These ruthless world leaders have left a scary mark on history!
“History is written by the victors”… we’ve all heard this before! With so much war and conflict throughout human history, it doesn’t exactly come as a shock that many figures have been demonized and venerated back and forth over the centuries.
A villain, for one, is a hero for many (and vice versa), and it’s always risky to use either of those labels to talk about another country or culture. Still, there have been many examples of pure cruelty in history, regardless of your side.
Many of these stories may have been exaggerated by political enemies, but the fact that humans can be unimaginably cruel is a heartbreaking one, though it’s still a fact. And then there are those like Stalin or Hitler, whose wickedness is universally acknowledged regardless of political inclination.
So, if you think fiction can outdo the cruelty of history, you might want to think again. Here are a few of the most ruthless world leaders history, for whatever reason, has come to hate the most.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler is considered one of the most brutal dictators of the last century. He was an German Politician, born in Austria that ascended to power as the leader of the Nazi Party. Adolf got a chance for dictatorship after Germany lost World War I, and people preferred a dictatorship but weren’t aware of upcoming troubles.
Over 11 million people were reported deceased under Hitler’s Rule. This ruthless world leader used to torture people for a living.
Adolf killed Jews, Slavs, opposition leaders, bisexuals, and gypsies and believed that the Nazis were the only Pure Blood of Germany and they had the only freedom to live in the land. He ruled from 1933 to 1945 and committed suicide after he saw he was facing defeat in the Second World War.
Augusto Pinoche
“Augusto Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte” was a politician, military dictator, and Army General of Chile. Pinoche ruled from 1973 to 1990 and became the 1st leader of the Military Junta of Chile between 1973 and 1981.
This ruthless world leader overthrew the Chilean government and banned trade unions, shut down parliament, and seized all freedom rights from the Chilean population, including the “Right To Life” and “Right To Speech.”
To put it mildly: Pinoche made Chile a living hell. And reports state that over 3000 were killed and more than 35000 were tortured for many years under his rule. But unluckily, Pinoche and all his followers were reported dead before they could face a trial.
Bloody Mary
Queen Mary I ruled England from 1553 to 1558, and she became the first Queen to rule England in her own rights. Bloody Mary was King Henry VIII’s and Catherine Of Aragon’s only child.
This ruthless world leader believed in Catholicism and soon reinstalled the religion in England as she came into power. In her ruling period, she burned many protestants at the stake, and by her critics, was nicknamed “Bloody Mary.”
Maximilien Robespierre
As one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution, you would expect this ruthless world leader to be remembered as a human rights icon. After all, the French Revolution represented the ideal that all humans are created with equal rights and dignity, right?
Sadly, that Dark Knight quote fits perfectly here: “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” This a quote to represent Robespierre, if there ever was one.
Although Maximilien Robespierre was stern in universal suffrage and stood firmly against religious and racial discrimination, he took things too far after the French Revolution in the late 18th century, leading France into an era known as the Reign of Terror.
He ruled over much of this period and notably liked the guillotine while in power. This ruthless world leader imprisoned or executed anyone who didn’t align themselves entirely with the ideals of the Revolution, even allies who would dare propose that the terror be scaled down.
Overall, approximately 300,000 heretics were imprisoned, and more than 40,000 were slaughtered during the Reign of Terror. Robespierre’s demise came swiftly after explicitly betraying the objectives he had long defended.
When he tried to instill a new national religion called “the cult of the Supreme Being,” he was overthrown and executed through his favorite method: the guillotine.
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee was the 3rd President Of Uganda and served as a Ugandan military officer. He came into power through a military coup between 1971 and 1979 before he was forced to run in 1979. Many reports consider him as the most brutal dictator in Human history.
This ruthless world leader was born in 1925 in Koboko, Uganda, to a Lugbara mother and a Kakwa father. Reports imply that he brutally slaughtered over 5,00,000 people in his rule of 8 years.
He spent a considerable amount of money on the military and forced most of the Asian population to Uganda, including Most of the Pakistani and Indian population. He also hated Europeans, once saying: “We Africans used to carry Europeans. But now Europeans carry us.
