Most Notorious Dictators in History

The Top Ten
1 Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 - April 30, 1945) was a German politician of Austrian descent who served as the leader of the Nazi Party since 1921, Chancellor of Germany since 1933, and Führer of Nazi Germany since 1934. As dictator of Nazi Germany, he reversed the Treaty of Versailles, initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939, and was a central figure of the Holocaust. He committed suicide two days before Soviet soldiers stormed his underground shelter in Berlin.
2 Leopold II
3 Hideki Tojo Hideki Tōjō was a general of the Imperial Japanese Army, the leader of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, and the 27th Prime Minister of Japan during much of World War II, from October 17, 1941, to July 22, 1944. As Prime Minister, he was responsible for ordering the attack on Pearl Harbor, which initiated war between Japan and the United States, although planning for it had begun in April 1941 before he entered office. ...read more.

Technically not a dictator, as he was not the head of Japanese government. Hirohito could have stopped him at any time.

4 Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Georgian dictator, and was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Holding the post of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he was effectively the dictator of the state.
5 Mao Zedong Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary and founding father of the People's Republic of China, which he governed as Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949, until his death in 1976. His Marxist–Leninist theories, military strategies, and political policies are collectively known as Maoism or Marxism–Leninism–Maoism.
6 Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung was the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea, for 46 years, from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to 1994. He was also the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea from 1949 to 1994. To this day, he is still seen as a leader in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, with many statues of him and his son, Kim Jong-Il.
7 Pol Pot Pol Pot, born Saloth Sar, was a Cambodian revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until 1997. From 1963 to 1981, he served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea.
8 Augusto Pinochet
9 Kim Jong-II Kim Jong-il (born Yuri Irsenovich Kim; 16 February 1941 - 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim Il-sung, the first Supreme Leader, until his own death in 2011, when he was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong-un. By the early 1980s Kim had become the heir apparent for the leadership of the country and assumed important posts in the party and army organs.
10 Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 until he was ousted in 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy and set up a legal dictatorship.
The Contenders
11 Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) from 1975 to 1980 and led its successor political party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), from 1980 to 2017. Ideologically an African nationalist, during the 1970s and 1980s he identified as a Marxist–Leninist, and as a socialist after the 1990s.
12 Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu (5 February 1918–25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was also the country's head of state from 1967, serving as President of the State Council and from 1974 concurrently as President of the Republic, until his overthrow and execution in the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, part of a series of anti-Communist uprisings in Eastern Europe that year.
13 Oliver Cromwell
14 Ho Chi Minh Hồ Chí Minh, was a Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader who was Chairman and First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam.
15 Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, known as Fidel Castro (August 13, 1926 – November 25, 2016), was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. Politically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party Communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and state socialist reforms implemented throughout society.
16 Ante Pavelic Ante Pavelić was a Croatian fascist dictator who led the Ustaše movement and the Independent State of Croatia, established in parts of occupied Yugoslavia during World War II with the support of both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.
17 Muammar Gaddafi
18 Ruhollah Khomeini Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini, known in the Western world as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian Shia Islam religious leader and politician.
19 Mullah Omar
20 Vlad the Impaler Vlad III (Known as "Vlad the Impaler" or "Vlad Dracula", born 1431) was a Romanian monarch. He was the ruler of Wallachia a total of three times before his death in 1476/7. He is most famous for his reputation as a dictator and his gruesome torture methods and executions, in which he has served as an inspiration for Count Dracula and, in turn, the vampire mythology.
21 Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada was a Ugandan politician and military officer. He was the President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin was born either in Koboko or Kampala to a Kakwa father and Lugbara mother. In 1946 he joined the King's African Rifles of the British Colonial Army.
22 Vidkun Quisling
23 Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde was a Spanish general who ruled over Spain as a military dictator from 1939, after the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War, until his death in 1975. This period in Spanish history is commonly known as Francoist Spain.
24 Mary Tudor
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