A list of all the articles on this site about real-life military personnel; including warriors and soldiers, officers and commanders, warlords and conquerors.
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Notable soldiers and warriors from history
- Juan del Águila: 16th century Spanish general.
- Lope de Aguirre: 16th century Spanish conquistador and rebel.
- Akechi Mitsuhide: 16th century Japanese samurai and warlord.
- Buzz Aldrin: American astronaut and engineer, the second person to walk on the Moon. He served in the U.S. Air Force, participating in The Korean War.
- Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, Duke of Alba: 16th century Spanish general.
- Pedro de Alvarado: Spanish conquistador.
- Neil Armstrong: American astronaut and engineer, and the first man to walk on the Moon. He served in both the U.S. Navy (participating in The Korean War) and the U.S. Air Force.
- Jerónimo de Ayanz: Spanish soldier and engineer of the 16-17th century.
- Ralph Bagnold: British soldier, geologist, and desert explorer who fought in both World Wars.
- Hannibal Barca: Carthaginian commander who battled Rome in the Second Punic War and afterwards.
- Antonio Barceló: Spanish privateer and admiral.
- James Barry, 19th century Irish military doctor in the British Army.
- Álvaro de Bazán: 16th century Spanish admiral, famous for dying without having been ever defeated.
- Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand: 17th century Spanish general and cardinal, also undefeated.
- Flavius Belisarius: Byzantine general who lived during the 6th century.
- Götz von Berlichingen: 16th century German Imperial knight and mercenary.
- Osama bin Laden: Saudi guerrilla warlord who was the founding leader of Al-Qaeda, a Sunni Islamic jihadist organization that conducted insurgency and terrorism around the world. He began his paramilitary career as a mujaheddin volunteer against the Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan. After plotting the 9/11 attacks against the United States, his forces became the prime target of an American military campaign.
- Pedro Calderón de la Barca: Spanish soldier and writer.
- Francisco de Carvajal: Spanish soldier, conquistador and warlord.
- Alonso de Contreras: 17th century Spanish soldier, privateer and spy.
- Hernán Cortés: Spanish conquistador who led a military expedition which resulted in the conquest of the Aztec Empire for Spain.
- Date Masamune: 16th century Japanese warlord.
- Bernal Díaz del Castillo: Spanish conquistador and chronicler from Cortés' camp.
- Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar: 11th century Spanish mercenary and warlord, also known as El Cid Campeador.
- Karl Dönitz: World War II German admiral, who specialized in submarine warfare against the Allies and served in Imperial Germany's navy (in submarines as well) before that. By the will of Adolf Hitler, the appointed Head of State of the German Reich and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht after Hitler's suicide, and surrendered to the Allies on 8 May 1945 in this capacity.
- Andrea Doria: 16th century Genoese admiral and mercenary. The famous ship was named after him.
- Black Douglas: 14th century Scottish knight and warlord.
- Sir Francis Drake: English admiral/pirate/privateer whose naval forces fought and defeated the Spanish Armada during the Anglo-Spanish War.
- Alexander Farnese: Third Duke of Parma, Italian general for the Spanish Empire in the 16th century.
- Fūma Kotarō: Japanese ninja of the Sengoku period.
- Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba: Spanish general of the 15th and 16th century, who revolutioned warfare by popularizing the pike and shot combination.
- Yuri Gagarin: Soviet Air Force pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human in history to ever visit outer space.
- Blasco de Garay: Spanish naval captain and engineer.
- Diego García de Paredes: Spanish soldier and mercenary of the 15th and 16th centuries, famed as the greatest warrior of his era.
- Guan Yu: Chinese general during the Three Kingdoms Era, serving the Shu kingdom and eventually worshiped as a deity in Chinese folk religion.
- Che Guevara: Argentine communist guerrilla who was one of the leading figures of the Cuban Revolution, though nowadays he is possibly more famous for his image being used to sell T-shirts at The Gap.
