List of Famous Warlords
- Chiang Kai-shek (; 31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Generalissimo Chiang or Chiang Chungcheng and romanized as Chiang Chieh-shih or Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese nationalist politician, revolutionary and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975, first in mainland China until 1949 and then in Taiwan until his death. Chiang was a member of the Kuomintang and a lieutenant of Sun Yat-sen in the revolution to overthrow the Beiyang government and reunify China. With Soviet and communist (CCP) help, Chiang organized the military for Sun's Canton Nationalist Government and headed the Whampoa Military Academy. Commander in chief of the National Revolutionary Army (from which he came to be known as Generalissimo), he led the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928, before defeating a coalition of warlords and nominally reunifying China under a new Nationalist government. Midway through the campaign, the KMT–CPC alliance broke down and Chiang purged the communists inside the party, triggering a civil war with the CCP, which he eventually lost in 1949. As leader of the Republic of China in the Nanjing decade, Chiang had the difficult task of modernizing the country with whatever time and resources he had before impending Japanese threat. Trying to avoid a war with Japan while hostilities with CCP continued, he was kidnapped in the Xi'an Incident and obliged to form an Anti-Japanese United Front with the CCP. Following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, he mobilized China for the Second Sino-Japanese War. For eight years he led the war of resistance against a vastly superior enemy, mostly from the wartime capital Chongqing. As the leader of a major Allied power, Chiang met with Churchill and Roosevelt in the Cairo Conference to discuss terms for Japanese surrender. No sooner had the Second World War ended than the Civil War with the communists, by then led by Mao Zedong, resumed. Under Chiang's command, the nationalists were mostly defeated in a few decisive battles in 1948. In 1949 Chiang's government and army retreated to Taiwan, where Chiang imposed martial law and persecuted critics during the White Terror. Presiding over a period of social reforms and economic prosperity, Chiang won five elections to six-year terms as President of the Republic of China and was Director-General of the Kuomintang until his death in 1975, three years into his fifth term and just one year before Mao's death. Like Mao, Chiang is regarded as a controversial figure. Supporters credit him with playing a major part in unifying the nation and leading the Chinese resistance against Japan, as well as with countering Soviet-communist encroachment. Detractors and critics denounce him as a dictator at the front of an authoritarian regime who suppressed opponents. Critics estimate that the Nationalist government was responsible for between 6 and 18.5 million deaths.More Chiang Kai-shek
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- Sun Yat-sen (; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese politician, physician and philosopher who provisionally served as the first president of the Republic of China; and the first leader of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China). He is referred as the "Father of the Nation" in the Republic of China due to his instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the Xinhai Revolution. Sun remains a unique figure among 20th-century Chinese leaders for being widely revered in both mainland China and Taiwan.Although Sun is considered to be one of the greatest leaders of modern China, his political life was one of constant struggle and frequent exile. After the success of the revolution in which the Han Chinese regained power after 268 years of living under Manchurian rule (Qing dynasty), he quickly resigned from his post as President of the newly founded Republic of China and relinquished it to Yuan Shikai, and led a successive revolutionary government as a challenge to the warlords who controlled much of the nation. Sun did not live to see his party consolidate its power over the country during the Northern Expedition. His party, which formed a fragile alliance with the Chinese Communist Party, split into two factions after his death. Sun's chief legacy resides in his development of the political philosophy known as the Three Principles of the People: nationalism (independence from foreign imperialist domination), "rights of the people" (sometimes translated as "democracy"), and the people's livelihood (just society).More Sun Yat-sen
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- Idi Amin Dada Oumee (; c. 1925 – 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer who served as the President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Popularly known as the "Butcher of Uganda," he is considered one of the most brutal despots in world history.Amin was born either in Koboko or Kampala to a Kakwa father and Lugbara mother. In 1946, he joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army as a cook. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, taking part in British actions against Somali rebels in the Shifta War and then the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, and Amin remained in the armed forces, rising to the position of major and being appointed Commander of the Army in 1965. He became aware that Ugandan President Milton Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, so he launched a military coup in 1971 and declared himself President. During his years in power, Amin shifted from being a pro-western ruler enjoying considerable support from Israel to being backed by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. In 1975, Amin became the chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), a Pan-Africanist group designed to promote solidarity among African states. Uganda was a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1977 to 1979. The UK broke diplomatic relations with Uganda in 1977, and Amin declared that he had defeated the British and added "CBE" to his title for "Conqueror of the British Empire". Radio Uganda then announced his entire title: "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Alhaji Dr. Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE".As Amin's rule progressed into the late 1970s, there was increased unrest against his persecution of certain ethnic groups and political dissidents, along with Uganda's very poor international standing due to Amin's support for the terrorist hijackers in Operation Entebbe. He then attempted to annex Tanzania's Kagera Region in 1978, so Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere had his troops invade Uganda; they captured Kampala on 11 April 1979 and ousted Amin from power. Amin then went into exile, first in Libya and then in Saudi Arabia, where he lived until his death on 16 August 2003. Amin's rule was characterized by rampant human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement. International observers and human rights groups estimate that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed under his regime.More Idi Amin
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- Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor (born 28 January 1948) is a Liberian war criminal and former politician who served as the 22nd President of Liberia from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003.Born in Arthington, Montserrado County, Liberia, Taylor earned a degree at Bentley College in the United States before returning to Liberia to work in the government of Samuel Doe. After being removed for embezzlement, he eventually arrived in Libya, where he was trained as a guerrilla fighter. He returned to Liberia in 1989 as the head of a Libyan-backed rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, to overthrow the Doe government, initiating the First Liberian Civil War (1989–96). Following Doe's execution, Taylor gained control of a large portion of the country and became one of the most prominent warlords in Africa. Following a peace deal that ended the war, Taylor was elected president in the 1997 general election.During his term of office, Taylor was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his involvement in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). Domestically, opposition to his government grew, culminating in the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003). By 2003, Taylor had lost control of much of the countryside and was formally indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. That year, he resigned, as a result of growing international pressure, and went into exile in Nigeria. In 2006, the newly elected President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, formally requested his extradition. He was detained by UN authorities in Sierra Leone and then at the Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden in The Hague, awaiting trial by the Special Court. He was found guilty in April 2012 of all eleven charges levied by the Special Court, including terror, murder and rape. In May 2012, Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Reading the sentencing statement, Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said: "The accused has been found responsible for aiding and abetting as well as planning some of the most heinous and brutal crimes in recorded human history."
- Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; Shona: [muɡaɓe]; born 21 February 1924) is a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He chaired the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) group from 1975 to 1980 and led its successor political party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), from 1980 to 2017. Ideologically an African nationalist, during the 1970s and 1980s he identified as a Marxist–Leninist, although after the 1990s self-identified only as a socialist. His policies have been described as Mugabeism. Mugabe was born to a poor Shona family in Kutama, Southern Rhodesia. Following an education at Kutama College and the University of Fort Hare, he worked as a school teacher in Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Ghana. Angered that Southern Rhodesia was a colony of the British Empire governed by its white minority, Mugabe embraced Marxism and joined African nationalist protests calling for an independent state led by representatives of the black majority. After making anti-government comments, he was convicted of sedition and imprisoned between 1964 and 1974. On release, he fled to Mozambique, established his leadership of ZANU, and oversaw ZANU's role in the Rhodesian Bush War, fighting Ian Smith's predominantly white government. He reluctantly took part in the peace negotiations brokered by the United Kingdom that resulted in the Lancaster House Agreement. The agreement ended the war and resulted in the 1980 general election, at which Mugabe led ZANU-PF to victory. As Prime Minister of the newly renamed Zimbabwe, Mugabe's administration expanded healthcare and education and—despite his professed Marxist desire for a socialist society—adhered largely to mainstream, conservative economic policies. Mugabe's calls for racial reconciliation failed to stem growing white emigration, while relations with Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) also declined. In the Gukurahundi of 1982–1985, Mugabe's Fifth Brigade crushed ZAPU-linked opposition in Matabeleland in a campaign that killed at least 10,000 people, mostly Ndebele civilians. Internationally, he sent troops into the Second Congo War and chaired the Non-Aligned Movement (1986–89), the Organisation of African Unity (1997–98), and the African Union (2015–16). Pursuing decolonisation, Mugabe emphasised the redistribution of land controlled by white farmers to landless blacks, initially on a "willing seller–willing buyer" basis. Frustrated at the slow rate of redistribution, from 2000 he encouraged black Zimbabweans to violently seize white-owned farms. Food production was severely impacted, leading to famine, drastic economic decline, and international sanctions. Opposition to Mugabe grew, although he was re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2013 through campaigns dominated by violence, electoral fraud, and nationalistic appeals to his rural Shona voter base. In 2017, members of his own party ousted him in a coup, replacing him with former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Having dominated Zimbabwe's politics for nearly four decades, Mugabe is a controversial figure. He has been praised as a revolutionary hero of the African liberation struggle who helped to free Zimbabwe from British colonialism, imperialism, and white minority rule. Conversely, in governance he has been accused of being a dictator responsible for economic mismanagement, widespread corruption, anti-white racism, human rights abuses, and crimes against humanity.
- Muammar Mohammed Abu Minyar Gaddafi (; c. 1942 – 20 October 2011), commonly known as Colonel Gaddafi, was a Libyan revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He governed Libya as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977, and then as the "Brotherly Leader" of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011. He was initially ideologically committed to Arab nationalism and Arab socialism but later ruled according to his own Third International Theory. Born near Sirte, Italian Libya to a poor Bedouin family, Gaddafi became an Arab nationalist while at school in Sabha, later enrolling in the Royal Military Academy, Benghazi. Within the military, he founded a revolutionary group which deposed the Western-backed Senussi monarchy of Idris in a 1969 coup. Having taken power, Gaddafi converted Libya into a republic governed by his Revolutionary Command Council. Ruling by decree, he ejected Libya's Italian and Jewish minorities and closed its Western military bases. Strengthening ties to Arab nationalist governments—particularly Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egypt—he unsuccessfully advocated Pan-Arab political union. An Islamic modernist, he introduced sharia as the basis for the legal system and promoted "Islamic socialism". He nationalized the oil industry and used the increasing state revenues to bolster the military, fund foreign revolutionaries, and implement social programs emphasizing house-building, healthcare and education projects. In 1973, he initiated a "Popular Revolution" with the formation of Basic People's Congresses, presented as a system of direct democracy, but retained personal control over major decisions. He outlined his Third International Theory that year, publishing these ideas in The Green Book. Gaddafi transformed Libya into a new socialist state called a Jamahiriya ("state of the masses") in 1977. He officially adopted a symbolic role in governance but remained head of both the military and the Revolutionary Committees responsible for policing and suppressing dissent. During the 1970s and 1980s, Libya's unsuccessful border conflicts with Egypt and Chad, support for foreign militants, and alleged responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing in Scotland left it increasingly isolated on the world stage. A particularly hostile relationship developed with the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel, resulting in the 1986 U.S. bombing of Libya and United Nations-imposed economic sanctions. From 1999, Gaddafi shunned Arab socialism and encouraged economic privatization, rapprochement with Western nations, and Pan-Africanism; he was Chairperson of the African Union from 2009 to 2010. Amid the 2011 Arab Spring, protests against widespread corruption and unemployment broke out in eastern Libya. The situation descended into civil war, in which NATO intervened militarily on the side of the anti-Gaddafist National Transitional Council (NTC). The government was overthrown, and Gaddafi retreated to Sirte, only to be captured and killed by NTC militants. A highly divisive figure, Gaddafi dominated Libya's politics for four decades and was the subject of a pervasive cult of personality. He was decorated with various awards and praised for his anti-imperialist stance, support for Arab—and then African—unity, and for significant improvements that his government brought to the Libyan people's quality of life. Conversely, Islamic fundamentalists strongly opposed his social and economic reforms, and he was posthumously accused of sexual abuse. He was condemned by many as a dictator whose authoritarian administration violated human rights and financed global terrorism.More Muammar al-Gaddafi
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- Yuan Shikai (Chinese: 袁世凱; pinyin: Yuán Shìkǎi; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty. He tried to save the dynasty with a number of modernization projects including bureaucratic, fiscal, judicial, educational, and other reforms, despite playing a key part in the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform. He established the first modern army and a more efficient provincial government in North China in the last years of the Qing dynasty before the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor, the last monarch of the Qing dynasty, in 1912. Through negotiation, he became the first official president of the Republic of China in 1912.This army and bureaucratic control were the foundation of his autocratic rule as the first formal President of the Republic of China. He was frustrated in a short-lived attempt to restore monarchy in China, with himself as the Hongxian Emperor (Chinese: 洪憲皇帝).
