2,425 articles
Yakov Yurovsky
Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (Yankel Khaimovich, 1878–1938), Bolshevik, Chekist, and commandant of the Ipatiev House who led the 16–17 July 1918 execution of Nicholas II and his family; later Gokhran gold administrator and Polytechnic Museum director.
Yakubu Gowon
Yakubu Gowon, Nigerian general and Head of State 1966–1975, led the federal side in the Nigerian Civil War against Biafra, proclaimed 'no victors, no vanquished', launched the Three Rs reconciliation policy, was ousted by Murtala Muhammed in 1975, and is an ECOWAS founding father.
Yamaji Motoharu
Yamaji Motoharu (山地元治, 1841–1897) was a Japanese army lieutenant general from Tosa who commanded the First Division in the First Sino-Japanese War and directed the occupation of Lüshun.
Yamanaka Yukimori
Yamanaka Yukimori (山中幸盛), known as Yamanaka Shikanosuke, was a Sengoku-period warrior and Amago clan retainer who spent years trying to restore the clan after its destruction, dying in 1578.
Yamanami Keisuke
Yamanami Keisuke (山南敬助, also read Sannan Keisuke) was a Japanese swordsman who held high posts in the Shinsengumi, the corps that policed Kyoto in the 1860s.
Yang Kyoungjong (양경종)
Yang Kyoungjong (양경종) is the name attached to a Korean allegedly conscripted into the Japanese, Soviet, and German armies and captured at Utah Beach on D-Day; historians and a 2005 SBS documentary found no evidence he existed.
Yasser Abu Shabab
Yasser Abu Shabab (ياسر أبو شباب), born 1990 in Rafah, led Gaza's Popular Forces, an Israel-armed anti-Hamas militia of about 100 to a few hundred men in eastern Rafah. A convicted drug trafficker disavowed by his Tarabin tribe, he was accused by a UN memo of leading systematic aid looting and was killed in a family dispute on 4 December 2025.
Yassine Cheuko
Yassine Cheuko (ياسين تشيوكو), also spelled Chueko, is a Franco-Tunisian security professional and MMA practitioner, personal bodyguard of Lionel Messi since PSG and at Inter Miami from 2023; Navy SEAL claims debunked, touchline access banned in 2025.
Yasuke
Yasuke was an African man, likely a bodyguard of the Jesuit Alessandro Valignano, who joined Oda Nobunaga's service in 1581 and was last recorded in 1582.
Yazid Sufaat
Yazid Sufaat (QDi.124), Malaysian Jemaah Islamiyah member and Al-Qaida biological weapons operative, hosted the 2000 Kuala Lumpur summit, funded Moussaoui, and was detained 2001-2019.
Yevgeny Prigozhin (Евгений Викторович Пригожин)
Yevgeny Prigozhin (Евгений Викторович Пригожин), Russian businessman and founder of the Wagner Group, once "Putin's chef"; led the June 2023 mutiny against Russia's military leadership and died in a plane crash on 23 August 2023.
Yevno Azef (Евно Фишелевич Азеф)
Yevno Azef (1869–1918) was a Russian revolutionary who organized terrorist attacks for the Socialist-Revolutionary Party while simultaneously serving as a paid informer for the Okhrana.
Yi Gwal
Yi Gwal (이괄, 李适) was a Joseon military commander who, resenting his reward for the 1623 Injo coup, raised 10,000 troops in rebellion in 1624.
Yi Gwang (Joseon general)
Yi Gwang (이광, 李洸, 1541–1607) was a Joseon civil official and governor of Jeolla Province who led a three-province army defeated at the Battle of Yongin in 1592, then helped halt the Japanese drive into Honam.
Yi Sun-sin (이순신)
Yi Sun-sin (이순신, 1545–1598), also romanized Lee Sun-sin and titled Chungmugong, was the Joseon admiral who won the Imjin War naval battles of Okpo, Hansan, Myeongnyang, and Noryang and died at Noryang in 1598.
Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi (יפעת תומר-ירושלמי)
Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi (יפעת תומר-ירושלמי), Israeli IDF Military Advocate General 2021–2025, first woman in the post, second female major general; resigned October 2025 after admitting leaking the Sde Teiman abuse video, later formally dismissed.
Yigal Amir (יגאל עמיר)
Yigal Amir (יגאל עמיר), born 1970 in Herzliya, is the Israeli law student who assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on 4 November 1995 in Tel Aviv to stop the Oslo peace process; he is serving life plus consecutive conspiracy sentences.
Yitzhak Rabin (יצחק רבין)
Yitzhak Rabin (יצחק רבין), 1922–1995, Israeli general and prime minister (1974–1977, 1992–1995), IDF chief of staff in the Six-Day War, signer of the 1993 Oslo Accord, 1994 Nobel Peace laureate, assassinated by Yigal Amir on November 4, 1995.
Yogesh Kumar Joshi (योगेश कुमार जोशी)
Yogesh Kumar Joshi, retired Indian Army lieutenant general; commanded 13 JAK Rifles at Kargil 1999 (Points 5140, 4875, Vir Chakra); Northern Army Commander 2020-2022 during the Ladakh standoff.
Yonatan Netanyahu
Yonatan (Yoni) Netanyahu (Hebrew: יונתן נתניהו), 1946–1976, Israeli Sayeret Matkal lieutenant colonel, Medal of Distinguished Service recipient, and older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, killed commanding the Entebbe rescue, renamed Operation Yonatan.
Yoshiko Kawashima (川島 芳子)
Yoshiko Kawashima (川島芳子), born Aisin Gioro Xianyu, Chinese name Jin Bihui, was a Qing Manchu princess adopted by Kawashima Naniwa who spied for Japan in Shanghai and Manchukuo and was executed as a traitor in Beijing in 1948.
Yossi Cohen
Yossi Cohen (Joseph Cohen) is a former Mossad director, Israel's intelligence agency, serving as its 12th chief from January 2016 to 2021. Known for the 2018 Iranian nuclear archive seizure and leading Abraham Accords negotiations with the UAE and Bahrain; later a memoirist and would-be politician.
Yu Eung-bu
Yu Eung-bu (유응부) was a Joseon-dynasty military officer executed in 1456 as one of the Sayuksin, the six martyred ministers who plotted to restore King Danjong.
Yuan Chonghuan (袁崇焕)
Yuan Chonghuan (袁崇焕, Yuán Chónghuàn), also called Yuan Chong-huan, was a Ming general (1584–1630) who defended Ningyuan against Nurhaci with European cannon, executed Mao Wenlong, and was executed by lingchi on treason charges, later sympathetically reassessed under the Qianlong Emperor.
Yuan Shu
Yuan Shu (袁術, Gonglu, died 199), Eastern Han warlord, cousin and rival of Yuan Shao; held Nanyang and Shouchun, declared himself emperor of the Zhong dynasty in 197, was defeated by Cao Cao and died in 199.
Yue Fei
Yue Fei (岳飛, 1103–1142), Southern Song general against the Jurchen Jin, executed in 1141/1142 on fabricated treason charges tied to Qin Hui and the peace faction; later rehabilitated and venerated as China's archetypal loyal martyr.
Yuri Bezmenov (Юрий Александрович Безменов)
Yuri Bezmenov, also known as Tomas Schuman, was a Soviet Novosti journalist who defected from India in 1970, resettled in Canada, and lectured on ideological subversion.
Yurii Tiutiunnyk
Yurii Tiutiunnyk (Юрій Тютюнник, 1891–1930) was a Ukrainian military commander and insurgent otaman who rose to general in the UNR Army, led the Second Winter Campaign of 1921, and was executed in Moscow in 1930.
Yusuf Jamal
Yusuf Jamal is a three-star general in the Pakistan Army. He directs the Strategic Plans Division, the military department responsible for Pakistan's nuclear and missile programs.
Zabita Khan
Zabita Khan was a Rohilla Afghan chieftain of northern India, son and successor of Najib-ud-Daula, who led the Rohillas after 1770 and fought the East India Company.