It seems that there is no limit to human barbarism and this list of the 10 most evil and hated dictators of all time is clear proof of that.
The Holocaust is something practically everyone has knowledge of, but unfortunately, history is dotted with many such massacres and genocides that have faded into obscurity. Even today, killings of citizens by their governments are not unheard of. Bashar al-Assad of Syria, for instance, is certainly guilty of downright negligence and lack of concern for the lives of his people, if not for the use of chemical weaponry against them. Syria is not the sole country where killings are underway; as GeoncideWatch indicates, innocents in many states, such as Somalia and Iraq, are also being savagely murdered. What is important is that the international community recognizes genocidal regimes or reigns of the past and concurs in their condemnation, as well as takes notice of the atrocities being committed today, agreeing upon joint action against them. Empathy is the defining trait of a human being, and if we cannot even speak up against violence, then we are not worthy of being called such.
Our list of most evil and hated dictators of all time does not employ a strict criterion for its ranking; dictators have thus been arranged in order of their “villainy”. We have also mentioned each individual’s years in control, which may go beyond their time at an official post. Although all of the dictators on our list are men, female rulers in history too have gained notoriety for ruthlessness and unscrupulous deeds – take a look at our compilation of the 10 most evil female rulers in history for more information.
Now let’s get started with the actual list of most evil and hated dictators of all time:
10. Mengistu Haile Mariam
Ethiopia
Years in Power: 1974-1991
A Communist Ethiopian politician who effectively ruled as dictator until 1987, when he was officially sworn in as President, Mariam is the only man on our list to be living today. After the revolution in which the last emperor was overthrown, he rose as the head of a governing body known as the Derg, after which he started a campaign called Qey Shibir or the Red Terror in 1976. This period was characterized by hundreds of thousands of arbitrary arrests, persecutions, and killings led by Mariam. Human rights abuses by his government also exacerbated the famine from 1983-85. An Ethiopian court has even found him guilty of genocide, and he has been sentenced to death. However, the decision has not yet materialized, and the dictator currently resides in Zimbabwe. And now, let’s see what else we have in our list of most evil and hated dictators of all time.
9. Ismail Enver Pasha
Ottoman Empire
Years in Power: 1913-1918
Ismail Enver Pasha, a war minister, de facto Commander-in-Chief, and a member of a triumvirate, including Talaat Pasha and Djemal Pasha, ranks 9th in our list of most evil and hated dictators of all time. He led the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars and World War I. He was responsible for the Armenian Genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives due to an extermination program incredibly similar to the Holocaust. Hundreds of thousands were also forcibly expelled from the region during the period 1915-23. He was dismissed by the Sultan in 1918 and was killed in an attack by the Red Army in 1922.
8. Saddam Hussein
Iraq
Years in Power: 1979-2003
We are continuing our list of most evil and hated dictators of all time with Saddam Hussein who was the President of Iraq. He rose to power in 1979 when he forced Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr to resign, but he had been the de facto leader of Iraq many years prior to this. The highlights of his rule are – the invasion of Iran in 1980 which resulted in a vicious, protracted 8-year war, and the Gulf War of 1990-91, both of which resulted in long lasting damage and an incredible loss of lives, with little achieved. The factors that provoked the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which eventually led to his forcible deposition, were his brutal approach towards political opponents, use of chemical weapons (particularly in the mass killing of Kurds in the al-Anfal campaign of 1988), and other violent crimes as well as Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction under his rule. He was captured and eventually executed in 2006 after being sentenced to death in a controversial trial.
7. Pol Pot
Cambodia
Years in Power: 1975-1979
Pol Pot ranks 7th in our list of most evil and hated dictators of all time. He was the leader of the Khmer Rouge, an underground communist movement that captured the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh in 1975 – this year marked the start of a vicious regime that attempted to completely alter the face of Cambodia. They reset the calendars to year zero and brought in a new constitution, which renamed the country to Democratic Kampuchea. Forced evacuation was carried out immediately afterward, which in itself killed many. Deliberate rationing led to widespread famine, acts of burying people alive were carried out, and summary executions took place in a mere span of four years, leading to the deaths of over a million citizens. After the invasion of Vietnam, Pol Pot fled across the border, but he was never put to justice. He died in house arrest in 1998.
