The Greatest 20th Century Military Leaders

Birthdate: December 21, 1949

Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Birthplace: Yako, Burkina Faso

Died: October 15, 1987

Thomas Sankara, or “Africa's Che Guevara,” was a Burkinabé military leader and revolutionary who became the President of the Republic of Upper Volta after a coup in 1983, changing its name to Burkina Faso. He launched educational, ecological, and economic reforms and declared female genital mutilation and forced marriages illegal.