Identifications

Nelson Mandela

Anti‑apartheid leader of the African National Congress who spent 27 years in prison (1964‑1990). His release on 11 Feb 1990 opened the road to negotiated end‑of‑apartheid and the first multiracial election in 1994. Mandela became South Africa’s first Black president (1994‑1999) and later chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

F. W. De Klerk

South African president (1989‑1994) who ordered Mandela’s release and lifted most apartheid legislation in 1990‑91. He shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela for the peaceful transition. De Klerk served as Mandela’s deputy president after the 1994 election.

Jawaharlal Nehru

Indian nationalist and first Prime Minister of independent India (1947‑1964). After Japan’s 1905 victory he cited the war as proof that European supremacy could be challenged, inspiring anti‑colonial movements across Asia. Nehru later championed the Non‑Aligned Movement at the 1955 Bandung Conference.

Sun Yat‑sen

Founder of the Republic of China and key figure in the 1911 Chinese Revolution that ended the Qing dynasty. He used Japan’s victory in the Russo‑Japanese War to argue that Asian nations could modernise without Western aid. Sun’s “Three‑People’s Principles” shaped Chinese republican ideology.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Leader of the Turkish War of Independence and founder of the secular Republic of Turkey (1923). He admired Japan’s rapid modernisation and incorporated similar “short‑cut” reforms in law, education and the military. Atatürk’s reforms abolished the Ottoman caliphate and created a Western‑styled nation‑state.

W. E. B. Du Bois

African‑American scholar and civil‑rights activist who praised Japan’s 1905 victory as a blow to the “white‑magic” myth of racial hierarchy. Du Bois used the event to argue for global Black solidarity against colonial racism. He later co‑founded the NAACP in 1909.

Vladimir Lenin

Leader of the Bolshevik faction who orchestrated the October 1917 Revolution, toppling the Romanov autocracy and creating the world’s first socialist state. Lenin’s New Economic Policy (1921‑23) temporarily re‑introduced limited market mechanisms to revive the war‑torn economy. His legacy shaped Soviet politics for decades.

Woodrow Wilson

US president (1913‑1921) whose Fourteen Points (1918) introduced the principle of self‑determination and a “peace without victory.” The “Wilsonian moment” inspired anti‑colonial leaders in Egypt, India and China to demand independence. Wilson also helped found the League of Nations.

Francisco Franco

Spanish general who led the Nationalist uprising in the 1936‑1939 Civil War and ruled Spain as a dictator until 1975. Franco’s regime served as a European laboratory for fascist tactics, including strategic bombing of civilian targets (e.g., Guernica). His authoritarian state lasted until Spain’s transition to democracy after his death.

Pablo Picasso

Spanish painter whose 1937 mural Guernica responded to the German‑Italian bombing of the Basque town. The monochrome work depicts civilian suffering and became an international anti‑war symbol. Guernica was first shown at the 1937 Paris International Exposition.

Adolf Hitler

Führer of Nazi Germany (1934‑1945) who devised the “race‑and‑space” ideology that justified the Holocaust and territorial expansion. The 1942 Wannsee Conference formalised the “Final Solution” to exterminate European Jews. Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy triggered World War II.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

Cleric who led the 1979 Iranian Revolution, overthrowing the Shah and establishing an Islamic Republic. Khomeini’s anti‑Western, anti‑imperialist rhetoric reshaped Middle‑Eastern geopolitics and inspired later “Islamic resurgence” movements. He remained Supreme Leader until his death in 1989.

Margaret Thatcher

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979‑1990) who championed neoliberal economics: deregulation, privatisation and a strong anti‑communist foreign policy. “Thatcherism” helped define the conservative turn of the 1980s and influenced leaders such as Ronald Reagan. She was the first woman to head a major Western government.

Mikhail Gorbachev

General Secretary of the Soviet Union (1985‑1991) whose policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) unintentionally accelerated the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the Berlin Wall in 1989. Gorbachev received the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize.

Ronald Reagan

US president (1981‑1989) whose “tear‑down” speech at the Berlin Wall (1987) symbolised Western pressure on the Soviet regime. Reagan’s aggressive anti‑communist stance and massive defence spending contributed to the USSR’s economic strain. He also promoted supply‑side economics domestically.

