- 1 minute ago
Power corrupts, and these leaders prove it! Join us as we examine the most despised rulers in history whose reigns were marked by tyranny and bloodshed. Our countdown includes Stalin's deadly purges, Pol Pot's killing fields, Nero's fiery Rome, and more! From ancient emperors to modern dictators, these leaders left legacies of fear and hatred.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Why would they want to kill me?
00:01Because you're mad! Don't you see that? What are you doing to Rome?
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at oppressive leaders who were hated in their time and are still remembered for their tyranny.
00:14Louis XVI asks, is it a revolt? No, sire, he replies. It is a revolution.
00:21Rana Valona I. The mad monarch of Madagascar essentially summarizes how Rana Valona I is remembered.
00:31Her reign was one of the most brutal in Madagascar history.
00:35While she claims to be protecting her people from European colonial powers, her methods were terrifyingly oppressing to them.
00:42To resist foreign influence, she banned Christianity and executed or enslaved anyone suspected of collaborating with foreigners.
00:49Using mass executions, forced labor, and a deadly poison test to prove innocence, she maintained loyalty.
00:56Her harsh policies caused a massive drop in Madagascar's population during her reign.
01:02While some modern Malagasy people view her as a radical traditionalist, many see her as a tyrant whose paranoia and cruelty cost many innocent lives.
01:11Herod Antipas
01:12A man destined to play a pivotal role in the death of Jesus would have been well known to every Jew in Galilee.
01:21Herod Antipas
01:23This Jewish ruler may not be as monstrous as Rana Valona I, but he wasn't exactly loved either.
01:29Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea during the time of Jesus, and his reign was marked by political scheming, moral scandal, and religious insensitivity.
01:38He's best remembered for ordering the execution of John the Baptist, who condemned his marriage to Herodias, his half-brother's wife.
01:46That union, seen as unlawful, along with his cozy alliance with the Romans, made him deeply unpopular with Jewish people.
01:53He's often viewed as a weak leader more interested in power and pleasure than justice.
01:58Not as a full-blown tyrant.
02:00Today, Christians remember him as the ruler who mocks Jesus before the crucifixion.
02:05Antipas died in exile in Gaul with Herodias.
02:08He's attracting great crowds from all over Judea and Galilee, promising a better world to come.
02:16Good for him.
02:18We can use a better world, preferably one without Romans.
02:22Lucius Aurelius Commodus
02:24The history of Rome's emperor shows that it's pretty dangerous to cross the Senate.
02:30But Commodus had a plan, and it really was to ignore the Senate, and to appeal directly to the people.
02:38Though unfit for the throne, Commodus inherited the Roman Empire after his father Marcus Aurelius died.
02:44Instead of continuing his father's legacy, he abandoned state affairs to corrupt aides, later executing them out of paranoia.
02:52He blew Rome's wealth on harems and absurd spectacles where he personally fought as a gladiator,
02:59something the Romans found disgraceful for an emperor.
03:02He executed allies and foes, even family members.
03:05When Rome burned, he saw it as an opportunity to rename it the Colony of Commodus,
03:11and fancied himself a reincarnation of Hercules.
03:14Commodus' chaotic reign turned the Senate against him.
03:17Eventually, he was assassinated by his inner circle and his statues destroyed.
03:22Today, historians remember him as a delusional ruler whose madness marked Rome's decline.
03:41Ivan the Terrible
03:42When Ivan, the first Tsar of Russia, got the title Terrible, it may have actually meant awe-inspiring.
03:57But Ivan also lived up to the darker meaning of the word.
04:01He wasn't always evil.
04:02At first, he was a progressive leader who expanded Russia's territory and reformed its laws.
04:07But power twisted him.
04:09Consumed by paranoia, he created a secret police, the Aprychniki, to hunt down supposed traitors.
04:16Ivan selected the most aggressive 300 and installed them in his palace at Alexandrov.
04:23In one of his darkest moments, he massacred thousands in Novgorod,
04:26and is believed to have even murdered his own son.
04:29Peasants weren't left out.
04:31They starved and froze to death, fueling more hate.
04:34Hundreds of years later, Ivan is still remembered for his cruelty,
04:38which plunged Russia into misery and fear.
04:40Nicholas the Second
04:59Think of the soldiers, think of the war, think of the weather, think of anything but not baby.
05:04I can't.
05:07Do it.
05:08During his reign, Tsar Nicholas the Second was often viewed as a weak and indecisive leader.
05:13Early in his reign, his public image suffered when he attended a lavish party
05:18after thousands died during the Kadinka Festival.
05:21As time went on, Russia's economic hardship deepened,
05:24and Nicholas's failures in World War I only made things worse.
