2,425 articles
Vang Pao
Vang Pao (Vaj Pov, 1929-2011), Hmong Major General in the Royal Lao Army, led the CIA-backed secret army in Laos during the Secret War, then led Hmong exiles in the United States; arrested in 2007, case dropped.
Vasil Levski (Васил Левски)
Vasil Levski (Васил Левски), born Vasil Ivanov Kunchev (1837–1873), Bulgarian revolutionary and 'Apostle of Freedom' who built the Internal Revolutionary Organisation's committee network, drafted the 1871 'Нареда' statute, and was hanged in Sofia in 1873.
Vasily Arkhipov (Василий Александрович Архипов)
Vasily Arkhipov (Василий Александрович Архипов) was a Soviet Navy officer who helped block a nuclear torpedo launch aboard submarine B-59 during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Vasily Chapayev
Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev (Василий Иванович Чапаев, 1887–1919), Red Army commander of the 25th Rifle Division in the Russian Civil War, killed at Lbishchensk; immortalized by Furmanov's 1923 novel and the 1934 Vasilyev brothers film.
Vasily Chuikov (Василий Иванович Чуйков)
Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov (Василий Иванович Чуйков, 1900–1982), Soviet Marshal (1955) and twice Hero of the Soviet Union; commanded the 62nd Army in the defense of Stalingrad and the 8th Guards Army to Berlin, later chief of USSR Civil Defense.
Vasily Ignatenko (Василий Иванович Игнатенко)
Vasily Ignatenko (Василий Иванович Игнатенко), also Vasily Ivanovich Ignatenko, was a Soviet fire sergeant who fought the 1986 Chernobyl fires and died of radiation sickness in May 1986.
Vasily Stalin
Vasily Stalin (Vasily Iosifovich Stalin, born Dzhugashvili) was Joseph Stalin's younger son and a Soviet Air Force lieutenant general, imprisoned after his father's 1953 death.
Vasily Zaitsev (sniper)
Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev (Василий Григорьевич Зайцев), Soviet sniper of the 284th Rifle Division at Stalingrad, credited with 242 kills, Hero of the Soviet Union; the Major Erwin König duel is unconfirmed in German records.
Velu Nachiyar (வேலு நாச்சியார்)
Velu Nachiyar (வேலு நாச்சியார்), Tamil Nadu's Veeramangai (1730–1796), was queen of the Sivaganga estate who, exiled after her husband's 1772 death, allied with Hyder Ali and Gopala Nayaker, defeated the British in 1780, and reclaimed her kingdom.
Vera Atkins
Vera Atkins (Vera Maria Rosenberg, 1908–2000), Romanian-born British SOE intelligence officer and Buckmaster's deputy in F Section; dispatched 470 agents to France, then traced all 118 missing agents after the war.
Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix was an Arverni chieftain who united Gaul in revolt against Julius Caesar in 52 BCE before surrendering at Alesia and being executed in Rome in 46 BCE.
Vern Stokes
Andrew "Vern" Stokes OBE MVO DL, Coldstream Guards warrant officer and Garrison Sergeant Major of London District since 2015, planned the Queen's state funeral, King Charles III's coronation, Platinum Jubilee, and VE Day 80 ceremonies.
Vernon A. Walters
Vernon A. Walters (1917–2002), U.S. Army lieutenant general, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence 1972–1976, and Reagan-era Ambassador to the United Nations and West Germany; polyglot interpreter for five presidents.
Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta, Mexican general and dictator (1854–1916), seized the presidency in the February 1913 Decena Trágica coup, was implicated in Madero's assassination, ruled seventeen months, and resigned July 1914.
Victorio
Victorio (Bidu-ya or Beduiat, c. 1825–1880) was an Apache war chief who led the Warm Springs, or Chihenne, Apaches in a fourteen-month guerrilla war against the United States and Mexico.
Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden
Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden: taped statements, sermons, and interviews distributed mainly via Al Jazeera and later as-Sahab, authenticated by CIA and NSA voice analysis, plus the 1,500-cassette Kandahar archive and 470,000 Abbottabad files.
Vietnam veteran
Vietnam veteran: also Vietnam era veteran, a US service member of the Vietnam War years. Distinguished by legal definition (38 U.S.C. §4211), Agent Orange exposure science, PTSD rates, and postwar reception.
Vijay Salaskar
Vijay Salaskar (विजय साळसकर, 1957–2008), Mumbai Police inspector and encounter specialist, head of the Anti-Extortion Cell, credited with 75–80 gangster killings; killed fighting terrorists in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and awarded the Ashoka Chakra posthumously.
Vikas Lakhera
Lieutenant General Vikas Lakhera, AVSM, SM, is an Indian Army officer and the 22nd Director General of the Assam Rifles, in charge since 1 August 2024; commissioned into 4 Sikh Light Infantry in 1990, formerly IGAR (North) and ADGMO.
Vikram Batra (विक्रम बत्रा)
Vikram Batra (विक्रम बत्रा), 1974–1999, Indian Army captain of 13 JAK Rifles, callsign Shershaah; posthumous Param Vir Chakra for the Kargil War actions at Point 5140 and Point 4875 on 7 July 1999.
Viktor Belenko
Viktor Belenko, Soviet Air Defense Forces pilot who on 6 September 1976 flew his MiG-25P Foxbat from near Vladivostok to Hakodate, Japan, defected to the US, enabling Western examination of the aircraft.
Viktor Vorobyov
Viktor Vorobyov (Виктор Васильевич Воробьёв), born 1948, Russian general-mayor of militsiya, head of the MVD Main Directorate for Public Order Protection, killed 7 January 1995 by mortar fire in Grozny; distinct from hockey, football, and Komi deputy namesakes.
Vincent Mangano
Vincent "The Executioner" Mangano (Vincenzo Giovanni Mangano), Palermo-born boss who led the future Gambino crime family from the 1931 Commission until his 1951 murder in Brooklyn, apparently on Albert Anastasia's orders.
Violette Szabo
Violette Szabó (1921–1945) was an Anglo-French SOE agent parachuted twice into occupied France in 1944, captured at Salon-la-Tour, executed at Ravensbrück, and posthumously awarded the George Cross.
Viresh Pratap Singh Kaushik
Lieutenant General Viresh Pratap Singh Kaushik, PVSM, UYSM, YSM, SM, is a serving Indian Army officer of the Kumaon Regiment, commissioned June 1988, now Adjutant General, earlier GOC XXXIII Corps and IG Assam Rifles (North).
Virgil Earp
Virgil Earp (1843-1905), Union Army veteran and oldest Earp brother active in Tombstone, was town marshal and deputy U.S. marshal who led the lawmen at the 1881 O.K. Corral gunfight, was ambushed and maimed, and later homesteaded near Prescott, Arizona.
Virginia Hall
Virginia Hall (Virginia Hall Goillot), known as the limping lady, was an American spy in occupied France in World War II with the SOE and OSS, later joining the CIA.
Vladimir Pikalov
Vladimir Karpovich Pikalov (Владимир Карпович Пикалов, 1924–2003), Soviet colonel-general, Chief of Chemical Troops 1969–1989, Hero of the Soviet Union (1986) for directing radiation reconnaissance and decontamination at Chernobyl.
Vladimir Rubanov (Владимир Арсентьевич Рубанов)
Vladimir Arsentievich Rubanov (Владимир Арсентьевич Рубанов), Soviet KGB analyst and Russian Security Council deputy secretary 1993-1996, co-founder of SVOP, early cyber-warfare warning figure, died 2023.
Vladimir Vazov
Vladimir Vazov (Владимир Вазов, 1868–1945) was a Bulgarian lieutenant general who repelled the British at Doiran in 1918 and later served as mayor of Sofia.