# Who was the worst dictator of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914 "2005-03-17T02:41:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/21 "2005-03-17T13:36:00Z")
It has to be Ed Wood - _Glen or Glenda_, _Plan 9 From Outer Space_ and that pink cardigan, really… Oh, sorry. If we are scoring on deaths Pol Pot actually killed the highest percentage of available population of any dictator, doing away with over 20% of his nation’s population. ---
**Author:** ![RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/22 "2005-03-17T14:07:20Z")
Wasn’t Edi Amin a cannibal, or did I dream that he was eating me last night? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/23 "2005-03-17T14:30:31Z")
Caligula was the stupidest dictator that I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/24 "2005-03-17T14:31:36Z")
I’m going with Tamerlane, too. The man made deserts. He took a relatively productive (if not exactly lush) area, and turned it into a depopulated desert. As just one of his atrocities. ---
**Author:** ![robz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@robz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/25 "2005-03-17T14:40:15Z")
Don’t know if he counts as a dictator, but I would include Kaiser Wilhelm. Without him maybe no WWI, WWII, no communist paridise in Russia, China, N Korea. You could make a case for all those body counts could trace to willies inept decision in July-Aug 1914. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/26 "2005-03-17T15:20:13Z")
> [@robz](#): > > Don’t know if he counts as a dictator, but I would include Kaiser Wilhelm. Without him maybe no WWI, WWII, no communist paridise in Russia, China, N Korea. You could make a case for all those body counts could trace to willies inept decision in July-Aug 1914. Add the introduction of modern chemical weapons, the establishment of the first modern Secret Police forces, and the creation of modern espionage. Also, [THIS](http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snpwwi4.htm). ---
**Author:** ![mattmorgan64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@mattmorgan64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattmorgan64)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/27 "2005-03-17T15:23:29Z")
Wouldn’t the _worst_ dictator be the one who was the nicest, killed the fewest citizens, and enacted the most sweeping law reforms? ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/28 "2005-03-17T18:15:37Z")
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, hands down. I’ll post more details, but I wanted to get down this answer first. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/29 "2005-03-17T18:24:19Z")
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus First off he is a farmer. Then he had to be \*told \* he was the dictator. > **[Biography of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, Roman Statesman](https://www.thoughtco.com/lucius-quinctius-cincinnatus-120932)** > > Cincinnatus was a Roman statesman and military leader who became a model of Roman virtue. Learn more about his life and accomplishments. > [@N.S. Gill](#): > > Cincinnatus was plowing his field, when he learned he had been appointed dictator. The Romans had appointed Cincinnatus dictator for six months so he could defend the Romans against the neighboring Aequi who had surrounded the Roman army and the consul Minucius in the Alban Hills. Cincinnatus rose to the occasion, defeated the Aequi, made them pass under the yoke to show their subjugation, gave up the title of dictator sixteen days after it had been granted, and promptly returned to his farm. > Cincinnatus was appointed dictator for a later Roman crisis in the wake of a grain distribution scandal. According to Livy, Cincinnatus (Quinctius) was past 80 at the time: > “whilst those who knew nothing of the plot asked what disturbance or sudden outbreak of war called for the supreme authority of a dictator or required Quinctius , after reaching his eightieth year, to assume the government of the republic.” He **freakin** ’ retired. He never turned his rival politicans into Cincinnati Chilli, or made love to his horse in the middle of Senate sessions, or **anything.** I believe I heard that he stuck some social changes in their somewhere too. What a horrible dictator. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/30 "2005-03-17T18:25:33Z")
Idi Amin may or may not have been a cannibal, but I vote for him for reasons of his twisted evil. Read somewhere he used to masturbate while watching children being dismembered live. Wish I had a cite… actually, wish it weren’t true, more than that… ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/31 "2005-03-17T18:37:50Z")
> [@robz](#): > > Don’t know if he counts as a dictator, but I would include Kaiser Wilhelm. Without him maybe no WWI, WWII, no communist paridise in Russia, China, N Korea. You could make a case for all those body counts could trace to willies inept decision in July-Aug 1914. I’m not a big fan of Kasier Wilhelm, but isn’t that a tad much to be laying at his feet alone? There were a lot of parties(Russia, Austria, Serbia, England, France) at the time responsible for WW1 and Wilhelm was just one fo them. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/32 "2005-03-17T18:44:42Z")
