Worst Dictators Ever?

[Lord Baal]

I wonder if people now would come with a different list.

For example, Libertarians would add FDR as one of the worst of the UU Century, for example

What possible reason could you have had for bumping such an old thread, which wasn't good to begin with, for such a ridiculously inane post?

 

[privatehudson]

Well one possible reason is to remind people of just how long they have been an active member of this forum for, I hadn't realised I've been around and posting for 8 years for example.

Sure I could find out by looking at my profile, but who wants to do that?

 

[Absolution]

I guess Hitler and Caligula have to be the immediate two to think of.

 

[Virote_Considon]

All those failed dictators like Perón of Argentina and Simeon II of Bulgaria, who relenquished their dictatorial role in favour of a return to democratic functions. They're the worst at being dictators.

 

[Cutlass]

I wonder if people now would come with a different list.

For example, Libertarians would add FDR as one of the worst of the UU Century, for example

And they'd be wrong on all counts.

 

[Absolution]

All those failed dictators like Perón of Argentina and Simeon II of Bulgaria, who relenquished their dictatorial role in favour of a return to democratic functions. They're the worst at being dictators.

We live in a democracy-motivated age, and so is this thread, so can see why people consider the mercyless dictators to be the wrost ones.


So with that I agree.
Cruel dictators are not always the wrost dictators.
Because eventhough they were mercyless some of them actually did some estimable things.
Even Stalin.

But the worst dictators are those who failed at running the state, or didn't do anything good which can cover their cruel deeds.
And I'm talking about Caligula, Sadam, Hitler, Asad...


However, estimable dictators are Ceasar or Genghis Khan for example.
They did some horrible things, but those have been covered during the years by the great and magnificent reign of the two.

 

[Traitorfish]

Genghis Khan wasn't really a "dictator".

 

[Absolution]

A single ruler. It doesn't really matter if he was a monarch or a dictator. (in this thread)

 

[Domen]

Because eventhough they were mercyless some of them actually did some estimable things.

But the worst dictators are those who failed at running the state, or didn't do anything good which can cover their cruel deeds.
And I'm talking about Caligula, Sadam, Hitler, Asad...

Hitler did at least 2 good things - Volkswagen and Autobahns.

 

[Dachs]

Uh, the Volkswagen was one of the most embarrassing failures of the Third Reich. Not one was ever actually delivered (partially because Hitler and Ley fixed the price at a comically low level relative to the price of the components, let alone the labor, and partially because Ley was in charge and he screwed up everything he ever did).

KdF in general was a comic-opera-level bad idea.

 

[Domen]

But Volkswagen did not cease to exist in 1945.

 

[Dachs]

The part of it that Hitler was even partially responsible for, did.

The idea of the "people's car" was not exactly new in the German auto industry when Hitler started messing with it. He only tried to lower the price to an unsustainably small amount, and inflicted the awful Nazi internal management "system" on the project.

 

[caketastydelish]

I agree with previous posters that George W. bush should be on the list.

 

[Leoreth]

I don't know. You will find many old folks in Germany talking about how amazing KdF was.

 

[Domen]

Kidney dialysis Foundation or Kentucky derby Festival?

===================

Edit:

Or Kraft durch Freude?

 

[Dachs]

I don't know. You will find many old folks in Germany talking about how amazing KdF was.

From an "individual people enjoying themselves" standpoint, sure. From a policy standpoint, nope.

 

[Leoreth]

But wasn't that kind of the goal of Kraft durch Freude? Providing personal enjoyment to counter war weariness and the general bleakness of the Nazi regime?

I mean, it's a completely subjective impression, but it seems to have worked for a large portion of the population. At least it's always the first thing that people who have actually lived through Nazi rule bring up during "not everything was bad" speeches, even before the Autobahn trope.

 

[Dachs]

But wasn't that kind of the goal of Kraft durch Freude? Providing personal enjoyment to counter war weariness and the general bleakness of the Nazi regime?

I mean, it's a completely subjective impression, but it seems to have worked for a large portion of the population. At least it's always the first thing that people who have actually lived through Nazi rule bring up during "not everything was bad" speeches, even before the Autobahn trope.

KdF didn't have anything to do with war weariness; it was effectively ended by the onset of war, which is one of the reasons I described it as a "bad idea". It wasn't a universal failure in every possible sense, no. It succeeded very well at engendering nostalgia among the survivors of the German middle class, undoubtedly amplified by the subsequent memory of the war. But the main point was sort of "corporatism for dummies", a ham-handed effort to bridge class divides without actually addressing them in any way except for a few circuses. And this did not really succeed.

 

[Traitorfish]

Did KdF actually do anything that the socialdemocratic and communist clubs weren't already doing anyway? Organised mass-leisure was something the Germans had been doing for about fifty years by that point, so it's likely that the survivors of that era talk about KdF only because they're too young to remember the similar programs that pre-dated it.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Did KdF actually do anything that the socialdemocratic and communist clubs weren't already doing anyway? Organised mass-leisure was something the Germans had been doing for about fifty years by that point, so it's likely that the survivors of that era talk about KdF only because they're too young to remember the similar programs that pre-dated it.

Made it mandatory, so it sucked a little more for German introverts.