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Locutus, you have to narrow it down to 2 for each period and give me a few lines of information for the GL, I agree about Tuthmosis III.
Anyway, following is some GL info on the suggestions I gave, plus two more: Sundiata (as Mansa Musa was more famous for his peaceful accomplishments while Sundiata was for his military ones) and Wu-ti (I don't know how I could've forgotten about him, he would give Tuthmosis and Asoka a good run for their money). Since I don't have terribly much time ATM, this is mostly copy-pasted from online encyclopedias, history websites, etc with some minor additions/edits/rewritings/etc from myself. I apologize that some of these bits are so long -- I lacked the time to make them short:
Ancient
Sargon the Great (also: Sargon of Akkad)
An ancient Mesopotamian ruler who reigned approximately 2334-2279 BC, and was one of the earliest of the world's great empire builders, conquering all of southern Mesopotamia as well as parts of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam (western Iran). He controlled territories west to the Mediterranean and north to the Black Sea. He established the first Semitic dynasty and spread Semitic and Sumerian civilization across the region. He is considered the founder of the Mesopotamian military tradition.
Suppiluliumas I
King of the Hittites, achieved fame as a great warrior and statesman by bringing to his defeated country the power of an empire and dominated the history of the Middle East for four decades, ruling from 1390 to 1354 BC. He achieved fame as a great warrior and statesman, successfully challenging the then-dominant Egyptian empire for control of the lands between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. He took advantage of the tumultuous reign of the Pharaoh Akhenaton, and seized control of Egyptian territory in Syria, inciting many Egyptian vassals to revolt. He also crushed the Mitanni kingdom (a powerful Hurrian empire), reducing it to a client state, and rebuilt the Hittite capital at Hattusas. By the end of his reign he had extended the Hittite empire nearly as far south as Damascus.
Tuthmosis III (also: Tuthmose III)
Thutmosis III was the son of Pharaoh Thutmose II and Isis, a minor wife. When Thutmosis II died in 1458 BC his son was still a young child, so his wife Hatshepsut acted as regent. She relegated Thutmosis III to an inferior position for 22 years while she ruled Egypt. At her death (1468), Thutmosis III emerged as the sole ruler of Egypt and as a great conqueror who would become known as the Napoleon of Egypt.
Almost immediately he advanced into Syria, where an Asian alliance against Egypt waited to oppose him. He was victor at the famous battle of Megiddo and consolidated all of Syria, except Phoenicia, in his empire. In successive campaigns he captured 350 cities and reduced every ruler north of the Euphrates to the status of autonomous tributary and eventually conquered even powerful Kadesh and Mitanni, a kingdom east of the Euphrates River. His empire (the zenith of the New Empire), extending from the Third Cataract to the Euphrates, was used to enrich Egypt with wealth and man power. He built temples up and down the Nile and founded the wealth of the priesthood of Amon, to which he belonged. In the last years of his reign Tuthmosis demonstrated what must have been some anger with his stepmother Hatshepsut by destroying as much of her memory as possible. In temples and monuments throughout Egypt, he had her reliefs destroyed and her statues smashed.
Cyrus the Great (also: Cyrus II)
King of Persia, famous for his military prowess and mercy. He was founder of the greatness of the Achaemenids and of the Persian Empire. He overthrew Astyages, king of the Medes, sometime between 559 BC and 549 BC. He entered Ecbatana and, taking over the Median kingdom, began to build a great empire after the Assyrian model. Cyrus' objectives were to gain power over the Mediterranean coast, secure Asia Minor, and civilize the east. Croesus of Lydia, Nabonidus of Babylonia, and Amasis II of Egypt, joined by Sparta, tried to build a strong alliance against him, but to no avail. He defeated and captured Croesus (546 BC), and Lydia became a satrapy under the Persian government. The Chaldaean empire of Babylonia fell to Cyrus in 538 BC. He did not conquer Egypt, but he prepared the way for later Persian victories there. Cyrus demanded the surrender of the Greek cities that had been under Lydia, and they also became satrapies of Persia. Cyrus was much admired by the Jews, whom he favored, placing them in power in Palestine. His motive was probably to create a buffer state between Persia and Egypt, but the result was a rehabilitation of Israel. Cyrus was admired as a liberator rather than a conqueror, because he respected the customs and religions of each part of his vast empire. The exact limits of Cyrus' eastern conquests are not known, but it is possible that they reached as far as the Peshawar region. He used Susa, Ecbatana, and Babylon as his capitals but was buried at Pasargadae, where he had built a splendid palace.
