National Leaders

Current Incumbents

Country	Post	Since		Name	Notes
Australia	Prime Minister	2022		Anthony Albanese	Brought to power by Labour's victory in the 2022 federal election
Canada	Prime Minister	2015		Justin Trudeau	Son of Pierre Trudeau; replaced former UK–based (but Canadian–born) journalist Michael Ignatieff as leader of the Liberal Party in 2013, and led them to victory in the election of September 2015
China	President	2013		Xi Jinping	Made a state visit to the UK in 2015, addressing both houses of Parliament
France	President	2017		Emmanuel Macron	France's youngest–ever president (aged 39 years and 144 days, on taking office)
	Prime Minister	2022		Élisabeth Borne	Second woman, after Édith Cresson (1991–2); appointed after the re–election of the President, and the resignation of Jean Castex "as is the tradition" ... to provide a "new impetus"
Germany	Chancellor	2021		Olaf Scholz	Elected after his Social Democratic Party won most seats in the federal election, in which Angela Merkel (Christian Democratic Union) didn't stand
Republic of Ireland	President	2011		Michael D. Higgins	First Irish president to make a state visit to the UK (April 2014)
	Taoiseach	2022		Leo Varadkar	Returned to replace Micheál Martin, according to an agreement made in 2020 on the formation of a coalition between Martin's Fianna Fáil party, Varadkar's Fine Gael, and the Green Party
Japan	Prime Minister	2021		Fumio Kishida	Succeeded Yoshihide Suga as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, and as Prime Minister five days later
New Zealand	Prime Minister	2023		Christopher Luxon	Appointed after his National Party inflicted a crushing defeat on Chris Hipkins's Labour
South Africa	President	2018		Cyril Ramaphosa	Former deputy to Jacob Zuma, took office following his resignation; previously played a crucial role in the dismantling of apartheid, and is said to have been Nelson Mandela's choice as a future president

Australia

The six self–governing colonies of Australia were federated in 1901 to form the Commonwealth of Australia.

1	1901–3		Sir Edmund Barton	Australia's first PM
12	1939–41 1949–66		(Sir) Robert Menzies	Australia's longest–serving PM: 2 years 124 days, plus 16 years 28 days – 18 years 152 days in total
17	1966–7		Harold Holt	Died in office – disappeared while swimming in the sea off Cheviot Beach, near Melbourne, in December 1967
21	1972–5		Gough Whitlam	Controversially dismissed by Governor General Sir John Kerr for failing to call a general election after a crisis of confidence
22	1975–83		Malcolm Fraser
23	1983–91		Bob Hawke	Won a record 4th general election in 1990; nicknamed "the Silver Bodgie"; died in 2019, aged 89
24	1991–6		Paul Keating	Successfully challenged Bob Hawke for leadership of the Labor Party, at the second attempt; nicknamed 'The Lizard of Oz' after putting his arm around the Queen during her 1992 tour of Australia
25	1996–2007		John Howard	Australia's second longest serving PM, after Menzies; accused of emulating Keating when photographed with his arm almost around the Queen – but denied that any contact was made
26	2007–10 Jun–Sep 2013		Kevin Rudd	Apologised to indigenous Australians, soon after being elected, for the "stolen generations" (children removed from their families between around 1905 and 1969)
27	2010–13		Julia Gillard	Australia's first female PM (born in Barry, Glamorgan in 1961; family moved to Adelaide in 1966 on account of her bronchopneumonia)
28	2013–15		Tony Abbott	Born in London 1957; British father, Australian mother; family moved to Sydney three years later
29	2015–18		Malcolm Turnbull	Successfully challenged Tony Abbott for the leadership of the Liberal Party in September 2015

Canada

1	1867–73		Sir John Macdonald
2	1873–8		Alexander Mackenzie
1	1878–91		Sir John Macdonald	Served for 12 years 232 days – plus 6 years 127 days in his first period – in total, just 6 days short of 19 years
6	May–Jul 1896		Sir Charles Tupper	Canada's shortest–serving PM (69 days)
8	1911–20		Sir Robert Borden	Canada's PM throughout World War I; elected in 1911 as a Conservative, re–elected in 1917 as a Unionist
9	1920–1		Arthur Meighen
10	1921–6		William Lyon Mackenzie King
9	Jun–Sep 1926		Arthur Meighen
10	1926–30		William Lyon Mackenzie King
11	1930–5		R. B. Bennett
10	1935–48		William Lyon Mackenzie King	Canada's longest–serving PM: 13 years 23 days, plus 4 years 181 days in his first period and 4 years 316 days in his second – total 22 years 155 days
12	1948–57		Louis St. Laurent
13	1957–63		John Diefenbaker	Nicknamed 'the Prairie Lawyer'; won the greatest landslide in Canadian history in 1958; defeated over nuclear policy
14	1963–8		Lester B. Pearson	Foreign Minister 1948–57; Nobel Peace Prize winner 1957; Toronto's airport is named after him
15	1968–79		Pierre Trudeau
16	1979–80		Joe Clark	Youngest Canadian PM (elected on the day before his 40th birthday); defeated 9 months later in a motion of no confidence on his first budget
15	1980–4		Pierre Trudeau
17	Jun–Sep 1984		John Turner	Dissolved Parliament immediately after being sworn in, then lost the election in a landslide
18	1984–93		Brian Mulroney
19	Jun–Nov 1993		Kim Campbell	Canada's first female PM – lost her seat in the disastrous 1993 election
20	1993–2003		Jean Chrétien
21	2003–6		Paul Martin
22	2006–15		Stephen Harper
23	2015–		Justin Trudeau	Son of Pierre Trudeau

China

China was ruled by an Emperor until 1912, when Henry Pu Yi (a.k.a. Puyi) abdicated and the Republic of China was established. This was replaced in 1945 by the (Communist) People's Republic of China, which was led by Mao Zedong until his death in 1976. Mao's official title was generally translated into English as Chairman (of the People's Republic of China). This post was abolished in 1975, after which the functions of head of state were performed by the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (but see Deng Xiaoping, below). The office of President was reinstated in 1982, but Deng continued to act as the effective head of state until his retirement in 1992. Since then, the President has been the effective head of state.