We are now the masters. They came from Britain and wanted to show that I have power in my country”. Amin was ultimately overthrown, but until his death, he maintained that Uganda needed him, and he never expressed guilt for the abuses of his regime.
In July 2003, this ruthless world leader passed away at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia from kidney failure.
Attila the Hun
Attila became the lone ruler of the Hunnic empire when his brother passed away in 453 AD. Some reports claim that this ruthless world leader murdered his brother himself to seize the throne, but that might have just been slander on the part of the Roman Empire.
Remember that the Huns were one of the “barbaric” tribes that invaded Roman land right before the fall of the Western Roman Empire. And they’re seen as vile monsters in the imagination of the West ever since. So, we should probably take many of the stories about him with a grain of salt.
He grew the Hunnic empire into present-day Germany, Ukraine, Russia, and the Balkans. He also tried to conquer Gaul, which is now France but was eventually stopped.
He invaded Italy, too, and almost managed to take Rome, destroying the northern parts of the peninsula. The Romans generally feared the Huns for their unforgiving and savage reputation.
After This ruthless world leader died, his close adviser revolted against Attila’s lands, after which the Hunnic Empire crumpled.
Nero
The 5th and last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty wreaked mayhem on the citizens of Rome. Beginning his reign at 16, this ruthless world leader tailored a reputation for corruption and murderous cruelty.
According to Roman historians, Nero called for the assassination of his mother and poisoned her, then had her drowned in a self-sinking boat, concealing it as a suicide. He also tortured and murdered 2 wives by cutting their wrists and kicking them in the belly while expecting.
Nero’s rancid mindset went beyond butchering his nearest and dearest, though. He’s also believed to be the cause of the huge fire that burned down Rome but managed to place the blame on Christians, who were later harshly punished for it. He ended up committing suicide at age 30.
Joseph Stalin
Stalin was the ruler of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953, and was also a Georgian Revolutionary. He governed the Soviet Union for 26 years, once as the “General Secretary Of The Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the second time as the “Chairman of the Council Of Ministers.”
He implemented quick collectivization and industrialization in the 1930s. His ideas didn’t go over very well, and millions of people died because of starvation in labor camps and the famous “Great Purge” of the Intelligentsia.
This ruthless world leader likely exercised greater political power than any other ruler in history. In the 30s, by his orders, millions of peasants were either permitted to starve to death or massacred. Stalin brought about the deaths of over 20 million of his people while holding the Soviet Union in an iron grip for almost 30 years.
Talaat Pasha
Talaat Pasha was a Turkish Ottoman politician and the Minister of Interior Affairs. In a nutshell, he was the mastermind behind the Armenian genocide. The 1915 orders for the expulsion of Armenians carry his signature. But this is putting everything mildly.
His attitude towards Armenians was beyond wicked, and he also went as far as to order the annihilation of young Armenian orphans.
This ruthless world leader later had a trial in absentia and was sentenced as a war criminal, including massacre, and was given a death sentence. He was assassinated by an Armenian Soghomon Tehlirian in 1921 out of thirst for revenge.
Ivan IV of Russia
Appointed Grand Prince when he was only 3 years old, Ivan IV became the first Tsar of the Russian Empire at the age of 16, pretty much at the expense of his own people and the country’s economy. At his coronation, he seemed like a favorable ruler. But things got worse and worse as he aged.
One of the early signs of concern was the premature and mysterious death of his first wife, Anastasia, when she was only 26 years old. According to many accounts, he was never the same after that. Bouts of erratic behavior and paranoia became increasingly common.
Distrusting everyone, he resorted to unimaginable torture methods to plant terror in the hearts of his opponents. Public executions also became standard practice. In fact, he once made a heretic wear a bear skin and set hungering hounds to hunt him.
On other occurrences, he would have women, men, and children hooked to sleighs and run them into freezing waters. Many people believe this ruthless world leader killed his eldest son and heir, as well as his unborn grandson, during one of his fits.
This single action led to the end of his dynasty and the country’s “Time of Trouble” after the death of his weak second son.
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong was the Chinese Communist Party Chairman’s founding father and was also known as “Chairman Mao.” This ruthless world leader ruled as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party for almost 37 years until his passing from 1949-1976.
Saying that he was a ruthless leader is putting it mildly, though. Under his rule, he took Agriculture and industry under State Control, but his supporters still say he modernized China.
You can understand how far his cruelty went by his policies, by which over 40 Million were reported dead due to famine.
Vladimir Lenin
This ruthless world leader served as the founder head of the government of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1924 and Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924. Lenin came into power via a coup in Russia, and his Bolshevik Party captured all power from the government.
That’s when the dictatorship began. This coup is also known as the famous “October Revolution.” During the revolution, War and Famine began at a large scale and resulted in the death of millions of citizens.
But this ruthless world leader is also portrayed as the most revolutionary leader, revolutionary statesman, and Greatest Thinker in History ever after Marx.
Timur
Founder of the Timurid Empire in several Central Asian regions and present-day Iran, this ruthless world leader was the last of the nomadic conquerors like Genghis Khan.
He was a significant admirer of Genghis Khan and was instantly inspired by the legends of his conquests, to the point that Timur made it his life’s project to restore Khan’s great Mongol Empire. Timur believed himself to be Khan’s heir.
His campaigns didn’t really care all that much for human life, as scholars estimate he would eventually massacre a total of approximately 17 million people, roughly 5% of the world population at the time.
It is believed that in Baghdad alone, this ruthless world leader beheaded 90,000 individuals who refused to surrender or accept Islam and constructed 100 towers with their rotting skulls.
Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold the second was the King of the Belgians and was born in Brussels as the second son of Louise-Marie of Orleans and Leopold I. He is mainly remembered for the founding and brutal exploitation of the Congo Free State. He succeeded his father to the throne in December 1865 and remained King until he passed away.
This ruthless world leader created the Congo Free State, which was a private project undertaken to get rubber and ivory in the Congo region of central Africa, which depended on forced labor and resulted in the deaths of about 3 million Congolese citizens.
Genghis Khan
Khan was the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongolian Empire. After his demise, the Mongol empire constantly became the biggest empire in history.
Khan faced many issues in his teenage years, beginning with his father being burnt in hot oil in front of him when he was only 9 years old, and it was also the main reason for his brutality. He began conquering a significant part of China and Central Asia after he joined up with the Mongol Tribe.
This ruthless world leader is also well-known as the “Super Father” because some accounts say that 0.5% of the world’s population and 8% of the population of the former Mongol Empire, roughly 16 million, belongs to Genghis Khan.
Pol Pot
Pol Pot was the ruler of the Khmer Rouge and Combodia’s Prime Minister between 1976 and 1979. This ruthless world leader became the leader of Cambodia on April 17th, 1975. During his time in control, his radical communist government caused the mass evacuations of many cities.
He either displaced or killed millions of people and left a legacy of starvation or disease. Under his supervision, his government caused the deaths of at least one million people from hunger, disease, forced labor, torture, or execution.
Vlad Tepes
Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler, was famous for eradicating his enemies by impalement. This ruthless world leader ruled mainly between 1456 and 1462 during the developing Ottoman conquest of the Balkans.
He’s best known for the legends of the fierce penalties he imposed during his reign and for serving as the main inspiration for what we now know as Dracula. Vlad was a fan of varied forms of torture, including rectal and facial impalement and disemboweling.
He tortured thousands while he feasted among the corpses. He impaled every person in the city of Amlas, about 20,000 men, women, and children.
This ruthless world leader tortured the people, ordering them to be boiled, decapitated, skinned, blinded, strangled, roasted, hacked, hanged, burned, nailed, buried alive, stabbed, and so on. He also liked to cut off noses, ears, and limbs. Though despite all this, many consider him one of the greatest Romanian rulers of all time.
What are your thoughts on all these ruthless world leaders? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know. Meanwhile, if you found this article interesting, you might also like: 16 Most Influential Supreme Court Rulings in History