World Leaders of the Cold War

His summit with American president Michael Jackson was one for the books.

He was only in office 895 days and didn't do that much while there. Ford's presidency saw the fall of Saigon, which was significant, but also something that had been building for a while and he didn't have much to do with it. Additionally, compared to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union (Bush), the INF treaty/end of the Cold War (Reagan), Iranian revolution and hostage crisis (Carter), '73 Israeli War/disengagement in Vietnam/visiting China (Nixon), escalation in Vietnam/Gulf of Tomkin (Johnson), Cuban missile crisis (Kennedy), Eisenhower doctrine/Iranian coup/Suez crisis/space race (Eisenhower), or the Truman doctrine/NATO/Marshall plan/use of the a-bomb/start of the Cold War (Truman)... it just doesn't seem that important.

I absolutely am not an enormous piece of unleavened bread.

Maybe. But I don't really think the quiz is any poorer for the omission of Harold Wilson or James Callaghan. I decided to leave off Winston Churchill because he's on my World Leaders of the World Wars quiz and is much better known for his leadership during that period. Aside from him, Thatcher, and maybe Atlee I don't think there are any British PMs that most people would know or that played a significant role in the events of the Cold War.

Because Israel was at the center of many events important to the Cold War. But likely also because I have a personal fascination with the region and so know more about it myself.

I dunno. Feel like it's already long enough as it is; longer than the other similar quizzes on the site. I am more interested in Middle East history than European history during this period so you may have a point there. I had Dubcek on here before and took him off because he was one of the least-guessed answers I think. I think Walesa is a fair inclusion, sort of like putting on Gorbachev or Bush. It was at the end of the Cold War but still...

He was president from 1990-1995 and Solidarity Chair before that. The quiz reflects this. The Cold War didn't end until the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991. Walesa played a central role in the end of Communism in Poland, which was an important part of the Cold War.

Some events worth reading about:

- The Emirate of Diriyah and the alliance between Muhammad bin Saud (son of the patriarch of the House of Saud) and Muhammad ibn AbdulWahab (the cleric credited with founding Wahhabism aka Saudi fundamentalist aka Salafism)

- ibn Saud's alliance with and eventual betrayal of the Ikhwan.

- T.E. Lawrence's campaign against the Ottomans

- The rivalry between the House of Saud and the Rashidi clan of Ha'il

- AbdulAziz's return from exile and conquest of Riyadh (he did so with 40 guys and some pointy sticks)

- The fall of the Kingdom of Hejaz

- AbdulAziz's summit with Franklin Roosevelt

- King Saud's lavish lifestyle and ouster by his brother Faisal

- Faisal's '73 oil embargo against the West over perceived support for Israel

- the attack on Saudi TV in Riyadh after they showed a woman on air

- the seizure of the Kabaa in 1979 which shocked the country backward toward conservatism

Your complaint is fair. See my rationale in comments above.

The dates on the quiz are when Mr. Pot was General Secretary of the Communist Party of Cambodia, aka the Khmer Rouge. It's true they didn't really gain full control of the country until 1975, though they did control parts of it both before and after. I could change the dates to reflect this, or change the description of his position. I'll think on this and pick one or the other.

I decided to go with the title change since pinpointing who was the leader of Cambodia during that period is confusing.

None, really. Sometimes I used official titles (president, general secretary, prime minister). Other times I used bland but factual descriptions (leader, dictator (a dictator being a leader with supreme authority, usually one who took power by force)). I admit this was arbitrary. I could have just used "leader" for everyone.

Some decisions may have been influenced by common usage in English (Pahlavi is commonly referred to as the Shah in English, rarely as king or leader); other times I tried to use a title which would eliminate confusion over what was the correct answer (many countries might have a monarch or president who is a figurehead when real power lies with the prime minister or supreme cleric, etc. In countries like China and Russia, there are/were many different "leaders" with different titles, but usually one guy recognized as holding the real power - in China this guy is referred to commonly as the supreme leader. In Russia you end up with de-facto dictators like president/prime minister Putin, or General Secretary of the Communist party Stalin, at different times using different titles to wield the same level of authority).

#1 concern was clarity.

#2 was just my personal whims.

I wasn't trying to be political or controversial.

Valensa? For who? Lech Walesa?

I'd suggest reading about the Cold War.

