who was the greatest female leader, i would say queen elizabeth, for me

Hmm... a hard question. There's Didda of Kashmir, Wu Zhou of China, Zenobia of Palmyra, Theodora of Eastern Rome (well technically not), Tomyris of the Massagetae, Catherine the Great of Russia, Hatshepsut of Egypt, etc. who are all able female rulers. I'll say Hatshepsut.

ya theadora wasn't a leaer, wasn't she justinians wife, any way she gave him morale support

Elizabeth the Great I'd think.

I'd say Theodora, but if you really think she was not a true leader, then I'd say probably Catherine of Russia.

MarIa Theresa of Austria?

ive heard of her, i guess you could say she was the greatest female leader she added a lot to austria hungary lifespan

Anyone but Margret Thatcher :mischief:

I'd say Elizabeth I of England :)

maria theresa without her austria would be prussian

Marozia, Senatrix of Rome and controller of the Papacy. Followed by Wu Hou

I would say Catherine the great, Elizabeth I could be very irrational and childish (just look at how she treated the Mary queen of Scots problem)

Well, judging by my crystal ball... Hilary Clinton. ;)

Hmm... tossup between Catherine the Great and Queen Victoria for me... although latter had less "political" clout, as a "do as I do" figure she's a hard act to follow.

I would say Catherine the great, Elizabeth I could be very irrational and childish (just look at how she treated the Mary queen of Scots problem)

Yes, but against this must be placed the strengths of her reign also.

Of course Theodora wasn't a leader! She was a leader's wife. Perhaps if she had been married to a weak emperor she would have been the real power behind the throne, but she was married to Justinian the Great, one of the strongest Roman/Byzantine emperors. The first female Roman/Byzantine emperor was Irene, who was pretty powerful too.

I would like to throw Toregene into the mix! She was every bit as capable a ruler as her husband, Ogodei, and ruled the Mongol Empire after his death in 1241.

Has any other woman ever ruled over so much of the planet?

Theodora was not the pretty sidekick of Justinian.

She ruled over the Empire while he was ill, alone. All clerks and ministers vowed on Justinian and her. She was officially appointed as co-emperor.

Justinian was still the Emperor, but his wife had great influence on him. During the Nika-uprising she urged him to stay in the city and ordered Belisarius to fight the crowd. There is a famous quote, I only know the German phrase. "The crimson is the best shroud I can imagine." - the meaning was, no Emperor that ran away ever managed to get a stable empire later on again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodora_%286th_century%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots

But well, if

Elizabeth OR Victoria OR Theodora were the greatest... how do you measure "greatness"? In Inch, like some body parts?

I am really impressed by Theodora, even if Victoria ruled an Empire where the sun never stopped shining and Elizabeth was a strong ruler, too.

Boleslav, Victoria was also Queen of India, perhaps she ruled even more land area than the mongol woman you spoke of?

well she gave justinian moral support there

Elizabeth I has been a favorite of mine, but I'm not sure she was the greatest.

Is there a reason no one has nominated Eleanor of Aquitaine?

Or possibly Joan d'Arc? I don't think we need a backstory there... Then again, she was more of a general than a leader.

I would have to say Queen Elizabeth I of England, though there are many to choose from and its difficult to compare... Nonetheless, Elizabeth brought England from being a relatively weak island nation to the threshold of becoming a world power during her reign. The only problem? She let King James IV of Scotland succeed her.

wat's wrong with that...

Joan of Arc heard little voices in her head too :mischief:

except her voice was jesus and he told joan to bring the hammer down on the british!

WITH A SWORD!!!

:lol: So she claimed yes...

Eleanor of Aquitaine - how could we have forgotten her? She was married to the King of France and to the King of England, hehe... of course after her divorce. ;)

She also supported that what would become the fantasy or historical novel of our times, a remarkable woman, Henry had to put her in prison to neutralize her... :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine

A remarkable woman, too. I read some novels about her, you know perhaps the one by Tanja Kinkel, sorry, forgot the title, best.

well she gave justinian moral support there

That makes her the greatest female leader?

My 2 cents? Oprah :p

Well, there could be some spelling mistakes knowing I don't know their names in English, but I would say :

1st. Maria Theresa of Austria.
2nd. Catherine the Great of Russia.
3rd. Maria (Mary) of the Medicis.

I may add that the last two were quite rude person I'm glad I haven't met. Maria Theresa was still a very strong girl... but still more human.

