# Evilest People In History
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [November 29, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238 "2010-11-29T01:40:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/1 "2010-11-29T01:40:49Z")
Who was the single evilest human being who ever lived? The person must directly have caused evil (ie you can’t say Jesus for starting Christianity or Karl Marx for starting Communism).
I would say Zhang Xianzhong. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang\_Xianzhong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Xianzhong)
> [@](#):
>
> Characteristics
> Zhang Xianzhong was obsessed with ears and feet[citation needed], so he had his own personal guards retrieve the ears and feet of the people killed in the outlying districts in order to count how many people they killed there. After the massacre was over, he ordered this inscription in a stone to be placed in an important part of Chengdu:
>
> 天生万物以养人 Heaven brings forth innumerable things to help man.
> 人无一德以报天 Man has nothing with which to recompense Heaven.
> 杀杀杀杀杀杀杀[citation needed] Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.
>
> But thoses Zhang stone found have different inscription on it.[3]
>
> [edit] The devastation of Sichuan
> Zhang Xianzhong’s rule devastated Sichuan. The population of Sichuan dropped from 3,102,073 at 1578 to 18,090 at 1685, and the number of residents in Chengdu decreased from 400,000 to 20[citation needed]. A massive resettlement called Huguang fill Sichuan (湖廣填四川) lasted more than a century during the Qing Dynasty, which triggered another massive resettlement: Jiangxi fill Huguang (江西填湖廣). Few said he did not kill so many people.[4][5] Some other militia also massacred.[6][7][8] Lu Xun said he did that as he knew he is going to lose.[9]
Most other dictators at least had a “reason” for killing his citizens but this guy killed just for the sake of killing.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/2 "2010-11-29T01:49:31Z")
Why don’t you just grow a fucking brain?
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/3 "2010-11-29T01:57:07Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> Why don’t you just grow a fucking brain?
Grow a brain? Like in a vat? That _would_ be pretty evil…
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/4 "2010-11-29T02:00:56Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> Why don’t you just grow a fucking brain?
Come on, Frank. You’ve got to know that this was over the line.
Warning issued.
[/Moderating]
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/5 "2010-11-29T02:06:02Z")
> [@tomndebb](#):
>
> Come on, Frank. You’ve got to know that this was over the line.
Yes, I did.
> [@](#):
>
> Warning issued.
>
> [/Moderating]
Acknowledged.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/6 "2010-11-29T02:10:46Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#):
>
> Who was the single evilest human being who ever lived? The person must directly have caused evil (ie you can’t say Jesus for starting Christianity or Karl Marx for starting Communism).
>
> I would say Zhang Xianzhong. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang\_Xianzhong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Xianzhong)
>
> Most other dictators at least had a “reason” for killing his citizens but this guy killed just for the sake of killing.
You’ve got “citation needed” all over that cite. I’m unclear as to why you believe a word it says.
I vote for Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor of China.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/7 "2010-11-29T02:30:00Z")
I nominate King Leopold II of Belgium, who was also fond of human appendages. The body count is higher by several orders of magnitude: he killed 10 million in the Congo. [The Butcher of Congo](http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/35/181.html)
[King Leopold's Ghost - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leopold%27s_Ghost)
There’s also a mid-20th century central European guy whose name escapes my memory… Is the name… Adolf Stalin? Joseph Pol Pot? ???
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### Author:  [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/8 "2010-11-29T02:31:18Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> Why don’t you just grow a fucking brain?
I don’t get it.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/9 "2010-11-29T02:32:08Z")
How about Vlad the Impaler?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/10 "2010-11-29T02:36:31Z")
Is the question about who caused the most evil, or who had the most evil intent? The latter seems much more relevant to me: Someone could have been as vile as Hitler without having the “advantage” of being chancellor of a powerful nation. But it’s also impossible to quantify.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/11 "2010-11-29T02:40:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Is the question about who caused the most evil, or who had the most evil intent? The latter seems much more relevant to me: Someone could have been as vile as Hitler without having the “advantage” of being chancellor of a powerful nation. But it’s also impossible to quantify.
By the same token someone could of had the best intent but been powerful and incompetent.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/12 "2010-11-29T02:49:42Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#):
>
> How about Vlad the Impaler?
I don’t see him as evil particularly. Keep in mind that the broadsides describing how evil he was were written by non-transylvanian/romanians. The one that has teh illustration that is most used for him is actually done by Germans.
