When Power Gets Into The Wrong Hands

While certain leaders are forces of good, propelling the world towards peace and universal well-being, others are the opposite, leaving death and destruction in their wake. From the orchestrators of genocides to catastrophic wars and famine, these figures are true examples of evil, power hungry, and showing little regard for human life, their legacy being measured by the number of lives lost. Some of them conquered large swaths of land or tried to lead a revolution, but at what cost? Not all of history is peachy, but it's worth remembering to avoid tragedies repeating themselves. Here are 20 of history's most brutal leaders.

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1. Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong was China's most infamous dictator who founded the People's Republic of China and led as its chairman from 1949 until he died in 1976. During that time, he was responsible for tens of millions of deaths through the various policies he put in place.

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2. Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was the Soviet Union's most vicious leader. Some 20 to 60 million deaths are attributed to him because of gulags, famines, purges, corruption, and a policy called forced collectivization, which redistributed peasant farms using force. 

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3. Adolf Hitler

One of the names most synonymous with evil, Adolf Hitler, was directly responsible for one of the most traumatizing events of the 20th century, the Holocaust, which saw the execution of 6 million Jews and millions of others. He also initiated WWII, which led to the deaths of 50 to 80 million people worldwide. 

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4. King Leopold II

King Leopold II's horrible colonial regime in the Congo left behind one of the darkest legacies of any monarch ever, and that's saying something. He was responsible for 10-15 million deaths through forced labor and atrocities. 

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5. Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan was a military genius who created the largest empire ever to exist, but he did so not without bloodshed. Estimates of the number of people killed in his wake vary widely, but it's likely in the tens of millions. 

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6. Pol Pot 

Pol Pot was the leader of Cambodia's infamous Khmer Rouge, the nation's communist movement. He wiped out 2 to 3 million Cambodians, about one-quarter of the country's population, through execution, forced labor, and famine. 

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7. Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein served as the fifth president of Iraq until he was overthrown by the US in 2003, finally ending his reign of terror. His regime orchestrated the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis through arbitrary arrest, execution, chemical weapons, and torture. 

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8. Vladimir Lenin

Although considered the lesser of two evils when compared to Stalin, Vladimir Lenin was still responsible for millions of deaths. Although he's still praised by many as a revolutionary, his policies, like the Red Terror and forced collectivization, set the stage for Stalin's later, even bigger, atrocities. 

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9. Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco led nationalist forces to victory after the Spanish Civil War and established a brutal authoritarian government. In a time referred to as the "White Terror," Franco and his regime caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.

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10. Augusto Pinochet 

Chile's brutal leader, Augusto Pinochet, forcefully took power through a military coup, establishing a military dictatorship. He was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and disappearances of political opponents and civilians. 

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11. Hirohito

Hirohito was the emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989. Because he was the supreme leader during a time when Japan was committing its worst atrocities and war crimes across Asia, he's held responsible for tens of millions of deaths. 

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12. Caligula

No Roman emperor is associated with cruelty and madness more than Caligula. Although the exact figure of deaths he was responsible for is unknown, his paranoia caused him to be excessively violent, killing everyone from family members to rivals and senators whom he irrationally believed to be plotting against him. 

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13. Amir Timur

Amir Timur was a conqueror and founder of the Timurid Empire. His campaigns were marked by extreme bloodshed and brutality, resulting in millions of deaths, though the exact number is unknown. 

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14. Kim Il-sung

Kim Il-sung was the founder of North Korea and its first supreme leader. His reign was characterized by totalitarian policies, purges, and famines, which led to millions of deaths. 

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15. Mengistu Haile Mariam

Mengistu Haile Mariam served as head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. A military officer and revolutionary, he established a brutal dictatorship that orchestrated the "Red Terror" and enacted policies that led to famine, resulting in the deaths of 1 to 2 million Ethiopians.

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16. Idi Amin 

Idi Amin was a military officer and the dictator of Uganda from 1972 until he was overthrown in 1979. Despite his relatively short time in power, he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ugandans. 

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17. Yahya Khan

Yahya Khan was a Pakistani military dictator responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis in East Pakistan. It's unknown exactly how many Bengalis were killed, but it was likely between 300,000 and 500,000. 

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18. Enver Pasha

Enver Pasha was one of the key instigators of the Armenian Genocide, overseeing the mass killing of Armenians residing in the Ottoman Empire. It's estimated that 1.5 million Armenians were killed. 

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19. Hideki Tojo

Hideki Tojo was the prime minister of Japan during WWII, the period when Japan committed the most atrocities and war crimes. He's considered responsible for the deaths of millions of civilians and war prisoners across Asia.

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20. Omar Hassan al-Bashir

Omar Hassan al-Bashir served as Sudan's head of state, taking power after leading a military coup. His rule was characterized by several conflicts, including the Second Sudanese Civil War and the Darfur Conflict, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. 

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