Worst Dictators Ever?

[Amenhotep7]

Dictators. The bane of the free world. Oppressors of the people. They've commited acts of atrocity, crime, and insanity. But which one's are the worst? All are so evil, but there are many who stand above all else.

Specifications: When we say worst, we mean the most psychotic, rampaging, oppressive dictators. Not dictators who stink at doing their job!

If you can provide specific reasons why you think the dictator's evil, please do tell.

 

[Azadre]

Stalin

 

[Amenhotep7]

D'oh! I mean to post a poll!

Well, here's the list I meant to put on:

Adolf Hitler
Joseph Stalin
Benito Mussoloni
Mao Zedong
Fidel Castro
Kim Jong-Il
Marshall Joseph Tito
Slobodan Milosevic
General Augusto Pinochet
Idi Amin
Ho Chi Minh
Saddam Hussein
Muammar Qaddafi
Juan Peron
Pol Pot
Ayatollah Khomeini
Ferdinand Marcos
General Suharto
Fransisco Franco
Other

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Amenhotep7
All are so evil

No, not all dictators have been evil.

I'd say the worst would have to be Adolf Hitler, for obvious reasons. Although Stalin and Mao led to more deaths, none can compete with the stark methodology of the Holocaust.

 

[Amenhotep7]

Not all were evil? Well, if you talk of kings, who are technically dictators, then you're right.

My personal opinion? Mao, Stalin, or Hitler, hands down.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Amenhotep7
Not all were evil? Well, if you talk of kings, who are technically dictators, then you're right.

Kings, emperors, sultans...

 

[KaNick]

Queens, Empresses, Sultinas?

I'd have to go with Hitler being the worst, he had no respect for life and at the end of WWII he wanted to destroy Germany and all it's people because they did not deserve to win.

 

[Free Enterprise]

Sadly it seems modern dictators are actually able to commit (and perhaps desire) to commit just as many disgusting acts and possibly often more than many pre-modern despots.

Pol Pot
Stalin
Mao
Hitler
Gengis Khan

Those five come to mind as some of the worse ever known although there are many more such as Tamer the Lame. Those ones are blood thirsty mass murders. Maybe even destroyers of civilization (some razed/purged entire cities with no legitmate reason). Dictators that resort to vulgar torture techniques or a mixture of torture/murder and "experiments" (Hitler for example although he is in that list) are also among those who are very warped.

 

[Archer 007]

Tamer the Lame......... also called Tamerlane, correct?

Hitler, as his was very cold-blooded compared to Stalin and Mao. Mao and Stalin were about staying in power, but Hitler was about watching people suffer.

 

[Strider]

Hitler, and to think if you looked at him before he was elected and did all the crimes against humanity, you would have thought he was a decent guy.

 

[Achinz]

It seems dictators are seldom considered dictators if support by the US.

Yep, Pinochet gets away with murder and lives to a ripe old age - there ain't no justice in this world.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Strider
Hitler, and to think if you looked at him before he was elected and did all the crimes against humanity, you would have thought he was a decent guy.

Not to nitpick, but contrary to popular belief, Hitler wasn't elected.

 

[amadeus]

Originally posted by Achinz
Yep, Pinochet gets away with murder and lives to a ripe old age - there ain't no justice in this world.

Castro.

 

[SoCalian]

Originally posted by Amenhotep7
Adolf Hitler
Joseph Stalin
Benito Mussoloni
Mao Zedong
Fidel Castro
Kim Jong-Il
Marshall Joseph Tito
Slobodan Milosevic
General Augusto Pinochet
Idi Amin
Ho Chi Minh
Saddam Hussein
Muammar Qaddafi
Juan Peron
Pol Pot
Ayatollah Khomeini
Ferdinand Marcos
General Suharto
Fransisco Franco
Other

Other=SoCalian, but hey I'm a good dictator.

I would have put Vlad the Impaler Up near the top of the list, Probably between hitler and stalin. Reason being, he was one the absolute sickest people ever to live. Thought he didn't kill as many people as stalin, or other modern dictators, he certainly would have if he had had the means to do so. I also would have put Mussolini farther down the list, just above franco. If you look at the good(for the country) to kills ratio of his reign, it is a lot more even than many of the other dictators that I can think of.

As a note on WWII dictators:
Most of them, as evil as they are, acctual did quite a bit of good for their nations. Hitler took an absolutely destitute Germany(who at the time was one of the poorest nations on earth), and in less than a decade transformed it into the preeminet world power. whole countries were being given to him, in hopes of avoiding a war. Stalin took a backwards fueudal nation, and not only indusdrialized it, but turned it into a superpower. Mussolini just did a lot of good in general for Italy, besides the killings(which paled in comparison to Hitler and Stalin).

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Originally posted by SoCalian
Other=SoCalian, but hey I'm a good dictator.

I would have put Vlad the Impaler Up near the top of the list, Probably between hitler and stalin. Reason being, he was one the absolute sickest people ever to live. Thought he didn't kill as many people as stalin, or other modern dictators, he certainly would have if he had had the means to do so.

Yes, Vlad certainly would be one of the worst in history. Also don't forget Ivan the Terrible. He was pretty bad too. Didn't he pretty much massacre the entire city of Novgorod?

 

[SoCalian]

Sorry, Ivan would be , though Vlad has always struck be as bing the most evil man to have ever lived. The only reason I would put hitled above vlad is becase of a)the noteriety and b) sheer amount of death.

BTW shouldn't this be in the World History Forum?

 

[CenturionV]

Stalin He just caused alot of pain and suffering, and helped to set up a government that would then cause additional pain and suffering not mention wreck people lives in many other communist countries that were supported by the USSR throughout its history.

 

[Goober]

But when choosing the worst Dictator, do you pick the one whom killed the most of his citizens? The one whom killed the most people in a war? The one that took a country down the tubes in every way the fastest (economically, diplomatically, etc.)? I am wondering, how would you truly determine the WORST one?

On that list, I would have to go with definitely Hitler first, then Mao, Stalin, and Ho Chi Min. I think i am looking at the worst being the one who had the most # of people killed (cruel, yes . . . ), and whom had the bigger impact in history. Hitler, obviously, WW2. I think Mao, Stalin, and Ho Chi Min also had am impact on History, but not the biggest I have ever seen . . .

Out of that list, the BEST would have to be maybe Castro? Khomeini? Qaddafi? While these are not the nicest of people, they haven't done THAT much to screw up their respective countries that much, and they haven't killed THAT many people. Also, Castro and Khomeini seem to be getting more and more incompetant. Qaddafi seems to be getting more like he is ready to re-join the international community.

 

[aaminion00]

"Worst Dictators"

Ain't that a bit of an oxymoron

 

[hawai_74]

My vote go for Nero, he was an emperor but closer to a dictator, a tragic dictator