Greatest Leader of Each of the Following Countries of All Time

[Peter the Lefty]

US:
China:
Russia:
India:
UK:
France:
Germany:
Italy:
Spain:
Portugal:
Austria:
Norway:
Sweden:
Denmark:
Iceland:
Finland:
Greece:
Turkey:
Poland:
Czech Republic:
Romania:
Slovakia:
Egypt:
Israel:
Iran:
South Africa: (duh)
Japan:
(South) Korea:
Indonesia:
Australia:
New Zealand:
Mexico:
Argentina:
Brazil:
Chile:
Colombia:

Feel free to add any to the list, or leave some of these out.  It's flexible.

[PiMp DaDdy FitzGerald]

US: FDR
China: Sun Yat Sen
Russia: Yeltsin
UK: Churchill
India: Nehru
UK: still Churchill
France: de Gaulle
Germany: Adenauer
Italy: Cavour
Spain: Zapatero
Portugal: Henry the Navigator
Austria: Maria Theresa
Norway: Bernadotte
Sweden: Bernadotte
Denmark: Frederick VI
Iceland: Sigurðardóttir
Finland: Mannerheim
Greece: Venizelos
Turkey: Ataturk
Poland: Walesa
Czech Republic: Havel
Romania: Ferdinand I
Slovakia: Meciar
Egypt: Muhammad Ali
Israel: ben Gurion
Iran: Ismail I
South Africa: (duh) Mandela
Pakistan: lol
Japan: Meiji
(South) Korea: Rhee
Indonesia: Sukarto
Australia: Barton
New Zealand: no clue
Mexico: Cardenas
Argentina: Kirchener
Brazil: Lula
Chile: Martin
Colombia: Bolivar

[Peter the Lefty]

I'll start.

US: Abraham Lincoln
China: Sun Yat-sen
Russia: Mikhail Gorbachev
India: Jawaharlal Nehru
UK: Clement Attlee
France: Leon Blum
Germany: Willy Brandt
Italy: Romano Prodi
Spain: Felipe Gonzales
Portugal: Mario Soares
Austria: Bruno Kreisky
Norway: Einar Gerhardsen
Sweden: Olof Palme
Denmark: Hans Christian Hensen
Iceland: Johanna Siggurdattotir
Finland: Kalevi Sorsa
Greece: Andreas Papandreou
Turkey: Ecevit
Poland: Ignacy Daszynski
Czech Republic: Vladimir Spidla
Romania: Nicolae Vacariou
Egypt: Nasser
Israel: Rabin
Iran: Mossadegh
South Africa: (duh) Nelson Mandela
Japan: Tetsu Katayama
(South) Korea: Kim Dae-Jung
Australia: Gough Whitlam
New Zealand: Savage
Mexico: Alvaro Obregon
Brazil: Lula
Chile: Salvador Allende
Colombia: Bolivar

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

Pakistan -

Not that there are a lot of good options to pick from, but Jinnah, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and then Benazir Bhutto -- in that order. The rest are, for the most part, horrific.

Pakistan has, for most of its short existence, been governed by reactionary autocrats who manage to combine the regressivism of Islamic traditionalism with the over-the-top pageantry of British Raj-style military government.

[Oakvale]

I protest the exclusion of Ireland and Simfan's resulting "King George" vote.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

How are we defining "greatest"?

[Peter the Lefty]

How are we defining "greatest"?

Your favorites in terms of what they accomplished, what they stood for, etc..  The usual.

[TNF]

Only going to fill in countries that I have at least some knowledge of (sane/normal)

US: Franklin Roosevelt
China: No idea
Russia: Vladimir Lenin
India: No idea
UK: No idea
France: Maximilien Robespierre
Germany: No idea
Italy: No idea
Spain: No idea
Portugal: No idea
Austria: No idea
Norway: No idea
Sweden: No idea
Denmark: No idea
Iceland: No idea
Finland: No idea
Greece: No idea
Turkey: No idea
Poland: No idea
Czech Republic: No idea
Romania: No idea
Slovakia: No idea
Egypt: No idea
Israel: No idea
Iran: No idea
South Africa: Nelson Mandela
Japan: No idea
(South) Korea: No idea
Indonesia: No idea
Australia: No idea
New Zealand: No idea
Mexico: No idea
Argentina: No idea
Brazil: No idea
Chile: Salvador Allende
Colombia: No idea

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

US: Abraham Lincoln
Russia: Vladimir Lenin
India: Nehru
France: Robespierre
Spain: Azaña
South Africa: Nelson Mandela
Indonesia: Sukarno
Chile: Allende

These are the ones that stood out for me.

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

Oh yes. For India, I'm going to go with Nehru, although there's a fairly weak bench there too. I am not a Nehru fan.

What about the guy who was PM in the early '90s and had Singh implement various economic reforms?

[moderatevoter]

"Defendin' Muh Freedoms," would you be referring to Rao?

[Dr. Cynic]

US: Franklin Roosevelt
China: I don't really know much about China, so I'll go with the popular choice, Sun Yat-Sen
Russia: Mikhail Gorbachev
India: Jawaharlal Nehru
UK: Clement Attlee
France: Francois Mitterrand
Germany: Willy Brandt
Italy: Giuliano Amato... I dunno. Not much to work with.
Spain: Felipe González Márquez
Austria: Bruno Kreisky
Sweden: Olof Palme
Israel: Yitzhak Rabin
South Africa: Nelson Mandela
Australia: Bob Hawke
New Zealand: Norman Kirk, if he had lived a full term would have been great, but he didn't, so Peter Fraser.

I didn't really know who to pick for any of the other nations.

[Niemeyerite]

Not my favourites, but the greatest of the last 100 years:

US: Franklin D. Roosevelt
China: Mao Zedong
Russia: Lenin
India: Gandhi/Nehru
UK: Churchill
France: Charles De Gaulle
Germany: Konrad Adenauer (Hitler is too obvious)
Italy: Benito Mussolini (honorable mention for Silvio Berlusconi)
Spain: Felipe González (HM for Largo Caballero, Primo de Rivera and Manuel Azaña)
Portugal: Mario Soares
Egypt: Gamal A. Nasser (HM for el-Sadat)
Israel: Ariel Sharon
Iran: Ruhollah Khomeini
South Africa: Nelson Mandela
Argentina: Juan Domingo Perón
Brazil: Lula Da Silva
Chile: Salvador Allende
Venezuela: Hugo Chávez
Bolovia: Evo Morales

Feel free to add any to the list, or leave some of these out.  It's flexible.
[/quote]

[Lumine]

Hmmmmm... From the ones I know:

US: I suppose it's Lincoln...
China: Chiang Kai-shek (I don't know much of China before Cixi, I dislike Sun, Mao and most if not all of the Chinese communists and Yuan Shi-kai was too oportunistic for my taste).
Russia: Alexander II.
India: Jawaharlal Nerhu?
UK: Winston Churchill, no doubt.
France: Napoleon Bonaparte. (but I do have a soft spot for De Gaulle)
Germany: Bismarck (Adenauer with a honorary mention).
Italy: Cavour, but Mussolini is an interesting pick as well.
Spain: Carlos V (o I), Felipe V or Primo de Rivera.
Austria: Franz Joseph I.
Finland: Mannerheim.
Greece: If Ancient Greece counts, then it's Alexander the Great.
Turkey: Ataturk.
Poland: Pilsudski?
Egypt: Not sure, but it could be Muhammad Ali.
South Africa: Yep, Mandela.
Japan: Emperor Meiji, Toyotomi Hideyori or Osachi Hamaguchi.
(South) Korea: Rhee?
Argentina: Perón?
Brazil: Emperor Pedro II.
Chile: Either Bernardo O'Higgins or Arturo Alessandri Palma.
Colombia: Simon Bolivar, I guess.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

 

US:  Woodrow Wilson
China: Mao Zedong
Russia: Broseph Stalin
India: Indira Gandhi
UK: George I
France: Louis XV
Germany: Hitler II-More Hitlerly than ever before!
Italy: Silvio Berlusconi
Spain: Phillip II
Portugal: Salazar
Austria: Hitler
Norway: Quisling
Sweden: Queen Christina
Denmark: Christian X
Iceland: Some Viking
Finland: Obama
Greece: The Military Junta
Turkey: Thanksgiving
Poland: My friends hot Polish born mom
Czech Republic: Wilhelm Frick
Romania: Ceausescu? More like Ceausescool!
Slovakia: The Iron Slav!
Egypt: Mummar Qadaffi? He was close enough, amirite?
Israel: That dude who just went to prison.
Iran: Ayatollah Man
South Africa: Verwoerd
Japan: Tojo
(South) Korea: Kim Ill Sung
Indonesia: Suharto or Sukarno
Australia: The lizard from the Geicho commercials
New Zealand: The Secret Penguin Alliance!
Mexico: Antonio Lopez De Santa Ana
Argentina: The Military Junta
Brazil: The Military Junta
Chile: Pinochet!
Colombia: Bolivar’s mistress

[politicus]

We have some truly bizarre answers. Quisling being the greatest Norwegian leader?!!! The man whose name is synonymous with treason. Yeltsin, an incompetent drunk who gave away the wealth of the Soviet Union to a plutocracy recruited from criminals and speculators? Sun Yat Sen over all the greatest Emperors? An incompetent pseudointellectual who paved the way for war lord terror leading to the near collapse of China ( and the eventual rise of Maoism with all its disasters).

