Worst dictator in human history
- Thread starter JRShield
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That seriously depends on how you want to measure them, if you want to go with deaths you could say Stalin or Hitler depending on how you count it, that is, if you only count the people from their own country killed it's Stalin(or Mao, I don't feel like looking up numbers), if it's the amount that were killed because of their actions then Hitler.
Just for reference, the Berlin wall was erected in 1961, Stalin died in '53, unless Stalin because incredibly inefficient at committing atrocities he probably had little to do with the Berlin wall.The AI said:
Man. Such a rough choice.
Hitler was by far the most threatening on a global scale, charismatic enough to get decent people to do horrible things and lay waste to major cities. People in the US talk about white guilt, but German guilt is something to behold, powerful enough that when you say Hitler's name it'll hush the room. Germany's a lot better now, though, being one of the top 10 strongest countries in terms of GDP.
Stalin killed more people and with less reason than Hitler, and helped lay the groundwork for the cold war, one of the most disquieting eras of all history and one of those periods where the US was reknowned for turning into one of the monsters it was trying to fight (Bush-haters, trust me when I say George Dubya is nothing next to Richard Milhouse Nixon--but that's well after Stalin's time so this is getting off-track). He also helped jump-start Russia into the industrial revolution, though, and if it weren't for some of the things he pushed, Russia wouldn't have become a superpower in the first place. It eventually crashed, of course, and Russia was a frightful and miserable place to be that whole time, but progress is still progress and Russia's generally more favorably viewed these days.
Mao, though... China's still recovering from the damage he did. To insure people wouldn't contest his government he had all the most intelligent people--engineers, scientists, educators, thinkers--move out to farms and worked them all to death, thus stagnating his country technologically, destroying all the most competent organizers and leaders they could have, and setting China back immensely in terms of education. Oh, and killing millions with famine. The Chinese government continued to be a police state for several decades, jumping at the slightest hint of a threat, even from within China's own culture, bullying its population out of any business it could get its hooks into, and controlling information to the point that as late as the 90's there were doctors there who didn't know how children were made. And let's not forget the [a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2007/12/vii-2-white.jpg"]Vii[/a].
Yep, I think Mao wins. Stalin's body count is nothing next to his legacy.
Hitler was by far the most threatening on a global scale, charismatic enough to get decent people to do horrible things and lay waste to major cities. People in the US talk about white guilt, but German guilt is something to behold, powerful enough that when you say Hitler's name it'll hush the room. Germany's a lot better now, though, being one of the top 10 strongest countries in terms of GDP.
Stalin killed more people and with less reason than Hitler, and helped lay the groundwork for the cold war, one of the most disquieting eras of all history and one of those periods where the US was reknowned for turning into one of the monsters it was trying to fight (Bush-haters, trust me when I say George Dubya is nothing next to Richard Milhouse Nixon--but that's well after Stalin's time so this is getting off-track). He also helped jump-start Russia into the industrial revolution, though, and if it weren't for some of the things he pushed, Russia wouldn't have become a superpower in the first place. It eventually crashed, of course, and Russia was a frightful and miserable place to be that whole time, but progress is still progress and Russia's generally more favorably viewed these days.
Mao, though... China's still recovering from the damage he did. To insure people wouldn't contest his government he had all the most intelligent people--engineers, scientists, educators, thinkers--move out to farms and worked them all to death, thus stagnating his country technologically, destroying all the most competent organizers and leaders they could have, and setting China back immensely in terms of education. Oh, and killing millions with famine. The Chinese government continued to be a police state for several decades, jumping at the slightest hint of a threat, even from within China's own culture, bullying its population out of any business it could get its hooks into, and controlling information to the point that as late as the 90's there were doctors there who didn't know how children were made. And let's not forget the [a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2007/12/vii-2-white.jpg"]Vii[/a].
Yep, I think Mao wins. Stalin's body count is nothing next to his legacy.
I don't know MUCH about dictators - but Stalin got away with the mass murder of his own people, and killed his ex-competitor from halfway across the world... WITH AN ICE AX. Then, then, then: He gets to die peacefully in his bed of natural causes! What a dick!
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as much as I love a good bush bash he really wasnt a dictator, I have no doubt he would have tried to be one if he could get away with it but he was hoist up on stupid peoples shoulders and propelled to leadership even after we knew better. Tho he still didnt win the 2000 election.FalloutJack said:
Everybody here is hyped up on the number of death. id be more concerned on the actual atrocity. The vikings created the worst torture / death in history (the bloody eagle) which ill describe in another thread. Alternatively Vlad impaled half of his own army and posted them in front of his own abode, to scare off others. I'm not quite sure on who the worst would be considering it changes via perspective on peoples own values on human life.
I agree with Mao, but did you know that Stalin put people beneath dance floors? That he slowly moved the dance floor down but not so fast that the people on top would notice? That the people underneath who had questioned, defied, or opposed him were slowly crushed to death? It not quite as bad as making people work on a farm, which they probably did before they get educated anyway. He screwed over China's economy, but that that created opposition to communism.NickCaligo42 said:
Well, as far as brutal bastards go, Stalin would definitely be the worst. Tens of millions of people died as a result of his programs, and he killed all of his closest advisors on more than one occasion out of paranoia. I think even more people died under Mao, however (with the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution), but nothing can beat Stalin's awesome dictator moustache. Then again, Pol Pot had over a third of Cambodia's entire population murdered.... yeah, the 20th century wasn't the best.
I'm pretty sure he impaled Ottomans to scare off other Ottomans who would launch an assault against him. That was both to defend his kingdom as well as his hatred for what a certain ottoman sultan did to his brother. Not sure about the finer details though.BlakBladz said:
*wince* That is stomach-churningly brutal, but China still suffered the most long-term damage to its economy, culture, and government. I realize that "making people work on farms" isn't quite as horrifying and grotesque as some of the things Stalin and others came up with, but running your country and generations of its descendants into the ground still is far, far worse to me.Lonan said:
