20th-Century World Leaders Part 2 Quiz

Answer: Zhou Enlai

Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) was a skilled and able diplomat who also served as the foreign minister from 1949 to 1958. He played a big role in Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1972, paving the way to normalize diplomatic relationship with the United States.

During the Cultural Revolution, he was the main driving force for the state affair. He protected many historical sites from being damaged by the Red Guards which made him very popular after the Cultural Revolution. At the same time, he provided protection for many key leaders, one of them was Deng Xiaoping, who was responsible for opening up China.

Answer: Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) served as the British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century.

After gaining power in 1979, she implemented economic policies to reverse high unemployment caused by the ongoing recession during the Winter of Discontent. One policy was to privatize state-owned enterprises to reduce the influence of the trade unions, although the ongoing recession and rising unemployment caused her to lose some support.

In 1982, she regained much support for overseeing the victory over Argentina in the Falkland Islands conflict, as well as a recovering economy. In 1984, she survived an assassination attempt by IRA terrorists and in 1987 was elected for a third term, although problems within her own party weakened her position, as did her introduction of the unpopular "poll tax". In November 1990, she resigned as head of the government and party leader.

Answer: Harry Truman

Harry Truman (1884-1972) was the 33rd President of the United States from 1945 to 1953. Besides implementing the Marshall Plan, he established the Truman Doctrine (American policy to contain the spread of communism) and played an important role in setting up NATO. After succeeding Franklin D. Roosevelt, he authorized the use of nuclear weapons on Japan to end WWII. During his term, he oversaw the Berlin Airlift in 1948 and Korean War from 1950 to 1953.

Answer: Haile Selassie I

Haile Selassie I (1892-1975) was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He tried to modernize political and social reforms in his country, by introducing the first written constitution and abolishing slavery. After failing to defend Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, he spent some time in exile in England.

In 1941, he returned to Ethiopia after the British defeated the Italians during the East African campaign in WWII. He integrated Eritrea into Ethiopia, after the federation was approved in the UN General Assembly in 1950.

In 1974, the increase in oil prices due to the 1973 oil crises caused inflation and spike in unemployment, leading to four days of serious riots in the capital. The mutiny by the army eventually led to his downfall on the 12th of September.

Answer: Tito

Josip Broz aka Tito (1892-1980) was a communist revolutionary. During the First World War, he was captured by the Russian when he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army, and was sent to a work camp in the Ural Mountains. During his time in Russia, he participated in the Russian Revolution and the Civil War. Upon his return to Yugoslavia, he joined the Communist Party and rose to become the General Secretary. From 1941 to 1945, he led the Partisans resistance force against Nazi Germany.

Answer: Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) served as the Indian Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and the second time from 1980 until she was assassinated in October 1984. She was the second longest-serving leader after her father in the 20th century.

She was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards over the incident of Operation Blue Star. This operation ordered by her was carried out between 1 and 8 June, 1984. The operation was to capture Sikh leader Sant Jarmail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers, and to demolish of the sacred Sikhs' Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab.

Answer: Sukarno

Sukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo (1901-1970), served as the Indonesian president from 1945 to 1967. In 1959, he established an autocratic system called "Guided Democracy" to stabilize rebellions over the fractured and diverse country. During the 1960s, after gaining support from the USSR and China, he became more pro-communist.

It was believed that he planned a coup attempt carried out by the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) to assassinate six top generals during the 30 September Movement in 1965.

As a result he was put under house arrest by Suharto (who was one of his generals and replaced him as the country leader) in 1967 until his death in 1970.

Answer: David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973) was the founder of the State of Israel, serving as its first prime minister from 1948 to 1954, and from 1955 to 1963. On 14 May 1948, he formally proclaimed the founding of Israel, for which he became known as the founding father of Israel.

Answer: Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) was the leader of the Nationalist government from 1928 to 1949 in mainland China, and served as the President of Taiwan from 1949 till his death in 1975. He was succeeded by his son, Chiang Ching-guo.

He was lieutenant of Sun Yat-sen during the revolution to overthrow the Beiyang government to unite the country. During the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928, he led the National Revolutionary Army to defeat a coalition of warlords. He later decided to purge the communists inside his party which led to the Civil War (before and after the Sino-Japanese War). In 1949, he was defeated by the communists and had to retreat to Taiwan.

Answer: Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (1894-1971) served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR from 1953 to 1964 and as Premier from 1958 to 1964.

During the Second World War, he was a commissar serving as the intermediary between Stalin and his generals. In the 1950s, he gained strong support due to victory in Suez Canal crisis, Sputnik space program, Syrian Crisis in 1957 and U2 incident in 1960. However, his domestic policies to improve the lives of the Russians, especially on agriculture, were mostly ineffective. In 1962, his mishandling of the Cuban Missile Crisis eventually led to his downfall. In 1964, he was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev as the First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier.