The 10 Most Notorious Real-Life Tyrants
Benito Mussolini
Italy
This Il Duce of Italy was one of the most infamous fascist leaders in history. Benito Mussolini was also one of the three Axis Powers leaders during World War II, a tyrant that ruled his country via fear and intimidation. The socialist influences of Mussolinis early life as a journalist pivoted into Italian nationalism after he was discharged from the army in 1917. This shift led to aggressive expansionist policies, wars and accusations of human rights violations, including the use of chemical weapons by Italy. Mussolinis capitulation to Hitlers whims during the Second World War cost him, however, and he was eventually caught while fleeing into exile and executed by communist resistance fighters.
Pol Pot
Cambodia
The reign of Pol Pot over Cambodia was known on a global scale, thanks to the totalitarian regime of his Khmer Rouge. Pot held a major position of power for nearly twenty years, and during that time assisted in the Khmer Rouges racist and genocidal practices. This era of Cambodian history was also infamous for its anti-intellectual policies, whereby scores of ethnically-targeted minorities were eliminated. Life under Pol Pot went beyond mere repression, and the turmoil of this existence inspired films such as 1984s The Killing Fields, which starred a real-life Cambodian refugee, Dr. Haing S. Ngor.
Kim Il Sung
North Korea
The current political climate of North Korea didnt come to pass in a vacuum, but was instead shaped by generations of leaders. Kim Il Sung, one of the countrys most notorious tyrants, founded North Korea and established a family dynasty that has essentially enforced a restrictive cult of personality over its citizens daily lives. Kim Il Sungs political philosophy was known as Juche, which aimed to make North Korea a self-sufficient and sovereign state independent of foreign economic or military aid. However, these policies led to economic stagnation and a nationwide famine in the 1990s. Even today, freedoms of the press and speech in North Korea remain heavily controlled and restricted.
Saddam Hussein
Iraq
Saddam Husseins rule over Iraq was one fraught with contradiction. On one hand, he took advantage of an energy crisis in the 1970s and exported oil, which boosted the countrys revenues. This allowed his government to implement universal health care for its citizens, as well as improve the educational system. On the other hand, however, Husseins Ba'athist ideology of Iraqi nationalism eventually led to the Iran-Iraq War, which decimated Iraqs economy due to sanctions and excessive military spending. In the aftermath of this conflict, his regime launched the Anfal Campaign, committing genocide against Kurdish rebels who were sympathetic to Iran. Hussein remains a polarizing figure among Iraqis, lauded by some for resisting Western imperialism and criticized by others for his authoritarianism.
Mao Zedong
China
Over the years, many ruthless world leaders and tyrants have drawn inspiration straight from the political playbooks of Chinas Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. Mao founded the Peoples Republic of China, and was responsible for the deaths of millions, thanks to what became known as his Great Leap Forward. This ambitious push to transition China from an agrarian society to an industrialized one came at a devastating cost, as millions sacrificed their lives due to famine. Maos cult of personality also resulted in anti-intellectual persecution, totalitarian control and the mass execution of countless dissidents.
Vladimir Lenin
Russia
The former Soviet Union possesses a long-standing legacy of chaotic, and often violent political tumultuousness. Vladimir Lenin rose to power via the October Revolution of 1917, in an armed coup that set the stage for his Bolshevik Government. Leninist policies would dictate Russias political course for decades, but it was also widely known for seeking out opposing voices and silencing them permanently. This era of Red Terror may have officially come to a close by the end of the Russian Civil War in 1922, but the same tactics of brutal control continued well after Lenins death, as Joseph Stalin stepped in to fill the political void.
Ismail Enver
Ottoman Empire [aka Modern Day Turkey]
Ismail Enver was one of the so-called Three Pashas, whose tight and dictatorial control defined much of the Ottoman Empire and its history. Early in his career, he was celebrated as a war hero, specifically for his efforts during the Young Turk Revolution in 1908. However, it was Ismail Envers legacy as a leader, Pasha and Prime Minister that went on to forever be linked to the Armenian Genocide. Envers admiration of Germanic political policies served as tinder for the fires of racism and ethnic cleansing that defined the Genocide. He was later tried in absentia for war crimes and convicted, although the official sentence of death was never formally carried out.
Vlad Tepes
Wallachia [aka Modern Day Romania]
The legacy of Vlad III, a.k.a. Vlad Tepes, a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler was already being written during his lifetime as Voivode of Wallachia. Tales of his cruelty spread throughout the mid-to-late 1400s, specifically of Tepes penchant for having prisoners and enemies impaled. Yet, in what is now known as Romania, there were still some who saw Tepes as a war hero, thanks to military campaigns against both regional Boyars as well as the Ottoman Empire. Still, the legacy of this Eastern European prince is better known today for his reign of brutal violence and total control over a dangerous region, as well as for inspiring the legend of Count Dracula.
Joseph Stalin
The Soviet Union
A Stalin-led Soviet Union may have joined the Allied nations during World War II, but that still does not erase this complicated leaders reputation as a paranoid tyrant. His adaptation of Marxist and Leninist political ideas would eventually spread so heavily into totalitarian control that it earned the new moniker of Stalinism. This was a cult of personality, a country that was led by this idealized image of one man and his vision of total control. Freedom of the individual was held down and punishable by death under Stalin, with work-camps, or gulags, springing up to house Soviet prisoners. Overall, the shocking death toll from his tyrannical rule is said to have numbered in the millions.
Adolf Hitler
Germany
Its perhaps the most obvious name to appear on this list, yet it remains important to study the coal-black legacy of Adolf Hitler, if only to ensure that it never happens again. Hitler was a demagogue, one that exploits the innermost fears and concerns of people, in order to gain political power or influence. His policies of ethnic cleansing and totalitarian control over Germany, through the Nazi political party, created seismic cultural reverberations that are still being felt today. But it wasnt only the Jewish people who felt suffering as a result of the Holocaust and Hitlers Germany. Millions of those deemed undesirable under Nazi doctrine also experienced persecution during this era, including some German citizens.
Who do you feel is the worst world leader of all time? Let us know in the comments.