Founded the Chinese National People's Party, 1894; first (provisional) President of China – 1 Jan to 10 March 1912 – after playing a vital role in deposing the emperor; president of a breakaway government 1921–5; founder of Kuomintang		Sun Yat–sen
Emerged as the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, soon after its foundation in 1921; organised the Long March (1934–6) and the war of liberation (1937–49); Chairman of the People's Republic of China, 1954–9; Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, and as such the political and national leader of China, from 1945 until his death in 1976 (Mao died 8 months later)		Mao Zedong
First Premier of the People's Republic of China, from 1945 until his death in 1976: a close ally of Mao Zedong, an early member of the Chinese Communist Party (1920s), and instrumental in its rise to power		Zhou Enlai (Chou En–lai)
Effective leader of China, 1978–92: leader of a powerful group of senior Communist party figures, known as the Eight Elders; often referred to as "paramount leader", but was never General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party or President		Deng Xiaoping
President of China, 1993–2003 (General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 2002); saw the return of Hong Kong from UK rule in 1997, and Macao from Portugal in 1999		Jiang Zemin
President, 2003–13		Hu Jintao
President from 2013 – made a state visit to the UK in 2015, addressing both houses of Parliament		Xi Jinping

Egypt

Egypt was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. After the British successfully supported the Ottoman defeat of Napoleon's invasion of 1798–1801, power was seized in 1805 by Muhammad Ali Pasha, an Albanian military commander of the Ottoman army, who then declared himself Khedive (roughly equivalent to the term Viceroy). His hereditary successors continued to use this title, and in 1867 it was officially recognised by the Ottomans.

At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the Ottoman Empire took the side of the Central Powers. Britain then declared Egypt a protectorate, deposing Abbas II as khedive and appointing his uncle, Hussein Kamel, as sultan in his place (asserting his independence from the Ottoman sultans). In 1922 the UK government unilaterally declared Egypt independent, but retained control of foreign affairs, communications, and the military. In 1936 the UK agreed to withdraw all its troops from Egypt except those required to protect the Suez Canal. In 1952 there was a military coup, and in 1953 a Republic was declared, with General Muhammad Naguib as its first President. Naguib was overthrown less than 18 months later by Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was the real architect of the 1952 coup.

First President (1953) and again in 1954; ousted by Nasser		General Naguib
1956–70: prompted the 1956 Suez crisis by nationalising the canal (after Eisenhower withdrew US financial support for the building of the Aswan Dam, which in turn was a response to Egypt's support for China in its dispute with Taiwan)		Gamal Abdel Nasser
1970–81: assassinated by members of his own armed forces, during the annual victory parade held in Cairo to celebrate Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal in 1973 (which started the Yom Kippur War)		Anwar Sadat
1981–2011: stepped down amid mass protests; sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 on charges relating to corruption and abuse of power		Hosni Mubarak

France

Presidents

First President of France, 1848 (later Emperor)		Louis Napoleon
First President of the Third French Republic (1873–9); previously led the French troops to victory at the Battle of Magenta (1859), created Duke of Magenta by Napoleon. His ancestors had emigrated from Ireland in the reign of James II to escape the Penal Laws		Patrice de Mac–Mahon
President who fell from the Orient Express on 24 May 1920 – was unhurt, but resigned 4 months later and died in 1922		Paul Deschanel
Leader of the Free French forces in World War II; founded the Fifth Republic in 1958, and served as its first President (1959–69); survived 31 assassination attempts; twice vetoed the UK's application to join the EEC (under Macmillan in 1963 and Wilson in 1967) – on the first occasion famously speaking the single word "non" into the TV cameras, and on the second asserting that Britain was too reliant on the USA		Charles de Gaulle
Succeeded the above in 1969, died in office in 1974; in office when the UK joined the EEC (along with Denmark and the Republic of Ireland – 1 January 1973)		Georges Pompidou
1974–81: descended from Louis XV by one of his mistresses, and through her from Charlemagne		Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
1981–95: the longest serving president in French history		Francois Mitterand
1995–2007: previously Prime Minister, 1974–6 and 1986–8, and Mayor of Paris 1977–95.		Jacques Chirac
2007–2012: married Italian–French singer–songwriter Carla Bruni at the Élysée Palace, in 2008		Nicolas Sarkozy

Prime Ministers

Prime Minister, 1906–9 and 1917–20: represented France at the Paris (Versailles) Peace Conference in 1919, when he insisted on reparations, colonies, Alsace–Lorraine, and strict rules to prevent Germany from rearming; nicknamed Père la Victoire (Father Victory) or Le Tigre (The Tiger)		Georges Clemenceau
Shortest serving, under the Fifth Republic (5 months and 4 days); appointed in December 2016 following Manuel Valls's resignation, but voted out with Francois Hollande in May 2017		Bernard Cazeneuve
France's first woman prime minister (May 1991 to April 1992, under Mitterand)		Edith Cresson