- Oda Nobunaga (織田 信長, Oda Nobunaga, listen; June 23, 1534 – June 21, 1582) was a powerful daimyō (feudal lord) of Japan in the late 16th century who attempted to unify Japan during the late Sengoku period, and successfully gained control over most of Honshu. Nobunaga is regarded as one of three unifiers of Japan along with his retainers Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. During his later life, Nobunaga was widely known for most brutal suppression of determined opponents, eliminating those who by principle refused to cooperate or yield to his demands. His reign was noted for innovative military tactics, fostering free trade, and encouraging the start of the Momoyama historical art period. He was killed when his retainer Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled against him at Honnō-ji.
- Zhang Zuolin (simplified Chinese: 张作霖; traditional Chinese: 張作霖; pinyin: Zhāng Zuòlín; Wade–Giles: Chang Tso-lin) (19 March 1875 – 4 June 1928) was an influential Chinese bandit, soldier and warlord during the Warlord Era in China. The warlord of Manchuria from 1916 to 1928, and the military dictator of the Republic of China in 1927 and 1928, he rose from banditry to power and influence, only to be thwarted by the excesses of his own ambition and his erstwhile backers, the Japanese Kwantung Army. Backed by Japan, Zhang successfully influenced politics in the Republic of China during the early 1920s, invaded China proper in October 1924 during the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, and gained control of Peking, including the internationally recognized government, in April 1926. His appointment as grand marshal of the Republic of China in June 1927 represented the height of his success, but was quickly followed by defeat: the economy of Manchuria, the basis of his power, was overtaxed by his adventurism and collapsed in the winter of 1927; and he was defeated by the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in May 1928. Leaving Beijing in early June to return to Manchuria, he was killed by a bomb planted by infuriated Kwantung officers on 4 June 1928; his brief reign presaged the end of Chinese warlordism by December.
- Akhmad-Haji Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov (Russian: Ахмат-Хаджи Абдулхамидович Кадыров; Chechen: Къадири lабдулхьамидан кlант Ахьмад-Хьажи / Q̇adiri Jabdulẋamidan khant Aẋmad-Ẋaƶi; 23 August 1951 – 9 May 2004), also spelled Akhmat, was the Chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the 1990s during and after the First Chechen War. At the outbreak of the Second Chechen War he switched sides, offering his service to the Russian government, and later became the President of the Chechen Republic from 5 October 2003, acting as head of administration since July 2000. On 9 May 2004, he was assassinated by Chechen Islamists in Grozny, using a bomb blast during a World War II memorial victory parade. His son, Ramzan Kadyrov, who led his father's militia, became one of his successors in March 2007 as the President of the Chechen Republic.
- Cao Cao (pronunciation ; [tsʰǎu tsʰáu]; Chinese: 曹操; c. 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese warlord and the penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty who rose to great power in the final years of the dynasty. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and ultimately the Jin dynasty, and was posthumously honoured as "Emperor Wu of Wei". He is often portrayed as a cruel and merciless tyrant in subsequent literature; however, he has also been praised as a brilliant ruler and military genius who treated his subordinates like his family. During the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Cao was able to secure the most populated and prosperous cities of the central plains and northern China. Cao Cao had much success as the Han chancellor, but his handling of the Han Emperor Xian was heavily criticised and resulted in a continued and then escalated civil war. Opposition directly gathered around warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan, whom Cao Cao was unable to quell. Cao Cao was also skilled in poetry, calligraphy and martial arts and wrote many war journals.
- Aslan (Khalid) Aliyevich Maskhadov (Russian: Асла́н (Хали́д) Али́евич Масха́дов; Chechen: Аслан Али кӏант Масхадан, romanized: Aslan Ali-khant Masxadan; 21 September 1951 – 8 March 2005) was a politician who served as the third President of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the establishment of the de facto independent Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Maskhadov was elected President of Chechnya in January 1997. Following the start of the Second Chechen War in August 1999, he returned to leading the guerrilla resistance against the Russian army. He was killed in Tolstoy-Yurt, a village in northern Chechnya, in March 2005.
- Joseph Rao Kony (pronounced [koɲ]; likely born 1961) is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a guerrilla group that formerly operated in Uganda. While initially purporting to fight against government oppression, the LRA allegedly turned against Kony's own supporters, supposedly to "purify" the Acholi people and turn Uganda into a theocracy. Kony proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium and claims he is visited by a multinational host of 13 spirits, including a Chinese phantom. Ideologically, the group is a syncretic mix of mysticism, Acholi nationalism, and Christian fundamentalism, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and local Acholi tradition.Kony has been accused by government entities of ordering the abduction of children to become child soldiers and sex slaves. 66,000 children became soldiers, and 2 million people were displaced internally from 1986 to 2009. Kony was indicted in 2005 for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, but he has evaded capture. Kony has been subject to an Interpol Red Notice at the request of the ICC since 2006. Since the Juba peace talks in 2006, the LRA no longer operate in Uganda. Sources claim that they are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), or South Sudan. In 2013, Kony was reported to be in poor health, and Michel Djotodia, president of the CAR, claimed he was negotiating with Kony to surrender.By April 2017, Kony was still at large, but his force was reported to have shrunk to approximately 100 soldiers, down from an estimated high of 3,000 in earlier years. Both the United States and Uganda ended the hunt for Kony and the LRA, believing that the LRA was no longer a big security risk to Uganda.
- Baitullah Mehsud (Pashto,Urdu: بیت اللہ محسود); c. 1972 – c. 5 August 2009) was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S. military analysts to have commanded up to 5,000 fighters and to have been behind numerous attacks in Pakistan including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto which he and others have denied. Disagreement exists over the exact date of the militant's death. Pakistani security officials initially announced that Baitullah Mehsud and his wife were killed on 5 August 2009 in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency drone attack in the Zangar area of South Waziristan. Interior Minister Rehman Malik delayed giving official confirmation and asked for patience and an announcement by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) or other agencies. Kafayat Ullah, a TTP source, also announced the death of the militant in the strike, as did his deputy Faqir Mohammed. Later Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan commander Hakimullah Mehsud denied previous TTP announcements and said Mehsud was in good health. Major General Athar Abbas, ISPR spokesman, and Robert Gibbs of the White House said his death could not be confirmed, U.S. National Security Adviser James L. Jones also claimed that there was "pretty conclusive" evidence that proved Baitullah Mehsud had been killed and that he was 90% sure of it. On 23 August 2009, Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali-ur-Rehman telephoned the BBC to say that the Baitullah Mehsud had died on 23 August 2009 due to injuries sustained during the 5 August attack. On 30 September 2009, the BBC received a video that showed the body of Mehsud.Syed Saleem Shahzad, writing in the Asia Times, described Baitullah Mehsud as a physically small man, with diabetes.