Leonidas
A king of Sparta, the seventeenth of the Agiad line. He succeeded, probably in 489 or 488 BC, his half-brother Cleomenes I, whose daughter Gorgo he married. In 480 he was sent with about 7000 men to hold the pass of Thermopylae against the army of Xerxes of Persia. The smallness of the force was, according to a current story, due to the fact that he was deliberately going to his doom, an oracle having foretold that Sparta could be saved only by the death of one of its kings: in reality it seems rather that the ephors supported the scheme half-heartedly, their policy being to concentrate the Greek forces at the Isthmus.
Leonidas' men repulsed the frontal attacks of the Persians for the first two days, but when the Malian Ephialtes led the Persian general Hydarnes by a mountain track to the rear of the Greeks, Leonidas divided his army, himself remaining in the pass with 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans. Perhaps he hoped to surround Hydarnes' force: if so, the movement failed, and the little Greek army, attacked from both sides, was cut down to a man save the Thebans, who are said to have surrendered. Another theory was that Leonidas sent the remainder of the army home in an effort to preserve troops for the main battles of the war. The soldiers who stayed behind were to cover their escape so the Persian cavalry would not overrun the rear of the escaping troops. Our knowledge of the circumstances are too slight to enable us to judge Leonidas' strategy, but his heroism and devotion secured him an almost unique place in the imagination not only of his own time but also of succeeding times.
Asoka the Great (also: Ashoka)
Indian emperor (c.273-c.232 BC) of the Maurya dynasty; grandson of Chandragupta. One of the greatest rulers of ancient India, he brought nearly the entire Indian subcontinent, together with Afghanistan and parts of Iran, under one sway for the first time in history (a feat which would not be repeated until the rule of Akbar the Great, nearly 2000 years later). According to legends, after his bloody conquest (c.261 BC) of the state of Kalinga, Asoka was remorseful for the suffering he had inflicted; accepted Buddhism and abandoned wars of conquest.
He proclaimed his belief in ahimsa, or nonviolence and advocated tolerance of all faiths. He erected numerous Buddhist monasteries and stupas, regulated the slaughter of animals, and softened the harsh laws of his predecessors. He sent Buddhist missionaries throughout India and its adjacent lands and as far as Syria, Egypt, and Greece. His own son or brother headed the mission to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). It is said that under his auspices a great Buddhist convocation was held at his capital, Pataliputra; its purpose was probably to suppress heresy and to confirm the Buddhist canon. India prospered and art flourished under the reign of Asoka, who, beyond his many imperial accomplishments, is most celebrated for his elevation of Buddhism from a simple Indian sect to a world religion. After his death the Mauryan empire swiftly declined.
Shi Huangdi (also: Zheng, Qin Shi Huang)
King of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BC to 221 BC, and then the first emperor of a unified China from 221 BC to 210 BC, ruling under the name First Emperor. At the time of the young Zheng's birth, China was divided into warring feudal states. This period of Chinese history is referred to as the Warring States Period. The competition was extremely fierce and by 260 BC there were only a handful of states left (the others having been conquered and annexed), but Zheng's state, Qin, was the most powerful. It was governed by Legalist philosophy and focused earnestly on military matters.
Zheng ascended the throne in 247 BC at the age of 12 and a half, and was king under a regent until 238 BC when at the age of 21 and a half he staged a palace coup and assumed full power. He continued the tradition of tenaciously attacking and defeating the feudal states (dodging a celebrated assassination attempt by Jing Ke while doing so) and finally took control of the whole of China in 221 BC by defeating the last independent Chinese state, the State of Qi. Then in that same year, at the age of 38, the king of Qin proclaimed himself First Emperor of China.
Having unified China, he and his prime minister Li Si passed a series of major reforms aimed at cementing the unification, and they undertook some Herculean construction projects, most notably the precursor version of the current Great Wall of China. For all the tyranny of his autocratic rule, Qin Shi Huang is still regarded today as some sort of a colossal founding father in Chinese history whose unification of China has endured for more than two millennia (with interruptions).