- Hattori Hanzō: Japanese samurai, ninja, and a retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
- Simo Häyhä: Finnish soldier during the Winter War, who is possibly the single deadliest sniper in history (with approximately 500 kills attributed to him). He was so feared by the Soviet Red Army, that he was nicknamed the "White Death".
- Reinhard Heydrich: High-ranking government/military official in Nazi Germany. He started his career in the German Navy, flew a few missions as a Luftwaffe reserve officer, and oversaw the Schutzstaffel's infamous Einsatzgruppen death squads.
- Heinrich Himmler: Head of the Schutzstaffel before and during World War II. Through the SS he built up his own field army in the form of the Waffen-SS, which operated separately from the Wehrmacht chain-of-command. He also briefly commanded the Army Group Vistula (badly).
- Paul von Hindenburg: Served in the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War. Became Generalfeldmarschall in Imperial Germany's army, achieved fame on the Eastern Front of World War I as victor of the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 and replaced Erich von Falkenhayn as the Chief of the Great General Staff in 1916. Later had a political career as President under the Weimar Republic.
- Willi Herold: A young World War II German soldier from the Heer who passed as a Luftwaffe officer and ordered the massacre of 90 German deserters.
- Honda Tadakatsu: 16th century Japanese samurai and general.
- Imagawa Yoshimoto: Japanese warlord who was defeated as an example of a cunning war maneuver by Oda Nobunaga.
- Ishida Mitsunari: Japanese warlord of the Sengoku period.
- Joan of Arc: French female warrior who participated in The Hundred Years War, though her career and life ended shortly when she was executed at age 19. She's regarded as being a martyr and saint by the Catholic Church.
- Konishi Yukinaga: A Japanese Christian samurai who was sent to begin the Japanese Invasion of Korea.
- Robert E. Lee: American Colonel, Confederate General.
- Marquis de La Fayette: French general famous for his roles in both the American and French Revolutions.
- T. E. Lawrence: British archaeologist turned military officer, he joined the British Army during World War I and fought with Arab rebels against the Ottoman Empire. After the war he enlisted in the Royal Air Force.
- Blas de Lezo: Spanish admiral and Handicapped Badass of the 15-16th century.
- Lü Bu: Chinese general and warlord of the Eastern Han dynasty.
- Douglas MacArthur: American general who fought in The Mexican Revolution, both World Wars, and The Korean War, but he's most famous for his exploits in WWII and Korea.
- Léo Major: Canadian soldier who fought in World War II and The Korean War. In the former conflict, he single-handedly liberated the city of Zwolle, Netherlands from German occupation.
- La Malinche: Popoluca princess who served the Spanish army during the Spanish conquest of Mexico as a translator and advisor.
- Minamoto no Yoshitsune: Medieval Japanese samurai and general.
- Bernard Law Montgomery: British general with a career spanning both World Wars, along with colonial rebellions in Ireland and Palestine.
- James Graham, Marquis of Montrose: Scottish general during the English Civil War.
- The Prophet Muhammad: Arab religious, political, and military leader who founded Islam. During his lifetime, he led Muslim armies to battle against the Quraysh tribe and other factions in the Arabian Peninsula, eventually leading to most of the region converting to Islam.
- Musashibo Benkei: Japanese Warrior Monk who was a retainer of Minamoto no Yoshitsune.
- Horatio Nelson: British admiral who served the Royal Navy during The American Revolution and The Napoleonic Wars.
- Oda Nobunaga: 16th century Japanese warlord who attempted to unite Japan.
- Vasco Núñez de Balboa: Spanish conquistador and soldier.
- Alonso de Ojeda: Spanish conquistador.
- Robin Olds: American fighter pilot and general who served the U.S. (Army) Air Force during World War II and The Vietnam War.
- Francisco de Orellana: Spanish conquistador and explorer. Discovered and named the Amazonas river.
- George S. Patton: American general who fought in The Mexican Revolution and both World Wars.
- Isaac Peral: Spanish naval commander and engineer of the 19th century.
