In the early 1970s a single-minded revolutionary lay concealed in the Cambodian jungle. As American bombs exploded around him, he remained obsessed with his secret plan to destroy his own culture in the name of utopia. Paranoid, he sought enemies everywhere. He turned Cambodia into a hell on Earth, and the name Pol Pot became synonymous with mass murder. In building his perfect society, his regime wreaked chaos. Two million people died: nearly one in every four Cambodians. History’s Most Hated s1e7: Pol Pot
Pol Pot returned to the jungle inspired by Mao’s revolution but convinced he could do even better. He began planning the most extreme social experiment of the twentieth century: to restore Cambodia’s greatness he felt he needed to eliminate all traces of the modern world; he regarded cities as evil and vowed to force the residents into the countryside to build an agrarian society. ibid.
130,789. Anyone with an education posed a threat, so Pol Pot began rounding up monks, artists and intellectuals … and buried [them] in mass graves. ibid.
Pol Pot became increasingly paranoid. ibid.
The Renaissance had reached its greatest glory … Yet in a land known as Moscovy the dark ages lingered and a nation struggled daily to avoid economic and political collapse. The force that would save it was embodied in a man, a volatile mixture of piety and ruthless intrigue, whose cunning and cruelty would one day control the largest nation on Earth … Tsar Ivan the Terrible. History’s Most Hated s1e8: Ivan the Terrible
A tumultuous nearly bankrupt country Ivan had inherited: compared to Europe, Russia was primitive. It was a nation with no banks, no form of road or essential infrastructure. ibid.
Terrible was meant as a term of respect for a leader who possessed awesome power … The irony would not be apparent for years. ibid.
The Tsar was a man teetering on sanity’s edge. ibid.
After Schneider’s death Allende was elected, but the efforts of Kissinger and Nixon to overthrow Allende would ultimately succeed. In 1973 military forces launched a coup in Santiago, killing Allende. Augusto Pinochet would assume power and begin a reign of terror that would last seventeen years. The date was September 11th. The Trials of Henry Kissinger, 2002
In a continent infamous for repressive dictatorships, Equatorial Guinea is among the very worst. Its president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has been in power for 34 years, making him Africa’s longest serving dictator. The country is enormously wealthy, thanks to its vast oil reserves, but that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite.
Most Equatorial Guineans remain in crushing poverty, with little or no access to decent healthcare or education. Opposition to the status quo, meanwhile, is virtually non-existent: torture and intimidation of the government’s critics is common place, while any attempts to organise outside official government channels are crushed.
Tutu Alicante, executive director of EG, is that rarest of things: an Equatorial Guinean willing to publicly oppose his government. For his troubles, he has lived in exile since the age of 19 – nervous of what will happen to him and his family should he ever return. His organisation fights for democracy and against the human rights abuses of the Obiang regime – although most of the time, Alicante struggles to keep Equatorial Guinea on the international agenda. Guardian online article 11th July 2014, ‘Equatorial Guinea: One Man’s Fight Against Dictatorship’
He may be green but Ali Bongo is a controversial character. His father, Omar Bongo, was a dictator here for over forty years after the country became independent from France. The family has been accused of massive corruption and stealing Gabon’s vast oil wealth. Africa with Ade Adepitan II, BBC 2019
Ultimately, it’s a study of why dictatorship are flawed, and how those who rule through fear and terror can never trust even the people closest to them. Rise of the Nazis s2e3: War, BBC 2022
2017: The president has been in power for 37 years. The country he once led to independence is in chaos. Elections are rumoured to be rigged and the people are oppressed, and dissent can be crushed with extreme violence. How to Survive a Dictator with Munya Chawawa, Channel 4 2022
Upon release he fled to neighbouring Mozambique where he took charge of Zanu PF. ibid.
Matabeleland: ‘They just went in and killed 20,000 people.’ ibid. old journalist
Mugabe was wined and dined by the wider world. ibid.
He empowers the government to seize back white-owned farms. ibid.
For Mugabe the fall from grace would be long and bloody. ibid.
At the heart of the most powerful empire of the ancient world stands Rome. For 500 years it has ruled by elected government. But in little over a decade this Republic was overthrown by the ambitions of one man. Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator, BBC 2023
The election of the new high priest of Rome is imminent. The surprise contender is 37-year-old Julius Caesar. ibid.
Rome is increasingly divided. Over 100 years of violent question it’s grown from a small city to a vast empire. ibid.
The conspirators are betrayed before they can act. Five senators, one a former consul, are arrested and await their fate. ibid.
‘Rising to his feet a man who will become his nemesis: Cato.’ ibid.
For Caesar, Pompey is the model of success. ibid.
It’s the spring of 58 B.C. The people of Gaul face a new and grave threat. Julius Caesar has completed his year as Consul of Rome and set his sights on conquest. In this foreign land there are few rules to constrain him. His army is carving its way through the country. Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator II: Veni, Vidi, Vici
‘It’s brutal, it’s punishing, it’s genocidal on scale.’ ibid. Tom Holland
Caesar ensures news of his conquest reaches the people of Rome. ibid.
Pompey, Crassus and Caesar carve up the Roman world. ibid.
With the Triumvirate firmly in control of Rome Caesar sets his sites on even greater glory. ibid.
‘The city is ungovernable, it is uncontrollable.’ ibid. historian
For three years Julius Caesar has been fighting a bloody civil war for control of the Roman Republic against his former ally, Pompey the Great. But now Pompey is dead. And Caesar gives thanks to the gods for his victory. He will soon return to Rome. Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator III: Ides of March
But in less than two years Caesar will be dead and the Roman Republic will lie in ruins. ibid.
He takes controls of Rome’s laws, finances, armies and elected officials. ibid.
While resentment towards Caesar festers, he grows increasingly impatient with petty Roman politics. ibid.