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Who was the worst dictator of all time?

Who was the worst dictator?

  • Adolf Hitler: no explanation needed

    Votes: 12 66.7%

  • Francisco Franco: spanish facsist

    Votes: 1 5.6%

  • Benito Mussolini: Hitler's right hand man

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • George W. Bush: stole an election and started 2 wars

    Votes: 1 5.6%

  • Agosto Pinochet: Chilean maniac

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Margaret Thatcher: ding dong, the witch is dead!

    Votes: 1 5.6%

  • Harry Truman: dropped two nukes on civilian cities

    Votes: 3 16.7%
  • Total voters
    18
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Its offensive to throw Bush, Thatcher, and Truman in a poll on the worst dictators ever. Moreover, its ridiculous to not include Mao and Stalin in that list. In terms of causing the most deaths, Mao is hands down the worst dictator of all time, followed by Stalin, and then Hitler.

Unlike Hitler and Stalin though, the majority of Mao's death toll was due to callous indifference and terrible decisions rather than ordering their murders (though he did that as well). So in terms of malice, Stalin is the worst of all time followed by Hitler.
 
Peter King said:
I cannot vote here, Stalin is the biggest dictator, second is Hitler and third is Mao. And three of this list are not dictators at all.
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How come all these asshole dictators were midgets? Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Mussolini... Pol Pot?
 
Bodhisattva said:
How come all these asshole dictators were midgets? Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Mussolini... Pol Pot?
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Fun facts - Mao seldom brushed his teeth and hardly ever bathed. The closest he came to regular baths were his daily swims. He also was overcome with sadness for Nixon when he had to resign.
 
Maoist said:
There have been many terrible rulers in history, but it takes a special kind of evil to start a genocide, invade another country for no reason, or use a nuclear weapon on civilian populations. I know that it may be slightly distasteful to compare evil to evil, but I am truly interested in asking: who do you consider the worst dictator in history?

Adolf Hitler is the obvious answer for me. He has caused more deaths than any other dictator in history, and tried to massacre an entire race due to their religious beliefs. Nobody else comes close, although second place would definitely be Francisco Franco, who tried to keep Spain in the middle ages from 1939-1975.
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Can't help but notice the absence of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, or any number of Communist dictators on that list. :roll:

In any case, the very worst would undoubtedly be Mao. He's basically got the highest body count of any leader in human history.
 
Bodhisattva said:
How come all these asshole dictators were midgets? Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Mussolini... Pol Pot?
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Well, in dictators size surely does matter but not in the regular way (bigger is better) but in an upside down kind of way, they compensate their small stature with being insane aggressive douche bags.
 
Maoist said:
There have been many terrible rulers in history, but it takes a special kind of evil to start a genocide, invade another country for no reason, or use a nuclear weapon on civilian populations. I know that it may be slightly distasteful to compare evil to evil, but I am truly interested in asking: who do you consider the worst dictator in history?

Adolf Hitler is the obvious answer for me. He has caused more deaths than any other dictator in history, and tried to massacre an entire race due to their religious beliefs. Nobody else comes close, although second place would definitely be Francisco Franco, who tried to keep Spain in the middle ages from 1939-1975.
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hmmm. All your examples are White people. Why are you ignoring Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Xiang Yu, all great dictators and mass murderers. But obviously you discount them because they weren't White.
 
Maoist said:
There have been many terrible rulers in history, but it takes a special kind of evil to start a genocide, invade another country for no reason, or use a nuclear weapon on civilian populations. I know that it may be slightly distasteful to compare evil to evil, but I am truly interested in asking: who do you consider the worst dictator in history?

Adolf Hitler is the obvious answer for me. He has caused more deaths than any other dictator in history, and tried to massacre an entire race due to their religious beliefs. Nobody else comes close, although second place would definitely be Francisco Franco, who tried to keep Spain in the middle ages from 1939-1975.
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Actually Joseph Stalin probably. Deaths as a result of his rule estimated at anywhere form 8 to 61 million but most around 15-20 million.
 
pinqy said:
hmmm. All your examples are White people. Why are you ignoring Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Xiang Yu, all great dictators and mass murderers. But obviously you discount them because they weren't White.
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i doubt thats the case. those 3 are pikers in the great scheme.
 
pinqy said:
hmmm. All your examples are White people. Why are you ignoring Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Xiang Yu, all great dictators and mass murderers. But obviously you discount them because they weren't White.
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Don't forget Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
 
Mao Zedong easily.

By sheer body count alone the guy killed anywhere from 49-78 million vs Hitler's ~17 and Stalin's ~23. Meanwhile his regime echos to this day in an increasingly aggressive and militant China that stands poised to become the only rival superpower to the States (unless the EU gets its **** together and becomes a supernation).

If you want to count all the casualties of WW2, Hitler is competitive with Mao at around 60 million.
 
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margaret thatcher hands down
 
Other names conspicuously missing: Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe, Vlad Tepes, Saddam!, Nicholas the 2nd of Russia, the Kaiser Wilhelm (I wont go into the Communists in Russia and China, already covered). Lets set the way back and say Tamerlane, Herod, Nero, Caligula, Atilla the Hun and Genghis Khan. Old Genghis is estimated to have killed as many as 50 million people, like 10% to 15% of the entire planet BEFORE there were guns!

I declare this poll woefully inadequate!
 
How odd to include Truman a much under-appreciated President who combated dictatorship, by helping found NATO and in Korea. Unlike his foolish predecessor who thought that Stalin was his friend, and who talked to him behind Churchill's back. For the sake of freedom it is fortunate that FDR died when he did.
 
OpportunityCost said:
Other names conspicuously missing: Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe, Vlad Tepes, Saddam!, Nicholas the 2nd of Russia, the Kaiser Wilhelm (I wont go into the Communists in Russia and China, already covered). Lets set the way back and say Tamerlane, Herod, Nero, Caligula, Atilla the Hun and Genghis Khan. Old Genghis is estimated to have killed as many as 50 million people, like 10% to 15% of the entire planet BEFORE there were guns!

I declare this poll woefully inadequate!
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Want me to start a new one? :p
 
Abbazorkzog said:
Margaret Thatcher was an Imperialist Scumbag but she was not a dictator.
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Yeah - do you remember how the Imperialist lady tried to reconquer the American colonies and bring them back into the British Empire? And all the others countries into which she sent her victorious armies? Hollywood should make one of those movies from which Americans acquire their historical knowledge.
 
How about a new poll? "Is this the worst poll ever put up on DP"? Choices: Yes, Definitely, By Far and Absolutely.
 
BrewerBob said:
If we are going by numbers, Hitler. If we are going by cruelty, I would give it to Pol Pot. While Hitler killed the most people world wide, Pol Pot is responsible for the death of 1/3 of his OWN countrymen.

Somewhat relevant sidenote: I lived in Germany for 3 years and Cambodia for 3 years.
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I think that by numbers Mao might have been worse than Hitler and that looking at the number of own people down Stalin beat him too. Some say Hitler was only number three. I don't have the article i remember in The Economist, but here is one list

Hitler to Stalin: The most murderous regimes in the world | Daily Mail Online
 
Lots of other people could be on the list at the top of this thread. It really doesn't make any sense.

Why are Truman, Thacher and Bush's names on this poll and Stalin,Mao and Pol Pot left off?
 
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shrubnose said:
Lots of other people could be on the list at the top of this thread. It really doesn't make any sense.

Why are Truman, Thacher and Bush's names on this poll and Stalin,Mao and Pol Pot left off?
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Pro-communist bias or blind spot.
 
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