Wu-ti (also: Wu-Di, Wu, Liu Che)
The sixth emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty, ruling from 141 BC to 87 BC. He was a military campaigner, and Han China reached its greatest expansion under his reign, spanning from Kyrgyzstan in the west, Northern Korea in the Northeast, to Northern Vietnam in the south. He was best known for his role in expelling the nomadic Xiongnu from the boundary of China. The Han people named themselves after him. Emperor Wu adopted the principles of Confucianism as the state philosophy and code of ethics for his empire. He started a school to teach future administrators the Confucian classics. Emperor Wu dispatched his envoy Zhang Qian in 139 BC to seek an alliance with the Yuezhi of modern Uzbekistan. Zhang returned in 123 BC and Emperor Wu then sent many missions per year to Central Asia. During the end of his reign, his power was severely weakened. Open war broke out between rival families of the Empress Wei and the Li clan. The Li family killed most of Empress Wei's family and forced Empress Wei to commit suicide; during this time, Wu was forced to flee. In the end, Wu was too weak to even name his own successor, who was chosen two days before Wu's death.
Armin (also: Arminius, Hermann der Cherusker) -- Note: I accidentally listed him as Varus in my previous post, but that was of course his opponent
Leader of the Germans, called Hermann in modern German. He was a chief of the Cherusci (in an area of present-day Hannover) when the Romans were pushing east from the Rhine toward the Elbe. Armin, who had been a Roman citizen and soldier, secretly gathered a great allied force and ambushed Publius Quintilius Varus in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. In the ensuing battle Varus' army was utterly destroyed, and Varus, in disgrace, committed suicide. So great was the shock in Rome that it is said that Emperor Augustus afterward would start up from sleep, crying, “Varus, Varus, bring me back my legions!”.
After his great victory, Armin tried for several years to bring about a more permanent union of the north German tribes so as to resist more effectively future Roman efforts at conquest, but did not succeed in the face of tribal jealousies. He also met the Romans in other battles, as they sought revenge for Teutoburg Forest. In 13, Germanicus invaded the same area with 80,000 troops, buried the dead of Varus' legions, and raided much of the surrounding area. Armin successfully resisted in a series of skirmishes and battles and came close once more to annihilating an entire Roman army under Caecina; only the indiscipline of his uncle Inguiomer, who attacked the Roman camp too early, saved Caecina from suffering Varus' fate. Caecina abandoned his camp and supplies and fled with his remaining troops while Inguiomer's warriors plundered the camp.
The Romans never again made any real effort to absorb the territory east of the Rhine, though Germanicus (called to aid the father of Armin's wife, Thusnelda, against Armin) badly defeated and wounded the German leader in AD 16. Armin was later killed by treachery. Tacitus, the modern source for Armin, glorified him as a noble barbarian. In the romantic period German nationalists made much of Armin, who became a major national hero and was sometimes wrongly identified with Siegfried.
Boudicca (also: Boadicea)
A Celtic female chieftain who led the Iceni and a number of other Celtic tribes, including the neighbouring Trinovantes, in a major uprising against the occupying Roman forces in Britain in AD 60 or 61 during the reign of the emperor Nero. While the Roman governor of Britain, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was leading a campaign against the druids on the island of Anglesey in north Wales, the Iceni rebelled, along with their neighbours the Trinovantes, under Boudicca's leadership. Their first target was Camulodunum (Colchester), the former Trinovantian capital, which had been settled with Roman veterans and where a temple to the former emperor Claudius had been erected at local expense. The city was poorly defended and the rebels destroyed it, beseiging the last defenders in the temple for two days before it fell. When news of the rebellion reached him, Suetonius hurried to Londinium (London), an important mercantile settlement, but concluded he did not have the numbers to defend it. Londinium was abandoned to the rebels, who burnt it down, slaughtering anyone who had not evacuated with Suetonius. Verulamium (St Albans) was next to be destroyed.
Suetonius regrouped with an army of almost ten thousand men. He took a stand at an unidentified location, probably in the West Midlands somewhere along Watling Street, in a defile with a wood behind him. They were greatly outnumbered by the British rebels (who were 230,000 strong by now according to Dio Cassius) but superior Roman tactics and training won the day at the Battle of Watling Street. The Britons were prevented from fleeing by their own families, who they had stationed in a ring of wagons at the edge of the battlefield, and were slaughtered. Tacitus reports that "According to one report almost eighty thousand Britons fell" compared with only four hundred Romans. Boudicca, according to Tacitus, poisoned herself; Dio Cassius says she fell sick and died, and was given a lavish burial.
