Cultural Centuries in European History

[Kingpoleon]

1789-1918. Napoleon, Garibaldi, and Bismarck shaped the very future of Europe, and that cannot be overstated.

16th Century (1469-1618): Ferdinand II/Isabella I
17th Century (1618-1715): Louis XIV
18th Century (1715-1789): Frederick the Great
19th Century (1789-1914): Napoleon I/Wilhelm I
20th Century (1914-1991): Joseph Stalin/Adolf Hitler
21st Century (1991-present): Boris Yeltsin

[Kingpoleon]

21st Century (1991-present): Boris Yeltsin

If this is meant to be people who most fundamentally changed the course of history, I would go with OBL/Putin.

Yeltsin:
1) Set up the possibility of future conflicts in Ukraine, the Caucasus, and the Baltics
2) Encouraged a semi-rivalry with both China and the United States, ensuring Russia never aligned too closely with either and established it’s own post-1991 Sphere of Influence
3) Established the Russian oligarchs and criminal organizations, which gives the Russian President a great degree of power
4) Reformed and expanded the Russian military + intelligence service post-KGB
5) Placed Putin and the Kadyrov family on the road to dominance