Benito Mussolini was an Italian politician and dictator, founder and leader of the Fascist Party . In 1922, he organized the famous march of the blackshirts on Rome, where the king charged him with forming a government. Having obtained full powers from parliament, he set up an authoritarian regime a
Georges Danton (1759-1794) was a French politician and one of the great figures of the French Revolution. Both idealistic and bon vivant sensitive to the advantages of money, Danton has long been opposed to Robespierre the virtuous, described as cold and psycho-rigid. A true force of nature, with a
Mao Zedong (or Mao Tse-tung) was the founder and main leader of the Peoples Republic of China from 1949 to 1976. After defeating the supporters of nationalism, Mao seized power and, in 1949, established a communist regime in China. Gradually, it isolates the country from the rest of the world. From
Vercingetorix (72-46 BCE) was a Gallic aristocrat and chief of the Arverni tribe. At the head of a coalition of Gallic peoples, he stood up to the Roman armies before having to capitulate during the siege of Alesia. Vercingetorix, defeated by Caesar, almost single-handedly embodies a national myth d
Passed down to posterity as the conqueror of Verdun during the First World War, MarshalPétain became, after the defeat of 1940, the head of the “French State” of Vichy. After accepting an armistice with very harsh conditions for France, he tried to promote his “National Revolution”, while letting hi
Joseph Fouché was a French revolutionary and politician, Minister of Police under the Directory, the Consulate and then the Empire. Balzac saw in him a “singular genius”:Fouché , the chameleon, the man of all paradoxes, feared by Robespierre, the friend and the enemy, feared but admired by the consu
P singular character, Talleyrand (1754-1838) was a French diplomat and statesman of the Revolution and the Napoleonic period. Bishop of Autun, deputy to the States General and to the Constituent Assembly (1789), he was then Minister of External Relations of the Directory, then of the Consulate and
Adolf Hitlers companion from 1920, Alfred Rosenberg is the main ideologue of the German National Socialist Party. His writings, in particular his personal diary, reveal his major role in the conception and implementation of the Holocaust, a role that was long underestimated. Alfred Rosenberg incarn
Pompey (Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus ) was a general and politician of the Roman Republic during antiquity. He was the ally and then the main rival of Julius Caesar. At a very young age, Pompey won important military victories and earned the title of Magnus, which means “very great”. In 60 BC, he formed a
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) was an ancient Macedonian king and was one of the greatest conquerors in history. Educated by the philosopher Aristotle, he became king in 336 BC after the assassination of his father Philip II. After suppressing several revolts, in 336 BC. AD, Alexander leads a vast
Austrian-born German politician, Adolf Hitler was chancellor and dictator of the Third German Reich from 1933 to 1945. At the head of a state that had become totalitarian, he organized, with the Nazi party he founded, the recruitment of the population and the repression of opposition, then realizes
Maximilien de Robespierre (1758-1794) is by far the best known of the French revolutionaries. Head of the Jacobins club, he sat in the Assembly as a Montagnard when he voted for the death of the king and war on the European monarchies. In June 1793, the Committee of Public Safety, of which he was on
Francisco Franco (1892-1975) was a Spanish general and statesman. At the head of a military junta, in 1936 he engaged in a war against the Republican government, the Spanish Civil War , which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. After the Nationalists victory in 1939, Franco assumed the title of
Russian revolutionary, Lenin is one of the leaders of the Russian Revolution of 1917 which saw the victory of the Bolshevik Party and, in 1922, the creation of the USSR. An intransigent follower of Marxism and revolutionary action, he theorized during his exile the theory of the dictatorship of the
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey from 1923 to 1938. In the aftermath of the humiliating defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Mustafa Kemal created a modern, secular state, using his prestige and his charisma to implement a vast program of re
Real name Caius Julius Caesar Octavius , Augustus was the first and most famous Roman emperor. When his uncle Julius Caesar died in 44 BC, Octave began a long political struggle to gain power. In 31 BC, he won the naval battle of Actium against his main rivals Marc Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egyp
Nelson Mandela is a South African politician, a symbolic figure in the struggle against apartheid. Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, he was released in 1990 by President Frederik De Klerk. The two men together received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. In 1994, Nelson Mandela won the presidential
Jules Ferry (1832-1893) is a French politician of the Third Republic, favorable to the republican ideas inherited from the French Revolution. Minister of Public Instruction during the Third French Republic, he passed several school laws between 1879 and 1882 which established compulsory, free and s
Honoré-Gabriel Riquetti, Count of Mirabeau , is a writer and a political figure of the beginning of the French Revolution. After a tumultuous youth marked by amorous escapades, he was elected, although noble, as a deputy of the Third Estate in 1789. He radically imposed himself by his eloquence and
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was an American politician from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Elected in 1960 by a narrow majority against the Republican Richard Nixon, he became at 43 the youngest president of the United States . Kennedy fights for more social justice and proposes a s
Algerian painter, Baya Mahieddine (1931 – 1998) rose to fame at the age of sixteen for his colourful, refined and intimate art. A young artist Fatma Haddad, who will be known as Baya, was born on December 12, 1931 in Fort-de-lEau (today Bordj el Kiffan) near Algiers, in the department of Algiers
Bishop of Reims, Saint Rémi sends a letter to Clovis when he is hoisted on the bulwark, he provides political advice and shows respect. He knows that like his father Childeric, he will respect the Church. Subsequently, Clotilde met Rémi to convince him to teach catechism to Clovis. Thus it was he wh
Made famous thanks to the film “Two Sisters for a King ”, Mary Boleyn holds a particularly important role in the History of England. In addition to being the sister of a scorned and ultimately beheaded queen, Mary Boleyn turns out to be an influential woman at the English court. Through this article
Adopted son of the Emperor Claudius, Nero takes over from his father when the latter dies, poisoned; he is only 17 years old. His decisions are strongly inspired by Seneca or his mother, Agrippina. But he is gaining confidence. Threatened by his half-brother, Britannicus, legitimate son of Claude, h