I would gladly talk about Elisabeth I... but I don't know what she has actually done which was so outstanding. Vigdis Vingabodottir is the first women elected as President in 1980 (Iceland). And it's clear that Joan of Arch has never been anything else than a military leader.

EDIT: Who's Oprah ?

Female + Leader ? :hmm: ....................... :rotfl:
Is it possible to vote for a somewhat effeminate guy? :)

She let King James IV of Scotland succeed her.

Pretty thoughtless of her to die. :)

Elizabeth managed to hold back two of the most powerful men in europe at the time, namely one of the popes who excommunicated her (I forget which, but he once proclaimed that it was a terrible shame that he and Elizabeth could not produce children, for they would rule the world!) and Phillip of Spain, during which the armardas were destroyed. She also restored England to protestantism and defied many of her nobles advice by refusing to Marry and ruling for herself. She also rectified the problem of no heir later in her reign. Her long running opposition to the global superpower of the time (spain) when England was rot anywhere near as powerful, had a strong hand in establishing England as a power to be reckoned with once more. There could be others I guess too, I'm just going off what I remember of her :D

They have female leaders now? What's next, female authors? ;)

Anyway, Queen Isabella had quite a bit to do with the birth of modern Spain through the inquisition and reconquista, and was partially responsible for Spanish colonialism.

Marla, Oprah is a US talk show host who exerts massive influence over middle aged housewives.

Kim Campbell!

Do we really need to rank persons? leaders? female leaders?

It's just not possible to do this objectively and with a logical scale.

So let it be :)

mfG mitsho

I must agree with mitsho, a lot of articles put historical armies vs others (Romans/Zulu), Knights vs Samurai and that stuff. It often leads to some interesting discussions, but it has a childish and immature touch at times.

Do we really need to rank persons? leaders? female leaders?

It's just not possible to do this objectively and with a logical scale.Thirded. (I agree)

I'm confused about why Maria Theresa of Austria is being supported in this thread so much... can someone enlighten me?

who was the greatest female leader, i would say queen elizabeth, for meAnd I would agree with you, without doubt.

Mother Theresa or Joan D'Arc

mother theresa wasn't a leader, as ghreat as she was. and oprah is a fat tv personality who is popular back here in the states among house wives who have too much free time on their hands

Maria Theresa is recognized as a great leader because it's under her rule that Eugène de Savoie (Eugene of Savoy) has stopped the Ottomans in their Conquest of Europe. Afterwards, the Empire of Austria became a real power completely dominating Central Europe. Maria Theresa was, by the way, already seeing the danger in Prussia and that's why she married one of her daughter with a French king. Unfortunately, that king was Louis XVI and that daughter was Maria Antoinette and both have lost their heads (not perfect for an alliance).

please don't call my people ignorant, but maria theresa did a lot for austria-hungary

Vigdis Vingabodottir is the first women elected as President in 1980 (Iceland). I don't see what's so remarkable about that. Is Iceland important?

Weren't Indira Ghandi or Golda Meir elected earlier?

OK, Elisabeth I could be my choice, too.

Golda Meir was in power during the 1973 Yom Kippur war, so yes she was earlier :)

...the Frenchman* Eugène de Savoie (Eugene of Savoy)...
Partly French... He was from the House of Savoy-Carignan, and the Duchy of Savoy was still independant at the time.
However, he was also rumored to be an illegitimate son of Louis XIV.

However, he was also rumored to be an illegitimate son of Louis XIV.I wonder how many kids got Louis XIV... actually, I guess not even him could answer this question ! :lol:

Maria Theresa is recognized as a great leader because it's under her rule that Eugène de Savoie (Eugene of Savoy) has stopped the Ottomans in their Conquest of Europe.

Ay... curse him.

mother theresa wasn't a leader, as ghreat as she was. and oprah is a fat tv personality who is popular back here in the states among house wives who have too much free time on their hands

That depends on how you define a leader. Personally, I define her as leader who did so, by example.

Elizabeth I was probably one of the greatest since she was not afraid to stand up to dominant male figures of her time such as Phillip II. She also different for outright supporting piracy, which other rulers would not have done. She knighted people for good deeds, not for being her friend like many past rulers had done.

Queen Sheba of Abyssinia/Ethiopia.

Kim Campbell!

Let's not remind the world of that lest they remember to associate her with Canada.

Elizabeth I was probably one of the greatest since she was not afraid to stand up to dominant male figures of her time such as Phillip II. She also different for outright supporting piracy, which other rulers would not have done. She knighted people for good deeds, not for being her friend like many past rulers had done.

indeed she made england a great power