Germany

First Chancellor of Germany (1871–90): as Prussian Foreign Minister in the 1860s, he engineered a series of wars that unified the German states (significantly and deliberately excluding Austria) into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership; forced to resign two years after the accession of Kaiser Wilhelm II		Otto von Bismarck
Controversial (anti–communist and by implication pro–fascist) first President of Germany, from 1919 until his death in 1925		Friedrich Ebert
German Chief of General Staff (army) 1916–19, came out of retirement following Ebert's death to become the second President of Germany in 1925; ran again (successfully) in 1932, as the only candidate who could defeat Hitler, but appointed him as Chancellor in January 1933; died in office in August 1934, after which Hitler abolished the post of President and appointed himself "Fuhrer"		Paul von Hindenburg
Succeeded Hitler on 1 May 1945		Admiral Karl Doenitz
Co–founder of the West German Christian Democratic Union, its first leader, and the first Chancellor of West Germany (1949–63): voted "the Greatest German of All Time" in a 2003 poll by the German television channel ZDF (Martin Luther came second, Karl Marx third)		Konrad Adenauer
Chancellor of West Germany, 1969–74		Willy Brandt
The last leader of East Germany, 1971–89; forced to resign by his party in October 1989, in an attempt to improve the public image of the government; fled to Russia, but was extradited back to Germany after unification; was tried for high treason and war crimes, but released suffering from cancer; died in exile in Chile, 1994		Erich Honecker
Chancellor of West Germany, 1974–82: died 2015 aged 97		Hemlut Schmidt
Chancellor of West Germany at the time of reunification (1990) – thus, the last chancellor of West Germany (1982–90) and the first chancellor of the re–united Germany (1990–98)		Helmut Kohl
Chancellor of Germany, 1998–2005 (Social Democrat, leading a coalition with the Greens)		Gerhard Schröder
Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000, and Chancellor from 2005: the first Chancellor of the reunited Germany to have been born in the East		Angela Merkel
Former Vice Chancellor (since 2018): succeeded the above in December 2021		Olaf Scholz

Republic of Ireland

Presidents

1	1938–45	First President of the Republic of Ireland		Douglas Hyde
3	1959–73	Founder of Fianna Fáil, after leaving Sinn Féin in 1926 due to its policy of abstentionism (standing for election but not taking up seats); previously President of the Executive Council (1932–37) and the first Taoiseach (1932–48, 1951–54, and 1957–59); often cited as the principal author of the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland		Eamon de Valera
4	1973–74	Son of a leading Irish republican and author, who was executed in 1922, during the Irish Civil War, by the authorities of the Irish Free State. Died of a heart attack, aged 68, 17 months after taking office		Erskine Childers
6	1976–90	Previously (1973–6) served as Ireland's first European Commissioner		Patrick Hillery
7	1990–97	Ireland's first female President; resigned two months before the end of her term to become UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a post she held until 2002		Mary Robinson
8	1997–2011	Born Belfast 1951; the first woman to succeed another woman as President of any country		Mary McAleese
9	2011–	First Irish president to make a state visit to the UK (April 2014)		Michael D. Higgins

Taoiseachs

Served as Taoiseach between de Valera's three terms (1948–51 and 1954–7)		John A. Costello
The Republic of Ireland's first openly gay government minister, and the first of Indian heritage; elected in June 2017 (following the retirement of Enda Kenny) as the youngest Taoiseach, and the first from a minority ethnic background; replaced in June 2020, on the formation of a coalition government, by Micheál Martin – becoming his deputy (Tánaiste)		Leo Varadkar

Israel

Israel has both a President and a Prime Minister. The President is largely a ceremonial figurehead role; executive power is effectively exercised by the prime minister.

First President of Israel (1949–52): previously instrumental (along with Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, among others) in the establishment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1918

Chaim Weizmann

First Prime Minister of Israel (1948–53)		David Ben Gurion
Fourth Prime Minister of Israel, 1977–83: the world's third female prime minister (after Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Indira Gandhi), and the first with no family connection to any predecessor		Golda Meir
Sixth Prime Minister of Israel, 1977–83: co–founder (with Ariel Sharon) of Likud – National Liberal Movement, in 1973; previously, in 1944, as leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, he proclaimed a revolt against the British mandate in Palestine and was declared a terrorist; signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, for which he and Anwar Sadat shared the Nobel Prize for Peace		Menachem Begin
Prime Minister 1996–9 and 2009 to date (2020); Israel's youngest prime minister (40 in 1996) and the first to have been born in Israel after the establishment of the state; retired from politics after defeat to Ehud Barak in 1999, but returned in 2002 to serve as Foreign Minister under Ariel Sharon; re–appointed as leader of Likud in 2005 after Sharon left to form a new party (Kadima); became prime minister of a coalition govermnent in 2009; re–elected for a seventh (sixth consecutive) term in 2020		Binyamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister 2001–6: resigned as head of Likud (the party he founded in 1973, along with Menachem Begin) in November 2005, and dissolved parliament to form a new centrist party called Kadima ("Forward"); suffered a stroke in January 2006, and remained in a permanent vegetative state until his death in January 2014 aged 85		Ariel Sharon
Replaced the above as de facto prime minister, following his stroke in January 2006; led Kadima (see above) to victory in the March 2006 election; officially declared Prime Minister in April 2006; resigned as Kadima leader in 2008 amid allegations of corruption, but remained as prime minister until April 2009 when Netyanyahu formed a new government (following a general election)		Ehud Olmert
President, 2007–14: previously Prime Minister for 60 days in 1977 (acting), 1984–6 and November 1995 to June 1996		Shimon Peres

Japan

Japan's longest–serving Prime Minister (total 8 years 9 months: exactly 12 months 2006–7, and December 2012 to September 2020)

Shinzo Abe

New Zealand

New Zealand was established as a colony in its own right in 1841. Previously it had been part of the colony of New South Wales. In 1856 it was granted "responsible government" – meaning that the government was responsible to Parliament rather than the monarch. From this point the Colonial Secretary (a post created in 1840) was regarded as the head of government.

In 1869 the title of Colonial Secretary was officially changed to Premier. It was in 1901, when New Zealand declared itself independent of the Federation of Australia, that Premier Richard Seddon began using the title Prime Minister; and since 1907, when New Zealand was granted the status of a Dominion within the British Empire, its head of government has been formally known as the Prime Minister.

