re: In your opinion, who was the greatest leader in history?

If we're putting aside considerations of right and wrong, Ho Chi Minh might have to be included on the list. Dude seemed to get what he wanted even though it took him decades. Although it admittedly was not on a geographic scale of some of the others on the list.

Moses

The thread went in many directions but I think you intended it to be leaders of countries/empires. Just in case, I'll do both.

George Washington the first president of what remains to date the greatest and most powerful nation in the world. Started from nothing but a will to live free, with liberty and justice for all. Far and away the greatest democracy in history of mankind.

Sports is tough - Wooden and Lombardi are in very small company.

Running league of rich, egotistical , owners - Pete Rozelle. Many don't like Selig but for a man not seeking the position he did quite well overall.

Business - Henry Ford. Not a fan of the products but hard to argue the company's sustainability. Robert Woodruff for Coca-Cola also.

Military - From the top leadership it would be Ike, damn those decisions he was on the spot to make were difficult. On the battlefield, Patton, he didn't give a damn about anything but winning.

Religious - Jesus Christ of Nazarath. Still leading.

It's really hard to argue against the Founding Fathers, and pick Washington out of them if you need just one, IMO.

When you look at how long the odds of America surviving the first 50 years of its existence were, and then recognize that we've become the most powerful and prosperous, and one of the most free, states in world history, in large part due to the leadership they exhibited during America's creation and infancy, it's a clear answer IMO.

I don't really agree with the religious leaders presented in here either, a lot of people worship them centuries after their lives but how much of that is their direct work? When Jesus died his following was maybe a hundred people strong. Constantine, several popes and medieval leaders, and several colonial rulers brought more people to Christianity than Jesus himself did.

I think the proliferation of Christianity speaks to Jesus's resume as a great philosopher, and if this thread were asking for that I could see Jesus being picked. But leader... not so sure. The power Jesus still holds today isn't in his leadership when he was alive, but the ideas that outlived him.

I'd put Steve Jobs out there as another one from a business perspective.

Love him or hate him, he had proven many times that he was not necessarily wanted by various companies (namely Apple and Pixar) , but direly needed for his leadership skills and vision.

Technical creative vision unmatched.

Augustus Caesar gets my vote, and he should have more votes in this thread.

Augustus Caesar was the first and greatest of Rome's emperors, having presided over the longest period of continuous peace in Rome's history. It was a golden age for Rome in which the economy, the arts and the welfare of the people flourished like no other time. They said of him that he found Rome a city of clay and left it a city of marble. The man was a genius of the highest order and possibly the smartest man ever to rule any nation.

Not everything in a leader is military accomplishments, but Augustus does have those, too, defeating Mark Antony in a civil war that ended at the battle of Actium.

He was an all-around man of high accomplishment with few, if any true failures.

Michael Sam

But does that make him a good leader? That's just people appealing to his philosophical legacy and (in the case of corrupt preachers) duping others who aren't intelligent/diligent enough to dig into whether or not they're being misled.

Jesus was still a good leader; even amassing a following as (relatively) small as his takes significant leadership skills. But comparing to some of the political leaders listed here who built empires and states of millions... eh, I don't think I see it

Tom Cruise