Johann Gottlieb Fichte
1762 – 1814 · 52 years · Jena · Europe
Philosophy: German idealism
Developed Kant's ideas into a system that derives everything from the activity of the "I". His Addresses to the German Nation (1808) became a founding text of German nationalism.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century
Portrait: Albrecht Fürchtegott Schultheiß · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — German poet and thinker, 13 years older
- Napoleon Bonaparte — Emperor of the French, 7 years younger
- Ludwig van Beethoven — German composer, 8 years younger
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Austrian composer, 6 years older
- Voltaire — French Enlightenment writer, 68 years older
- James Watt — Scottish inventor and engineer, 26 years older
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Catherine the Great — Empress of Russia, 33 years older
- Alexander Pushkin — Russian poet, 37 years younger
- Mikhail Kutuzov — Russian field marshal, 17 years older
- Paul I — emperor who reformed the succession law, killed by conspirators, 8 years older
- Alexander Suvorov — Russian generalissimo, 32 years older
- Alexander I — emperor who defeated Napoleon, 15 years younger
Middle East
- Mahmud II — sultan who destroyed the Janissaries, 23 years younger
- Selim III — reforming Ottoman sultan, 1 year older
- Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab — Islamic religious reformer, 59 years older
- Mustafa IV — sultan who overthrew the reformer Selim III, 17 years younger
- Abdul Hamid I — sultan of the Küçük Kaynarca peace and the loss of Crimea, 37 years older
- Mustafa III — sultan who lost the war to Catherine II, 45 years older
Africa
- Muhammad Ali of Egypt — ruler of Egypt, 7 years younger
- Shaka — King of the Zulu, 25 years younger
- Usman dan Fodio — founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, 8 years older
- Ranavalona I — Queen of Madagascar, 16 years younger
- Moshoeshoe I — founder of Lesotho, 24 years younger
Asia
- Katsushika Hokusai — Japanese artist, 2 years older
- Tokugawa Ienari — longest-serving shogun, for half a century, 11 years younger
- Qianlong Emperor — Qing emperor of China, 51 years older
- Tipu Sultan — ruler of Mysore, 11 years older
- Tokugawa Ieharu — shogun of the Tanuma era and the Tenmei famine, 25 years older
- Tokugawa Ieyoshi — shogun who died just after the Black Ships arrived, 31 years younger
Americas
- George Washington — first President of the United States, 30 years older
- Simón Bolívar — liberator of South America, 21 years younger
- Benjamin Franklin — American scientist and statesman, 56 years older
- Thomas Jefferson — third President of the United States, 19 years older
- Andrew Jackson — 7th US president, the Trail of Tears and the Jacksonian era, 5 years younger
- Toussaint Louverture — leader of the Haitian Revolution, 19 years older
Oceania
- James Cook — British navigator, 34 years older
- Kamehameha I — first King of Hawaii, 4 years older
- Arthur Phillip — first Governor of New South Wales, 24 years older
- Bennelong — Aboriginal intermediary, 2 years younger
- Hongi Hika — Ngāpuhi Māori chief, 10 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- 1762 Accession of Catherine the Great — aged 0, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1764 Founding of the Hermitage — aged 2, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1768–1771 Cook's first voyage — aged 6, Oceania
- c. 1768 Extinction of Steller's sea cow — aged 6, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1769 Watt's steam engine — aged 7, Europe
- 1772–1795 Partitions of Poland — aged 10, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1776 US Declaration of Independence — aged 14, Americas
- 1783–1784 Laki eruption — aged 21, Europe
- 1783 Russian annexation of Crimea (1783) — aged 21, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1783 First manned balloon flight — aged 21, Europe
- 1787 US Constitution — aged 25, Americas
- 1788 First Fleet arrives in Australia — aged 26, Oceania
- 1789 Storming of the Bastille — aged 27, Europe
- 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen — aged 27, Europe
- 1791–1804 Haitian Revolution — aged 29, Americas
- 1796 Jenner's first vaccination — aged 34, Europe
- 1798 Battle of the Pyramids — aged 36, Africa
- 1800 Volta's pile, the first battery — aged 38, Europe
- 1803 Louisiana Purchase — aged 41, Americas
- 1804 Coronation of Napoleon — aged 42, Europe
- 1804–1813 First Serbian Uprising — aged 42, Europe
- 1804–1903 Usman dan Fodio's jihad and the Sokoto Caliphate — aged 42, Africa
- 1805–1848 Muhammad Ali becomes ruler of Egypt — aged 43, Africa
- 1805 Battle of Trafalgar — aged 43, Europe
- 1810–1826 Spanish American wars of independence — aged 48, Americas
- 1812 Napoleon's invasion of Russia — aged 50, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1814–1815 Congress of Vienna — aged 52, Europe