Who's your favorite tyrant?
Everyone has someone they love to hate! Reply with your top loathed leader adding an option to justify why your choice is superior, add fun facts, or simply UPVOTE your favorites.
Can't seem to think of any off the top of your head? Take a look at the examples below:
Adolf Hitler
Rating extremely high on the REDO (Ruscion's Estimated Decisive Opinions) Scale, the German Führer needs no introduction. He promoted and pursued genocide, slave labor, and absolute power by force.
Fun facts about Hitler:
- He was a bastard, no, really, he was!
- Hitler believed he was a divine leader by providence.
- He was strung out on amphetamines.
Benito Mussolini
Styling himself as Il Duce of Italy, he was the founder of fascism in his country. Mussolini saw all black people as inferior and therefore argued they follow imperialist policy in Africa to reclaim their territory as the heir to the Roman Empire. His ideals were on the rising population in Italy to conquer and those in decline deserved to die.
Fun facts about Mussolini:
- He presented himself as the superman of fascism with god-like capacities.
- Mussolini stated he was an atheist and on several occasions would call on God to strike him down.
- He emigrated to Switzerland to dodge military service in 1902 and got his political start with the wages earned from Britain's own MI5.
Vlad III Dracula
The Viocode of Wallachia better known as Vlad the Impaler, due to impaling his victims being the preferred method of torture and execution, particularly of the Ottoman Turks. Vlad had an extreme sadist taste for their slow torture and death as well as the ability to use their corpses on display as a psychological tool to weaken his enemies.
Fun facts about Vlad:
- Vlad's cruel reputation landed him the key character role as the vampire in Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' in the 1890's.
- His father sent he and his brother to be raised by the Ottoman's as a token of his loyalty for their aid in his return to power.
- Dracul (or dragon) was given to his father as an epithet by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund in Nuremberg after swearing fellowship to the knights of the Order of the Dragon.
Ivan IV Vasilyevich
Known to many as Ivan the terrible or Ivan the Fearsome, he ruled as Tzar of All the Russias' in the 16th century. Ivan was remembered for the Massacre of Novgorod, his paranoia, the treatment of nobles, and killing his own son.
Fun facts about Ivan:
- Terrible in translation from the Russian word Grozny meant- to inspire fear or terror, dangerous, powerful, and/or formidable.
- Ivan died from a stroke while playing chess.
- Legend has it Ivan blinded the architect of St. Basil's Cathedral after having it constructed so he could never design anything as beautiful ever again.
Don't see a vicious tyrant you believe should be on the list? Share your infamous tyrants below or comment on those above! If you don't feel like writing one up, or like what you've read from others, upvote the comments of your favorite haters!