2,425 articles
Raiymbek Batyr
Raiymbek Batyr (Райымбек батыр; full name Raiymbek Tukeuly, born 1705) was an eighteenth-century Kazakh warrior and commander who fought the Dzungars for over 30 years and liberated Zhetysu.
Raja Mahdi
Raja Mahdi, also spelled Raja Mahadi, was a Selangor prince who led one side in the Klang War, the Selangor civil war of 1866 to 1874.
Rajesh Kumar Pandey
Rajesh Kumar Pandey (राजेश कुमार पाण्डेय), born 1961, retired IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre (2003 SPS batch), founding member of UP STF and ATS, key figure in Operation Bazooka against gangster Shriprakash Shukla, four gallantry medals, retired as Inspector General in 2021.
Rakesh Maria (राकेश मारिया)
Rakesh Maria (राकेश मारिया), 1981-batch Maharashtra IPS officer, Mumbai Police Commissioner 2014-2015, led the 1993 blasts and 26/11 probes, questioned Ajmal Kasab, and wrote the memoir Let Me Say It Now.
Ralph Abercromby
Sir Ralph Abercromby (1734–1801), British lieutenant-general of the French Revolutionary Wars, led the West Indies, Ireland, Helder, and Egyptian campaigns; mortally wounded at Alexandria, 21 March 1801.
Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford
Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford (died 31 August 1372), English soldier and magnate, founding Knight of the Garter, seneschal of Aquitaine, created earl in 1351; husband of Margaret Audley.
Ramadan al-Suwayhli
Ramadan al-Suwayhli (رمضان السويحلي) was a Tripolitanian leader who resisted the Italian occupation of Libya, won the Battle of Qardabiya in 1915, and founded the Tripolitanian Republic in 1918.
Ramji Sakpal
Ramji Maloji Sakpal (Ramnak Malnak in army records), Mahar soldier and regimental school headmaster in the Bombay Army, retired as subhedar in 1893, and father of B. R. Ambedkar.
Ramón Mercader
Ramón Mercader (Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río), Spanish communist and NKVD agent alias Jacques Mornard and Frank Jacson, killed Leon Trotsky with an ice axe in Coyoacán, Mexico, on 20 August 1940; served 20 years, received Hero of the Soviet Union.
Ran Gvili
Ran (Rani) Gvili (רן גואילי), an Israel Police Yasam special patrol officer from Meitar, was killed defending Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, 2023, and his body, the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza, was recovered on January 26, 2026, after 843 days and identified through forensic dentistry in Operation Brave Heart.
Randy Shughart
Randy Shughart (Randall David Shughart, 1958–1993), Delta Force sniper and Medal of Honor recipient, died defending the Super Six Four crash site with MSG Gary Gordon at the Battle of Mogadishu, saving pilot Michael Durant.
Randy Weaver
Randy Weaver, white separatist and central figure of the 1992 Ruby Ridge, Idaho standoff, in which his wife Vicki and son Samuel and a deputy U.S. marshal were killed; he was later acquitted of serious charges and the government paid a $3.1 million settlement.
Ranoji Scindia
Ranoji Scindia (Ranoji Rao Shinde, died 1745) was a Maratha commander under Peshwa Baji Rao I who became Subedar of Malwa and founded the Scindia dynasty that later ruled Gwalior.
Rao Abdul Kareem
Rao Abdul Kareem is a Pakistani police officer and Inspector General of Punjab Police since 3 February 2026, replacing Dr Usman Anwar, who became FIA director general. A 1996 CSS-joined PSP officer from Nawabshah, he earlier headed the Special Branch Punjab.
Rash Behari Bose (রাসবিহারী বসু)
Rash Behari Bose (রাসবিহারী বসু, 1886–1945), Indian revolutionary: organized the 1912 Delhi bomb attack on Viceroy Hardinge, fled to Japan in 1915 as 'Nakamuraya no Bose', led the Indian Independence League and first INA, and handed leadership to Subhas Chandra Bose in July 1943.
Rashid ad-Din Sinan
Rashid ad-Din Sinan (d. 1193), the Old Man of the Mountain, was the chief da'i of the Syrian Nizari Ismailis for about three decades, based at Masyaf; he fought Saladin, allied with Crusaders and Zangids, and died at Kahf.
Rashim Bali
Lieutenant General Rashim Bali is an Indian Army officer of the Sikh Light Infantry who commanded Leh-based 14 Corps (Fire and Fury Corps) from March 2023 to July 2024, led India at the 18th Corps Commander talks with China, and was named Military Secretary.
Ravada A. Chandrasekhar
Ravada A. Chandrasekhar (Ravada Azad Chandrasekhar), 1991-batch Kerala cadre IPS officer and former Intelligence Bureau Special Director, has been Kerala's DGP and State Police Chief since July 2025, earlier a murder accused in the 1994 Koothuparamba firing before acquittal.
Ravindra Kaushik
Ravindra Kaushik, the "Black Tiger" (1952–2001), was a RAW deep-cover agent who lived in Pakistan as Nabi Ahmed Shakir, joined the Pakistan Army, passed intelligence from 1979 to 1983, was captured in 1983, and died in a Pakistani prison.
Raymond A. Spruance
Raymond Ames Spruance (1886–1969), American admiral, commanded Task Force 16 at Midway and the Fifth Fleet through the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa; later Naval War College president and ambassador to the Philippines.
Raymond Kelly
Raymond W. Kelly, NYPD commissioner 1992–1994 and 2002–2013 under Dinkins and Bloomberg, longest serving in city history; built NYPD counterterrorism bureau, expanded stop-and-frisk to nearly 700,000 stops, and oversaw the Muslim surveillance program exposed by the AP.
Raymond T. Odierno
Raymond T. Odierno, also known as Ray Odierno, was a United States Army four-star general who served as the 38th Chief of Staff of the Army from 2011 to 2015.
Raynald of Châtillon
Raynald of Châtillon (Renaud de Châtillon, died 1187), Frankish prince consort of Antioch from 1153 and later lord of Oultrejourdain; his caravan raids broke truces with Saladin, triggering Hattin, where he was captured and executed.
Reg Seekings
Reg Seekings (Albert Reginald Seekings) was a British SAS soldier who rose from private to squadron sergeant major and became one of the Second World War's most decorated special forces soldiers.
Reginald Dyer
Reginald Dyer (1864–1927), British Indian Army brigadier-general, ordered the 13 April 1919 Jallianwala Bagh (Amritsar) massacre, firing 1,650 rounds without warning; censured by the Commons in 1920 and forced to retire.
Reinhard Gehlen
Reinhard Gehlen (1902–1979) was a German generalmajor who headed Wehrmacht Eastern Front intelligence (Fremde Heere Ost) from 1942, founded the CIA-backed Organisation Gehlen in 1946, and served as first president of the BND from 1956 to 1968.
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague, was a high-ranking Nazi SS general and Gestapo chief who chaired the Wannsee Conference planning the Final Solution; Czech agents assassinated him in 1942.
René Fonck
René Fonck (1894-1953), French First World War fighter pilot known as "l'as des as", top Allied ace with 75 confirmed victories; later Vosges deputy, failed 1926 transatlantic flyer, and figure of Vichy-era controversy.
Rene Gagnon
Rene Arthur Gagnon (1926-1979), New Hampshire Marine who carried the second flag up Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima; long identified as a Rosenthal photo flag-raiser until the Marine Corps named Harold Keller in his place in 2019.
Rentap
Rentap, born Libau anak Ningkan, was an Iban war leader in Sarawak who led the most sustained Iban resistance to Brooke rule from his stronghold on Bukit Sadok.