From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Person exercising complete authority
A supreme leader or supreme ruler typically refers to
the person among a number of leaders of a
state , organization or other such group who has been given or is able to exercise the most – or complete – authority over it. In a religion, this role is usually satisfied by a person deemed to be the representative or manifestation of a
deity or
God on Earth. In politics, a supreme leader usually rules over an
authoritarian or
totalitarian government and has a
cult of personality associated with them. Historic examples are
Adolf Hitler (
Führer ) of
Nazi Germany ,
Francisco Franco (
Caudillo ) of
Francoist Spain ,
Benito Mussolini (
Duce ) of
Fascist Italy and
Joseph Stalin (
Vozhd (Вождь )) of the
Soviet Union .
Listed by date of establishment.
Alexander Kolchak , White leader in the Russian Civil War as "
Supreme Ruler of Russia ".
[1]
Benito Mussolini , dictator of
Italy from 1922 to 1943 and of
Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945, was known as
Duce ("leader").
Antanas Smetona , the authoritarian president of
Lithuania (1926-1940), adopted the title of Tautos Vadas ("Leader of the Nation").
Hirohito , emperor of
Imperial Japan under the
Meiji Constitution from 1926 to 1947, sometimes known as Mikado (帝/御門 ) ("August Gate").
[2]
[3]
Chiang Kai-shek , de facto leader of the
Kuomintang
Republic of China on the mainland (1928-1949) and in
Taiwan (1949-1975), was sometimes referred as lingxiu (
Chinese : 領袖 ;
pinyin : lǐngxiù ;
lit. 'leader')
[4]
Joseph Stalin , the first
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and dictator of the
Soviet Union , decreed that he was to be officially designated as
Vozhd (
Russian : Вождь ,
lit. 'leader') from his fiftieth birthday in 1929.
Getúlio Vargas , dictator of
Brazil from 1930 to 1945 , was known as the "Supreme Leader of the Revolution".
Rafael Trujillo ,
Dominican dictator from 1930 to 1961 , assumed the nicknames of "El Jefe" ("The Boss") and "El Benefactor" ("The Benefactor").
Adolf Hitler , dictator of
Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, was known as der
Führer ("The Leader").
Engelbert Dollfuss and
Kurt Schuschnigg ,
austrofascist leaders of
Austria from 1933 to 1938, were referred to as Bundesführer ("Federal Leader") as heads of the
Fatherland Front .
Karlis Ulmanis , the
authoritarian president of Latvia from 1934 to 1940, adopted the title of Tautas Vadonis ("Leader of People") and Nācijas Tēvs ("Father of the Nation").
Francisco Franco , dictator of
Francoist Spain , assumed the title
Caudillo , originally an honorary title for an army leader.
Birger Furugård , leader of the
Swedish National Socialist Party had the title of Riksledaren ("Leader of the Realm").
Ioannis Metaxas , Greek dictator during the
4th of August Regime from 1936 until his death in 1941, assumed the title of Αρχηγός (Archigós, IPA:
[arçiˈɣos] ) meaning "The Leader".
Ante Pavelić , as dictator of the
Independent State of Croatia , named himself
Poglavnik ("The Leader").
Ferenc Szálasi , as dictator of the
Hungarian State , named himself Nemzetvezető ("Leader of the Nation").
Josef Tiso , President of the
First Slovak Republic , named himself Vodca ("The Leader") in 1942.
Ion Antonescu , as Prime Minister of Romania during most of World War II, named himself
Conducător ("The Leader").
Vidkun Quisling , leader of
Nasjonal Samling and from 1942 Minister-President of the nominal
Quisling regime , named himself Fører ("Leader").
Frits Clausen , leader of the
National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark , had the title of Fører ("Leader").
Anton Mussert , leader of the
National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands , was allowed to use the title Leider van het Nederlandsche Volk ("Leader of the
Dutch people ") by the Germans in 1942.
Léon Degrelle , leader of the
Rexist Party , was named Chef-du-People-Wallon ("Leader of the
Walloon people ") in December 1944.
Jef van de Wiele , leader of the
DeVlag party, was named Landsleider van het Vlaamsche Volk ("National Leader of the
Flemish people ") in December 1944.
Staf de Clercq , co-founder and leader of the Flemish nationalist
Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond , was referred to as den Leider by his followers.
