She championed Nato expansion and pushed for the transatlantic alliance to intervene in the Balkans to stop the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian muslims.

Albright’s experience as a refugee prompted her to push for the United States to be a superpower which used that clout. She wanted a “muscular internationalism,” said James O’Brien, a senior adviser to Albright during the Bosnian war.

At one point she stunned Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was reluctant to send US troops to intervene, by asking: “What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?”

Her straight-talking won her many admirers. One of her most famous quips in 1996, came after  Cuban jet fighters downed two unarmed US-based planes, killing the four Cuban exiles onboard.

After one of the pilots boasted of firing his missile into the plane’s cojones — Spanish slang for testicles — Albright told the UN Security Council: “Frankly, this is not cojones; this is cowardice.”

She later became an icon to a generation of young women looking for inspiration in their quest for opportunity and respect in the workplace.

Albright was fond of saying: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”

Billie Jean King, the former world number one tennis player, said yesterday: “I’ve had the honour of spending time with her over the years. She possessed a brilliant mind & a trailblazing spirit.”