Titans of History

ILLUSTRATIONS

Alexander the Great, from “The Alexander Mosaic,” 1st Century BC. (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy, / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library)

Suleiman II, oil on canvas, 16th century. (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria / The Bridgeman Art Library)

Elizabeth I, c. 1600. (Private Collection / Photo © Philip Mould Ltd., London / The Bridgeman Art Library)

Akbar the Great giving an audience, by Husays Naggash and Kesu, from the “Akbarnama,” Mughal, c. 1590. (Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK / The Bridgeman Art Library)

Louis XIV in Royal Costume, 1701, by Hyacinthe Rigaud. (Louvre, Paris, France / Giraudon / The Bridgeman Art Library)

Grigory Potemkin, courtesy of author.

Portrait of Alexander Pushkin, 1827, by Orest Adamovich Kiprensky. (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia / The Bridgeman Art Library)

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, photographed by Jabez Hughes at Osborne House, Isle of Wight. (Private Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library)

Wilhelm II on a picture postcard, 1905. Author: Reichard und Lindner; publisher: Gustav Liersch & Co. (http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/95007746/index.htmlD)

Sarah Bernhardt, c. 1900 (Photo by APIC/Getty Images)

Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

King Ibn Saud, of Saudi Arabia pictured with his four grandchildren, 1935. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Joseph Stalin. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Gamal Abdel Nasser. (STAFF/AFP/Getty Images)

Elvis Presley recording in the studio. (Photo by Don Cravens//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Idi Amin Dada, the president of Uganda, takes the oath of allegiance of twelve British ex-army officers who are to serve in Amin’s armed forces. November 3, 1975. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

Kim Jong-Il and Kim Il-Sung inspecting a soccer ground in Pyongyang. (AFP/Getty Images)

Mao Zedong shaking hands in 1974 in Beijing with Deng Xiaoping. (AFP/Getty Images)

The Shah of Iran adorned with diamond-encrusted regalia for his coronation. (Photo by James L. Stanfield/National Geographic/Getty Images)

Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader Of Iran, 1978. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Libyan leader Muammar Kadaffi salutes his soldiers during a five-hour military parade in Tripoli to mark the 30th anniversary of the Libyan Revolution that brought him to power. September 7, 1999. (MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/Getty Images

Aung San Suu Kiy after her victory in the Parliamentary Election In Yangon, Myanmar. April 2012. (Photo by Amandine Roche/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)