Pacal the Great (also: Pakal, Pacal II)
(26 March 603 - 31 August 683), was king of the Maya kingdom of Palenque. He accended the throne at age 12 on 29 July 615, and lived to the age of 80. The name "Pacal" means "shield" in the Maya language. Pacal saw expansion of Palenque's power in the western part of the Maya states, and initiated a building program at his capital that produced some of Maya civilization's finest art and architecture. After his death, Pacal the Great was worshiped as a god, and said to communicate with his descendants. His elaborate temple tomb had a stairway down to his crypt, and after this was sealed up it had a long "speaking tube" connected to the temple atop the step-pyramid.
Medieval
Sui Wen-ti (also: Wendi, Wen, Yang Jian, Yang Chien)
Sui Wen-ti was the founder of the Sui dynasty, which brought about the second unification of China after more than 300 years of division. As Turkic-Chinese military commander of the Northern Chou dynasty (557 - 581) he seized power in in 581 and proclaimed the new Sui dynasty. He immediately began to reunify China. He conquered the various states in the South and defeated the Mongols in the northern part of the country. Domestically, his first accomplishment was to consolidate governmental administration and centralize the political system. Wen-ti established a more efficient two-government, took steps to breach the social gap between rich and poor, and to reduce corruption and encourage union of Chinese states. Political officials became qualified based on merit rather than blood, and imperial examinations were instituted. Elite-class privileges, which had long been part of the social system in the northern dynasties, fell. Capable officials from the south were welcomed to join his government. In this reign, the land-equilization system was created, distributing land equally based on household size, with more land for larger families. However, existing landholders were allowed to keep their property, and land could not be sold off, only farmed. Taxes on farmers and merchants were relaxed, as well, and overall the period became very agriculturally productive. Wen-ti saw the beginning of the construction of the Grand Canal. This huge project had the purpose of uniting northern and southern China with improved transport. It was completed in the reign of his son, Yang. Another project of his time was the improvement and expansion of the Great Wall.
Khalid ibn al-Walid (also: Khalid ibn Walid, Syaifullah (= Sword of Allah))
Khalid bin Walid was born around 584 in Mecca to the chief of the Bani Makhzum clan of the Quraish Tribe. His clan was responsible for warfare, and his father was well off. These two factors combined to make him proficient in warfare and fighting. As an adult, Khalid had grown to become a strong man and was well known among the Quraish for his fighting abilities. Following Muhammad's proclamation of the new faith of Islam, many battles were fought between the new Muslims and the Quraishi tribes. Khalid's military genius was responsible for turning the Battle of Uhud into a victory for the Quraishi forces after what had looked like a sure defeat. Following the Truce of Hudaibiya, Khalid became a Muslim. He was impressed by the steadfastness and fearlessness of the Muslims, something he had seen first hand. Upon accepting the religion, he went to Muhammad personally and apologized for his previous actions, and asked Muhammad to pray to Allah to forgive Khalid. Khalid also vowed to raise his sword in the path of Islam, rather than fighting against it. Despite the initial mistrust of some Muslims, Khalid won the trust of his new comrades and became a commander of Muslim armies.
During the caliphate of Abu Bakr, Khalid was responsible for putting down the rebellion led by the imposter Mosailima at the Battle of Akraba. And later he took Iraq from the Persian Empire in one campaign. During the reign of Umar ibn al-Khattab, Khalid led the Muslim armies in Syria against the Byzantine Empire. Under his leadership, Damascus was captured by the Muslim armies. At the Battle of Yarmuk, all of Syria was taken from the Byzantines. Following this battle, Khalid was extremely popular. This worried the caliph Umar who did not want the popularity of his general to interfere with people's beliefs in God, so he recalled Khalid and removed him of his commander status. Despite Khalid's desire to continue leading his armies, he obliged. Rather than stay in Medina though, he returned to the field of battle as a regular soldier and fought admirably. Khalid died in 642 in Emesa, Syria. Khalid had wanted to die in the field of battle, and apparently was disappointed that he died in bed.
Suryavarman II
King of the Khmer Empire from 1113 to 1150 AD and the builder of Angkor Wat (the world's largest religious structure). Unlike his Buddhist predecessors, he promulgated Vaishnavism as the official religion. During his reign, he reunited the Khmer empire (which then more or less coincided with modern Cambodia) after years of unrest and expanded its borders to cover much of present-day Thailand as well as parts of Vietnam and Malaysia, although all three of his campaigns against the Dai Viet failed. He also turned on and in 1145 briefly conquered his erstwhile ally, the Kingdom of Champa, but died when fighting against them in a later campaign.
