The Most Enlightened Leaders in World History

The Top Ten
1 Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India.

Mahatma Gandhi my father

2 Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (January 6, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Among the leading intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a drafter and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the first United States Postmaster General.
3 George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732– December 14, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army, Washington led the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and served as the president of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which created the Constitution of the United States and the American federal government. Washington has been called the "Father of the Nation" for his manifold leadership in the formative days of the country.

He wasn't enlightened. He never even had a formal education and was mentioned to have been illiterate.

4 Peter The Great
5 Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and served as the 3rd President of the United States from 1801-1809. He was born on April 13, 1743, and died on July 4, 1826, on the same day 2nd United States President John Adams died.
6 Elizabeth I
7 Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century.

Roosevelt held to principles of socialist nationalism, aka, national socialism. Hardly the definition of "enlightenment."

8 Napolean Bonaparte

So "enlightened" he aspired to conquer the world. So "enlightened" that he, like Hitler, was reckless, arrogant and foolish enough to invade Russia with winter looming.

9 Shivaji Shivaji Bhonsle, also known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian warrior king and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan.

He is the greatest man in theatre world...He worked a lot for India...He risked his life many time to make India a best Country...He have to at least at top 3...

The king for which everyone in his kindom is ready to die! Such a geatest justidious king!

10 Muhammad (Prophet) Muhammad ibn Abdullah (570 AD - 632 AD) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of the world religion of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet, divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. ...read more.

He was a true leader. Sent by God for all of mankind to follow.

The Contenders
11 Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an African American minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King is best known for advancing civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi.
12 Martin Luther Martin Luther was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation.
13 B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956), popularly known as Babasaheb or B. R. Ambedkar, was an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement and campaigned against social discrimination towards Untouchables (Dalits), while also supporting the rights of women and labour. He was Independent India's first law minister, the principal architect of the Constitution of India and a founding father of the Republic of India. ...read more.

We are because He was...

14 Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II served as Pope and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 to 2005. He is called Saint John Paul the Great by some Catholics.
15 Bhagat Singh Bhagat Singh was an Indian revolutionary socialist who was influential in the Indian independence movement. He is often referred to as Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the word "Shaheed" meaning "martyr" in a number of Indian languages. ...read more.
16 Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.
17 Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African-American president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
18 Desmond Tutu
19 Buddha Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni Buddha, or simply the Buddha, after the title of Buddha, was an ascetic and sage, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.
20 Mother Teresa Mother Teresa (26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), also known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. Although her passport name was Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, she was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, in Üsküb—now Skopje, capital of North Macedonia. After ...read more.
21 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
22 Mao Zedong Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary and founding father of the People's Republic of China, which he governed as Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949, until his death in 1976. ...read more.
23 Richard I of England
24 Charlemagne
25 Chiang Kai-shek
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