Historical Figures

 

 

Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini (1907–1948): Nationalist leader of the Palestinian Arabs and an active militant in the disturbances in Mandate Palestine during the 1930s. He led the irregular Palestinian forces in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Abdülhamid II (1842–1918): Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1876–1909, deposed during the rebellion of the “Young Turks.” He was replaced by his brother Mehmed V.

Abdullah I of Jordan (1882–1951): Son of Husayn ibn Ali, sharif of Mecca and head of the Hashemite dynasty. He was the first ruler of Jordan.

Alexander II of Russia (1818–1881): Son of Nicholas I of Russia and tsar of the Russian Empire, 1855–1881.

Alexander III of Russia (1845–1894): Son of Alexander III of Russia and tsar of the Russian Empire, 1881–1894.

Balfour, Arthur James, 1st Earl of Balfour (1848–1930): Prime minister of the United Kingdom, 1902– 1905, during the reign of Edward VII; foreign secretary, 1916–1919. On November 2, 1917, he pronounced the Balfour Declaration in a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, declaring that the United Kingdom was in favor of the creation of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.

Bayezid II (c. 1447–1512): Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1481–1512. He rearranged its interior politics and established a new and less punitive method of taxation. He allowed Jews who had been expelled from Spain and elsewhere in Europe to settle in his lands.

Ben-Gurion, David (1886–1973): Head of provisional government of Israel, 1948–1949; prime minister, 1948–1954, 1955–1963. He was one of the main figures in the foundation of the State of Israel, making the country’s official declaration of independence on May 14, 1948.

Brunner, Alois (1912– [later whereabouts and death uncertain]): Officer in the SS (Schutzstaffel). The commandant of the internment camp at Drancy, France, he had a very active role in the extermination of the Jews in the Second World War.

Catherine II of Russia (Catherine the Great) (1729–1796): Wife of Tsar Peter III of Russia, whom she helped depose; Empress of Russia, 1762–1796.

Cemal, Ahmed (Cemal Pasha) (1872–1922): One of the three pashas who took charge of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The others were Ismail Enver and Mehmed Talât.

Chamberlain, Neville (1869–1940): Prime minister of the United Kingdom, 1937– 1940, during the reign of George VI.

Churchill, Winston (1874–1965): Prime minister of the United Kingdom, 1940–1945, 1951–1955, during the reigns of George VI and Elizabeth II.

Cunningham, Alan (1887–1983): British general. He was the last British High Commissioner in Jerusalem.

Dannecker, Theodor (1913–1945): SS officer who was very active in the extermination of the Jews during the Second World War.

Dreyfus, Alfred (1859–1935): French soldier of Jewish origin, accused in 1894 of espionage on trumped-up charges and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. In 1899, after a public outcry caused the case to be reopened, he was pardoned by French president Émile Loubet. In 1906 a military commission exonerated him and he was reinstated with full honors into the army.

Enver, Ismail (Enver Pasha) (1881–1922): Ottoman officer and leader of the Revolt of the Young Turks. One of the three pashas in power in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

Faisal ibn Husayn (1883–1933): Brother of Abdullah I of Jordan. A prominent member of the Hashemite family, he was leader of the Arab rebellion between 1916 and 1920; king of Syria, 1920; king of Iraq 1921–1933.

Georges-Picot, Charles François (1870–1951): French diplomat who in 1916 signed, with Mark Sykes, the Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom and France outlining a proposed partition of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War.

Herzl, Theodor (1860–1904): Hungarian journalist and writer, the founder of the Zionist movement.

Husayn ibn Ali (1854–1931): Emir and last sharif of Mecca, 1908–1917. He was king of the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz until 1924. After being dethroned he declared himself caliph and lived in exile until his death.

Hussein of Jordan (1935–1998): Member of the Hashemite dynasty, he ruled Jordan from 1952, when he succeeded his father, King Talal, until his death in 1998.

Husseini, Haj Amin al- (1897–1974): Grand mufti of Jerusalem, 1921–1937. He was the chief Islamic ally of the Third Reich during the Second World War.

Jabotinsky, Vladimir (1880–1940): Zionist leader, writer, journalist, soldier, and founder of the Jewish Legion during the First World War. He was the principal ideologue of Revisionist Zionism.

Lawrence, T. E. (1888–1935): British soldier, archaeologist, and writer, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. He had a significant role in the Arab revolt against the Ottomans during the First World War.

McMahon, Henry (1862–1949): British diplomat and officer in the Indian Army who served as British High Commissioner in Cairo from 1915 to 1917. He is known for corresponding with Sharif Husayn ibn Ali. The correspondence, consisting of ten letters, had as its aim the preparation of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire in exchange for Allied acknowledgement of an Arab state in the area.

Mehmed Talât (Talât Pasha) (1872–1921): One of the “Young Turks,” the principal rulers of the Ottoman Empire after a coup in 1913, along with Ismail Enver and Ahmed Cemal.

Mehmed V Rashid (1844–1918): Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He ascended to the throne in 1909, although he lacked real political power during his reign and was instead dominated by political figures such as Enver Pasha, Talât Pasha, and Cemal Pasha. He proclaimed a jihad against the British Empire in 1914, when the Ottoman Empire entered the First World War.

Mengele, Josef (1911–1979). Doctor, anthropologist, and Nazi war criminal, nicknamed “The Angel of Death.” Known for his experiments on prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camps.

Nashashibi, Raghib al- (1881–1951): An important public figure during the Ottoman Empire, the British mandate, and the Jordanian administration. He was the mayor of Jerusalem from 1920 to 1934.

Nicholas II of Russia (1868–1918): Son of Tsar Alexander III, and Tsar of Russia, 1894 –1917.

Peel, William Robert, 2nd Viscount and 1st Earl Peel (1867–1937): British politician. In 1936–1937 he was the head of the Peel Commission, which proposed a solution for the Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine.

Pobedonostsev, Konstantin (1827–1907): Russian politician and thinker. He directed imperial policy during the reign of his disciple Tsar Alexander III and had a significant influence on Alexander’s son, Nicholas II.

Röthke, Heinz (1812–1966) German SS officer. He had an active role in the extermination of Jews during the Second World War.

Sykes, Mark, 6th Baronet Sykes (1879–1919): English co-signatory of the Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom and France outlining a proposed division of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War.

Weizmann, Chaim (1874–1952): Russian-born Zionist leader and chemist; provisional president of Israel, 1948–1949, and president, 1949–1951.

Wilson, Woodrow (1856–1924): President of the United States, 1913–1921.