Thomas Lubanga Dyilo
Thomas Lubanga Dyilo (born 29 December 1960) is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the first person ever convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He founded and led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and was a key player in the Ituri conflict (1999–2007). Rebels under his command have been accused of massive human rights violations, including ethnic massacres, murder, torture, rape, mutilation, and forcibly conscripting child soldiers.On 17 March 2006, Lubanga became the first person arrested under a warrant issued by the ICC. His trial, for the war crime of "conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years and using them to participate actively in hostilities," began on 26 January 2009, and he was found guilty on 14 March 2012, and faced a sentence of up to 30 years. On 10 July 2012, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Lubanga to a total period of 14 years of imprisonment, also ordering that the time from Lubanga's surrender to the ICC in 2006 until the sentencing day should be deducted from the 14-year term, which means he will spend 6 fewer years in prison.- Liao Zhongkai (April 23, 1877 – August 20, 1925) was a Kuomintang leader and financier. He was the principal architect of the first Kuomintang–Chinese Communist Party (KMT–CCP) United Front in the 1920s. He was assassinated in Guangzhou in August 1925.
- Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (Portuguese: [ˈʒonɐs ˈsavĩbi]; 3 August 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an anti-communist and anti-colonialist Angolan political and military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). UNITA first waged a guerrilla war against Portuguese colonial rule, 1966–1974, then confronted the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) during the Angolan Civil War until Savimbi's death in a clash with government troops in 2002.
- Ahmad Shah Massoud (Dari Persian/Pashto: احمد شاه مسعود; September 2, 1953 – September 9, 2001) was an Afghan politician and military commander. He was a powerful guerilla commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989. In the 1990s he led the government's military wing against rival militias and, after the Taliban takeover, was the leading opposition commander against their regime, who he fought against until his assassination in 2001. Massoud came from an ethnic Tajik, Sunni Muslim background in the Panjshir valley of northern Afghanistan. He began studying engineering at Polytechnical University of Kabul in the 1970s, where he became involved with religious anti-communist movements around Burhanuddin Rabbani, a leading Islamist. He was part of a failed uprising against Mohammed Daoud Khan's government. He later joined Rabbani's Jamiat-e Islami party. During the Soviet–Afghan War, his role as a powerful mujahideen insurgent leader earned him the nickname of "Lion of Panjshir" (شیر پنجشیر) among his followers as he successfully resisted the Soviets from taking Panjshir Valley. In 1992 he signed the Peshawar Accord, a peace and power-sharing agreement, in the post-communist Islamic State of Afghanistan, and was so appointed as the Minister of Defense as well as the government's main military commander. His militia fought to defend the capital Kabul against militias led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and other warlords who were bombing the city—and eventually the Taliban, who started to lay siege to the capital in January 1995 after the city had seen fierce fighting with at least 60,000 civilians were killed.Following the rise of the Taliban in 1996, Massoud, who rejected the Taliban's fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, returned to armed opposition until he eventually fled to Kulob, Tajikistan, strategically destroying the Salang Tunnel on his way north. He became the military and political leader of the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan or Northern Alliance, which by 2000 controlled only between 5 and 10 percent of the country. In 2001 he visited Europe and in high-level meetings with the European Parliament urged leaders to pressure Pakistan on its support for the Taliban. He also asked for humanitarian aid to help the people's gruesome conditions under the Taliban. Massoud was assassinated at the instigation of al-Qaeda and Taliban in a suicide bombing on September 9, 2001. Two days later the September 11 attacks in the United States occurred, which led to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation invading Afghanistan, allying with Massoud's forces. His forces eventually won the two-month long war in December 2001, removing the Taliban from power. Massoud was posthumously named "National Hero" by the order of President Hamid Karzai after the Taliban were ousted from power. The date of Massoud's death, September 9, is observed as a national holiday known as "Massoud Day". His followers call him Amer Sāhib-e Shahīd (آمر صاحب شهید), which translates to "(our) martyred commander." Massoud has been described as one of the greatest guerilla leaders of the 20th century and has been compared to Tito, Ho Chi Minh, and Che Guevara. One of the reasons was because he successfully managed to repeatedly defend his local Panjshir Valley from being taken by the Soviets and thereafter by the Taliban.
- Kamal Fouad Jumblatt (Arabic: كمال فؤاد جنبلاط) (December 6, 1917 – March 16, 1977) was a prominent Lebanese politician. He was the main leader of the anti-government forces who opposed the Assad government in the Lebanese Civil War and major ally of the Palestine Liberation Organization until his assassination in 1977. He is the father of the Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.
- Sani Abacha (pronunciation ; 20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian Army officer and dictator who served as the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He is also the first Nigerian soldier to attain the rank of a full star General without skipping a single rank.While he is largely accredited for his economic reforms and achievements, after he died allegations surrounding his administration use of government funds marred the unprecedented growth rates and indices recorded by his administration. He is seen as the most enigmatic leader the country has ever had. Sani is very popular the Northern region of Nigeria, especially Kano State, Borno State, Kaduna State and Sokoto State, many still decorate their vehicles with his posters and praise him for the various establishments he laid around the country and for bringing back security to the region. Further south of the country, there is still a disdain for the late military ruler. This can be attributed to the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa after being found guilty, in a controversial trial, of killing four Ogoni leaders.
