Five Evil Leaders (Who Aren’t Adolf Hitler)

Unveiling History's Darkest Minds: Explore the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, Leopold II, Francisco Macías Nguema, & Rafael Trujillo. Witness the chilling legacies that shaped nations, leaving a haunting impact.

[alexamerling]

Thank you for including Leopold II. Not enough people know about his atrocities.

[miguelm]

So glad to see Leopold II on history’s sh*t list. There is no hell deep or dark enough for him.

[TheMILVSCR]

"Grand Master of Education, Science, and Culture...because he never met me." Best line from ALL Simon's channels, hands down.

[deionfrancis]

This man has more channels than I have kids. Granted, I have 0 kids but he still has a lot of channels

[tomorroweva]

Vietnam usually fights wars when someone is invading them. But they made an exception for Pol Pot, and I have deep respect to them for that.

[polly_sacharride]

Years ago I had a coworker that had purportedly been a fighter pilot in the Iraqi Air Force and had defected some time shortly before the Gulf War. I never had any reason to disbelieve him. He was a very quiet man and would only talk about his past if asked. He told us that even as a flight officer that he'd just sometimes be randomly dragged from his barracks in the middle of the night, beaten and locked in a cell for days or weeks at a time and then released without explanation. He said this was "normal" and they would do this to everyone to keep them in line out of fear. He said he was constantly terrified of the day he would be killed. Apparently during a patrol he noticed that while normally his plane would have barely enough fuel for the patrol itself this time he had just enough to cross the border and so he did. He said he had a sister but had never heard from her afterwards and that he knew she was probably dead because of him. But he also said he was certain that if the day came that they ever did kill him that they would kill the rest of his family too.
I didn't keep in touch with him after I left that job but sometimes I do wonder what ever happened to him.

[chrisalexanderwalker]

My great-grandfather's best friend was Trujillo. When Trujillo went to kill my grandfather, he didn't only because of the friendship he had with his father. My mother still tells me stories of the terrible things he did to the island and the people who even spoke a word of betraying or revolting. Truly some terrible things went on during my Grandfather's life.

[srblackhat]

As a Dominican, I'm glad the Trujillo Horrors are getting addresed. My great-grandfather lost his job due to his discontent with the regime, making life way harder for my grandfather until Trujillo's death.

[saraseifert]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Crime of the Congo…I recommend it for a real look and real accounts of the absolute disgusting crimes against, not just the inhabitants of the Congo, but of people from outside the Congo that peacefully traded with them for many years only to be executed by Leopold’s lackeys. It’s a difficult read, due to the atrocities, but very accurate and explains how intricate the network was.

[artistwithouttalent]

Let's be real, Simon, the West _absolutely_ knew that Trujillo was a vile dictator, they just didn't care because he wasn't a communist and thus was politically convenient.

[Kaltagstar]

I'd honestly be interested in seeing an 'Into The Shadows' or Biographics on Nguema and Trujillo, at least.

[diegoferreiro]

Trujillo was so petulant, that when he came to Spain in an official trip, he addressed to the Spanish people in the following manner: 'Spaniards! In 1492 Columbus arrived for the first time to what was going to be the Dominican Republic. Today I return you the visit!' 17:32
Fun fact about him: during his reign of terror he left and retook the presidency several times, but he always remained in control.

[bb-double-yuh]

Honorable mention: Leopold III of Belgium, son of Leopold II, and his cowardice actions in WWII, where he refused to lead Belgium into battle, surrendered the country, and fled to England to start a new political movement there. He attempted to rule Belgium again upon returning years after WWII, in which riots ensued upon the news (as well as its economic downfall) and the rest of the house had to decide whether Leopold continuing his reign is neccessary. This would infamously be known as "The Royal Question."

Ironically, Belgium went from having one of the most badass kings in modern times (Albert I) to the most cowardly kings in modern times (Leopold III) consecutively.

[Famous_Athlete_Hashimoto]

An interesting fact about Macias Nguema: his daughter Monique Macias was raised in North Korea. When she was 7, she was sent to Pyongyang with her family to study there. Her father was killed 7 months later while they were all still in North Korea. Kim Il Sung chose to take her in and look after her and was kind of a second father to her. She eventually left North Korea and published a memoir about her experiences there. Very fascinating stuff

[Bubbaist]

Pol Pot wasn’t just a communist. I don’t say that out any sympathy for communism, but he was also a fanatical nationalist. He believed that communism would restore the glory days of the Angkor Empire. He believed that the Vietnamese had contaminated Cambodian blood, and that Vietnamese plots were responsible for all Cambodia’s problems. When the people couldn’t meet their insane rice quotas, Pol Pot believed that it was due to a massive Vietnamese plot in which people were intentionally not working hard enough. He responded by having the hands of every Cambodian examined. If they had smooth hands, they were Vietnamese traitors and killed. But the Khmer Rouge didn’t kill many Vietnamese, because most were dead by the time they took power. The previous far-right regime led by Lon Nol committed atrocities that would be remembered today if Pol Pot hadn’t had his turn. It tells you something about the Khmer Rouge regime that they had a lot in common with their supposed archenemy, Lon Nol. Lon Nol also blamed everything on the Vietnamese, and massacred nearly all of them before Pol Pot came to power.

[CAP]

Idi Amin Dada is probably the only ruthless leader who’d want to be number one on this list. He carried out many of the sadistic acts attributed to his regime personally. If Hannibal Lecter wore a cookbook, Idi Amin would not only have a copy, he’d have favourite recipes marked.

[drpapa]

On Christmas Eve 1969, Francisco Nguema had 186 suspected dissidents executed in the national football stadium in Malabo. While the executions were going on, amplifiers played Mary Hopkin's song "Those Were the Days". 150 were shot or hanged with the remaining 36 being ordered to dig ditches in which they were buried up to their necks and eaten alive by red ants over the next few days.

[jasonweber]

The parsley massacre bears mention as an ethnic cleansing campaign and something that still resonates culturally. Trujillo’s henchmen would force people to say ‘parsley’ in Spanish, and those who grew up speaking creole had the most difficult time pronouncing the word properly. If someone said the word wrong, they would be killed by machete- machete because bullets could be traced and Trujillo wanted to retain deniability vis a vis the international community.

[muntyal-bazaz]

As the son of Iraqi immigrants, my father and mother lived through Saddam’s terror and fear when he reigned Iraq. What was not mentioned was Saddam didn’t just target Kurds in the north, but as well as the majority Shias in the south. They faced gruelling treatment, extreme starvation, mass execution and had no freedom to practice their sect of Islam under Saddam’s Secular Government. On top of the constant wars Iraqi people had to live through, Shias lived in so much fear that they would be too scared to speak against Saddam even in their own homes because they said “the walls had ears and under Saddam” they faced the brunt of the sanctions during the 90’s where people had no food to eat and tens of thousands died of extreme starvation. Prominent Shia scholars were tracked down and either jailed or executed in the most disturbing ways, the most prominent example was of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, where Saddam had him killed by nail gun to his head. After 2003, several mass graves in Iraq’s south were dug up which contained hundred and even up to thousands of bodies at a time

[alexandsimba]

Kind of disappointed you folks didn't mention the brutal killing of the Maribales sisters with Trujillo. It's rumored to have been the reason why he was assassinated.