1	7–20 May 1856		Henry Sewell	Colonial Secretary of New Zealand on the granting of "responsible government" – considered by some as the first Premier
2	May–June 1856 1861–2 1869–72 Mar–Apr 1873		William Fox	Served two brief terms as Colonial Secretary (20 May to 2 June 1856, and 12 July 1861 to 6 August 1862) and two as Premier (June 1969 to September 1872, and March–April 1873. Listed in Wikipedia as the first Premier
3	1856–61 1865–9		Edward Stafford	Colonial Secretary for a total of just under nine years between 1856 and 1869. In the other four years there were six different incumbents, including Sewell and Fox (twice).
15	1893–1906		Richard Seddon	Referred to himself as Prime Minister from 1901, when New Zealand declared itself independent of the Federation of Australia
16	Jun–Aug 1906		William Hall–Jones	Served for 46 days, after Seddon and before Ward
17	1906–12		Joseph Ward	Premier at the time when Dominion status was granted; first to be officially styled Prime Minister
23	1935–40		Michael Savage	New Zealand's first Labour PM. In office at the outbreak of World War II; died in office, from cancer
24	1940–49		Peter Fraser	PM for most of World War II
31	1975–84		Robert Muldoon	Controversially allowed the South African rugby team (the Springboks) to tour New Zealand in 1981. Wrote an article entitled Why we Stand by our Mother Country, justifying his support of the UK in the Falklands War, which was published in The Times. Lost the "schnapps election" in 1984 after he was described as "visibly drunk" when calling it
32	1984–89		David Lange	Established New Zealand as a "Nuclear Free Zone"
35	1990–97		Jim Bolger	Won the biggest ever majority in the New Zealand Parliament (67 seats to Labour's 29)
36	1997–99		Jenny Shipley	Ousted Bolger as leader of the National Party, to become New Zealand's first female PM
37	1999–2008		Helen Clark	New Zealand's second female PM, and the first to win an election
38	2008–16		John Key	Formerly Head of Foreign Exchange at Merrill Lynch (American investment bank, taken over in 2009); estimated to be worth NZ$50 million at time of election; resigned unexpectedly after 8 years in office, "to spend more time with his family"
39	2016–17		Bill English	Took office following the resignation of the above, but lost his majority and was unable to form a government after an election ten months later
40	2017–23		Jacinda Ardern	Elected at age 37 following Labour's general election victory over her predecessor's National Party; gave birth to a baby girl 8 months after taking office – becoming only the world's second elected head of government to give birth whilst in office (after Benazir Bhutto in 1990); resigned rather than seek a third term, stating "I know what this job takes and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice"
40	Jan–Nov 2023		Chris Hipkins	Elected unopposed as leader of the Labour party, following the surprise resignation of the above; lost the general election ten months later, when Labour lost 34 of its 65 seats (out of a total of 123)

South Africa

Became President of the Transvaal during the First Boer War (December 1880); went into self–imposed exile during the Second; died in Switzerland in 1904 and was buried in Pretoria. Has a coin and a National Park named after him		Paul Kruger
First Prime Minister of South Africa (1910–19)		Louis Botha
Prime Minister 1919–24 and 1939–48; fought for the Boers in the Boer War, later worked for Anglo–Boer reconciliation, and served the Allies during both world wars		Jan Christian Smuts
Prime Minister 1966–78; instrumental in the Internal Agreement in Rhodesia between Ian Smith and African nationalist leaders, signed in March 1978, which led to international recognition for Zimbabwe Rhodesia and the lifting of sanctions; but resigned sonn afterwards in the wake of the Muldergate scandal		B. J. (John) Vorster
South Africa's last Prime Minister (1978–84), and first President (1984–9) after the 1983 constitution merged the two roles		P. W. Botha
President of South Africa 1989–94: engineered the end of apartheid		F. W. de Klerk
Succeeded Nelson Mandela as President in 1999; resigned in 2008 after being criticised for interfering in the prosecution of his former deputy (see below) for corruption		Thabo Mbeki
Former vice–president to the above: served as President himself from 2009 to 2018, but resigned in the face of allegations of corruption		Jacob Zuma

Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, power lay in theory with the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which succeeded the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Congress of Soviets in 1938. The chairman of either of these bodies was therefore regarded as the head of state.

The head of Government in the Soviet Union, also known as the Premier, was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (known until 1946 as the Council of People's Commisars). The Council of Ministers was dissolved in 1991 and the post of Prime Minister was created, but by this time the Soviet Union had effectively become an irrelevance. 

Founding fathers

Effectively established the Soviet Union in 1922; previously leader of the Social Democratic Labour Party through the Russian Revolution; went into semi–retirement in May 1922, after suffering a stroke while recovering from surgery to remove a bullet that had lodged in his neck as a result of a failed assassination attempt in August 1918; suffered a second stroke in December 1922, and a third in March 1923, leaving him completely incapacitated; but remained officially leader of the Communist Party until his death in January 1924		Vladimir Lenin
The Soviet Union's first head of state (1922–46): Chairman of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Congress of Soviets (1922–38), and of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1938–46)		Mikhail Kalinin

Party Secretary

For most of its existence however, the most powerful office in the Soviet Union – and the one whose incumbent we should probably refer to as 'Soviet Leader' seems to have been General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee – a.k.a. Party Secretary. This is the post that Joseph Stalin held, from the foundation of the Soviet Union in 1922 until just prior to his death in 1953.

Responsible Secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party, 1921–2		Vyacheslav Molotov
Appointed General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party by Lenin, in April 1922; succeeded in the power struggle that followed Lenin's death to become head of government, despite Lenin's recommendation (in 'Lenin's Testament', 1923) that he should be dismissed; Chairman of the Council from 1941 (renaming it the Council of Ministers in 1946); led the Soviet Union through World War II (known there as the Great Patriotic War); died in March 1953 of a stroke		Josef Stalin
Party Secretary 1954–63, Premier 1958–64; denounced Stalin 1956; personal feud with Mao led to a breach in soviet relations with China 1960; took off his shoe and banged it on the desk in the UN General Assembly, 1960, to demonstrate his anger over accusations (by a Filipino delegate) of Soviet hypocrisy in condemning imperialism while depriving the people of Eastern Europe of their civil rights; led the Soviet Union through the Cuban missile crisis (October 1962), but was compelled to resign in its aftermath (1964)		Nikita Khrushchev
Chairman of the Presidium, 1960–64 and 1977–82: succeeded Kruschev as Party Secretary, 1964; died in office in 1982		Leonid Brezhnev
Party Secretary from November 1982; elected Chairman of the Presidium June 1983; died February 1984		Yuri Andropov
Appointed Party Secretary and Chairman of the Presidium in February 1984, following the death of Andropov; died in office March 1985		Konstantin Chernenko
Party Secretary 1985–91; Chairman of the Presidium, Oct 1988 (following Gromyko's resignation) to May 1989; Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, May 1989 to March 1990; President of the Soviet Union, March 1990 to December 1991; resigned on Christmas Day 1991; the Soviet Union was formally dissolved next day, Yeltsin becoming President of Russia		Mikhail Gorbachev