- Jean-Bédel Bokassa ([ʒɑ̃ bedɛl bɔkasa]; 22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996), also known as Bokassa I, was a Central African political and military leader who served as the 2nd President of the Central African Republic and as the emperor of its successor state, the Central African Empire, from his Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état on 1 January 1966 until overthrown in a subsequent coup in 1979. Of this period, he served about 11 years as president and three years as self-proclaimed Emperor of Central Africa, though the country was still a de facto military dictatorship. His imperial regime lasted from 4 December 1976 to 21 September 1979. Following his overthrow, the CAR was restored under his predecessor, David Dacko. Bokassa's imperial title did not achieve international diplomatic recognition. In his trial in absentia, he was tried and sentenced to death. He returned to the Central African Republic in 1986 and was put on trial for treason and murder. In 1987, he was cleared of charges of cannibalism, but found guilty of the murder of schoolchildren and other crimes. The death sentence was later commuted to life in solitary confinement, but he was freed in 1993. He lived a private life in Bangui, and died in November 1996.
- Dany Chamoun (Arabic: داني شمعون) (26 August 1934 – 21 October 1990) was a prominent Lebanese politician. A Maronite Christian, the younger son of former President Camille Chamoun and brother of Dory Chamoun, Chamoun was also a politician in his own right, and was known for his opposition to the occupation of Lebanese territory by foreign forces, whether Syrian or Israeli.
- Dong Zhuo (pronunciation ) (died 22 May 192), courtesy name Zhongying, was a military general and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He seized control of the capital Luoyang in 189 when it entered a state of turmoil following the death of Emperor Ling of Han and a massacre of the eunuch faction by the court officials led by General-in-Chief He Jin. Dong Zhuo subsequently deposed Liu Bian (Emperor Shao) and replaced him with the puppet Emperor Xian of Han. Dong Zhuo's rule was brief and characterized by cruelty and tyranny. In the following year, a coalition of regional officials and warlords launched a campaign against him. Failing to stop the coalition forces, Dong Zhuo sacked Luoyang and relocated further west to Chang'an. He was assassinated soon after in 192 by his subordinate Lü Bu in a plot orchestrated by Interior Minister Wang Yun.
- Wu Peifu or Wu P'ei-fu (simplified Chinese: 吴佩孚; traditional Chinese: 吳佩孚; pinyin: Wú Pèifú; IPA: [ú pʰèɪ̯fú]; April 22, 1874 – December 4, 1939), was a major figure in the struggles between the warlords who dominated Republican China from 1916-27.
- Antoine Frangieh (1 September 1941 – 13 June 1978), better known by his diminutive, Tony Frangieh, طوني فرنجية ) was a Lebanese politician and militia commander during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War. He was the son of Suleiman Frangieh, a former Lebanese president.
- William Walker (May 8, 1824 – September 12, 1860) was an American physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary who organized several private military expeditions into Latin America, with the intention of establishing English-speaking colonies under his personal control, an enterprise then known as "filibustering". Walker usurped the presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua in 1856 and ruled until 1857, when he was defeated by a coalition of Central American armies. He returned in an attempt to reestablish his control of the region and was captured and executed by the government of Honduras in 1860.More William Walker
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- Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov (Russian: Рамза́н Ахма́тович Кады́ров, IPA: [rɐˈmzan ɐxˈmatəvʲɪtɕ kɐˈdɨrəf]; Chechen: Къадар Ахьмат-кIант Рамзан Q̇adar Aẋmat-khant Ramzan; born 5 October 1976) is the Head of the Chechen Republic and a former member of the Chechen independence movement. He is the son of former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in May 2004. In February 2007, Kadyrov replaced Alu Alkhanov as President, shortly after he had turned 30, which is the minimum age for the post. He was engaged in violent power struggles with Chechen government warlords Sulim Yamadayev and Said-Magomed Kakiyev for overall military authority, and with Alkhanov for political authority. Ramzan Kadyrov is an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. He founded the Akhmat Fight Club and established an international annual freestyle wrestling tournament called the Ramzan Kadyrov & Adlan Varayev Cup. Since November 2015, he is a member of the Advisory Commission of the State Council of the Russian Federation.Over the years, he has come under criticism from international organisations for a wide array of human rights abuses under his watch, with Human Rights Watch calling the forced disappearances and torture so widespread they constituted crimes against humanity. During his tenure, he has advocated to restrict the public lives of women, and led a campaign of mass detention for those who are suspected to have engaged in homosexual behavior.
- Feng Yuxiang (traditional Chinese: 馮玉祥; simplified Chinese: 冯玉祥; pinyin: Féng Yùxiáng; Wade–Giles: Feng Yü-hsiang; IPA: [fə́ŋ ỳɕi̯ɑ́ŋ]; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948) was a warlord and leader in Republican China from Chaohu, Anhui. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928-30. He was also known as the Christian General for his zeal to convert his troops and the Betrayal General for his penchant to break with the establishment. In 1911 he was an officer in the ranks of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army but joined forces with revolutionaries against the Qing Dynasty. He rose to high rank within Wu Peifu's Zhili warlord faction but launched the Beijing coup in 1924 that knocked Zhili out of power and brought Sun Yat-sen to Beijing. He joined the Nationalist Party (KMT), supported the Northern Expedition and became blood brothers with Chiang Kai-shek, but resisted Chiang's consolidation of power in the Central Plains War and broke with him again in resisting Japanese incursions in 1933. He spent his later years supporting the Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang.
- Foday Saybana Sankoh (17 October 1937 – 29 July 2003) was the founder of the Sierra Leone rebel group Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which was supported by Charles Taylor-led NPFL in the 11-year-long Sierra Leone Civil War. Starting in 1991 and ending in 2002. An estimated 50,000 people were killed during the war, and over 500,000 people were displaced in neighbouring countries.
- Abdul-Halim Salamovich Sadulayev ( (listen) AHB-dool kə-LEEM sy-duu-LY-ev; Chechen: Сайд-Iелийн Абусаламин кІант Iабдул-Хьалим Sadulin Abusalamin-Kant Abdulhalim, Russian: Абдул-Халим Саламович Сайдулаев Abdul-Khalim Salamovich Saydulayev; 2 June 1966 – 17 June 2006) was the fourth President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Sadulayev served little more than a full year as President before being killed in a gun battle with FSB and pro-Russian Chechen forces. Sadulayev was the first Chechen rebel leader effectively attempting to unify the Islamic rebel forces outside Chechnya, as he had won pledges of loyalty not only from Chechen separatists, but also from Islamist groups seeking the overthrow of the Kremlin's authority across the North Caucasus; this formation became known as the Caucasian Front. He was also credited with persuading radical warlord Shamil Basayev not to carry out any major terrorist attacks since Beslan.
