Titans of History

TITANS OF HISTORY

SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE

With John Bew, Martyn Frampton,

Dan Jones and Claudia Renton

New York • London

© 2012 by Simon Sebag Montefiore

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ISBN 978-1-62365-222-7

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Simon Sebag Montefiore was born in 1965 and read history at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge University. Catherine the Great & Potemkin was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson, Duff Cooper and Marsh Biography Prizes. Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar won the History Book of the Year Prize at the British Book Awards. Young Stalin won the Costa Biography Award (UK), the LA Times Book Prize for Biography (US), Le Grand Prix de la Biographie Politique (France) and the Kreisky Prize for Political Literature (Austria). Montefiore’s books are published in 40 languages. His latest book is Jerusalem: The Biography. He is also the author of the novel Sashenka. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Visiting Professor at Buckingham University, he lives in London with his wife, the novelist Santa Montefiore, and their two children. He is the presenter of the BBC TV series, Jerusalem: the Making of a Holy City. For more information or to contact the author, see www.simonsebagmontefiore.com or follow him on Twitter @simonmontefiore

John Bew is Harris Fellow in Modern British History and Director of Studies at Peterhouse, Cambridge. His biography of Lord Castlereagh, Enlightenment, War and Tyranny, was published in 2011.

Martyn Frampton is Lecturer in Modern/Contemporary History at Queen Mary, University of London. His publications include The Long March (2009) and Legion of the Rearguard (2010)

Dan Jones is a journalist and historian. He is the author of Summer of Blood (2009) and The Plantagenets (2012).

Claudia Renton is a writer and actress who has appeared on stage with the RSC and at the Royal National Theatre, and on television for the BBC and ITV.

TO MY DARLING CHILDREN LILY AND SASHA

Contents

INTRODUCTION

RAMESES THE GREAT

DAVID & SOLOMON

NEBUCHADNEZZAR II

CYRUS THE GREAT

THE BUDDHA

CONFUCIUS

SUN TZU

LEONIDAS

HERODOTUS

ALCIBIADES

PLATO

ARISTOTLE

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

QIN SHI HUANGDI

HANNIBAL

JUDAH THE MACCABEE AND HIS BROTHERS

CICERO

CAESAR

HEROD THE GREAT

CLEOPATRA

AUGUSTUS & LIVIA

JESUS

CALIGULA

NERO

MARCUS AURELIUS

COMMODUS

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT

ATTILA THE HUN

MUHAMMAD

MUAWIYA & ABD AL-MALIK

ZHAO WU

CHARLEMAGNE

HAROUN AL-RASHID

MAROZIA AND THE PAPAL PORNOCRACY

BASIL THE BULGAR SLAYER

HASSAN AL-SABBAH AND THE ASSASSINS

GODFREY OF BOUILLON & THE CRUSADER KINGS OF JERUSALEM

ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE

SALADIN

RICHARD THE LIONHEART & JOHN SOFTSWORD

GENGHIS KHAN

FREDERICK II OF HOHENSTAUFEN

ISABELLA & ROGER MORTIMER

EDWARD III & THE BLACK PRINCE

TAMERLANE

RICHARD II

HENRY V

GILLES DE RAIS

JOAN OF ARC

TORQUEMADA

VLAD THE IMPALER

RICHARD III

SAVONAROLA

ISABELLA & FERDINAND

COLUMBUS

SELIM THE GRIM

PIZARRO

BARBAROSSA & SILVER ARM

THE BORGIAS: POPE ALEXANDER VI AND HIS CHILDREN CESARE AND LUCREZIA

MAGELLAN

BABUR

CORTÉS

HENRY VIII

SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT

IVAN THE TERRIBLE

ELIZABETH I

AKBAR THE GREAT

TOKUGAWA IEYASU

GALILEO

SHAKESPEARE

ABBAS THE GREAT

WALLENSTEIN

CROMWELL

AURANGZEB

PEPYS

LOUIS XIV

NEWTON

MARLBOROUGH

PETER THE GREAT

NADER SHAH

VOLTAIRE

SAMUEL JOHNSON

FREDERICK THE GREAT

CASANOVA

CAPTAIN COOK

CATHERINE THE GREAT

POTEMKIN

WASHINGTON

JEFFERSON

TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE

TALLEYRAND

MOZART

ROBESPIERRE

NELSON

WELLINGTON

NAPOLEON I

BEETHOVEN

JANE AUSTEN

SHAKA

BYRON

BALZAC

PUSHKIN

ALEXANDRE DUMAS PÈRE & FILS

DISRAELI

GARIBALDI

NAPOLEON III

LINCOLN

JACK THE RIPPER

DARWIN

DICKENS

BISMARCK

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

PASTEUR

FRANCISCO LÓPEZ & ELIZA LYNCH

TOLSTOY

CIXI

LEOPOLD II

TCHAIKOVSKY

CLEMENCEAU

SARAH BERNHARDT

MAUPASSANT

OSCAR WILDE

WILHELM II

LLOYD GEORGE

TOULOUSE-LAUTREC

RASPUTIN

GANDHI

TRUJILLO

LENIN

UNGERN VON STERNBERG

PROUST

SHACKLETON, SCOTT & AMUNSDEN

CHURCHILL

IBN SAUD

VILLA & ZAPATA

STALIN

EINSTEIN