I know you guys don't know about Danish history, but Frederick VI was a stubborn and narrowminded inbreed who botched every chance we had of getting a decent outcome in the Napoleonic Wars, which cost us Norway, and was among the worst of the very weak Oldenburg dynasty. The rural reforms in his youth was due to chosing good advisors, not a result of leadership.
Christian X was a stiff dull military man with very limited intellectual capacity who tried to stop democracy from evolving in 1920, almost leading to the end of the monarchy. After that he didn't play any political role - hardly a great leader.

Rant over.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

We have some truly bizarre answers. Quisling being the greatest Norwegian leader?!!! The man whose name is synonymous with treason. Yeltsin, an incompetent drunk who gave away the wealth of the Soviet Union to a plutocracy recruited from criminals and speculators? Sun Yat Sen over all the greatest Emperors? An incompetent pseudointellectual who paved the way for war lord terror leading to the near collapse of China ( and the eventual rise of Maoism with all its disasters).

I know you guys don't know about Danish history, but Frederick VI was a stubborn and narrowminded inbreed who botched every chance we had of getting a decent outcome in the Napoleonic Wars, which cost us Norway, and was among the worst of the very weak Oldenburg dynasty. The rural reforms in his youth was due to chosing good advisors, not a result of leadership.
Christian X was a stiff dull military man with very limited intellectual capacity who tried to stop democracy from evolving in 1920, almost leading to the end of the monarchy. After that he didn't play any political role - hardly a great leader.

Rant over.

I was joking. I am clearly not that insane .

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Of the ones I know about:

US: Lincoln, obviously.

Russia: Either Catherine the Great or Gorbachov. Even though one was a monarch, and the other failed at his main aim

India: Nehru

UK: Clement Attlee

France: Francois Hollande Probably Charles De Gaulle for his wartime activities or Mitterrand despite … being Mitterrand, but all the Fifth Republic Presidents are a bit awful.

Germany: Gustav Stresemann - the only Weimar politician who had the political strength to counter extremism. Shame he died.

Italy: Could actally be Renzi, but we'll have to see. For now Prodi.

Spain: King Juan Carlos for his wily rejection of Fascism. That took some balls.

Norway: Einar Gerhardsen, post war PM

Iceland: Johanna Sigurdardottir

Turkey: Mustafa Attaturk with the obvious reservations

Poland: I quite like Tusk despite his party, but that stems from not knowing much about Polish political history more than anything.

Czech Republic: Vaclav Havel (unless we are allowed Czechoslovakian leaders, in which case Alexander Dubcek)

Slovakia: Still Dubcek

South Africa: not the trickiest choice, I'll admit.

Japan: These guys are so anonymous that I’m tempted to give it to Shinzo Abe, despite his nationalistic ways. For a right-wing politician, he’s decent economically.

Australia: Gough Whitlam

New Zealand: I like Helen Clark, who is one of the better modern social democrats, but I admit I don’t know much about NZ Labout despite the fact that the Labour government before hers was a neliberal mess.


Also for two unmentioned countries: Canada, Pierre Trudeau and for Hungary Imre Nagy;

[SWE]

US: Abraham Lincoln
Russia: Vladimir Lenin
India: Jawaharlal Nehru
UK: Clement Atlee
France: Maximilien Robespierre
Spain: Manuel Azaña
South Africa: (duh) Nelson Mandela
Japan: Tetsu Katayama
Chile: Salvador Allende
Canada: Lester Pearson
Uruguay: Jose Mujica
Vietnam: Ho Chi Mihn

[courts]

Only going to fill in countries that I have at least some knowledge of (sane/normal)

US: Franklin Roosevelt
China: No idea
Russia: Vladimir Lenin
India: No idea
UK: No idea
France: Maximilien Robespierre
Germany: No idea
Italy: No idea
Spain: No idea
Portugal: No idea
Austria: No idea
Norway: No idea
Sweden: No idea
Denmark: No idea
Iceland: No idea
Finland: No idea
Greece: No idea
Turkey: No idea
Poland: No idea
Czech Republic: No idea
Romania: No idea
Slovakia: No idea
Egypt: No idea
Israel: No idea
Iran: No idea
South Africa: Nelson Mandela
Japan: No idea
(South) Korea: No idea
Indonesia: No idea
Australia: No idea
New Zealand: No idea
Mexico: No idea
Argentina: No idea
Brazil: No idea
Chile: Salvador Allende
Colombia: No idea

fdr? really? son i am disappoint

oh and ftr i don't think hitler was that great, i know that's a shocker to some of you out there