- Abdul Rashid Dostum ( (listen) AHB-dəl rə-SHEED dohs-TOOM; Dari: عبدالرشید دوستم, Uzbek Latin: Abdul Rashid Do‘stum, Uzbek Cyrillic: Абдул Рашид Дўстум; born March 25, 1954) is an Afghan politician and general in the Afghan National Army who has served as Vice President of Afghanistan since 2014. An ethnic Uzbek, he is a former communist general and warlord known for siding with winners during different wars in Afghanistan. He is the founder of the political party Junbish-e Milli (National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan). During the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s, Dostum was part of the Afghan National Army and the regional commander of the country's north, commanding about 20,000 mostly Uzbek soldiers participating in battles against mujahideen rebels. In 1992, he deserted the Mohammad Najibullah government shortly before its collapse, joining the mujahideen, forming his Junbish-e Milli party and militia and becoming an independent warlord. He subsequently became the de facto leader of Afghanistan's Uzbek community, controlling the country's northern provinces and Mazar-i-Sharif, effectively creating his own proto-state with an army of up to 40,000 men with tanks supplied by Uzbekistan and Russia and jets. He initially supported the new government of Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul but in 1994 switched sides and allied with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In 1995, he switched sides again and backed Rabbani. In 1997, he was forced to flee after his former aide Abdul Malik Pahlawan took Mazar-i-Sharif, before he fought back and regained control. In 1998, the city was overrun by the Taliban and he fled again. Dostum returned to Afghanistan in 2001 and joined the Northern Alliance after the US invasion, leading his faction in the Fall of Mazar-i-Sharif.After the fall of the Taliban, he joined Hamid Karzai's presidential administration but spent most of his time in Turkey. He also served as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Afghan Army, a role often viewed as ceremonial. From 2011, he was part of the leadership council of the National Front of Afghanistan along with Ahmad Zia Massoud and Mohammad Mohaqiq. In 2014, he joined Ashraf Ghani's presidential administration as a vice president, but was forced to flee again in 2017 after being accused of sexually assaulting a political rival. In 2018, he narrowly escaped a suicide bombing by ISIL-KP as he returned to Afghanistan at Kabul airport. In 2019, he escaped an hours-long attack by the Taliban on a convoy he was travelling in.
- Zhang Xueliang or Chang Hsueh-liang (later, Peter H. L. Chang) (3 June 1901 – 15 October 2001), nicknamed the "Young Marshal" (少帥), was the effective ruler of Northeast China and much of northern China after the assassination of his father, Zhang Zuolin (the "Old Marshal"), by the Japanese on 4 June 1928. He was an instigator of the 1936 Xi'an Incident, in which Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of China's ruling party, was arrested in order to force him to enter into a truce with the insurgent Chinese Communist Party and form a united front against Japan, which had occupied Manchuria. As a result, he spent over 50 years under house arrest, first in mainland China and then in Taiwan. He is regarded by the Chinese Communist Party as a patriotic hero for his role in the Xi'an Incident.
- Chen Jiongming (Chinese: 陳炯明; Wade–Giles: Ch’en Chiung-ming; 13 January 1878 – 22 September 1933), was a Hailufeng Hokkien revolutionary figure in the early period of the Republic of China.
- Duan Qirui (Chinese: 段祺瑞; pinyin: Duàn Qíruì; Wade–Giles: Tuan Ch'i-jui; IPA: [tu̯àn t͡ɕʰíɻu̯èi̯]) (6 March 1865 – 2 November 1936) was a Chinese warlord and politician, a commander of the Beiyang Army and the acting Chief Executive of the Republic of China (in Beijing) from 1924 to 1926. He was also the Premier of the Republic of China on four occasions between 1913 and 1918. He was arguably the most powerful man in China from 1916 to 1920.
- Samir Saleh Abdullah (Arabic: سامر صالح عبد الله; 14 April 1969 – 20 March 2002), more commonly known as Ibn al-Khattab or Emir Khattab (also transliterated as Amir Khattab and Ameer Khattab, meaning Commander Khattab, or Leader Khattab), was a Saudi Arabian-born militant who participated in the First Chechen War and the Second Chechen War.The origins and real identity of Khattab remained a mystery to most until after his death, when his brother gave an interview to the press. He died on 20 March 2002 following exposure to a poisoned letter delivered via a courier who had been recruited by Russia's Federal Security Service.
Feng Guozhang
Féng Guózhāng, (simplified Chinese: 冯国璋; traditional Chinese: 馮國璋; Wade–Giles: Feng Kuo-chang; courtesy: Huafu 華甫 or 華符) (January 7, 1859 – December 12, 1919) was a Chinese general and politician in early republican China. He held the office of Vice-President and then President of the Republic of China. He is considered the founder of the Zhili Clique of Warlords that vied for control of northern China during the chaotic Warlord era.Zhang Jinghui
Zhang Jinghui (Chang Ching-hui; simplified Chinese: 张景惠; traditional Chinese: 張景惠; pinyin: Zhāng Jǐnghuì; Wade–Giles: Chang1 Ching3-hui4; Hepburn: Chō Keikei); (1871 – 1 November 1959) was a Chinese general and politician during the Warlord era. He is noted for his role in the Japanese puppet regime of Manchukuo in which he served as its second and final Prime Minister.- Yan Xishan IPA: [jɛ̌n ɕǐʂán]; 8 October 1883 – 22 July 1960) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. He effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. As the leader of a relatively small, poor, remote province, he survived the machinations of Yuan Shikai, the Warlord Era, the Nationalist Era, the Japanese invasion of China and the subsequent civil war, being forced from office only when the Nationalist armies with which he was aligned had completely lost control of the Chinese mainland, isolating Shanxi from any source of economic or military supply. He has been viewed by Western biographers as a transitional figure who advocated using Western technology to protect Chinese traditions, while at the same time reforming older political, social and economic conditions in a way that paved the way for the radical changes that would occur after his rule.
