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What 25 major world leaders and dictators looked like when they were young

Elena Holodny
2016-07-26T17:57:42Z
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Stalin_1902
Wikimedia

Sometimes it's hard to imagine what politicians and dictators were like before they left their marks on the global stage.

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We collected old photos of major leaders, past and current, to give a taste of who they once were.

Unfortunately, we were limited by photo availability, so not every major figure from the 20th and 21st centuries made it into the post.

Check the pictures out below.

Editor's Note: This post was inspired by an earlier feature written by former Business Insider reporter Mike Bird.

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a military service uniform in an undated photograph.

483px Hassan_Rouhani_in_military_service
Wikimedia

Kim Il Sung, the former leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as a 16-year-old in 1928. He joined a communist youth organization around that time and was arrested and jailed for activities with the group.

AP_07081705074
Associated Press

Source: Britannica

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An undated photo of Saudi Arabia's King Salman. He was first made deputy governor of Riyadh in 1954, at about age 19.

Salman_bin_Abdullaziz_Al_Saud_in_his_Youth
Wikimedia

Source: Britannica

German Chancellor Angela Merkel with fellow Christian Democrat Lothar de Maiziere in 1990.

merkel
Wikmedia
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Russian President Vladimir Putin as a young child in Russia in the 1950s.

putin baby
Wikimedia, The Kremlin

Eight-year-old Justin Trudeau, future prime minister of Canada, feeds pigeons with his father, then prime minister Pierre Trudeau, in Venice in 1980.

justin trudeau
Massimo Sambucetti/AP
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Joseph Stalin, who later became the leader of the USSR, in 1902, a few years after he dropped out from seminary school.

Stalin_1902
Wikimedia

Future Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi appeared on Italy's Ruota della Fortuna (Wheel of Fortune) in the early 1990s at age 19. He won the equivalent of tens of thousands of euros.

matteo renzi
Youtube/italfilmsubs
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Former Cuban President Fidel Castro's yearbook photo from 1945. The caption reads: "Distinguished student and a fine athlete. Very popular. Will study law and we have no doubt he will have a brilliant future."

fidel castro
Diario de la Marina/AP

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a child, left, with his family in 1956. His father, Shintaro Abe, was foreign minister between 1982 and 1986.

abe shinzo
Wikimedia
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A mugshot of Benito Mussolini, who later became the leader of the Italian Fascists, after his arrest by Swiss police in 1903.

mussolini
Wikimedia, via State Archives of the Canton of Berne

Aung San Suu Kyi, state counsellor of Myanmar, as a 6-year-old in 1951. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 but has since been criticized by rights groups over her failure to speak up for minority groups.

Aung San Suu Kyi 1951
Wikimedia via Freedom from Fear

Source: BBC

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Dictator Adolf Hitler as a baby.

hitler as a baby
Bundesarchiv

Queen Elizabeth II, right, practices bandaging with her sister, Margaret, who both joined the 1st Buckingham Palace Company of Girl Guides, in 1943. The two stripes on her uniform indicate that she's patrol leader.

queen elizabeth II
Associated Press
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Pope Francis — back when he was still Jorge Mario Bergoglio — as a student, circa 1948-49.

pope francis
Wikimedia, Colegio Salesiano Don Bosco de Ramos Mejia

Former US President Bill Clinton on a pony near his childhood home in Arkansas.

bill clinton
A young Bill Clinton sits astride a pony near his childhood home of Hope, Arkansas, in this undated photo. Clinton has used his youth, determination and a zest for politics to beat the odds and move excruciatingly close to becoming the first Democrat to win the White House in 16 years. Jeff Mitchell/Reuters
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British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, then president of the Oxford Union, speaks with Melina Mercouri, Greek minister for culture, in 1986.

RTR4A
Greek minister for culture Melina Mercouri speaks with President of the Oxford Union society Boris Johnson before she addressed the Union on the subject of the Elgin Marbles. Brian Smith PN/Reuters

Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, center, in an undated photo with her family. The Senate of Brazil suspended her powers and duties for up to six months in May 2016.

Dilma_Rousseff_infancia
Wikimedia via Biografia
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Then Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez, center, walking with military intelligence officers after being arrested for trying to overthrow Venezuela's government in a failed coup in 1992. He was elected president several years later.

hugo chavez 1992
Andres Leighton/AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1986, when he was the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

netanyahu
Ed Bailey/AP
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US President Barack Obama with his grandparents, Stanley Armour Dunham and Madelyn Dunham, in New York in the 1980s.

obama
Obama for America

Former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a bow and arrow, circa 1890.

franklin d. roosevelt
AP
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Former US President George W. Bush served in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973.

young george w bush in texas air guard uniform
Wikimedia

Nicolae Ceausescu, the former head of Romania's Communist Party, as a 16-year-old, in 1934.

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Wikimedia
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Mahatma Gandhi, right, with his brother Laxmidas in 1886.

gandhi
AP

And now check out ...

videla
Wikimedia

22 brutal dictators you've never heard of

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