6. Hideki Tojo
Japan
Years in Power: 1941-1944
Up next in our list of most evil and hated dictators of all time is Hideki Tojo, the Japanese Minister of War from 1940-44 and the Prime Minister from 1941-44 who was the man majorly responsible for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and consequently, the worsening of World War II, as it formally instigated the war between the United States and Japan. His domestic policies were also highly totalitarian and racist: for instance, Korean laborers working in Japan were considered lower in status than the Japanese. This provoked forced sterilization to “preserve the purity of the Yamato minzoku”. At the end of the war, Tojo was sentenced to death for an array of war crimes, which he admitted to having done, and he was executed in 1948. Although many consider Emperor Hirohito responsible for a multitude of criminal acts undertaken during the war – for he had absolute authority in the country – he was not heavily involved in the decision-making, and additionally, he was protected in the testimonies of others who declared him completely innocent.
5. Kim Il-sung
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Years in Power: 1948-1994
Kim II-sung ranks 5th in our list of most evil and hated dictators of all time. He was declared President immediately upon the formation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 1948, and since then, he has been given the titles of the Supreme Leader and Eternal President even after his death. The highlight of his rule is the Korean War in which he led the invasion into South Korea. He then imposed an aggressive cult of his personality onto the country, meaning that even the remotest disagreement with him would result in being sent to a labor camp. He also paved the way for his son to take over after his death. What’s unique about his dictatorship is that he succeeded in granting himself godlike status, evidenced by the fact that his birthday is celebrated as “Day of the Sun” and is a public holiday. Furthermore, his body has been embalmed and is on display in Pyongyang.
4. Leopold II
Belgium and Congo Free State (colony)
Years in Power: 1865-1909
King of the Belgians, Leopold II ruled over the Kingdom of Belgium and a large “private” colony known as the Congo Free State, including a major portion of the area known today as the Democratic Republic of Congo, which he founded himself. He extracted ivory and rubber from the colony which was rich in such products and used them to expand his own personal fortune. The extraction meant that native workers were subjected to forced labor, beatings and mutilation. Women were taken as hostages to force the men to work, often to the point of death, and workers were frequently killed, such that the death toll is estimated to be in millions. Many also lost their lives to famine. Leopold II eventually died in 1909 after an incredibly long reign of 44 years.
3. Adolf Hitler
Nazi Germany
Years in Power: 1934-1945
Perhaps the most famous on our list of 10 most evil and hated dictators in history, the Nazi Chancellor of Germany is a man everyone is familiar with. Hitler first officially came to power as head of state in 1934, although he had an enormous amount of influence on the government well before that. He then gradually began to propagate his ideas of the superiority of an “Aryan” race, antisemitism, and extreme German nationalism. During the period in which the third Reich was established over Germany and other territories, Hitler was responsible for the industrialized murder of millions of Jews (i.e. the Holocaust) in what has been termed the imposition of a “Final Solution”, as well as the killing of homosexuals, communists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, people with disabilities, etc. Hitler committed suicide in 1945 upon rapid losses encountered by the Germans.
2. Joseph Stalin
Soviet Union
Years in Power: 1929-1953
Joseph Stalin became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1922 and began to consolidate his hold over the Soviet Union following Lenin’s death in 1924. One of his major reforms was collectivization of farms in which farmers had to work under the government. Many were exiled or executed upon refusal, and the resulting famine was so widespread and devastating that millions died because of it. Opponents and potential threats were summarily executed, particularly due to the Great Purge carried out from 1936-38. Stalin was an atheist, and his imposition of atheism in the country and opposition to religion meant that it was dangerous to be associated with any faith. He died in 1953 at the age of 74.
1. Mao Zedong
People’s Republic of China
Years in Power: 1945-1976
Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was the founder of the modern-day People’s Republic of China in 1949. Immediately after taking power, he introduced land reforms in which numerous landlords were beaten to death and launched the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries in which rebels were executed or sent to labor camps. He also launched the three-anti and five-anti campaigns to target capitalists, and potential victims were so fearful of punishment that there were hundreds of thousands of suicides. However, this was just the beginning. The Hundred Flowers Campaign followed, in which the government encouraged political freedom, only to revoke their words and crack down hard on dissidents. Next was the Great Leap Forward from 1958-61, in which the government allotted grain targets to various provinces which they were not able to meet, as a result of which officials shipped all the grains away, leading to famine on an enormous scale. The last most important event of his rule was the decade-long Cultural Revolution, which was an attempt to revive the political spirit that had led to the formation of the country. Instead, it led to widespread killings, persecution, and elevation of Mao to godlike status, and ended only when Mao died in 1976.
Mao might not have had a direct hand in a significant percentage of deaths during his rule, but he did little to prevent the moral chaos and innumerable loss of lives, and his policies are undoubtedly the reasons behind the massacres during that period. This inevitably puts him at number 1 on our list of the 10 most evil and hated dictators of all time.
