People

Louis XIV: French absolute monarch, built Versailles, archetype of European absolutism

Peter the Great: Russian tsar who westernized Russia

Catherine the Great: Russian empress, enlightened despot who expanded Russian territory

Frederick the Great: Prussian king, enlightened despot

Akbar the Great: Mughal emperor known for religious tolerance

Aurangzeb: later Mughal emperor whose Islamic policies destabilized the empire

Suleiman the Magnificent: Ottoman sultan at the empire's peak

Kangxi and Qianlong: Qing emperors during the dynasty's height

Confucius: Chinese philosopher whose ethics shaped East Asian governance

Guru Nanak: founder of Sikhism

Martin Luther: German monk whose 1517 Ninety-Five Theses launched the Protestant Reformation