BENITO MUSSOLINI

ITALY
​​(r. 1922-1945)
  • Italian leader and founder of fascism that sided with Hitler and Germany in WWII.
  • overthrown and assassinated by the Italian Resistance in 1945

HIDEKI TOJO

JAPAN
​​(r.1941–1944)
  • Japanese prime minister during WWII who helped lead Pearl Harbor Attack

ADOLF HITLER

GERMANY
(r.1933–1945)
  • founder of the German Nazi Party and chancellor of the Third Reich
  • ruled as an absolute dictator of Germany pursuing aggressive nationalist policies that caused the outbreak of World War II
  • his regime was infamous for the extermination of millions of people, especially European Jews in the Holocaust

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (FDR)

UNITED STATES
(r.1933–1945)
  • American president who led the United States throughout most of World War II after the Bombing of Pearl Harbor
  • together with Churchill, helped lay the foundation of the United Nations after the war.

HARRY TRUMAN

UNITED STATES
(r.1945–1953)
  • FDR's vice-president who succeeded him upon his death in April 1945 and led the country through the last few months of World War II,
  • made the controversial decision to drop atomic bombs against two Japanese cities in August 1945 to win the war.

HIROHITO

JAPAN
​​(r.1926–1989)
  • emperor of Japan during WWII whose people viewed him as a god
  • pushed Japan's militarization of in the 1930's eventually leading to Japan's invasion of China and involvement in WWII.

JOSEPH STALIN

SOVIET UNION
​(1922–1952)
  • Soviet leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party creating a totalitarian state by purging all opposition
  • quickly industrialized the Soviet Union through his 5-Year Plans
  • led the Soviet Union during World War II (Great Patriotic War)

WINSTON 
​CHURCHILL

UNITED KINGDOM
​(r.1940–1945)
  • British prime minister who led Britain throughout most of World War II.
  • together with FDR, helped lay the foundation of the United Nations after the war.

GEN. DWIGHT  D.
EISENHOWER

UNITED STATES
​(1890–1969)
  • leader of Allied forces in Europe during World War II
  • Allied commander of D-Day invasion
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