Ask a random sample of people to name the History Makers of World War II and you can pretty much predict their answers. First on the list will be Adolf Hitler, who made history for all the wrong reasons, then next it could well be Sir Winston Churchill with his characteristic V for victory sign and large cigar. Such luminaries as Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, fondly known to his men as "Monty", General de Gaulle and President Franklin D Roosevelt are all likely to be in the top ten, along with Hitler's henchmen Herman Goering and the Desert Fox, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, as well as Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Whether fighting for good or evil, each of these men had a larger-than-life persona, and although Hitler's ruthlessness as a dictator kept the Nazis in line, the Allies needed to work together by more democratic means. The task of diplomatically leading these undoubtedly great but not always easy characters when it mattered most, fell to affable American, Dwight D Eisenhower, who certainly deserves to be called a History Maker of World War II.