Ariel Sharon died today at age 85. This soldier and statesman was one of Israel’s preeminent leaders of the last half century, and he remade Israel's military and political landscape.

He fought in the 1948 War of Independence, in which he was badly wounded, the 1956 Suez War, the 1967 Six-Day War, and the 1973 Yom Kippur War, eventually rising to the rank of Major General. By 1982, much of Lebanon... had been devastated by the PLO, which had stockpiled Soviet weapons to invade Israel. Sharon liberated southern Lebanon during Operation Peace for Galilee and evicted the PLO completely. As Housing Minister, he oversaw the absorption of nearly 1,000,000 Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union.  He later became Israel’s 11th Prime Minister, serving from 2001-2006.  In that capacity, he initiated Operation Defensive Shield, which dramatically reduced Palestinian suicide terrorism.