- Liu Bei (pronunciation ; Mandarin pronunciation: [ljou pei]; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande, was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Despite early failings compared to his rivals and lacking both the material resources and social status they commanded, he gathered support among disheartened Han loyalists who opposed Cao Cao, the warlord who controlled the Han central government and the figurehead Emperor Xian, and led a popular movement to restore the Han dynasty through this support. Liu Bei overcame his many defeats to carve out his own realm, which at its peak spanned present-day Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Hunan, and parts of Hubei and Gansu. Culturally, due to the popularity of the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei is widely known as an ideal benevolent, humane ruler who cared for his people and selected good advisers for his government. His fictional counterpart in the novel was a salutary example of a ruler who adhered to the Confucian set of moral values, such as loyalty and compassion. Historically, Liu Bei, like many Han rulers, was greatly influenced by Laozi. He was a brilliant politician and leader whose skill was a remarkable demonstration of Legalism. Liu Bei's somewhat Confucian tendencies were also dramatized compared to his rival states' founders, Cao Pi and Sun Quan, who both ruled as pure Legalists. His political philosophy can best be described by the Chinese idiom "Confucian in appearance but Legalist in substance" (儒表法里; 儒表法裡; rú biǎo fǎ lǐ; ju2 piao3 fa3 li3), a style of governing which had become the norm after the founding of the Han dynasty.
Tang Jiyao
Tang Jiyao (simplified Chinese: 唐继尧; traditional Chinese: 唐繼堯; pinyin: Táng Jìyáo; Wade–Giles: T'ang Chi-yao) (August 14, 1883 – May 23, 1927) was a Chinese general and warlord of Yunnan during the Warlord Era of early Republican China. He was military governor of Yunnan from 1913-27.Cao Kun
General Cao Kun (simplified Chinese: 曹锟; traditional Chinese: 曹錕; pinyin: Cáo Kūn; Wade–Giles: Ts'ao K'un; Courtesy name: Zhongshan (仲珊)) (December 12, 1862 – May 15, 1938) was a Chinese warlord and politician, who served the President of the Republic of China from 1923 to 1924, as well as the military leader of the Zhili clique in the Beiyang Army; he also served as a trustee of the Catholic University of Peking.
Lu Rongting
Lu Rongting (simplified Chinese: 陆荣廷; traditional Chinese: 陸榮廷; pinyin: Lù Róngtíng; September 9, 1859 – November 6, 1928), also spelled as Lu Yung-ting and Lu Jung-t'ing, was a late Qing/early Republican military and political leader from Wuming, Guangxi. Lu belonged to the Zhuang ethnic group.Sun Chuanfang
Sun Chuanfang (simplified Chinese: 孙传芳; traditional Chinese: 孫傳芳; pinyin: Sūn Chuánfāng; Wade–Giles: Sun Ch'uan-fang) (April 17, 1885 – November 13, 1935) a.k.a. the "Nanking Warlord" or leader of the "League of Five Provinces" was a Zhili clique warlord and protégé of the "Jade Marshal" Wu Peifu (1874–1939).- Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (Persian/Pashto: برهان الدین رباني; b. 20 September 1940, d. 20 September 2011) was an Afghan politician who served as President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996 (de jure until 2001). After the Taliban government was toppled during Operation Enduring Freedom, Rabbani returned to Kabul and served as President from November to December 20, 2001, when Hamid Karzai was chosen at the Bonn International Conference on Afghanistan. Rabbani was also the leader of Jamiat-e Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Society of Afghanistan). He was one of the earliest founders and movement leaders of the Mujahideen in the early 1970s, right before the Soviet–Afghan War. He served as the political head of the Northern Alliance (or United Front), an alliance of various political groups who fought against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. His government was recognized by many countries, as well as the United Nations. He later became head of Afghanistan National Front (known in the media as United National Front), the largest political opposition to Hamid Karzai's government. On 20 September 2011, Rabbani was assassinated by a suicide bomber entering his home in Kabul. As suggested by the Afghan parliament, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai gave him the title of "Martyr of Peace". His son Salahuddin Rabbani was chosen in April 2012 to lead efforts to forge peace in Afghanistan with the Taliban.
General Butt Naked
Joshua Milton Blahyi (born September 30, 1971), often known by his nom de guerre General Butt Naked, is a former commander of forces under the wider control of Liberian warlord Roosevelt Johnson. Blahyi was known for his violence and atrocities during the First Liberian Civil War in the early 1990s. Once described as "the most evil man in the world", Blahyi said in 2008 that he killed at least 20,000 people and carried out regular human sacrifice and cannibalism of children.Blahyi has stated that he was originally a tribal priest. Since the war he has converted to Christianity and became a preacher.- Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti (Urdu: نواب اکبر شہباز خان بُگٹی;12 July 1927 – 26 August 2006) was the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch people who served as the Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan. He also became minister of state for defence in the cabinet of Feroz Khan Noon. Earlier, he has also served as the minister of state for interior.Bugti had strictly opposed education and development programmes in his area. He was a labelled as a cruel leader by many including people from his own tribe. Thousands of people from his tribe who raised their voice against his autocratic and absolute rule had been driven out of their homes and exiled. The areas which were under the control of Akbar Bugti remained some of the most poor in all of Pakistan and lacked any kind of infrastructure.He was involved in a struggle, at times armed, for greater autonomy for Balochistan. The government of Pakistan accused him of keeping a private militia and leading a guerrilla war against the state. On 26 August 2006, Bugti, was killed when his hide-out cave, located in Kohlu, about 150 miles east of Quetta, collapsed.
- Abdul Ali Mazari (Dari: عبدالعلی مزاری) (1947 – March 1995) was the political leader of the Hezb-e Wahdat party during and following the Soviet–Afghan War. Mazari was an ethnic Hazara, and believed the solution to the internal divisions in Afghanistan was in a federal system of governance, with each ethnic group having specific constitutional rights. After being murdered by the Taliban, he was posthumously given the title ‘Martyr Of National Unity’ in 2016.
- Brigadier Alberto Joaquim Vinama (died October 10, 1986), also known as Chendovava, served as the Chief of staff of the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola, the armed wing of UNITA, from January 1985 until his death in October 1986. He replaced Demosthenes Amos Chilingutila, demoted to Chief of Operations, who regained his office upon Vinama's death.
- Wijerd Jelckama was a Frisian military commander, warlord and member of the Arumer Zwarte Hoop. He was the lieutenant of Pier Gerlofs Donia and fought along his side against the Saxon and Hollandic invaders. Jelckama took Donia's place as freedom fighter after Donia died in 1520.
- File:Toyotomi Hideyoshi Kaou.svg Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉, March 17, 1537 – September 18, 1598) was a preeminent daimyō, warrior, general, samurai, and politician of the Sengoku period who is regarded as Japan's second "great unifier". He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. After his death, his young son Hideyori was displaced by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hideyoshi is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the restriction that only members of the samurai class could bear arms. He financed the construction, restoration and rebuilding of many temples standing today in Kyoto. He is also known for ordering the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598).
