The concept of dictatorship as well as
the use of force and systemic
persecution of political opponents to
stay in power dates back to the
ancient Roman civilization, however,
it was the modern history dictators
who made it virtually a synonym for
gross human rights violations and
brutality. Sadly, some of the most
brutal dictators in modern history
held power not so long ago.


Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945)


This evil man who rose to power in
the 1930s was responsible for the
greatest ferocities in human history.
He ordered systematic racially based
murder of about 11 million of people
of which 6 million were Jews, while
his foreign policy provoked World
War II which claimed 50 to 70
million lives. Hitler committed
suicide on April 30, 1945, to avoid
being captured by the Soviet Red
Army that was advancing in Berlin.


Joseph Stalin (1878 – 1953)



The Georgian-born Soviet leader rose
to power after Lenin’s death in 1924.
The future ally of the United States
and Britain against the Nazi
Germany was a paranoid man who
brutally suppressed his political
enemies as well as suspected
opponents. The number of casualties
of the Stalinist regime vary but about
14 to 20 million of people are
estimated to have died in the penalty
labor camps known as the gulags or
were executed during the Great
Purge in the 1930s, while millions
were deported and exiled.


Pol Pot (1925 – 1998)


The leader of the Khmer Rouge and
dictator of Cambodia from 1975 to
1979 was directly responsible for one
of the severest genocides in modern
history. During the four years he
held power in Cambodia, about 1
million people died as a result of
starvation, imprisonment, forced
labor and murder. He was ousted in
1979 by the Vietnamese but together
with his Red Khmer followers he
continued to operate in the
countryside from Thailand.


Idi Amin (1925 – 2003)


The 3rd President of Uganda was
responsible for about 250,000 deaths
which were a result of his regime of
terror marked by torture, extra-
judicial executions, corruption and
ethnic persecution. He held power
from 1972 to 1979 when he fled the
country due to the defeat against
Tanzania which he attacked one year
earlier. He found refuge in Libya
and then in Saudi Arabia where he
died in 2003.


Augusto Pinochet (1915 –
2006)


Military dictator who came to power
in a coup d’etat in 1973 held power
in Chile for nearly 20 years during
which he brutally suppressed his
opponents. More than 100,000 people
were arrested only during the first
three years. Pinochet stepped down
as President of Chile in 1990 after
the Chileans voted against continuity
of his presidency on a plebiscite. In
the early 2000s, he was trialled for
violations of human rights but the
court has ruled that he is mentally
unfit for the trial.


Francois Duvalier (1907 –
1971)


The Haitian dictator, also known as
Papa Doc governed the poorest
country in the Americas from 1957 to
his death in 1971. During his reign of
terror, about 30,000 Haitians are
estimated to have been assassinated,
while thousands – mostly intelligence
fled the country. Many people
consider him responsible for the
current situation in Haiti. He was
succeeded by his son Jean-Claude
Duvalier who continued the reign of
terror until 1986 when he went into
a self-imposed exile.


Francisco Franco (1892 –
1975)


The Spanish dictator held power
from 1939 when he emerged as the
winner of the Spanish Civil War until
his death in 1975. His regime was
marked by severe repression and
systematic suppression of dissidents
who were either sent to
concentration camps, sentenced to
prison which often includes forced
labor or executed. Francoist regime
became more liberal in the 1960s
and 1970s but Spain became a
democratic country only after
Franco’s death.


Saddam Hussein (1937 –
2006)


The Iraqi dictator who came to
power in 1979 is estimated to be
responsible for about 500,000 to 1
million deaths of which the Kurds
account for about 70,000 to 300,000.
Hussein was ousted after the
invasion of the US and UK led
coalition in 2003. In 2006, he was
found guilty for 148 Shi’ite deaths in
the early 1980 and sentenced to
death. He was executed by hanging
on December 30, 2006.


Charles Taylor (1948 - )


The former President of Liberia who
was elected in 1997 (allegedly by
terrorizing the population) has been
connected with gross human rights
violations, war crimes and crimes
against the humanity in the civil war
in the neighboring Sierra Leone as
well as at home during the Second
Liberian Civil War that lasted from
1999 to 2003. He is currently being
trialled for his involvement in the
Sierra Leone civil war at the
International Criminal Court (ICC) in
The Hague.


Mengistu Haile Mariam (1937)


The Ethiopian dictator who played
the key role in the overthrow of the
monarchy came to power with a
Communist military junta known as
the Derg in 1974. In the late 1970s,
he launched a violent campaign
known as the Ethiopian Red Terror
during which about 500,000 people
were killed. In 1991, Mengistu fled to
Zimbabwe. He was found guilty for
genocide in absentia in 2006. Today
he lives in Zimbabwe.

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