In 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies (created in 1989 as part of Gorbachev's reform agenda) voted effectively to strip the Communist Party of its position of supreme power in the Soviet Union, and the powers of the General Secretary were drastically curtailed. For the rest of his tenure, Gorbachev ruled as President of the Soviet Union.

Chairman of the Council (head of government, a.k.a Premier)

Premier 1930–41 (replaced by Stalin), Foreign Minister 1939–49 and 1953–6, First Deputy Premier 1942–57: sacked in 1957 after failing in an attempt to remove Khrushchev as Party Secretary		Vyacheslav Molotov
Succeeded Stalin as Premier in 1953; sacked by Khrushchev (Party Secretary) in 1955		Georgi Malenkov
Premier, 1955–8; initially an ally of Khrushchev, who arranged his dismissal in favour of himself after he began to question Krushchev's policies		Nikolay Bulganin
Succeeded Khrushchev as Premier in 1964: resigned in October 1980 due to ill health, and died two months later		Alexei Kosygin

Other

Albania	Head of state 1944–85 (Prime Minister 1944–54, First Secretary from 1941 – following the abolition of the monarchy and the deposition of King Zog, but not immediately): noted for his proclaimed firm adherence to anti–revisionist Marxism–Leninism from the mid–1970s onwards		Enver Hoxha
Afghanistan	President of Afghanistan, 2001–14 (Acting President 2001–2); controversially re–elected in 2009		Hamid Karzai
Argentina	"Los descamidos" (the shirtless) was a term, originally derogatory but later used with pride, for the followers of		Juan Peron
	Juan Peron's third wife – became the world's first woman president, and South America's youngest head of state, on his death in 1974		Isabel (Maria Estela) Peron
	Leader of the Argentine junta, who ordered the Falklands invasion 1982; removed from power within days of the British victory while democracy was restored		Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri
	President of Argentina 1989–99, under whom diplomatic relations with the UK were re–established		Carlos Menem
	President of Argentina, 2007–15; wife of the previous president (given name Nestor) who died in 2010		Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
Austria	President of Austria, 1986–92: former United Nations Secretary–General (1972–81); did not seek re–election following revelations about his activities as a Nazi intelligence officer in World War II; died 2007 aged 88		Kurt Waldheim
Bangladesh	The founding father of Bangladesh: 1st and 4th President (1971–2 and 1975), and Prime Minister in between; assassinated in office during a military coup		Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Botswana	Last prime minister of Bechuanaland (1965), and first president (from 1966 until his death in 1980) of Botswana; studied law in London, and renounced chieftainship of the Bamangwato tribe in 1956 after marrying an English woman (Ruth Williams)		Sir Seretse Karma
Brazil	Brazilian President who committed suicide in 1954		Getulio Dornelles Vargas
	Brazil's first female President, 2011–16: impeached and removed from office in 2016, found guilty of breaking budgetary laws (moving funds between government budgets, in an attempt to plug deficit holes in popular social programmes to boost her chances of re–election in 2014)		Dilma Rousseff
Cambodia	Ruler of Cambodia, overthrown in 1970 in a military coup; restored to the throne in 1991, abdicated owing to ill health in 2004		Prince Sihanouk
	Tyrannical leader of the Communist Khmer Rouge, 1970s reign of terror in Cambodia, taking power in 1975 when his forces captured Phnom Penh. Fled to the jungle following a Vietnamese invasion and the collapse of his government in 1979; died in 1998 while under house arrest by a faction of the Khmer Rouge. Real name Saloth Sar		Pol Pot
Central African Republic	Self–proclaimed President of the Central African Republic, 1966–76, and Emperor of the Central African Empire until overthrown in 1979		Jean–Bedel Bokassa
Chile	Liberator and first President of Chile (1817) – of mixed Irish and Basque descent		Bernardo O'Higgins
	President of Chile, 1970–3: the world's first democratically elected Marxist head of state; assassinated in a CIA–backed coup led by the following		Salvador Allende
	Became President of Chile 1973 after overthrowing the above in a CIA–backed coup; voted out in a general election in 1989. Died in Santiago in 2006, aged 91, with charges relating to human rights abuses, tax evasion (etc.) pending		Augusto Pinochet (Ugarte)
Cuba	Dictator of Cuba, 1933–44 and 1952–9, overthrown by the following in 1959		Fulgencio Batista
	Had a trial as a pitcher for New York Giants		Fidel Castro
	Wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 (aged 12 or 14), congratulating him on his re–election and asking him to enclose a ten–dollar bill in his reply (because he'd never seen one)
	Allegedly (according to a Channel 4 documentary in 2006) the target of 638 assassination attempts (or planned attempts) by the CIA, including an exploding cigar
	As Vice–President (to his brother), succeeded in a temporary capacity in 2006 due to his brother's ill health; the appointment was made permanent in 2008 after the brother announced that he would not be standing for re–election; didn't seek re–election in 2018, and was succeeded by Miguel Díaz–Canel		Raúl Castro
Cyprus	First president of the Republic of Cyprus, from independence in 1960 until his sudden death in 1977 (with a 5–month break following the Greek invasion of July 1974 – restored in December 1974 after the collapse of the Greek junta ); exiled to the Seychelles by the British colonial government, 1956–9		(Archbishop) Makarios III
Czechoslovakia	Founder and first president (1918–35) of Czechoslovakia		Tomas Masaryk
	Czech Communist Party Secretary, January 1968 to April 1969, whose reforms (the 'Prague Spring') prompted the Soviet invasion of 1968		Alexander Dubcek
DR Congo	First prime minister of the independent DR Congo: democratically elected in 1960, deposed after only six weeks, and executed by firing squad in 1961		Patrice Lumumba
