The Most Powerful Leaders of the 20th Century

The 20th century saw leaders with unprecedented power. Stalin controlled the largest country and a nuclear arsenal. Roosevelt led the US through depression and world war.

Mao governed the most populous nation. Churchill stood alone against Nazi Germany in 1940. Each of these leaders shaped the modern world in ways still felt today.

Their decisions affected billions of lives. The concentration of power in these leaders hands, combined with industrial warfare and mass communication, created a new type of political authority that previous centuries never imagined..