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William of Orange

Stadtholder (chief executive) of the Dutch Republic from 1672 to 1702. From 1688 onward, he and wife Mary also ruled Britain as King and Queen, after ousting Mary’s father, James II. The almost entirely peaceful takeover is now known as the Glorious Revolution. 

Louis XIV

King of France from 1643 to 1715 (a reign of 72 years). Styled himself the Sun King. Waged war against the Dutch Republic as part of his campaign to expand French territory and French influence in continental Europe.

Maximilien Robespierre

A leading figure of the French Revolution of 1789, prime architect of the Reign of Terror during which tens of thousands were executed. He himself died at the guillotine, a victim of the forces he had unleashed.

Napoleon Bonaparte

French general who became leader of France in 1799 before crowning himself emperor in 1804. Deposed and exiled in 1814, he mounted a brief comeback in 1815. 

William Jennings Bryan

American populist politician. A gifted orator who spoke for rural Americans and defended traditional religion and morality. He was three times the Democratic Party’s (unsuccessful) presidential candidate, in 1896, 1900, and 1908.

Mao Zedong

Leader of the Chinese Communist Revolution, 1927–1949, and after that supreme leader of China. Took extreme measures, including the disastrous Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) to eradicate decadent Western values and otherwise transform China’s national fabric.

Ronald Reagan

U.S. President from 1981 to 1989. His election represented a victory for free-market, free-trade capitalism coupled with lower income taxes. His hawkish posture toward the Soviet Union is thought by many to have been decisive in bringing the Cold War to an end.

Margaret Thatcher

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. As a Conservative, she was to Great Britain what Ronald Reagan was to the United States: a champion of free-market economics and muscular foreign policy. 

Vladimir Putin

President of Russia since 2012. Under his leadership, Russia has sought to position itself as a political and cultural counterweight to the United States and Western Europe. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine is one expression of this ambition.

Viktor Orbán

Prime Minister of Hungary starting in 2010 and at the time of the publication of Age of Revolutions, in 2024. One of several populist world leaders in recent years who have rejected classical liberalism and emphasized loyalty to family, nation, and God.

Joe Biden

U.S. President starting in 2021 and at the time Age of Revolutions was published, in 2024. In Zakaria’s view, a reasonable moderate who understood the need for occasional compromise if classical liberalism is to endure as a political movement. Age of Revolutions was completed before Biden announced his decision in the summer of 2024 not to seek reelection that fall.

Xi Jingpin

General secretary of China’s Communist Party, and therefore China’s supreme leader, since 2012. He has generally turned away from the liberalizing policies of his predecessors, adopting instead a more hardline, anti-Western posture.

Donald Trump

U.S. President from 2017 to 2021, reelected in a second term in November 2024, a few months after the publication of Age of Revolutions. Trump is presented as a leading figure of populist illiberalism in Zakaria’s book.

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