From what I understand [reading the research about him by Radu Florescu] he was considered one of the better rulers - it is reported in Florescu’s book that ‘a virgin could ride from one side of Transylvania to the other with a bag of gold and arrive at her destination unrobbed and unraped’ go try that anywhere else. At that same time period in certain areas in Europe [as reported by Barbara Tuchman in A Distant Mirror] that there was a serious issue with gangs of young men roaming after dark in rape gangs, and not just raping women found in the street but actually breaking into houses and raping the women found there [she used court records to document crime rates.]
We have evolved [heh] into a kinder and gentler society. Criminals now get thrown into prisons, in the past frequently since punishments were more physical prisons were only used to hold people until their trials and after until they could receive their punishment [floggings, brandings, amputations and executions.] If you look at the life and times of Vlad Tepes, he was fighting against invading Ottoman. He spent a number of years as a hostage in the Turkish court, as did his brother. he spent most of his adult life at war. Even in the rest of Europe and the Russias at that point in time the only time in war that prisoners were taken was either you were a noble, and there was a possibility of ransom, or they were sent back in coffles and sold as slaves. They didn’t have elaborate logistics trains that allowed for random prisoner of war camps, and reparations. They generally didn’t have a medical corps, so they were certainly not going to bother keeping a wounded enemy alive [unless they were noble and could possibly have family cough up ransom] so if course there were piles of bodies, and fields of impaled enemy prisoners after battles. The infamous execution of the Boyars was him dealing with what he perceived as his subjects who were involved in rebellion. His mass execution of the beggars was eugenics in action - sick and infirm that were not productive members of society - again, he was in a war footing and dealt with the issues. Harsh but others were just as harsh - the inquisition and burnings were also going on at this time, and the Ottoman were invading other countries at the time as well [the movie Baron Munchausen showing Vienna being in siege is not fiction, the Ottoman did get all the way to Vienna.]
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/13 "2010-11-29T02:50:17Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#):
>
> I don’t get it.
Yea, is there some subtext I’m not seeing here? People seem weirdly defensive of an obscure 17th century Chinese Warlord.
I’ll go with Himmler. I was listening to a podcast on WWII history, and the author was discussing how Himmler proposed the “FInal Solution” not because of his hatred of the Jews, but because he needed a large project for his SS to undertake so that they wouldn’t be marginalized in the post-war Reich.
Assuming that Hitler believed all the stuff he said about the Jews and other Untermensch, I think it can at least be argued that he was more sick then evil. Himmler, on the other hand, seemed to not have had any higher purpose to slaughtering 6 million people then to give himself a leg-up in the next round of Nazi bureaucratic infighting.
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### Author:  [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/14 "2010-11-29T03:05:27Z")
> [@Simplicio](#):
>
> Yea, is there some subtext I’m not seeing here? People seem weirdly defensive of an obscure 17th century Chinese Warlord.
The subtext is that the OP has developed a tiresome habit of starting tons of similar threads that pose a question “Poll: Nonbelievers:Would You Disown Your Child if He/She Was Religious?” , " Worst Nazi and Soviet Communist ", “John Brown: Hero or Terrorist”,“Is Crimes Against God Worse Than A Crime Against A Human ?” some of which are thinly veiled attempts to provoke a discussion of his social and political ideas disguised as IMHO topics.
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### Author:  [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/15 "2010-11-29T03:07:26Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#):
>
> I don’t get it.
“[DO NOT attempt to grow a brain!](DO NOT attempt to grow a brain!)”
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/16 "2010-11-29T03:12:28Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#):
>
> I don’t get it.
The question is somewhat juvenile – it’s like asking how we know the world behind our head doesn’t disappear when we’re away from reflecting objects. Or who is stronger, Frankenstein or Jaws? Or how come some monsters wear clothes and others are naked?
All fine questions in my view. But not to everyone’s tastes.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/17 "2010-11-29T03:22:34Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#):
>
> How about Vlad the Impaler?
Jeez, a little experimentation in college and a guy gets tagged for life . . .
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/18 "2010-11-29T03:24:46Z")
Curtis LeMay.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/19 "2010-11-29T03:28:02Z")
Given the right opportunities, I’d out-evil 'em all.
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### Author:  [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evilest-people-in-history/562238/20 "2010-11-29T03:54:50Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> The question is somewhat juvenile – it’s like asking how we know the world behind our head doesn’t disappear when we’re away from reflecting objects. Or who is stronger, Frankenstein or Jaws? Or how come some monsters wear clothes and others are naked?
>
> All fine questions in my view. But not to everyone’s tastes.
Thanks.
Maybe we could combine [threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=586672) and see who is stronger, Frankenstein or Jews?
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