 BC

Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya Empire, who united most of the Indian subcontinent for the first time and established one of the ancient world's great states.

• Founding the Maurya Empire
• Unifying northern India

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Emperor · 748 – 814

Charlemagne was the King of the Franks who united much of Western Europe and was crowned Emperor in 800 AD, reviving the idea of a Roman empire in the West and sparking a cultural revival.

• Uniting Western Europe
• Coronation as Emperor in 800 AD

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Ruler · 600 BC – 530 BC

Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, the largest empire the ancient world had yet seen, remembered for his military genius and his tolerance toward conquered peoples.

• Founding the Persian Empire
• The Cyrus Cylinder

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Statesman · 1732 – 1799

George Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolution and the first President of the United States, whose leadership and restraint shaped the new republic.

• Commanding the Continental Army
• First U.S. President

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Military Leader · 1412 – 1431

Joan of Arc was a peasant girl who, believing herself guided by divine visions, led French forces to crucial victories in the Hundred Years' War before being captured, tried and burned at the stake — and later made a saint.

• Lifting the siege of Orléans
• Turning the Hundred Years' War

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Emperor · 259 BC – 210 BC

Qin Shi Huang was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China, who standardized the state, began the Great Wall, and built the Terracotta Army.

• First unification of China
• The Great Wall

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Pharaoh · 1303 BC – 1213 BC

Ramesses II was the most powerful pharaoh of Egypt's New Kingdom, whose 66-year reign brought military campaigns, colossal building projects and a prosperity that earned him the title Ramesses the Great.

• Battle of Kadesh
• Abu Simbel temples

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Sultan · 1494 – 1566

Suleiman the Magnificent was the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who led it to the height of its power through military conquest, legal reform and a brilliant flowering of art and architecture.

• Ottoman golden age
• Legal reforms (the Lawgiver)

Why Also a military leader · Comparable historical impact

Historian · 460 BC – 400 BC

Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general whose History of the Peloponnesian War set the standard for rigorous, evidence-based history and remains a foundational text of political and military analysis.

• History of the Peloponnesian War
• Scientific history

Why Also a general · Comparable historical impact

Emperor · 63 BC – 14

Augustus was the first Roman emperor, the heir of Julius Caesar who ended a century of civil war, established the Roman Empire, and inaugurated the Pax Romana.

• First Roman emperor
• The Pax Romana

Why Active in the same era · Comparable historical impact

Statesman · 106 BC – 43 BC

Cicero was a Roman statesman, orator and philosopher whose speeches and writings defined Latin prose, transmitted Greek philosophy to Rome, and championed the values of the Roman Republic.

• Roman oratory
• Defending the Republic

Why Active in the same era · Comparable historical impact

Ruler · 69 BC – 30 BC

Cleopatra VII was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, a shrewd and learned monarch whose alliances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony placed her at the center of Roman politics.

• Last pharaoh of Egypt
• Alliance with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony

Why Active in the same era · Comparable historical impact

President · 1809 – 1865

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, who led the nation through its Civil War, preserved the Union, and abolished slavery before his assassination in 1865.

• Leading the Union in the Civil War
• The Emancipation Proclamation

Why Comparable historical impact

Mathematician · 1815 – 1852

Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician widely regarded as the first computer programmer, who saw that Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine could go beyond calculation to manipulate symbols of any kind.

• The first computer program
• Visionary ideas on computing

Why Comparable historical impact

Economist · 1723 – 1790

Adam Smith was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and economist, the father of modern economics, whose work The Wealth of Nations laid the foundations of free-market thought.

• The Wealth of Nations
• The invisible hand

Why Comparable historical impact

Novelist · 1890 – 1976

Agatha Christie was an English writer, the best-selling novelist of all time, whose ingenious detective stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple made her the undisputed "Queen of Crime".

• Hercule Poirot
• Miss Marple

Why Comparable historical impact

Conquistador · 1485 – 1547

Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that overthrew the Aztec Empire, bringing much of Mexico under Spanish rule and inaugurating centuries of colonial domination.

• Conquest of the Aztec Empire
• Capture of Tenochtitlan

Why Also a military leader