- Francisco Pizarro: Spanish conquistador who led a military expedition which resulted in the conquest of the Inca Empire for Spain.
- Juan Ponce de León: Spanish soldier and conquistador.
- Gilles de Rais: French general who fought alongside Joan of Arc in The Hundred Years War, but became more known as a Serial Killer in his late life.
- Julián Romero: Spanish general, mercenary and Handicapped Badass of the 16th century, famous for being hard to kill.
- Manfred von Richthofen: World War I era commander of Luftstreitkräfte's Jagdgeschwader 1 (the Flying Circus). Trope Codifier for Ace Pilot.
- Erwin Rommel: German general who served in both World Wars. Most famous for his role in the North African campaign of WWII.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: French pilot during World War II and author of The Little Prince. He perished in a recon flight in July 1944.
- Sakamoto Ryōma: Japanese samurai warrior of the late Edo period, his actions would lead to the Meiji Restoration although he himself would not live to see it.
- Sanada Yukimura: Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku period.
- Sasaki Kojiro: Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period, rival to Musashi Miyamoto.
- Ambrogio Spinola: Genoese general for the Spanish Empire in the 17th century.
- William Tecumseh Sherman: American general of the Union Army during the American Civil War, who is best known for burning down Atlanta, Georgia.
- Dom Justo Takayama Ukon: Japanese Christian samurai.
- Takeda Shingen: Japanese warlord, famous for his epic rivalry with Uesugi Kenshin.
- Tarrare: A French soldier who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars, best known for his legendary insatiable appetite.
- Pedro Téllez-Girón, Duke of Osuna: Spanish viceroy and maritime warlord, known for his privateering in the Mediterranean and his friendship with Francisco de Quevedo.
- Tomoe Gozen: Japanese onna-bugeisha (female samurai warrior), who served under her husband Minamoto no Yoshinaka in the Genpei War during the Kamakura era.
- Uesugi Kenshin: Japanese warlord of the Sengoku period.
- Roman von Ungern-Sternberg: Russian general and warlord who served in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I, and the anti-communist White Army during the Russian Civil War. He's most famous for his alliance with the Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, fighting against both Russian/Mongolian communists and Chinese forces for control of this nation.
- Yagyu Jubei: Japanese samurai of the Edo period.
- Isoroku Yamamoto: Japanese admiral who served the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, and World War II.
- Yasuke: Bodyguard of Oda Nobunaga known as the first black samurai.
- Jan Žižka: Medieval Czech general and Hussite leader.
Politicians and royalty with military experience
- Luis Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias: Brazilian general and politician, who was later appointed as the "President of the Council of Ministers" (prime minister) of his country.
- Alexander the Great: Ancient Greek king, warlord, and conqueror who founded the Macedonian Empire.
- Idi Amin: Ugandan general who became the dictator and President of Uganda by coup from 1971 to 1979.
- Chester A. Arthur: American lawyer who served as an officer in the New York Militia during The American Civil War, and later became the 21st U.S. President.
- Attila the Hun: Hunnic king, warlord, and conqueror who ruled a multi-ethnic empire in Central/Eastern Europe during the 5th century.
- Clement Attlee: UK Prime Minister 1945-51, served in the British Army during World War I.
- Fulgencio Batista: Cuban military officer and politician who was (twice) the dictator and President of Cuba.
- David Ben-Gurion: Russian-born Israeli politician. He served both the Ottoman and British Armies during World War I. He eventually became the 1st Prime Minister of Israel, on the onset of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
- Simón Bolívar: South American military and political leader who participated in the Spanish American Wars of Independence, and went on to become the President of multiple nations in South America.
- Jair Bolsonaro: Brazilian military officer turned politician. He held the rank of Captain in the Brazilian Army during the era of military rule, before he eventually became the President of Brazil three decades later.
- Napoléon Bonaparte: French general who became the Emperor of the French, leading armies himself during The French Revolution and The Napoleonic Wars.