Fair complaint. Nehru might be one of the most glaring omissions here.

Are you trying to sound anti-Semitic or do you just not know about how central the Middle East was to the Cold War?

Honecker would have made sense to include. Sorry.

These leaders were all very relevant to the events of the Cold War - the series of proxy wars and political power plays around the world from 1945 to 1990 that were a result of the United States and Soviet Union trying to expand their own influence and contain that of the other. For instance, capitalist Batista was closely aligned with the US; then he was overthrown by Castro who was a communist aligned with the Soviets. The Shah of Iran was liberal, secular, and friendly toward the West. The ayatollahs that replaced him were the opposite. Egyptian president Nasser was quasi-socialist and favored to Soviets; when he was replaced by Sadat Egyptian foreign policy pivoted toward the West and Egypt became an important US ally in the Middle East as it remains to this day. And so on. Google [any of the above leaders] + "the Cold War" and you will find out why they are on the quiz.

The Soviet leaders were definitely more important... but the ones I left off the quiz were not very significant.

On the other hand I feel like all of the Israeli leaders here were significant. Ben-Gurion was the first PM of Israel. He courted American support for Israel but didn't get it; Czechoslovakia and then France became their most important early supporters. Americans feared he had too much of a socialist leaning and might ally with the Communists. He was also born in Russian Poland. Then he presided over the Suez Crisis, which was a pretty important event in the Cold War.

Meir was PM of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Soviet allies Syria and Egypt invaded Israel who by then was being reluctantly backed by the United States - in part as a response to spreading Soviet influence in the region. The war threatened to involve both super powers and could have turned the Cold War into a hot one pretty quickly. When the Israelis chased out the invaders and were within striking distance of both Damascus and Cairo, largely to avoid Soviet intervention, the US pressured Israel into withdrawing.

Rabin and Peres were both signatories of the Oslo Accords which was an important step toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians as represented by Arafat and the PLO. Both were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Arafat. For his part in this, Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli extremist. Peres also signed the peace treaty with Jordan.

Begin was significant mostly for signing the peace treaty with Anwar Sadat of Egypt. A treaty that has lasted until this day. Sadat and his predecessor Nasser were Soviet-friendly, but after making peace with Israel he pivoted to the West and brought Egypt into the American sphere. One of the most significant developments in the Middle East during the Cold War.

So... all of them are on here for a reason and worth knowing about if you want to understand the history of the Cold War. The Soviet leaders I left off... not so much.

thanks I didn't know that

Peres was *way* more important to the Cold War than Nkruma or Amin. I mean.. as foreign minister under Rabin, Peres pushed forward the peace deal between Israel and Jordan which was a huge development, and he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Rabin and Arafat. From '77-'14 he served as Israeli P.M. four separate times and became the country's 9th president, as well. And on top of all that, before I removed Nagy and Dubek from the quiz, he was guessed more than both of them, too.

Maybe you could argue that he did more while not a head of state than he did while he was... but still... ::shrug:: he's not on here because of any love I have for Israel or Jews.

I'm gonna leave this one as is for the foreseeable future. Thanks for the input regardless.

Also I could possibly be ignorant or biased, but from my understanding of history the most important theaters of the Cold War (the decades long conflict between the United States and Soviet Union fought through proxy and struggles to expand each state's sphere of influence without direct engagement) were Eastern Europe (mostly centered around East Germany and the other Soviet Bloc countries), the Middle East (mostly Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan and Iran), the far East (Korea, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and those countries adjacent), and the Americas south of the USA (Panama, Chile, Nicaragua, Cuba, etc). East Asia and Eastern Europe were in play because they were in Stalin's and Mao's back yard. The Americas because they were in Truman's. And then the Middle East mostly because that's where most of the world's oil came from (and they were also very close to the USSR). Africa was almost irrelevant. That's why it was called the 3rd world.

I prefer the quiz as is. I know many Westerners don't know of the Mid-East, Asian, and Latin American leaders, but those on the quiz all had pivotal roles in events central to the Cold War.

The one where he illegally came to then usurped power with xenophobic racist populist rhetoric and vows to steal billions in international investments and infrastructure, and was soon deposed?

yeah I think someone else mentioned him.

sounds like you have some learning about the cold war to do.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the quiz, and also finding time to leave an annoying comment!