Supreme leader

The title or description "supreme leader" typically refers to the person among a number of leaders of a state, organization or other such group who has been given or is able to exercise the most – or complete – authority over it. In a religion, this role is usually satisfied by a person deemed to be the representative or manifestation of a god or gods on Earth. In politics, a supreme leader usually has a cult of personality associated with them, such as Adolf Hitler (Führer) in Germany; Benito Mussolini (Duce) in Italy; Joseph Stalin (Vozhd) in the Soviet Union; and the Supreme Leader of Iran or Supreme Leader of North Korea.

There have been many dictators and political party leaders who have assumed such personal and/or political titles to evoke their supreme authority. World War II, for example, saw many fascist and other far right figures model their rule on Hitler's Führer or Mussolini's Duce personae. On the far left, several communist leaders adopted "Supreme"-styled titles and/or followed Stalin's Vozhd example.

Shogun

A Shogun (将軍, Shōgun, [ɕoːɡu͍ɴ], "general", literally "military commander") was a hereditary military dictator in Japan during the period from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns were the de facto rulers of the country, although nominally they were appointed by the Emperor as a formality. The Shogun held almost absolute power over territories through military means, in contrast to the concept of a colonial governor in Western culture. Nevertheless, an unusual situation occurred in the Kamakura period (1199-1333) upon the death of the first shogun, whereby the Hōjō clan's hereditary titles of Shikken and Tokuso (1256-1333) monopolized the shogunate, collectively known as the Regent Rule (執権政治). The shogun during this period met the same fate as the Emperor and was reduced to a figurehead until a coup in 1333, when the shogun was restored to power.

The modern rank of shogun is roughly equivalent to a generalissimo. The title of shogun, is the short form of Sei-i Taishōgun (征夷大将軍, literally "Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians"); the individual governing the country at various times in the history of Japan, ending when Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the office to the Emperor Meiji in 1867.

Supreme Leader (disambiguation)

Supreme Leader can refer to:

See also