List of political leaders who held active military ranks in office

This article lists national heads of government and heads of state who held an active military rank while in office.

Note that in many countries, the head of state office has an "ex officio" military rank; for example, the President of the United States is commander in chief of the armed forces. This list omits "ex officio" ranks.

Africa

Algeria
*Houari Boumédienne (Colonel) (active 1965-1976)
*Chadli Bendjedid (Colonel) (in office 1979-1992)Burundi
*Michel Micombero (Captain) (in office 1966-1976)
*Jean-Baptiste Bagaza (???) (active 1976-1984)
*Pierre Buyoya (Major) (in office 1987-1993)Chad
*Félix Malloum (Colonel) (in office 1975-1979)
*Hissène Habré (???) (in office 1982-1990)
*Idriss Déby (Lieutenant General) (in office 1990-present)Egypt
*Muhammad Naguib (Major General) (in office 1953-1954)
*Gamal Abdel Nasser (Colonel) (in office 1954-1970)
*Anwar Al-Sadat (Field Marshal) (in office 1970-1981)
*Hosni Mubarak (Air Chief Marshal) (in office 1981-present)Ethiopia
*Aman Andom (Lieutenant General) (in office September-November 1974)
*Mengistu Haile Mariam (Colonel) (in office November 1974, 1977-1991)
*Tafari Benti (Brigadier General) (in office 1974-1977)
*Tesfaye Gebre Kidan (Lieutenant General) (in office May 1991)"'The Gambia
*Yahya Jammeh (Colonel) (in office 1994-present)Ghana
*Joseph Arthur Ankrah (Lieutenant General) (in office 1966-1969)
*Akwasi Afrifa (Brigadier General) (in office 1969-1970)
*Ignatius Kutu Acheampong (Colonel/General) (in office 1972-1978)
*Fred Akuffo (Lieutenant General) (in office 1978-1979)
*Jerry Rawlings (Flight Lieutenant) (in office as Flight Lieutenant June-September 1979, 1981-2001)Guinea
*Lansana Conté (Captain/General) (in office 1984-present)Liberia
*Samuel Doe (Master Sergeant) (in office 1980-1990)Libya
*Muammar al-Gaddafi (Colonel) (in office 1969-present)Madagascar
*Gabriel Ramanantsoa (General) (in office 1972-1975)
*Gilles Andriamahazo (General) (in office February-June 1975)
*Didier Ratsiraka (Vice Admiral) (in office 1975-1993)Mauritania
*Mustafa Ould Salek (Colonel) (in office 1978-1979)
*Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly (Colonel) (in office 1979-1980)
*Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla (Colonel) (in office 1980-1984)
*Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya (Colonel) (in office 1984-2005)
*Ely Ould Mohamed Vall (Colonel) (in office 2005-2007)Niger
*Seyni Kountché (Colonel) (in office 1974-1987)
*Ali Saibou (Commandant) (in office 1987-1993)Nigeria
*Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi (Major General) (in office January-July 1966)
*Yakubu Gowon (Lieutenant Colonel/General) (in office 1966-1975)
*Murtala Mohammed (General) (in office 1975-1976)
*Olusegun Obasanjo (Colonel) (in office 1976-1979)
*Muhammadu Buhari (Major General) (in office 1983-1985)
*Ibrahim Babangida (Major General) (in office 1985-1993)
*Sani Abacha (General) (in office 1993-1998)Uganda
*Idi Amin Dada (Major General/Field Marshal) (in office 1971-1979)
*Tito Okello (General) (in office 1985-1986)Upper Volta/Burkina Faso
*Sangoulé Lamizana (Lieutenant Colonel) (in office 1966-1980)
*Saye Zerbo (Colonel) (in office 1980-1982)
*Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo (Major) (in office 1982-1983)
*Thomas Sankara (Captain) (in office 1983-1987)
*Blaise Compaoré (Captain) (in office 1987-present)Zaire
*Mobutu Sese Seko (Lieutenant General, later Field Marshal) (in office 1965-1997)

Americas

Central America

Costa Rica
*Federico Tinoco Granados (General) (in office 1917-1919)Cuba
*Fulgencio Batista (Sergeant/General) (in office 1933-1944, 1952-1959)
*Fidel Castro (Commander in Chief) (in office 1959-2008)
*Raúl Castro (General) (in office 1976-present)El Salvador
*Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (General) (in office 1931-1934, 1935-1944)
*Andrés Ignacio Menéndez (General) (in office 1934-1935, May-October 1944)
*Osmín Aguirre y Salinas (Colonel) (in office 1944-1945)
*Julio Adalberto Rivera Carballo (General) (in office 1962-1967)
*Fidel Sánchez Hernández (General) (in office 1967-1972)
*Arturo Armando Molina (Colonel) (in office 1972-1977)
*Carlos Humberto Romero (General) (in office 1977-1979)Honduras
*Tiburcio Carías Andino (General) (in office 1933-1949)Panama
*Omar Torrijos (Colonel/Brigadier General) (in office 1968-1981)
*Florencio Flores Aguilar (Colonel) (in office 1981-1982)
*Rubén Darío Paredes (Colonel) (in office 1982-1983)
*Manuel Noriega (General) (in office 1983-1989)

outh America

Argentina
*Reynaldo Bignone (general)
*Leopoldo Galtieri (lieutenant general)
*Carlos Alberto Lacoste (vice admiral)
*Alfredo Oscar Saint Jean (brigadier general)
*José Félix Uriburu (???)
*Jorge Rafael Videla (lieutenant general)
*Roberto Eduardo Viola (???)

Chile
*Manuel Blanco Encalada (admiral)
*Jorge Montt (vice admiral)
*Augusto Pinochet (captain general)

Colombia
*Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (general)

Ecuador
*Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa (general)
*Carlos Mancheno Cajas (colonel)
*Benigno Andrade Flores (???)
*Ramón Castro Jijón (admiral)
*Guillermo Rodríguez Lara (general)
*Luis Telmo Paz y Miño (???)
*Alfredo Poveda (admiral)
*Carlos Mendoza Poveda (general)

Paraguay
*Higinio Morínigo (general)
*Alfredo Stroessner (general)

Venezuela
*Carlos Delgado Chalbaud (general)

Several countries:
Bolivia/Gran Colombia/Peru
*Simón Bolívar (general)

Asia

Bangladesh
*Ziaur Rahman (Major General) (in office 1977-1981)
*Hossain Mohammad Ershad (Lieutenant General) (in office 1983-1990)Burma/Myanmar
*Ne Win (General) (in office 1962-1981)
*San Yu (General) (in office 1981-1988)
*Saw Maung (General) (in office 1988-1992)
*Than Shwe (General/Senior General) (in office 1992-present)
*Khin Nyunt (General) (in office 2003-2004)
*Soe Win (Lieutenant General) (in office 2004-2007)
*Thein Sein (Lieutenant General/General) (in office 2007-present)Indonesia
*Suharto (Major General) (in office 1967-1998)Iraq
*Abd al-Karim Qasim (General) (in office 1958-1963)
*Abdul Salam Arif (General) (in office 1963-1966)
*Abdul Rahman Arif (General) (in office 1966-1968)
*Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (General) (in office February-November 1963, 1968-1979)Laos
*Khamtai Siphandon (Lieutenant General) (1991-2006)
*Choummaly Sayasone (Lieutenant General) (2006-present)North Korea
*Kim Il-sung (Wonsu/Dae Wonsu) (in office 1948-1994)
*Kim Jong-il (Wonsu) (in office 1994-present)Pakistan
*Ayub Khan (General/Field Marshal) (in office 1958-1969)
*Yahya Khan (General) (in office 1969-1971)
*Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (General) (in office 1978-1988)
*Pervez Musharraf (General) (active 1999-2007)Republic of China
*Chiang Kai-shek (Generalissimo) (in office 1928-1975)South Vietnam
*Duong Van Minh (General) (in office 1963-1964)
*Nguyen Khanh (General) (in office January-November 1964)
*Nguyen Van Thieu (General) (in office 1965-1975)
*Nguyen Cao Ky (Air Marshal) (in office 1965-1967)
*Tran Thien Khiem (General) (in office 1969-1975)Thailand
*Phraya Phahol Pholphayuhasena (General) (in office 1933-1938)
*Plaek Pibulsonggram (Field Marshal) (in office 1938-1944, 1948-1957)
*Khuang Abhaiwongse (Major) (in office 1944-1945, 1947-1948)
*Thanom Kittikachorn (General/Field Marshal, Thailand) (in office 1958, 1963-1973)
*Sarit Dhanarajata (Field Marshal) (in office 1959-1963)
*Kriangsak Chomanan (General) (in office 1977-1980)
*Prem Tinsulanonda (General) (in office 1980-1988)
*Sunthorn Kongsompong (General) (in office 1991-1992)
*Suchinda Kraprayoon (General) (in office 1992)
*Sonthi Boonyaratglin (General) (in office 2006)

Europe

England
*Oliver Cromwell (Captain General) (in office 1653-1658)Finland
*Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (General/Marshal of Finland) (in office 1918-1919, 1939-1946)France
*Louis Jules Trochu (General) (in office 1870-1871)
*Philippe Pétain (Marshal of France) (in office 1940-1944)
*Charles de Gaulle (General) (in office 1944-1946)Greece
*Theodoros Pangalos (General) (in office 1925-1926)
*Georgios Zoitakis (General) (in office 1967-1972)
*Georgios Papadopoulos (Colonel) (in office 1967-1973)
*Phaedon Gizikis (General) (in office 1973-1974)Hungary
*Miklós Horthy (Vice-Admiral) (in office 1920-1944)Poland
*Józef Piłsudski (Lieutenant General/Marshal of Poland) (in office 1918-1922, 1926-1935)
*Wojciech Jaruzelski (General) (in office 1981-1990)Portugal
*Gomes da Costa (General) (in office June-July 1926)
*António Óscar Carmona (Marshal) (in office 1926-1951)
*António Spínola (General) (in office April-September 1974)
*Francisco da Costa Gomes (General) (in office 1974-1976)
*António Ramalho Eanes (General) (in office 1976-1986)Spain
*Miguel Primo de Rivera (Captain General) (in office 1923-1930)
*Francisco Franco (Generalissimo) (in office 1939-1975)Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
*Josip Broz Tito (Marshal of Yugoslavia) (in office 1945-1980)Turkey
*Cemal Gürsel (General) (in office 1960-1966)
*Cevdet Sunay (General) (in office 1966-1973)
*Kenan Evren (General) (in office 1980-1989)

Oceania

Fiji
*Sitiveni Rabuka (Colonel) (in office October-December 1987)
*Frank Bainimarama (Commodore) (in office May-July 2000, 2006-present)