Oswald Mosley , leader of the
British Union of Fascists , was known as "The Leader".
Josip Broz Tito , leader of the
League of Communists of Yugoslavia , was known as "
Marshal ".
Mao Zedong , the first
Chairman of the
Chinese Communist Party and
Chairman of the Central Military Commission , officially named "Great Leader Chairman" (
Chinese : 伟大领袖毛主席 ;
pinyin : Wěidà Lǐngxiù Zhǔxí )
Hua Guofeng , the second Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and
Premier of the
State Council after
Mao's death , officially named "Great Teacher"
Deng Xiaoping , the de facto
leader of the
People's Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the
Chinese Communist Party , officially named "The chief architect of China's reform opening and modernization drive".
Kim Il Sung , the
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and the first
leader of
North Korea , is officially referred to by the North Korean government as "Great Leader" (
Korean : 위대한 수령 ,
romanized : widaehan suryŏng ).
[5]
Ho Chi Minh , the only one
Chairman of the
Communist Party of Vietnam is referred to many times as Lãnh Tụ (The leader of all), which has the
Sino-Vietnamese root of the word "Lǐngxiù" (领袖) in Chinese, although the word "Lãnh Tụ" is also sometimes used to address a beloved or supreme leader of any other country.
Liaquat Ali Khan , the first Prime Minister of independent
Pakistan was named as Quaid-i-Millat ("Leader of the Nation") and Shaheed-i-Millat ("Martyr of the Nation").
Sukarno , the president of post-revolution
Indonesia was known as the Pemimpin Besar Revolusi (Great Leader of the Revolution) and Bung Karno ("Comrade Karno").
François Duvalier , the president-dictator of
Haiti , obtained from the pocket parliament "Supreme Leader of Revolution" amongst other titles.
Ferdinand Marcos , the president-dictator of the
Philippines , sometimes named as Pinuno ng Bansa "Leader of the Nation".
Fidel Castro , the
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba was known as the Máximo Líder ("Greatest Leader").
Enver Hoxha , the
First Secretary of the
Party of Labour of Albania was named as "The Leader", "Supreme Comrade", "Sole Force", "Great Teacher".
Nicolae Ceaușescu , the
General Secretary of the
Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, was sometimes referred to as
Conducător .
Mobutu Sese Seko , the president-dictator of
Zaire , sometimes named as "Father of People" and "Saver of Nation".
Alfredo Stroessner , the dictatorial president of Paraguay from 1954 to 1989, was eulogized as Gran Líder and Único Líder .
Abd al-Karim Qasim , Prime Minister of
Iraq from 1958 to 1963, named as al-za'īm ("The Leader").
Saddam Hussein , the president-dictator of
Iraq from 1979 to 2003, named as "The Leader".
Muammar Gaddafi , the de facto leader of
Libya from 1969 to 2011, was named the
Revolutionary Chairman from 1969 to 1977, the
Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution from 1979 to 2011 and supreme leader from 1990.
Omar Torrijos , de facto dictator of Panama from 1968 to 1981, assumed the title Líder Máximo de la Revolución Panameña ("Supreme Leader of the Panamanian Revolution").
Dési Bouterse , de facto leader of Suriname during 1980 military rule
The
Supreme Leader of Iran , the highest-ranking political and religious authority in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The first person to hold this title was the
Ayatollah Khomeini .
Pol Pot , the
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and former dictator of
Kampuchea .
[6]
Supreme Leader of Afghanistan , first held by
Mullah Omar from 1996 to 2001; also used in exile during the
Taliban insurgency
Hibatullah Akhundzada , current supreme leader of Afghanistan since 2021
Hugo Chávez , former President of Venezuela, was called El Comandante (The Commander) by some people during his reign.
[7]
Xi Jinping , current
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and
paramount leader since 15 November 2012, has been officially recognized as
lingxiu , a reverential term for "leader", by the
Party Politburo .
[8]
[9]
Kim Jong Il , former
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea , is officially referred to by the North Korean government as 위대한 령도자 (translit. widaehan ryŏngdoja - "Honorable Leader") and "The Leader" (his father
Kim Il Sung after death stayed as "Great Leader").
[5] [
verification needed ]
Kim Jong Un , current
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and
supreme leader , was made "Supreme Guide" after his father
Kim Jong-Il died in 2011.
[5]
Ali Khamenei , current
Supreme Leader of Iran since 4 June 1989.
