--- description: Madeleine Albright is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century. title: Madeleine Albright: 100 Women of the Year image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aee1aa85230ebc9/698a0aebb21a9c05885033b6/social-1999_madeleine-albright.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 1999: Madeleine Albright Mar 2, 2020 6:04 PM CUT  Janette Beckman—Getty by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 2, 2020 6:04 PM CUT Armed with only an academic’s intellect and a diplomat’s toolbox, U.S. Secretary of State [Madeleine Albright](https://time.com/5235199/madeleine-albright-fascism/ "undefined") outmaneuvered the post–Cold War Russians, members of NATO and even some in her own government to lead the effort to bring an end to a ghastly campaign against ethnic Albanians in Slobodan Milosevic’s Kosovo. Her critics and boosters alike had a name for it: Madeleine’s War. The episode marked the high-water mark of American humanitarian intervention in the post-Soviet world. Albright worked the phones and her Air Force jet to hold together the NATO alliance to build pressure on Moscow and to avoid even the slightest of differences among allies. When possible, she employed her counterpart’s native tongue because, after all, she speaks six languages. In the end, Moscow acquiesced to NATO’s stepping in to launch a “humanitarian war,” and Milosevic backed down. For Albright, the mission had an added personal element: as a child, she fled the regimes of Adolf Hitler and, later, Joseph Stalin. She already had seen what unchecked regimes could accomplish—and also what Americans at their best could. _—Philip Elliott_ --- _This article is part of_ [_100 Women of the Year_](https://time.com/100-women-of-the-year/ "undefined")_, TIME’s list of the most influential women of the past century. Read more_ [_about the project_](https://time.com/5793734/time-100-women-of-the-year-issue/ "undefined")_, explore the_ [_100 covers_](https://time.com/5793732/time-100-women-of-the-year-covers/ "undefined") _and sign up for our_ [_Inside TIME newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters?newsletter%5Fname=INSIDE%5FTIME&source=article-woy-footer "undefined") _for more._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5793743/madeleine-albright-100-women-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5793743/madeleine-albright-100-women-of-the-year/"},"headline":"1999: Madeleine Albright","datePublished":"2020-03-02T18:04:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:21:49.096Z","description":"Madeleine Albright is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century.","url":"https://time.com/5793743/madeleine-albright-100-women-of-the-year/","keywords":["Women of the Year"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aee1aa85230ebc9/698a0aebb21a9c05885033b6/social-1999_madeleine-albright.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9aee1aa85230ebc9/698a0aebb21a9c05885033b6/social-1999_madeleine-albright.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SOCIAL - Women of the Year: 1999 madeleine-albright","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5793743/madeleine-albright-100-women-of-the-year/","name":"1999: Madeleine Albright"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"FIRSTS Madeleine Albright","description":"Madeleine Albright is the FIRST woman to have been U.S. Secretary of State.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tpv8jQNa/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-09-06T13:46:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tpv8jQNa.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5793743/madeleine-albright-100-women-of-the-year/","duration":"PT2M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5793743/madeleine-albright-100-women-of-the-year/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```