Indie Historical: Base Checklist Breakdown (Trading Cards)

Base Checklist Breakdown: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This checklist spans centuries of history from ancient empires to modern revolutions capturing the individuals who shaped nations, empires, and the course of civilization itself. Each leader was chosen for their impact, influence, and lasting legacy, whether through leadership, reform, conquest, or philosophy.

Taking a closer look at the base checklist. You will be able to find these leaders in a rainbow of parallels and some inserts, theme specific inserts and short printed cards.

Ancient World (c. 3000 BCE – 500 CE)

The rise of civilization empires, philosophy, and the first codified laws. Power was divine, absolute, and monumental.

Leaders:

• Ramses II (Egypt)
• Hammurabi (Babylon)
• Darius I (Persia)
• Cyrus the Great (Persia)
• Alexander the Great (Macedonia)
• Julius Caesar (Rome)
• Augustus (Rome)
• Marcus Aurelius (Rome)
• Cleopatra VII (Egypt)
• Leonidas I (Sparta)
• Themistocles (Athens)
• Pericles (Greece)
• Aristotle (Greece)
• Plato (Greece)
• Qin Shi Huang (China)

Medieval & Imperial Age (c. 500 – 1500 CE)

An era of kings, crusaders, and empires built on conquest and faith. Leadership defined by divine right and expansion.

Leaders:

• Charlemagne (Holy Roman Empire)
• Richard the Lionheart (England)
• William the Conqueror (England)
• Attila the Hun (Hunnic Empire)
• Saladin (Ayyubid Sultanate)
• Joan of Arc (France)
• Vlad the Impaler (Wallachia / Romania)
• Ivan the Terrible (Russia)
• Montezuma II (Aztec Empire)
• Mansa Musa (Mali Empire)
• Tokugawa Ieyasu (Japan)
• Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu (Japan)
• Suleiman the Magnificent (Ottoman Empire)
• Frederick the Great (Prussia)
• Harald Hardrada (Norway)
• Constantine the Great (Byzantine Empire)

Renaissance & Early Modern Era (c. 1500 – 1800 CE)

Exploration, enlightenment, and absolute monarchies. Art, empire, and revolution intertwined.

Leaders:

• Elizabeth I (England)
• Catherine the Great (Russia)
• Louis XIV (France)
• Peter the Great (Russia)
• Thomas Jefferson (United States)
• George III (United Kingdom)
• George Washington (United States)
• Ashoka the Great (Maurya Empire, India) [spiritual antecedent often associated with humanist ideals]
• Emperor Franz Joseph I (Austria-Hungary)
• Timur / Tamerlane (Timurid Empire)
• Ptolemy I Soter (Egypt / Macedonia)

Revolutionary & Industrial Age (c. 1800 – 1914 CE)

Exploration, enlightenment, and absolute monarchies. Art, empire, and revolution intertwined.

Leaders:

• Napoleon Bonaparte (France)
• Simon Bolívar (South America)
• José de San Martín (South America)
• Giuseppe Garibaldi (Italy)
• Otto von Bismarck (Germany)
• Abraham Lincoln (USA)
• Andrew Jackson (USA)
• Queen Victoria (United Kingdom)
• Emperor Meiji (Japan)
• Toussaint Louverture (Haiti)
• Sitting Bull (Lakota)
• Hong Xiuquan (China)
• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Turkey)

Modern & Ideological Era (c. 1914 – 2000 CE)

The century of world wars, revolutions, and competing ideologies — democracy, communism, fascism, and decolonization.

Leaders:

• Winston Churchill (United Kingdom)
• Franklin D. Roosevelt (USA)
• John F. Kennedy (USA)
• Vladimir Lenin (Soviet Union)
• Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
• Mao Zedong (China)
• Leon Trotsky (Russia)
• Benito Mussolini (Italy)
• Muammar Gaddafi (Libya)
• Fidel Castro (Cuba)
• Che Guevara (Argentina / Cuba)
• Pope John Paul II (Poland)
• Margaret Thatcher (United Kingdom)
• Nelson Mandela (South Africa)

Philosophers & Thinkers (Timeless Influence)

Not rulers of nations, but architects of ideas — their influence shaped how leaders think and govern.

Leaders:

• Plato (Greece)
• Aristotle (Greece)
• Marcus Aurelius (Rome)

Disclaimer

This set aims to document history through art and education, not to glorify or excuse any figure’s actions. Some leaders included were controversial or divisive, yet their influence on world events for better or worse, cannot be denied.