[10]
Nursultan Nazarbayev , Chairman of the
Security Council of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2022, and first
President of Kazakhstan , was granted the title Elbasy (
Kazakh : Елбасы ,
lit. 'Leader of the Nation') by a parliamentary decision in 2010.
[11]
Saparmurat Niyazov , president of
Turkmenistan in 1990–2006, was referred by his self-given titles
Sardar ("Leader") and Türkmenbaşy ("Head of the Turkmens").
[12] His successor
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow carries the title Arkadag ("Protector", "Patron").
[13]
Emomali Rahmon ,
President of the Republic of Tajikistan since 1994, carries the title Peşvoi Millat (
Tajik : Пешвои Миллат ,
romanized : Leader of the Nation ).
[14]
Nawaz Sharif , ex-prime minister of Pakistan, was made the Supreme Leader of his political party
PML-N after the Pakistan Supreme Court ruled that as he was disqualified
[15] under the constitution for dishonesty, he can no longer serve as the head of a political party.
Heydar Aliyev , the former
President of Azerbaijan , is sometimes referred to, including on many government-sponsored websites, as the "National leader of the Azerbaijani people" or as the "Great Leader", a title similarly applied to the North Korean supreme leader.
[16] He is notably sometimes referred to as "genius personality."
[17]
With
one-party state status of Laos, the
General Secretary (
party leader ) holds ultimate power and authority over state and government and serves as the supreme leader.
[18]
In the 2012 movie
The Dictator , the titular character was referred to as "Supreme Leader."
[19]
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"Meet Russian Imperial officers who almost stopped the Bolsheviks" . Russia Beyond the Headlines. Retrieved 2022-02-27 .
^ Berkofsky, Axel (January 1, 2012).
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ISBN
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^ Eddy, Beverley Driver (September 7, 2021).
Ritchie Boy Secrets: How a Force of Immigrants and Refugees Helped Win World War II . Stackpole Books. p. 308.
ISBN
978-0811769969 .
^ William C. Kirby (ed.),
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^
a
b
c Tertitskiy, Fyodor (19 January 2015).
"Leader, Sun, Mentor, Guide: How North Korean leaders choose their titles" . NK*News .
Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2019 .
^ Mydans, Seth (17 April 1998).
"Death of Pol Pot; Pol Pot, Brutal Dictator Who Forced Cambodians to Killing Fields, Dies at 73" . The New York Times . Retrieved 4 February 2020 .
^
Carroll, Rory (2013).
Commandante: myth and reality in Hugo Chávez's Venezuela . New York: The Penguin Press.
ISBN
978-1-59420-457-9 .
^
"Why China is reviving Mao's grandiose title for Xi Jinping" . South China Morning Post . 2017-10-28. Retrieved 2019-07-24 .
^
"Xi Jinping is no longer any old leader" . The Economist . 2018-02-17.
ISSN
0013-0613 . Retrieved 2019-07-24 .
^
"Profile: Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei" . BBC News . 17 June 2009.
Archived from the original on 26 March 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2022 .
^ Walker, Shaun (2015-04-24).
"Kazakhstan election avoids question of Nazarbayev successor" . The Guardian .
ISSN
0261-3077 . Retrieved 2016-09-08 .
^ Cummings, Sally N. (2010). Symbolism and Power in Central Asia: Politics of the Spectacular . Milton, United Kingdom: Routledge. pp. 91–92.
ISBN
978-0415575676 .
^ Walker, Shaun (2015-05-25).
"A horse, a horse… Turkmenistan president honours himself with statue" . The Guardian .
^
"Teflon Rahmon: Tajik President Getting 'Leader' Title, Lifelong Immunity" . Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty . RFE/RL's Tajik Service. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2016 .
^ Bhatti, Haseeb (2018-02-21).
"Nawaz Sharif removed as PML-N head after SC rules disqualified person cannot lead a party" . DAWN.COM . Retrieved 2018-03-01 .
^
National Leader » AZERBAIJAN » Official web-site of President of Azerbaijan Republic
^
Heydar Aliyev Foundation - National leader
^
"Laos profile - timeline" . BBC News . 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2024-04-23 .
^
"Sacha Baron Cohen Won't Talk but the Supreme Leader of Wadiya Has a Lot to Say" .
New York Times . May 3, 2012.