Wouldn’t Bismarck be also more at fault than Kaiser Willy? (Who most certainly was bipolar). One of my professors was from Russia, and told me that when Stalin died, people were upset not so much because they liked Stalin, but because every other country was afraid of him, and thus they felt safe. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/33 "2005-03-17T21:34:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Wouldn’t Bismarck be also more at fault than Kaiser Willy? (Who most certainly was bipolar). Except Bismarck was competant. Wilhelm II was an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/34 "2005-03-17T21:35:39Z")
Not to mention that with the power grabbing that followed and preceeded Stalin’s reign, there was a good deal of uncertainty, then. Stalin was many things, but he was dependable, and Russians in general have a real fear of chaos. Even today, look at how many polls still have signifigant percentages of people wanting a return to a stronger gov’t. And I’m also going to say that Kaiser Wilhelm is not solely responsible for the clusterfuck that was WWI. And if you plan to blame him for the conditions that lead to Hitler’s rise to power and WWII, how can you ignore that the Treaty of Paris was such a humiliating and punative peace that it virtually guaranteed a renewed conflict in the future. The Allies were so determined to make Germany accept all blame for the war, and the offer such crushing punative measures they fostered an environment of hatred and bitterness that Hitler used so well to rise to power. ---
**Author:** ![Low\_Key\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Low\_Key\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Low_Key_1)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/35 "2005-03-18T01:34:49Z")
> [@mattmorgan64](#): > > Wouldn’t the worst dictator be the one who was the nicest, killed the fewest citizens, and enacted the most sweeping law reforms? Dictator does not necessarily imply killing, death, and being a terrible person. In fact, the dictator that helped his (or her) country the most would be the best dictator. Being a dictator simply means being an absolute ruler. Theoretically at least, this person should be able to do lots of good things for a country and be very effective. Unfortunately, this is obviously not the case very often - if ever. The worst dictator, I would take to mean the dictator that did the worst job of dictating a country by most likely taking what was a productive/prospering nation and running it into the ground - either through killing it’s citizens, or otherwise. I don’t know who this would be though. I have very limited knowledge in this area - especially compared to the people who have already replied. So far though, this William Walker character that **Captain Amazing** mentioned gets my vote based on the description of him. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/36 "2005-03-18T04:02:39Z")
I’m going with Pol Pot. The man basically declared war on his own country and tried to destroy it. Most dictators at least restrict themselves to killing their supposed enemies. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/37 "2005-03-18T09:10:42Z")
[never mind me] My mother. She couldn’t even get me to clean my room or eat my greens. [/never mind me] ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/38 "2005-03-18T13:57:00Z")
> [@Low Key](#): > > The worst dictator, I would take to mean the dictator that did the worst job of dictating a country by most likely taking what was a productive/prospering nation and running it into the ground - either through killing it’s citizens, or otherwise. Most dictators, especially the expansionist and modern totalitarian ones, do just that–run a country into the ground. Perhaps it’s not their intent, but that’s the typical outcome. ---
**Author:** ![robz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@robz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robz)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/39 "2005-03-20T13:20:58Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > I’m not a big fan of Kasier Wilhelm, but isn’t that a tad much to be laying at his feet alone? There were a lot of parties(Russia, Austria, Serbia, England, France) at the time responsible for WW1 and Wilhelm was just one fo them. You are right, I was just thinkning he was in position to stop it, before it started. He could of pressured Austria for a diplomatic solution more palatable to the all parties. After reading a couple of Tuchmans books, (Guns of August, Proud Tower) and Dreadnought by Massie, it seemed Willie was itchen to pull the trigger. If say Jimmy Carter was Kaiser instead? Although the French were also interested in revenge for Sedan. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914/40 "2005-03-21T01:17:42Z")
> [@robz](#): > > say Jimmy Carter was Kaiser instead? Just thank the good Lord that helicopters hadn’t been invented back in 1914. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-worst-dictator-of-all-time/294914.md?page=1)