Sundiata Keita (also: Mari Diata, Marijata)
A semi-historical hero of the Mandinka people of West Africa and is celebrated in the Epic of Sundiata as founder of the Mali Empire. When Sundiata was a young man, Sumanguru Kante, king of the nearby Soso Empire, killed his father and annexed Kangaba, his home state. From around 1230 to 1234, Mari Diata united the chiefs of various Mandinka clans. He led them to war and defeated the Soso around 1235. This marked the decline of the Soso Empire. With his capital at Niani, Sundiata consolidated his power over the Mandinka and forged the Mali Empire. The empire grew rich from the gold mines of what is today Ghana and through control of the lucrative trade routes linking West Africa's Atlantic coast with the Arab trading posts in the Sahara. He died in 1260 and was the granduncle of Mansa Musa.
Mansa Musa
Ruler of the Mali empire (1312-37 AD). A Muslim, he brought the Mali empire (then the source of almost half the world's gold) to its greatest height. During his reign Timbuktu became a center of Muslim culture and scholarship. With Musa as a benefactor, Sankore University in Timbuktu reached its height. Craftsmen and especially Islamic scholars came from all over the Muslim world to receive a free education at Sankore's guilds and madrasas. His pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324-25 brought Mali fame throughout the world; the emperor traveled with an immense entourage, preceded by 500 slaves carrying staffs of gold. His gifts of gold in Cairo were so lavish that the metal was devalued in Egypt.
Jan Zizka (also: John Zizka)
Bohemian military leader and head of the Hussite forces during the anti-Hussite crusades of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund . Before the Hussite Wars, which gave his military genius the opportunity to develop fully, Zizka served under various lords; he fought (1410) on the Polish side in the battle of Tannenberg, in which the Teutonic Knights were defeated. When the Hussite Wars broke out in 1420, Zizka was about 60 years old and blind in one eye. Having joined the Taborites (the radical Hussite wing), Zizka made Tábor in Bohemia into an almost impregnable fortress and led (July, 1420) the Taborite troops in their victory over Sigismund at Visehrad (now a part of Prague). In the following years he successfully withstood the anti-Hussite crusades and took one Catholic stronghold after another, continuing to command in person although he had become totally blind in 1421. He did not agree with the extreme religious views of the Taborites, and in 1423 formed his own Hussite wing, which, however, remained in close alliance with the Taborites. In the same year the tension between the Taborites and the moderate Utraquists, whose stronghold was at Prague, flared into open conflict, and late in 1424, Zizka led his army against Prague in order to compel that city to adhere to his uncompromising anti-Catholic policy. An armistice averted the outbreak of civil war between the two Hussite parties, which then decided on a joint expedition into Moravia under Zizka's command. Zizka died suddenly during the campaign. Although Zizka's fame is overshadowed by that of other commanders, he ranks with the great military innovators of all time. The bulk of his army consisted of peasants and townspeople, untrained in arms. Zizka did not attempt to make them adopt the conventional armament and tactics of the time, but let them make use of such weapons as iron-tipped flails and armored farm wagons, surmounted by small cannons of the howitzer type. His armored wagons, when used for offense, easily broke through the enemy lines, firing as they went, and thus enabled him to cut superior forces into pieces. When used for defense, the wagons were arranged into an impregnable barrier surrounding the foot soldiers; they also served to transport his men. Zizka thus fully anticipated the principles of tank warfare.
Jeanne d'Arc (also: Joan of Arc)
French saint and national heroine (1412-31), called the Maid of Orléans; daughter of a farmer of Domrémy on the border of Champagne and Lorraine. In 1429 and 1430, the French Royal army followed her command, and they defeated the English at the siege of Orleans, the battle of Patay and other engagements. Their accomplishments enabled the coronation of King Charles VII, and he ennobled her family. The Burgundians captured and delivered her to the English. Clergymen condemned her for heresy and moved for her execution. Joan of Arc's campaigns were responsible for a revitalization of Charles VII's faction during the Hundred Years' War. She has been revered as a national symbol in French patriotic circles since the 19th century.
