1878 births

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Soviet revolutionary and politician who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held office as general secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952 and as premier from 1941 until his death. Despite initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he eventually consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s. Stalin codified the Communist Party's official interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, and his version of it is referred to as Stalinism.

Austrian-Swedish physicist

American writer and editor (1878–1967)

German politician, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1878-1929)

Reza Shah Pahlavi was Shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty. Originally an army officer, he became a politician, serving as minister of war and prime minister of Iran, and was elected shah following the deposition of Ahmad Shah, the last monarch of the Qajar dynasty.

German Jewish Existentialist philosopher and theologian (1878–1965)

Mexican revolutionary (1878-1923)

Polish-Jewish educator and physician (1878–1942)

American writer (1878–1968)

American psychologist (1878

German expressionist novelist (1878–1957)

Russian army general of Baltic German origin (1878-1928)

American actor, director, screenwriter (1878–1954)

Finnish poet and journalist (1878–1926)

President of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944

Prime minister of Japan (1878–1967)

Argentine politician (1878-1959)

American physician and biomedical researcher (1878–1976)

Japanese tanka poet (1878–1942)

French businessman (1878-1935)

Swiss writer (1878-1947)

Grand Duke of Russia (1878–1918)

Swiss writer (1878–1956)

French historian (1878-1956)

Hungarian-born dramatist and novelist (1878-1952)

French politician and lawyer (1878-1966)

Indian politician and activist (1878–1972)

(1878-1961) President of the Philippines from 1944 to 1946

Polish logician, mathematician, philosopher, rector of the University of Warsaw (1878–1956)

Russian painter and stage designer (1878-1927)

Turkish Sunni Muslim theologian of Kurdish origin (1876-1960)

German Army field marshal and Military Chief of the Wehrmacht Military Forces (Heer,Luftwaffe,Kriegsmarine) (1878-1946)

Estonian writer (1878–1940)

English poet and writer (1878–1967)

Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer (1878–1937)

John Arthur Johnson, nicknamed the "Galveston Giant", was an American boxer who, at the height of the Jim Crow era, became the first black world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915). His 1910 fight against James J. Jeffries was dubbed the "fight of the century". Johnson defeated Jeffries, who was white, triggering dozens of race riots across the U.S. According to filmmaker Ken Burns, "for more than thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous and the most notorious African American on Earth". He is widely regarded as one of the most influential boxers in history.

Russian esotericist (1878–1947)

American psychologist and industrial engineer (1878–1972)

Russian painter (1878–1939)

American golfer (1878–1955)

Hungarian swimmer, footballer, and architect (1878-1955)

German count, Bishop of Münster, and cardinal, important figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism (1878–1946)

Russian writer and playwright (1878–1927)

English association football player and manager (1878-1934)

Serbian general and politician (1878-1946)

Danish and Swedish royal

Japanese prime minister, diplomat, and war criminal (1878-1948)

Austrian philosopher, historian, journalist, actor, cabaret performer (Kabarettist) and theatre critic (1878–1938)

Italian saint (1878-1903)

Swiss motor company founder and racecar driver (1878-1941)

Tajik writer (1878-1954)

American actress (1878–1965)

Russian-Jewish-Italian dissident writer, social activist, politician, editor

Armenian writer (1878–1943)

Irish writer and dramatist (1878-1957)

Armenian Bolshevik revolutionary (1878–1918)

United States Navy admiral, Chief of Naval Operations (1878-1956)

German politician (1878-1949)

Slovak politician and journalist (1878-1944)

Italian writer (1878-1960)