- Boudica: A Celtic tribal queen from ancient Britain who led an uprising against the Roman occupation.
- James Buchanan: The 15th U.S. President, who served in the Pennsylvania Militia during the War of 1812.
- George H. W. Bush: The 41st U.S. President, who served as a pilot in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
- George W. Bush: George Bush Sr's son was the 43rd U.S. President, who served in the U.S. Air National Guard.
- Carolus Rex: Swedish king and military leader.
- Julius Caesar: Ancient Roman general and politician, who ruled as the Dictator of the Roman Republic.
- James Callaghan: UK Prime Minister in 1976-9, the most recent Prime Minister to have served in the military and the only one ever to have served in the Royal Navy.
- Jimmy Carter: The 39th U.S. President, who served in the U.S. Navy as a submarine officer.
- Fidel Castro: Cuban revolutionary leader who overthrew Fulgencio Batista and became the next dictator of Cuba.
- Charlemagne: Frankish king, warlord, and conqueror who founded the Carolingian Empire.
- Hugo Chávez: Venezuelan military officer who led a coup against the Venezuelan government in 1992. After being released from prison, he founded the MBR-200 political party, and was elected President in 1998.
- Chiang Kai-shek: Chinese general and politician of the Republic of China. He was one of the leaders of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party), and was also the commander of the National Revolutionary Army. He fought with various rival warlords and political factions (especially the Chinese Communist Party) for control of China, while also having to resist a massive Japanese invasion during World War II. His government was ultimately defeated by the Communists, forcing them into exile on Taiwan.
- Winston Churchill: British military officer turned politician, he served in the British Army during The Mahdist War, The Second Boer War, and World War I. He was later elected as the UK Prime Minister during World War II.
- Davy Crockett: American soldier and politician. He served in the Tennessee militia during the War of 1812, and was later elected as a Tennessee state legislator and U.S. Congressman. After that, he moved down south to Mexican Texas and participated in the Texas Revolution, where he was ultimately killed in the Battle of the Alamo.
- Oliver Cromwell: English warlord and politician who led Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War, and later became the Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
- Cyrus the Great: Persian king, warlord, and conqueror who founded the Achaemenid Empire.
- Jefferson Davis: American military officer turned politician. He served in the U.S. Army during the Black Hawk War and the Mexican-American War. He was also the Confederate President during The American Civil War.
- Bob Dole: US Senator and former presidential candidate served in the army during World War II and earned the Bronze star and the Purple Heart.
- Michael Dukakis: US Governor and former presidential candidate served in the army from 1955-1957.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower: American general who served in both World Wars, later became the 34th U.S. President.
- Elizabeth II: The longest-reigning Queen of the United Kingdom (and other Commonwealth realms), from 1952 until 2022, who as a young princess served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (the women's branch of the British Army) during World War II.
- Gerald Ford: The 38th U.S. President, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
- Francisco Franco: Spanish general who led the Nationalist side during the Spanish Civil War, and then became the dictator of Spain from 1936 to 1975. He is still dead.
- Muammar Gaddafi: Libyan colonel who became the military dictator of Libya by coup from 1969 until 2011.
- Bernardo de Gálvez: Spanish viceroy who fought in The American Revolution.
- James A Garfield: The 20th U.S. President, who was a Union Army general in The American Civil War.
- Charles de Gaulle: French general who fought in both World Wars, and later became the President of France.
- Genghis Khan: Mongolian king, warlord, and conqueror who founded the Mongol Empire.
- John Glenn: American astronaut and US Senator who served in the US Navy and Marine Corps during World War II.
- Barry Goldwater: American Senator who served in the US Army and Air Force during World War II and Korean War.
- Hermann Göring: German Ace Pilot during World War I, held various high political positions in Nazi Germany and was Chief of the Luftwaffe's High Command during World War II.
- Ulysses S. Grant: American general who served in the Mexican-American War and American Civil War, and later became the 18th U.S. President.
- Alexander Hamilton: American politician who was one of the Founding Fathers. He was also a U.S. Army general during The American Revolution and The Quasi-War.
- Benjamin Harrison: American lawyer and politician who was a Union Army general during The American Civil War, and later became the 23rd U.S. President.
- William Henry Harrison: Benjamin Harrison's grandfather was a U.S. Army general who fought in the Northwest Indian War and the War of 1812, and was later elected as the 9th U.S. President (though he only lasted a month before he died).
- Rutherford B. Hayes: American lawyer turned Union Army general of the American Civil War, and was later elected as the 19th U.S. President.
- Adolf Hitler: The Austrian-born dictator of Nazi Germany. He served as a Gefreiter (lance corporal) in the Imperial German Army during World War I, from which he received the Iron Cross, Second Class. After he eventually seized power as the Chancellor and Führer of Germany, he started World War II and The Holocaust in Europe.
- Daniel Inouye: American soldier of Japanese descent who served with the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II, where he lost his right arm to a grenade and won the Medal of Honor. After the war, he became a politician and served as a Congressman from Hawaii for 53 years until his death.
- Ismail I: Persian king, military and religious leader, and founder of the Safavid Empire.
- Andrew Jackson: American general and politician who fought in The American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the First Seminole War. He was later elected as the 7th U.S. President.
- Andrew Johnson: American politician who was a Union Army general during The American Civil War, and became the 17th U.S. President soon after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
- Lyndon Johnson: The 36th U.S. President, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
- John F. Kennedy: The 35th U.S. President, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
- Robert F. Kennedy: JFK's younger brother was also a fellow U.S. Navy veteran of World War II turned politician.
- Ted Kennedy: JFK's and RFK's younger brother who served in the Army as a Private First Class from 1951-1953.
- John Kerry: American politician who served in the U.S. Navy during The Vietnam War.
- Henry Kissinger: American politician and US Secretary of State who served in World War II as a Sergeant in the US Army from 1943 to 1946.
- Kjell Laugerud: Guatemalan-Norwegian dictator who served from 1974 to 1978, presiding over the country's catastrophic earthquake.
- Abraham Lincoln: American lawyer and politician, who served in the Illinois state militia during the Black Hawk War, and as the 16th U.S. President he was in charge of the Union military during The American Civil War.
- Fitzroy Maclean: British general and politician who served in the British Army during World War II, and later became a Member of Parliament.
- Gustav Mannerheim: Finnish general and politician. He served in the Imperial Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, commanded the White Guard (anti-communist forces) in the Finnish Civil War, and led the Finnish Army during World War II. He also became the President of Finland in the later years of WWII.
- Mao Zedong: Chinese revolutionary and politician. He was one of the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party and its armed forces, the People's Liberation Army. The Communists clashed with the ruling Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War, while also engaging in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese invasion during World War II. After the Communist victory in the Civil War, Mao ruled China until his death in 1976.
- John McCain: Arizona Senator and 2008 presidential candidate, was a Navy pilot during The Vietnam War and was a prisoner of war for five and a half years in the infamous Hanoi Hilton.
- Joseph McCarthy: American senator who served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II as an intelligence officer.
- George McGovern: American representative and senator who became the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, who served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II as a B-24 Liberator pilot.
- William McKinley: The 25th U.S. President, who served in the Union Army during The American Civil War.
- Robert McNamara: (Republican until 1978, Democrat from 1978 to his death) 8th US Secretary of Defense, served in United States Army as a Lt. Col. from 1940 to 1946.
- Harvey Milk (D-CA): Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who served in the US Navy from 1951 - 1955 on the USS Kittiwake.
- James Monroe: The 5th U.S. President, who served in the Continental Army during The American Revolution.
- Hosni Mubarak: Egyptian Air Force commander, who later became the President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
- Benito Mussolini: Italian politician who served in the Italian Army during World War I. He later became the fascist dictator of Italy, and oversaw Italian military campaigns in Libya, Ethiopia, Spain, Albania, and of course World War II.