[TNF]

Only going to fill in countries that I have at least some knowledge of (sane/normal)

US: Franklin Roosevelt
China: No idea
Russia: Vladimir Lenin
India: No idea
UK: No idea
France: Maximilien Robespierre
Germany: No idea
Italy: No idea
Spain: No idea
Portugal: No idea
Austria: No idea
Norway: No idea
Sweden: No idea
Denmark: No idea
Iceland: No idea
Finland: No idea
Greece: No idea
Turkey: No idea
Poland: No idea
Czech Republic: No idea
Romania: No idea
Slovakia: No idea
Egypt: No idea
Israel: No idea
Iran: No idea
South Africa: Nelson Mandela
Japan: No idea
(South) Korea: No idea
Indonesia: No idea
Australia: No idea
New Zealand: No idea
Mexico: No idea
Argentina: No idea
Brazil: No idea
Chile: Salvador Allende
Colombia: No idea

fdr? really? son i am disappoint

oh and ftr i don't think hitler was that great, i know that's a shocker to some of you out there

It was a contest between Roosevelt and Lincoln for me, and ultimately I went with the former because of the National Labor Relations Act. Although I could seriously go either way, given that Roosevelt's foreign policy was abhorrent and the internment of the Japanese and all that.

[bedstuy]

Only going to fill in countries that I have at least some knowledge of (sane/normal)

US: Franklin Roosevelt
China: No idea
Russia: Vladimir Lenin
India: No idea
UK: No idea
France: Maximilien Robespierre
Germany: No idea
Italy: No idea
Spain: No idea
Portugal: No idea
Austria: No idea
Norway: No idea
Sweden: No idea
Denmark: No idea
Iceland: No idea
Finland: No idea
Greece: No idea
Turkey: No idea
Poland: No idea
Czech Republic: No idea
Romania: No idea
Slovakia: No idea
Egypt: No idea
Israel: No idea
Iran: No idea
South Africa: Nelson Mandela
Japan: No idea
(South) Korea: No idea
Indonesia: No idea
Australia: No idea
New Zealand: No idea
Mexico: No idea
Argentina: No idea
Brazil: No idea
Chile: Salvador Allende
Colombia: No idea

fdr? really? son i am disappoint

oh and ftr i don't think hitler was that great, i know that's a shocker to some of you out there

It was a contest between Roosevelt and Lincoln for me, and ultimately I went with the former because of the National Labor Relations Act. Although I could seriously go either way, given that Roosevelt's foreign policy was abhorrent and the internment of the Japanese and all that.

How was FDR's foreign policy abhorrent?

[TNF]

I'd say that willingly provoking a confrontation with Imperial Japan so that the United States could get involved in the World War is pretty abhorrent.

[bedstuy]

I'd say that willingly provoking a confrontation with Imperial Japan so that the United States could get involved in the World War is pretty abhorrent.

Japan attacked the United States, not the other way around.  That's revisionist history. 

And, I get the whole anti-War leftist act.  But, knowing what we know now, about the slaughter of Jews, Chinese, Russians, etc, I can't understand the reasoning there.  World War 2 was necessary.  We should have gotten involved way earlier.

[TNF]

I'd say that willingly provoking a confrontation with Imperial Japan so that the United States could get involved in the World War is pretty abhorrent.

Japan attacked the United States, not the other way around.  That's revisionist history. 

And, I get the whole anti-War leftist act.  But, knowing what we know now, about the slaughter of Jews, Chinese, Russians, etc, I can't understand the reasoning there.  World War 2 was necessary.  We should have gotten involved way earlier.

Yes, but would Japan have attacked the United States had not the United States cut off it's oil supply?

I'm not sure why you describe what I believe on this subject as some kind of "act." From my understanding (without taking into account any nonsensical patriotic garbage about the "Good War" and the "Greatest Generation") of the conflict, not much had changed since the First World War. You still had a clash of two different imperialist blocs, neither which of whom a Marxist would naturally support because a clash between nations always obscures the real clash that goes on within nations, that of the class struggle. The crimes of Hitler's Germany are abhorrent and disgusting, as are the crimes of Imperial Japan against the Chinese. But as so often is the case when the victors write the history books, we ignore the mass murders and atrocities of the Allies, from the famine in India engineered in part by British policy to the exterminationist race war waged by the United States in the Pacific (culminated by the dropping of two atomic weapons on Japan, with plans to drop up to fifteen in the event that invasion of the islands became necessary), or the mass rapes committed by the Soviet Red Army, to say the very least.

World War II was not a "necessary war," unless you believe that the deaths of some 60 million people were "necessary" to ensure the victory of one set of bloody, imperialist powers over another set of bloody, imperialist powers.