- Andrei Grigoriyevich Shkuro (Russian: Андрей Григорьевич Шкуро; Ukrainian: Андрій Григорович Шкуро) (19 January 1887 (O.S.: 7 January) – 17 January 1947) was a Lieutenant General (1919) of the White Army.
- Ustad Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf ( (listen) ahb-DOOL rə-SOOL sy-YAHF; Pashto: عبدالرب الرسول سیاف, born 1946, Paghman, Kabul Province, Afghanistan) is an Afghan politician and former mujahideen commander. He took part in the war against the PDPA government in the 1980s, leading the Afghan mujahideen faction Ittehad-al-Islami (Islamic Union). During the war, he had close relations with Saudi Arabia and he received support from Arab sources and mobilized Arab volunteers for the mujahideen forces. Sayyaf is said to have been the one who first invited Osama bin Laden to take refuge in Afghanistan (Jalalabad), after bin Laden's 1996 expulsion from Sudan by the otherwise sympathetic Sudanese régime under Saudi, Egyptian, and American pressure. He was a member of the Northern Alliance, despite his close relationship with Saudi Arabia that supported the opposing Taliban militia. In 2005, Sayyaf's Islamic Union was converted into a political party and he was elected as a member of the Afghan Parliament. He maintains political influence.
- Jorge Ornelas Isaac Sangumba (1944–1982) served as the Foreign Minister of UNITA during the Angolan War of Independence.Sangumba studied in the United States before joining the National Union of Angolan Students (UNEA) in the early 1960s. In 1965 he became UNEA's representative for external affairs, a precursor for his future appointment as UNITA's Foreign Minister in August 1969.Jonas Savimbi, leader of UNITA, allegedly ordered Sangumba's assassination along with several other potential rivals for leadership of UNITA during the Angolan Civil War.
- Fernando Wilson dos Santos (died 1991) served as the representative of UNITA, a rebel group in Angola, to Portugal. His brother-in-law, Tito Chingunji, served as Foreign Secretary of UNITA, the principal rebel group that fought against the dos Santos government in Angola's civil war.In the 1990s, UNITA Foreign Minister Tony da Costa Fernandes and UNITA Interior Minister General Miguel N'Zau Puna allegedly uncovered the fact that Jonas Savimbi ordered the assassinations of both dos Santos and Chingunji. Dos Santos and Chingunji's deaths and the defections of Fernandes and Puna weakened the UNITA's relationship with the United States and harmed Savimbi's international reputation. Savimbi denied the allegations.
- Baron Roman Fyodorovich Ungern-Sternberg (Born Nikolai Robert Maximilian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg; Russian: Рома́н Фёдорович У́нгерн-Ште́рнберг, tr. Román Fyodorovich Úngern-Shtérnberg; 10 January [O.S. 29 December] 1886 – 15 September 1921), better known as Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, was an Austrian-born, Russian Empire's Baltic German anti-Bolshevik lieutenant general in the Russian Civil War and then an independent warlord whose Asiatic Cavalry Division wrested control of Mongolia from the Republic of China in 1921 after its occupation. He was often referred to as Baron Ungern, or simply Ungern. Ungern was an arch-conservative monarchist who aspired to restore the Russian monarchy under Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia and to revive the Mongol Empire under the rule of the Bogd Khan. During the Russian Civil War, Ungern's attraction to Vajrayana Buddhism and his eccentric, often violent treatment of enemies and his own men earned him the sobriquet "the Mad Baron". In February 1921 he expelled Chinese troops from Mongolia and restored the monarchic power of the Bogd Khan. During his five-month occupation of Outer Mongolia, Ungern imposed order on the capital city, Ikh Khüree (now Ulaanbaatar), through fear, intimidation, and brutal violence against his opponents, particularly Bolshevik supporters. In June 1921 he went on to invade east Siberia in support of supposed anti-Bolshevik rebellions and to head off a Red Army-Mongolian partisan invasion; this action led to his defeat and capture two months later. He was taken prisoner by the Red Army and a month later put on trial for counterrevolution in Novonikolaevsk. After a six-hour trial he was found guilty, and on 15 September 1921 he was executed.
- Abdi Hasan Awale or Abdi Qeybdiid (Somali: Cabdi Xasan Cawaale (Qeybdiid), Arabic: عبدي حسن عوالي قيبديد) (Hawiye) was born in 1948 in Galkacyo, Somalia. He was elected on August 1, 2012, as the new president of Galmudug state, a semi-autonomous region in Somalia. In December 2006, he led an engagement on behalf of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), backed by a sizable contingent of Ethiopian troops, known as the Battle of Bandiradley. He is also the "tiger Abdi" of the July 12, 1993 Abdi House Raid, which presaged the First Battle of Mogadishu.
- Brigadier Demosthenes Amos Chilingutila served as the Chief of staff of the Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FALA), the armed wing of UNITA, from 1979 to January 1985 and again after October 1986.Jonas Savimbi, the leader of UNITA, demoted Chilingutila for UNITA's military failures in the 1970s to Chief of Operations in 1985. Alberto Joaquim Vinama succeeded Chilingutila until his death in a car accident in October 1986. Chilingutila then regained his office.
- Major Johnny Paul Koroma (born 9 May 1960; declared dead 1 June 2003) was the head of state of Sierra Leone from May 1997 to February 1998.
- Agim Çeku (born 29 October 1960) is a Kosovo Albanian politician, currently the Minister of Security Forces in Kosovo and formerly the Prime Minister. Of military background, he was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that fought against Serbian rule in 1998–1999, earlier being a commander in the Croatian War of Independence in Croatian Army. Çeku is an ethnic Albanian who served as an officer in the Croatian Army during the Croatian War of Independence and was military commander of the KLA during the 1998–1999 Kosovo War, and then commanded the Kosovo Protection Corps under the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.
- Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudayev (Chechen: Dudin Musa-khant Dƶoxar, Дудин Муса-кӀант Джохар; Russian: Джоха́р Муса́евич Дуда́ев; US pronunciation ; 15 February 1944 – 21 April 1996) was a Soviet Air Force general and Chechen leader, the first President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, a breakaway region in the North Caucasus, from 1991 to his death in 1996.