- Gamal Abdel Nasser: Egyptian Army officer, who later became the Prime Minister and President of Egypt from 1954 until 1970.
- Benjamin Netanyahu: Israeli Prime Minister who served in the Israeli Army special forces.
- Richard Nixon: The 37th U.S. President, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
- Juan Domingo Perón: Argentine Army officer who later served once as the Vice President of Argentina, and twice became the country's President.
- Franklin Pierce: American general of the Mexican-American War who later became the 14th U.S. President.
- Augusto Pinochet: Chilean general who became the dictator and President of Chile by coup from 1973 to 1990.
- Pompey the Great: Ancient Roman general and politician.
- Colin Powell: The United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005, served in The Vietnam War, and was later a four-star general who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993.
- Vladimir Putin: Russian politician who served in the Soviet KGB. In the post-Soviet era, he has ruled as the President (or Prime Minister) of the Russian Federation since 1999.
- Ronald Reagan: The 40th U.S. President, he was a reservist in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II but never saw combat.
- Paul Revere: Patriot who served in the American colonial army and famous for the Midnight Ride.
- Richard III: As King of England, he fought in the Wars of the Roses, and was killed in battle.
- Theodore Roosevelt: The 26th U.S. President, who served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War.
- Hassan Rouhani: Iranian politician who was the commander of Iran's Air Defense Force during the Iran–Iraq War. He later became the President of Iran in 2013.
- Donald Rumsfeld: American politician who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 and again from 2001 to 2006, he served in the U.S. Navy for three years.
- Prince Rupert of the Rhine: English-German commander during the English Civil War.
- Leo Ryan: American politician who served in the US Navy from 1943 to 1946 and was later assassinated while in Jonestown.
- José de San Martín
- Domingo Faustino Sarmiento: Argentine military officer turned politician. He served as a Divisional General in the Argentine Army, before he eventually became the 7th President of Argentina.
- Shaka Zulu: Zulu king, warlord, and conqueror who founded the Zulu Kingdom.
- Skanderbeg: Albanian prince and warlord who led a rebellion against Ottoman rule in the Balkans.
- Ian Smith: Rhodesian Flight Lieutant who served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Prime Minister of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
- Zachary Taylor: American general who was a veteran of the War of 1812, the American Indian Wars, and the Mexican-American War. He was later elected as the 12th U.S. President.
- Timur the Lame: Turko-Mongol king, warlord, and conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire.
- Josip Broz Tito: Yugoslav general and politician. He was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, joined the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, and led the Yugoslav Partisans during World War II. After the war, he became the dictator of Yugoslavia until his death in 1980.
- Hideki Tojo: Japanese general and politician. He served the Imperial Japanese Army during the Russian Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and World War II. During most of WWII, he was also the War Minister and Prime Minister of Japan. After Japan surrendered to the Allies, Tojo was convicted and executed for war crimes.
- Tokugawa Ieyasu: Japanese warlord who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate.
- Toyotomi Hideyoshi: 16th century Japanese warlord and politician, he was appointed as an imperial regent and chancellor.
- Harry S. Truman: The 33rd U.S. President, who served in the U.S. Army during World War I.
- John Tyler: The 10th U.S. President, who served in a local Virginia militia during the War of 1812.
- Jorge Ubico: Guatemalan general who became a fascist dictator in the 1930s and 1940s.
- Vlad the Impaler: Romanian prince and warlord from Wallachia. Vlad's brutality against his enemies (which often involved impalement on wooden spikes, hence his nickname) made him legendary enough to eventually inspire the fictional vampire Dracula.
- George Washington: American military officer who served in the British Army during the French and Indian War, and later went on to become the commander of the Continental Army during The American Revolution. He was later elected as the 1st U.S. President.
- Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington: British general and politician who fought in The Napoleonic Wars, notably defeating Napoléon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo. He later became the UK Prime Minister.
- Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes: Guatemalan general who became an elected dictator, before being overthrown in a US-backed coup.