People
Historical Figures and Influential People in History
Explore rulers, generals, thinkers, scientists and reformers who shaped world history. Search for a specific person, or browse by era, region, country and A–Z.
Historical Figures Beginning with T
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11 results
Tarquin the Proud
-550–-495Ancient CivilisationsEuropeItaly
He was Rome's last king — deposed in a revolt so definitive that the Romans refused to use the word 'king' for the next five hundred years.
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Theodore Roosevelt
1858–1919Industrial AgeAmericasUnited States
He became president at forty-two after an assassination, hunted big game, built the Panama Canal, and won a Nobel Peace Prize — all within seven years.
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Theresa May
1956–?Modern HistoryEuropeUnited Kingdom
She stepped into leadership after a political earthquake, spent three years trying to deliver an exit few could agree on, and left office having defined a turbulent era.
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Thomas Becket
1119–1170Medieval PeriodEuropeUnited Kingdom
He was Henry II's closest friend and most trusted official until Henry made him Archbishop of Canterbury — and then he became the king's most implacable enemy.
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Thomas Cranmer
1489–1556Medieval PeriodEuropeUnited Kingdom
He helped Henry VIII get his first divorce, shaped the English Reformation, wrote the Book of Common Prayer, and was burned at the stake when the next monarch changed her mind about all of it.
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Thomas Cromwell
1485–1540Medieval PeriodEuropeUnited Kingdom
He rose from the son of a blacksmith to the second most powerful man in England, dismantled the monasteries, and was executed when he arranged a royal marriage that went badly.
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Thomas Jefferson
1743–1826Early Modern EraAmericasUnited States
He wrote that all men are created equal, owned more than six hundred enslaved people, and spent his life writing about liberty — a contradiction the country has never fully resolved.
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Thomas Pelham Holles, Duke of Newcastle
1693–1768Early Modern EraEuropeUnited Kingdom
He mastered elections, patronage, and political survival so completely that he could dominate government for decades without ever appearing fully in control.
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Tiberius Gracchus
-163–-133Classical WorldEuropeItaly
He proposed giving land to Rome's dispossessed poor, was told it was unconstitutional, and pushed ahead anyway — setting a precedent that helped destroy the republic.
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Timur
1336–1405Medieval PeriodOtherUZB
He claimed to be building a new Mongol Empire, destroyed cities that resisted him so thoroughly they were never rebuilt, and left a legacy that later rulers still invoked centuries after his death.
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Trajan
53–117Classical WorldEuropeItaly
He pushed Roman territory to its greatest extent, won wars the Senate called unwinnable, and built so much that the Romans chose him as the benchmark: emperors were wished to be 'luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan.'
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