	President of DR Congo from 1965 to 1971, and Zaire from 1971 to 1997: notorious for corruption, nepotism, and the embezzlement of between US$4 billion and $15 billion during his rule		Mobutu Sese Seko
Falkland Islands	Governor of the Falklands in 1982 (at the time of the Argentine invasion)		(Sir) Rex Hunt
Finland	Finland's youngest ever Prime Minister, taking office in 2019 aged 34 years 24 days: cleared of misconduct (by an official inquiry) in November 2022, after a leaked video showing her dancing exuberantly and drinking with friends and celebrities made headlines around the world		Sanna Marin
Georgia	President of Georgia, 1995–2003 (previously Chairman of Parliament, 1992–5, and Soviet Foreign Minister 1985–91); deposed by the so–called Rose Revolution		Eduard Shevardnadze
Ghana	First Prime Minister of Ghana, following independence in 1957; overthrown in 1966 by a military coup		Kwame Nkrumah
	Head of State from June to September 1979 (following a coup that he led), and 1981–93; President 1993–2001		Jerry Rawlings
Grenada	Self–appointed Prime Minister of Grenada, 1979–83; his deposition and assassination (by firing squad) in 1983 led to the controversial US invasion		Maurice Bishop
Haiti	Former slave, led a revolt against the French 1791, proclaimed King of Haiti 1811		Henri Christophe
	Dictator of Haiti until his death in 1971 – nicknamed Papa Doc		Francois Duvalier
	President of Haiti 1971–86, nicknamed Baby Doc – son of Papa Doc		Jean Claude Duvalier
	President of Haiti, 1991, 1994–6, 2001–4; Haiti's first democratically elected leader (Feb 1991); deposed by a military coup (Sep 1991); restored to power by a US invasion, 1994; overthrown again February 2004		Jean–Bertrand Aristide
Hungary	Prime Minister of Hungary, 1953–5 and for 11 days in Oct–Nov 1956; took Hungary out of the Warsaw Pact, 1 Nov 1956; brought down by the Soviet invasion 3 days later, executed in 1958		Imre Nagy
	Controversial Prime Minister of Hungary from 2010 (also 1998–2002): accused of transforming, while in office, from a liberal into an authoritarian leader, presiding over a drift to the right		Viktor Orbán orban
India	First Prime Minister of India, 1947–64		Jawaharlal (Pandit) Nehru
	India's second Prime Minister: died in office aged 63; the Test cricket ground in Hyderabad is named after him		Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri
	India's third Prime Minister (1966–77), and daughter of the first: the world's second female head of government, after Sirimavo Bandaranaike		Indira Gandhi
	Founded the Janata Party in 1977, in opposition to the Indian National Congress; India's fourth Prime Minister (1977–9)		Morarji Desai
Indonesia	First president of Indonesia, 1945–67; collaborated with the Japanese during World War II		Achmed Sukarno
	Ousted Sukarno as president of Indonesia in 1967; re–elected five times, but forced to stand down in 1998		Radem Suharto
Iran	President of Iran, 2005–13: criticized for his hostility towards Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UK, the USA, and other Western and Arab states		Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Italy	First prime minister of Italy (March–June 1861): formerly (1860–1) prime minister of Piedmont–Sardinia, in which role he had ceded Savoy and Nice to Napoleon's France, in exchange for Tuscany and Emilia, which set Garibaldi (who was bon in Nice) against him		Cavour (Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour)
	Expelled from the Italian Socialist Party in 1914 for advocating military involvement in WWI (while working as a journalist in the Socialist press); founded a Fascist organisation in Milan in 1914, which became the National Fascist Party in 1921 when it was invited to join the coalition government; invited to form a government in 1922 by King Victor Emmanuel, becoming Italy's youngest ever Prime Minister; declared himself dictator in 1925, taking the title Il Duce ('the Leader')		Benito Mussolini
	Survived an assassination attempt by Violet Gibson, daughter of the former Lord Chancellor of Ireland, in 1926 (was shot in the nose, and only slightly wounded)
	Prime Minister of Italy, 1994–5, 2001–6, 2008–11; convicted in 2013, but acquitted in 2014 on appeal, of paying 17–year–old Moroccan belly dancer Karima El Mahroug, (a.k.a. Ruby Rubacuori – Italian for 'Ruby the Heartstealer') for sexual services in 2010; she told prosecutors that he would hold parties where he and as many as 20 women would perform an African–style ritual known as "bunga bunga", in the nude		Silvio Berlusconi
	Prime Minister of Italy, 1996–8 and 2006–8: considered the founder of the Italian centre–left, and often nicknamed Il Professore (The Professor) due to his academic career		Romano Prodi
Jamaica	Founder of the People's National Party of Jamaica; Prime Minister 1959–62; Kingston airport is named after him		Norman Manley
	Charismatic son of the above: Prime Minister of Jamaica, 1972–80 and 1989–92		Michael Manley
Japan	Born on Christmas Day 1926; became a God on 10 Nov 1928, but became mortal again in 1946; died of cancer in 1989, aged 62		Hirohito
	Japan's youngest post–war prime minister, and the first to be born after World War II; elected in 2006, but resigned exactly one year later; returned to office in 2012 after regaining the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party		Shinzo Abe
Kenya	Leader of Kenya's fight for independence, its first Prime Minister following independence in 1963, and President from 1964 until his death in 1978; Nairobi airport is named after him		Jomo Kenyatta
Liberia	Former professional footballer (FIFA World Player of the Year in 1995): elected President of Liberia (in a second round of voting) on 26 December 2017, taking office on 22 January 2018		George Weah
Libya	1969–2011: unofficially known as 'Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution' (he claimed to be merely a symbolic figurehead of the country's official governance structure); published his political philosophy in 1975, in 'the Green Book' – in imitation of Mao Zedong's Little Red Book		Muammar Gaddafi
