Great Leaders, Great Tyrants?

Contemporary Views of World Rulers Who Made History

Arnold Blumberg

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Year: 1995
• Print ISBN:
  9780313287510
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313008511
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Can a political leader be effective without being tyrannical? Most biographies tend to treat the tyrannical aspect of a great leader's career as a contradiction to be minimized. This book examines both the creative and tyrannical aspects as the anticipated consequences of the exercise of power. Biographical profiles of 52 major world leaders throughout history feature pro/con essays reflecting contemporary views of the creative and tyrannical aspects of their record. Coverage is global, from Indira Gandhi to Fidel Castro, and spans history from the Egyptian king Akhenaton to Mikhail Gorbachev. Among the leaders profiled are Otto von Bismarck, Oliver Cromwell, Charles de Gaulle, Elizabeth I, Ho Chi Minh, Lenin, Louis XIV, Mao Zedong, Napoleon I, Kwame Nkrumah, Juan Peron, and Tito. All biographies are written by subject specialists. This work encourages critical thinking and debate about the exercise of power.

Coverage is global, from Indira Gandhi to Fidel Castro, and spans history from the Egyptian king Akhenaton to Mikhail Gorbachev. Among the leaders profiled are Otto von Bismarck, Oliver Cromwell, Charles de Gaulle, Elizabeth I, Ho Chi Minh, Lenin, Louis XIV, Mao Zedong, Napoleon I, Kwame Nkrumah, Juan Peron, and Tito. Each biography begins with full name, dates of the leader's lifetime, offices held, and a general introduction placing the leader in historical context. A full biographical essay follows. The editor then presents two essays, in debate format, contrasting the creative and tyrannical roles of the subject from a contemporary viewpoint. Each biography concludes with suggestions for additional reading about the subject. An important resource tool, students will use Great Leaders, Great Tyrants? for debate and critical examination of periods of world history and the exercise of power.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Akhenaten: (c. 1396–1360 B.C.E.), King of Egypt
• Atatürk: (1881–1938), President of Turkey
• Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen: (1815–1898), Chancellor of Germany
• Fidel Castro: (1926– ), Cuban Chief of State
• Catherine the Great: (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• Count Camillo Benso di Cavour: (1810–1861), Prime Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont and Italy
• Charles I: (1600–1649), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland
• Charles V: (1500–1558), Holy Roman Emperor
• Oliver Cromwell: (1599–1658), Lord Protector of the Commonwealth
• Charles de Gaulle: (1890–1970), President of the French Fifth Republic
• Elizabeth I: (1533–1603), Queen of England
• Francisco Franco y Bahamonde: (1892–1975), Spanish Chief of State
• Franz Joseph I: (1830–1916), Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary
• Indira Nehru Gandhi: (1917–1984), Prime Minister of India
• Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev: (1931– ), General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
• Henry VIII: (1491–1547), King of England
• Herod the Great: (c. 75-4 B.C.E.), King of Judea
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi: (1536–1598), Supreme Daimyo of Japan
• Ho Chi Minh: (1890–1969), President of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam
• Ivan IV, the Terrible: (1530–1584), Grand Prince and Tsar of Moscow
• Bohdan Zynovyi Khmel'nyts'kyi: (c. 1595–1657), Hetman of the Ukraine
• Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev: (1894–1971), First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party
• Pierre Laval: (1883–1945), French Premier
• V. I. Lenin: (1870–1924), Russian Head of State
• Leopold II: (1835–1909), King of the Belgians
• Louis XIV: (1638–1715), King of France
• Mao Zedong: (1893–1976), Dictator of the People's Republic of China
• Mary I: (1516–1558), Queen of England
• Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa: (c. 1632–1709), Hetman of the Ukraine
• Cosimo de' Medici: (1389–1464), Head of the Council of the Republic of Florence
• Clemens von Metternich: (1773–1859), Chancellor of Austria
• Napoleon I: (1769–1821), Emperor of the French
• Napoleon III: (1808–1873), Emperor of the French
• Kwame Nkrumah: (1909–1972), President of Ghana
• Julius Kambarage Nyerere: (1922– ), President of Tanzania
• Juan Domingo Perón: (1895–1974), President of Argentina
• Peter the Great: (1672–1725), Emperor of Russia
• Pheidon: (c. 600 B.C.), King of Argos
• Philip II of Habsburg: (1527–1598), King of Spain
• Abd al-Karim Qassem: (1914–1963), Ruler of Iraq
• Qin Shih Huang Di: (259-210 B.C.), First Emperor of All China
• Stenka Razin: (c. 1630–1671), Russian Cossack Rebel
• Richard II: (1367–1400), King of England
• Richard IIl: (1452–1485), King of England
• Maximilien Robespierre: (1758–1794), Revolutionary Leader in France
• Joseph Stalin: (1879–1953), General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party
• Pyotr Arkad'evich Stolypin: (1862–1911), Prime Minister of Russia
• Tito: (1892–1980), Leader of Yugoslavia
• Trajan: (53–117), Roman Emperor
• Vespasian: (9–79), Roman Emperor
• Wilhelm II: (1859–1941), German Emperor
• Thomas Wolsey: (c. 1472–1530), Lord Chancellor of England
• Index
• About the Editor and Contributors