Pachacuti
Pachacuti was the last Inca of the Kingdom of Cuzco and the first Inca of Tahuantinsuyu (Inca empire). He lead the first round of conquest that lead to the establishment of the Inca empire. The conquest began after a rival community attacked and was routed by his army. Pachacuti then began the era of conquest that would, within three generations, bring most of civilized South America under a single government.
In 1463 CE, he put his son Tupac Inca in charge of the Inca army, and began a political reorganization of the Kingdom of Cuzco. This resulted in the liquidation of the Kingdom of Cuzco and the establishment of Tahuantinsuyu or 'land of four corners'. Under his system, there were four apos that each controlled one of four provinces. Below these governors were t'oqrikoq, or local leaders, who ran a city, valley, or mine. He also established a separate chain of command for the army and priesthood to establish a system of checks and balances on power. While Pachacuti was reorganizing the political system, his son Tupac Inca, continued to conquer territiories to the north. By 1471 CE, when Pachacuti died, Tupac Inca had already reached what is today Equador.
El Gran Capitan (also: Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba)
Spanish general (1453-1515) who fought in the civil wars preceding and following the accession of Isabella I and in the conquest of Granada. He commanded (1495-98) the army aiding Naples against Charles VIII of France. After expeditions against the rebellious Moriscos of Granada and the Turks, he returned to Italy as an ally of Louis XII of France, who had joined with Ferdinand II of Aragón to partition Naples (see Italian Wars ). When Naples had been conquered, he expelled (1502-4) the French and served as governor until 1507. He greatly improved the Spanish infantry by specializing the use of weapons.
The Great Captain is sometimes spoken of as the first of modern generals. The expression is uncritical, for modern generalship arose from many sides, but he was emphatically a general. There is much in his methods which bears a curious likeness to those of the duke of Wellington; Barletta, for instance, has a distinct resemblance to the Torres Vedras campaign, and the battle on the Garigliano to Assaye. As an organizer he founded the Spanish infantry of the 16th and 17th centuries, and he gave the best proof of his influence by forming a school of officers. The best generals of Charles V were either the pupils of the Great Captain or were trained by them.
Ivan the Terrible (also: Ivan IV)
Grand duke of Moscow (1533-84), the first Russian ruler to assume formally the title of czar. Ivan came to the throne at age three and was crowned tsar at age sixteen on January 16, 1547. The early part of his reign was one of peaceful reforms and modernization. Ivan revised the law code, created a standing army, established the Zemsky Sobor, the council of the nobles, and subordinated the church to the state, making a system of rituals and regulations. During his reign the first printing press was introduced to Russia.
After reorganizing the army, Ivan conquered Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556), thereby inaugurating Russia's eastward expansion. The conquest of Siberia by the Cossack Yermak took place late in his reign (1581-83). Ivan also began trade with England via the White Sea in the mid-1550s. To improve his access to the Baltic Sea, he undertook (1558) a campaign against Livonia. In the resulting war with Poland and Sweden, he was at first successful but was later defeated by Stephen báthory , king of Poland and Lithuania. The peace treaties (1582, 1583) forced the czar to renounce his territorial gains and cede additional territory to Sweden.
Akbar the Great
Generally considered the greatest of the Mughal emperors of India (1556-1605), grandson of Babur. He succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, who rendered loyal service in expanding and consolidating the Mughal domains before he was summarily dismissed (1560) by the young king. Akbar, however, continued the policy of conquest. A magnetic personality and an outstanding general, he gradually enlarged his empire to include Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and nearly all of the Indian peninsula north of the Godavari River. To unify the vast state, he established a uniform system of administration throughout his empire and adopted a policy of conciliating the conquered chieftains. Having defeated the Rajputs, the most militant of the Hindu rulers, he allied himself with them, giving their chiefs high positions in his army and government; he twice married Rajput princesses. Although he was himself illiterate, Akbar's courts at Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri were centers of the arts, letters, and learning. He was much impressed with Persian culture, and because of him the later Mughal empire bore an indelible Persian stamp. Apparently disillusioned with orthodox Islam and hoping to bring about religious unity within his empire, he promulgated (1582) the Din-i-Ilahi [divine faith], an eclectic creed derived from Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. A simple, monotheistic cult, tolerant in outlook, it centered on Akbar as prophet, but had an influence outside the court.
It's almost as hard as deciding whether the idea deserves inclusion or not.
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