Luxembourg	Prime Minister of Luxembourg, 1995–2013; also President of the European Commission, 2014–19		Jean–Claude Juncker
Malawi	De facto prime minister of Nyasaland from 1961, officially from 1963; led the country to independence as Malawi in 1964, and made himself President for life in 1971. His one–party state was ended by a referendum in 1993, his life–term presidency was ended and he was stripped of most of his powers		Hastings Banda
Malaysia	First Prime Minister of Malaya (1957–63) and Malaysia (1963–70)		Tunku Abdul Rahman
Malta	Prime Minister of Malta, 1955–8 and 1971–81; as Foreign Minister, led negotiations with the British government over the closure of the British military base on the island, 1971–2 (the closure actually took place in 1979)		Dom Mintoff
Netherlands	Prime Minister of the Netherlands, 1994–2002: a former trade union leader, noted for his 'third way' policies and his success in leading 'purple' coalitions (not to mention his funny name)		Willem 'Wim' Kok
Nicaragua	President of Nicaragua, 1967–72 and 1974–9: overthrown by the Sandinistas in 1979 and assassinated in Paraguay in 1980		Anastasio Somoza (Debayle)
	Left–wing President of Nicaragua, 1985–90 and 2007–(17); previously one of the leaders of the Sandanista National Liberation Front (in opposition to Somoza)		Daniel Ortega
Nigeria	Led Nigeria through the civil war with Biafra (1966–70)		General Yakubu Gowon
	President of Nigeria, 2010–15		Goodluck Jonathan
North Korea	Dictator of North Korea, from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994		Kim Il–sung
	Son of Kim Il–sung: succeeded him in 1994 as supreme leader of North Korea, ruling until his death in 2011		Kim Jong–il
	Son of Kim Jong–il: succeeded him in 2011 as supreme leader of North Korea		Kim Jong–un
Northern Ireland	Last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (1971–2)		Bryan Faulkner
Norway	Puppet prime minister of Norway under Nazi occupation; shot as a traitor in 1945		Vidkun Quisling
	Prime Minister of Norway, 2000–1 and 2005–13: appointed Secretary General of NATO in 2014		Jens Stoltenberg
Pakistan	Led the All India Muslim League, prior to partition; founded Pakistan and served as its first Governor General (1947–8)		Muhammad (sic) Ali Jinnah
	Founder of the Pakistan People's Party; 4th President of Pakistan 1971–3, Prime Minister 1973–9; hanged in 1979 after being found guilty of conspiring to murder a political opponent		Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
	6th President of Pakistan, 1978–88, after declaring martial law in 1977; had the 4th President (see above) hanged in 1979; died (assassinated) in a plane crash in August 1988		Muhammad Zia Ul–Haq
	Prime Minister of Pakistan, 1988–90 and 1993–6: daughter of a previous president and prime minister hanged in 1979 (see above); the first woman to head a nation with a Muslim majority, and the only one to do so twice; assassinated in 2007 in a suicide bombing		Benazir Bhutto
	The first elected head of government to give birth whilst in office (1990)
	Took power in Pakistan in 1999, in a non–violent military coup; authority validated by the Supreme Court, 2000; resigned in 2008 under threat of impeachment on charges of corruption		Pervez Musharraf
	Oxford graduate and former Test cricketer: founded the Pakistan Movement for Justice in 1996, and became Prime Minister in 2018; removed from office through a no-confidence motion in April 2022; arrested in May 2023 on corruption charges, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment in August 2023		Imran Khan
Panama	Dictator of Panama, 1983–9: removed from power by US forces (in Operation Just Cause), convicted on drugs charges in the USA; released from prison in 2007, and convicted of money laundering in France in 2010. Nicknamed "Pineapple Face" by his unwilling subjects		Manuel Noriega
Paraguay	President of Paraguay, 1954–89; died in 2006		Alfredo Stroessner
Peru	President of Peru, 1990–2000: born in Lima of Japanese parents (in 1938); his government is credited with defeating the Shining Path insurgency and restoring macroeconomic stability, but he fled to Japan in 2000 amid a major scandal involving corruption and human rights violations		Alberto Fujimori
Philippines	President of the Philippines, 1965–86; declared martial law in 1972; ousted by a revolution after being accused of involvement in the murder of his opponent Benigno Aquino		Ferdinand Marcos
	President of the Philippines, 1986–92 – widow of Marcos's opponent, in whose assassination he (Marcos) was accused of being involved		Corazon Aquino
	16th President, elected in 2016 after promising to reduce crime by killing tens of thousands of criminals		Rodrigo Duterte
Poland	Concert pianist who served as Poland's third Prime Minister, also Foreign Minister (Jan–Dec 1919); represented Poland at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference		Ignacy Jan Paderewski
	Head of the Polish government in exile in England, killed in a plane crash in 1943		General Wladyslaw Sikorski
	The last Communist leader of Poland (1981–90)		Wojciech Jaruzelski
	President of Poland, 1990–5; Nobel peace laureate 1983		Lech Wałęsa (Walesa)
	President of Poland 2005–10: killed along with many other national figures in a plane crash in April 2010 (his twin brother Jaroslaw was Prime Minister 2006–7)		Lech Kaczyński
	Former Solidarity activist: Prime Minister of Poland 2007–14; elected as President of the European Council in 2014, and re–elected in 2017		Donald Tusk
Portugal	Dictator of Portugal, from 1932 until his retirement in 1968; established the Estado Novo (or Second Republic), which survived until 1974		Antonio de Oliveira Salazar
	Replaced Salazar as prime minister (dictator) of Portugal, in 1968; overthrown in the Carnation Revolution of 1974		Dr. Marcello Caetano
	Three times Prime Minister of Portugal, 1976–86, and President 1986–96		Mario Soares
	Prime Minister of Portugal, 1995–2002; UN Secretary General from 2017		António Guterres
Rhodesia	Prime Minister of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, 1956 to 1964		Sir Roy Wolensky
	Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia 1964–5, and Rhodesia 1965–79 (following his unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) on 11 Nov 1965)		Ian Smith
Romania	Dictator of Romania 1965–89, executed with his wife Elena on Christmas Day 1989		Nicolae Ceaucescu
Russia	President of the Russian Federation, from its formation in 1991 – the first democratically elected head of state in Russia's history; resigned on 31 December 1999		Boris Yeltsin
	Appointed Prime Minister of the Russian Federation by Yeltsin, August 1999; became acting President on Yeltsin's resignation, on 31 December 1999, and was duly elected in March 2000; obliged to step down in 2008 after two terms in office; returned in 2012 for a six–year term		Vladimir Putin
	Elected in 2008 to succeed Vladimir Putin as President; stepped down in 2012, after one four–year term, to allow Putin to return		Dmitry Medvedev
Singapore	First prime minister of the Republic of Singapore (1959–90)		Lee Kwan Yew
Spain	President of Spain, 1939–73: full name Francisco Franco Bahamonde (in the Spanish fashion, he took the surnames of both his father and his mother)		Francisco Franco
	The longest serving, freely elected Prime Minister of Spain (until at least 2031): in office 1982–96		Felipe Gonzales
Sri Lanka	Fourth prime minister of Ceylon (1956–9) – assassinated by a Buddhist monk		Solomon Bandaranaike
	Widow of the above: the world's first woman prime minister (Ceylon 1960–5, Sri Lanka 1970–7 and 1994–2000)		Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Tanzania	First president of Tanzania (1964–85); also president of Tanganyika, 1962–4		Julius Nyerere
Syria	President of Syria from 2000 (son of the previous president, in office from 1971): implicated in war crimes by a UN report in 2014, after his crackdown on Arab Spring protesters led to civil war		Bashar al–Assad
Turkey	First president of the Turkish Republic (1923) – name adopted by Mustafa Kemal Pasha		Kemal Ataturk
	Elected in 2014 as the president of Turkey, in its first ever popular vote for head of state		Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Uganda	President of Uganda, 1966–71: deposed by Idi Amin in 1971; returned to office in 1980 following Amin's overthrow by Tanzanian forces in 1979; deposed again in 1985 in an army coup; died in exile in South Africa, 2005		Milton Obote
	President of Uganda 1971–9, self–styled 'Conqueror of the British Empire'; subject of the book and film The Last King of Scotland		Idi Amin
Ukraine	Became president of the Ukraine in January 2005 after a second vote (the first was widely believed to have been fixed by the authorities in favour of his opponent Viktor Yanukovych, resulting in the so–called Orange Revolution)		Viktor Yuschenko
Venezuela	Socialist president of Venezuela, from 1999 until his death in 2013 (from a heart attack, after suffering from cancer for several years): lost power for two days in 2002 following an attempted military coup		Hugo Chávez Chavez
	Controversial President of Venezuela, elected in 2013 following the death of the above, under whom he had been foreign minister and briefly vice president; a former bus driver and trade union leader		Nicolás Maduro
Vietnam	President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), from 1945 until his death in 1969; also Prime Minister, 1946–55		Ho Chi Minh
Yugoslavia	Leader of Yugoslavia, from 1944 until his death in 1980 (Prime Minister 1944–63, President from 1953); the first Communist head of state to visit Britain (1953)		Josip Broz Tito
	President of Serbia, 1989–97, and of Yugoslavia 1997–2000; resigned 2000, arrested (surrendered to Serbian special police) 2001, died in 2006 in custody in The Hague, while on trial for alleged war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo		Slobodan Milosevic
	Defeated Milosevic in the Yugoslavian Presidential election, 2000		Wojislaw Kostunica
Zambia	First President of Zambia, from independence in 1964 until 1991, when he was ousted by the first multi–party elections		Kenneth Kaunda
Zimbabwe	Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1978–9), under the Internal Settlement with Ian Smith		Bishop Abel Muzorewa
	Became the first Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (1979–80), after leading his UANC party to victory in the 1979 election (the first in which black people had been entitled to vote)
	Defeated by Robert Mugabe's ZANU–PF party in the 1980 election
	Methodist minister, first President of Zimbabwe (1980–7); replaced by Robert Mugabe as Executive President in 1987, after the position of Prime Minister was abolished		Canaan Banana
	Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, 1980–7; assumed the new office of Executive President in 1987, after the position of Prime Minister was abolished		Robert Mugabe
	Long–term ally of Mugabe, succeeded him as president after his enforced resignation in November 2017		Emmerson Mnangagwa

Countries

In this section, you are given some details of a national leader and you have to say which country they served.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika (BOO–tef–leeka) resigned in April 2019, in the face of widespread public protests, after almost 20 years as president of		Algeria
Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 for bringing to an end a 50–year civil war in ... the country of which he was President from 2010 to 2018		Colombia
Islam Karimov, who died in 2016 after suffering a stroke, was the first President of		Kazakhstan
Askar Akayev, removed from power in 2005 by the so–called Tulip Revolution, was the first President of		Kyrgyzstan
Commonwealth country, governed from 1876 to 1891 (with three breaks) by the so–called Continuous Ministry – led by Sir Harry Atkinson, who himself served four separate terms as Prime Minister		New Zealand
Kjell Magne Bondevik took three weeks off in 1999, while suffering from depression, as Prime Minister of		Norway
Paul Kagame has been President, since 2000 (to date) of		Rwanda
Cipriano Castro was President, from 1899 to 1908, of		Venezuela

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23