Hu Yaobang

Reform‑oriented CCP leader (General Secretary 1982‑1987) who advocated political liberalisation and market reforms. His forced resignation in 1987 and death in April 1989 triggered the student‑led Tiananmen protests. Hu became a martyr for Chinese pro‑democracy activists.

Deng Xiaoping

Paramount leader of China (1978‑1992) who launched “reform and opening‑up,” mixing market incentives with authoritarian control. He ordered the June 1989 military crackdown on Tiananmen protesters, reinforcing the party’s “stability first” doctrine. Later he promoted the “dual‑circulation” model to reduce reliance on exports.

Tank Man

Anonymous protester who stood in front of a column of Chinese tanks on 5 June 1989, temporarily halting their advance. The photograph became a universal symbol of individual resistance against authoritarianism and remains censored in China.

Ben Bernanke

Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (2006‑2014) who called the 2008 crisis “the most dangerous financial crisis the world has ever faced.” He coordinated emergency liquidity measures and the $700 bn Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Bernanke later authored a memoir on the crisis.

Henry Paulson

US Treasury Secretary (2006‑2009) who negotiated the $700 bn bailout during the 2008 financial crisis. Famously warned that “if we don’t act, we may not have an economy next week.” Paulson later became a senior advisor at Goldman Sachs.

Romeo Dallaire

Canadian lieutenant‑general who commanded UN peacekeepers during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. His limited mandate and lack of support highlighted the failure of international humanitarian intervention. Dallaire later became a vocal advocate for genocide prevention.

Guernica (the town)

Guernica (Gernika) is a small market town in Biscay, Basque Country, Spain. On 26 April 1937 the German Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion bombed it at the request of Franco’s Nationalist forces, killing hundreds of civilians and razing most of the historic centre. The raid became the first high‑profile example of aerial terror against a non‑military population and was later immortalised in Picasso’s anti‑war painting Guernica.

South Africa’s Bantustans

“Homelands” created by the Bantu Authorities Act (1951) and later declared independent “states” to legitimize Black disenfranchisement. Though nominally sovereign, they remained economically dependent on the apartheid regime and were never recognised internationally. Their legacy persists in post‑apartheid spatial inequality.

Manchuria & Korea

Regions contested by Russia and Japan in the early‑20th century; the Russo‑Japanese War (1904‑05) was fought over influence there, ending with Japan’s victory and the Treaty of Portsmouth (1905). The war shocked the Euro‑centric imperial order and inspired anti‑colonial uprisings worldwide.

Berlin Wall

Constructed in 1961 to stop East Germans fleeing to the West; its fall on 9 Nov 1989 symbolised the end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany in 1990. The wall’s demolition became a visual shorthand for the collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe.

Tiananmen Square

Central public plaza where students gathered in April 1989 demanding political reform, freedom of speech and an end to corruption. The government declared martial law and violently cleared the square on 3‑4 June 1989, killing hundreds and cementing a legacy of censorship.

Student‑Worker Alliances (1968)

Coalitions formed in France, Germany, the U.S. and Mexico that linked university students with industrial workers, demanding democratic reforms, an end to the Vietnam War and better labour conditions. Their slogans (e.g., “Sous les pavés, la plage”) became iconic.

Iranian Revolution

Popular uprising that toppled the Shah of Iran (backed by USA) and installed the Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Khomeini. It marked a shift from a pro‑Western monarchy to a theocratic state and reverberated throughout the Middle East.

Thatcherism

Economic and political ideology championed by UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: deregulation, privatisation, a strong anti‑communist foreign policy and a reduction of trade‑union power. It reshaped British economics and inspired similar policies in the U.S. and elsewhere.

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa)

Multilateral grouping formed in 2009 to promote alternative financial mechanisms and reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar; illustrates the post‑2008 “de‑globalization” trend toward multipolarity.

Wannsee Conference (1942)

High‑level Nazi meeting in Berlin where officials coordinated the logistics of the “Final Solution,” formalising the systematic extermination of European Jews.