05:28On what became known as Bloody Sunday, the 9th of January, 1905,
05:35a march of loyal but disgruntled workers set out for the Winter Palace to hand a petition to the Tsar.
05:41Such a demonstration was unprecedented in the Russia of the Romanovs.
05:45Surrounded by poor advisors and distrusted allies, Nicholas appeared powerless.
05:50His wife's German heritage and his trust in Rasputin, a scandalous mystic,
05:55further fueled public outrage and ridicule.
05:58Whatever sympathy he had left vanished on Bloody Sunday when troops fired on peaceful protesters.
06:04To the people, he was no longer Tsar, but their ruin.
06:07Forced to abdicate, Nicholas and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks.
06:12If only you had acted sooner, sir, you think this could have been avoided?
06:19Louis XVI.
06:21May God crown you with a crown of glory.
06:32The king whose fall ended centuries of absolute French monarchy.
06:37That's Louis XVI.
06:38Often viewed as an indecisive and shy leader, he took on a massive debt from his grandfather.
06:44Then he made things worse by funding the American Revolution,
06:47draining France's treasury while his people starved.
06:50Sparse food supplies are hoarded.
06:54The cost of a loaf of bread soon equals a month's earnings.
06:59Hunger turns to rage.
07:01His Austrian-born wife, Marie Antoinette,
07:04made him even more despised for her perceived extravagance.
07:07During the French Revolution, when Louis tried to flee to Varennes and was caught,
07:11he became a traitor in the eyes of his people.
07:14Found guilty of treason, he was executed by guillotine in 1793.
07:19The peasants feel you have no regard for them.
07:22What?
07:23I have no regard for the peasants?
07:25They are my people.
07:26I am their sovereign.
07:28Ironically, one of his fiercest critics, Maximilian Robespierre,
07:32would later meet similar fate.
07:34Nero.
07:35I don't need protection from the gods!
07:37The gods need protection from me!
07:39Hear me?
07:41The gods need protection from me!
07:44Among Rome's infamous rulers, Nero stands tall.
07:47His reign wasn't entirely dark at first.
07:50He began with promise, supporting the arts, lowering taxes, and even promoting public entertainment.
07:56But power corrupted him quickly.
07:59One of his most heinous acts was murdering his mother for opposing his affair with Papilla Sabina.
08:04They didn't make me a god.
08:06But I am one, you know.
08:07I am a god.
08:09I must be.
08:12Must be.
08:13Some accounts even claim he later killed Papilla herself.
08:16When the Great Fire of Rome erupted in 64 AD, many believed Nero started it to clear space for his grand, golden palace.
08:25To shift the blame, he brutally persecuted Christians, making them scapegoats.
08:30Legends even say he played music while Rome burned.
08:34Abandoned by his own guards and declared a public enemy, Nero eventually took his life with the help of his secretary.
08:40It's so lonely at the top of Olympus.
08:45More women!
08:47More wine!
08:48More!
08:48More!
08:48More!
08:49Iri Amin Dadaome.
08:54All of you, you are in very high-ranking governmental positions.
09:02Your duty is not to be very weak.
09:06You must not be like a woman who is just weak.
09:11You don't earn the title Butcher of Uganda for nothing.
09:15Idi Amin's rule was one of the most brutal in African history.
09:19Once just a cook, he rose through the military ranks to become commander before overthrowing President Milton Abote in a military coup.
09:27Once in power, Amin ruled with an iron fist, using violence, intimidation, and purges to maintain control.
09:34I dream I will be the head of state and the most highest head of state in the world when I was just a nun and it became truth.
09:45The court and press were silenced and parliaments dissolved.
09:49It's estimated that hundreds of thousands were killed, including soldiers, intellectuals, and ethnic groups he saw as threats.
09:56Beyond the violence, he also wrecked Uganda's economy.
09:59Though many Ugandans despised and feared him, Amin escaped justice, living in exile in Saudi Arabia until his death in 2003.
10:09Uganda loves me because I am a loyal and I am a fear.
10:19Pol Pot
10:20Saloth Sa became Pol Pot and in 1963 he was elected leader of the party.
10:27He had a vision of Cambodia which was shared by the others to restore its lost grandeur symbolized by Angkor Wat.
10:35What's there to love about a leader whose reign saw millions die?
10:39The hatred of Cambodians towards Pol Pot even now is completely understandable.
10:44He was both incompetent and malevolent and under his rule, Cambodia became a nightmare.
10:49His vision of building a classless, agrarian society meant many were sent into forced labor, starved, and executed.
10:57He dismantled cities, banned religion, and abolished money and education.
11:02Families were torn apart, and many lost their lives in what became known as the Khmer Rouge Genocide.
11:08Honestly, there's no redeeming side to Pol Pot's legacy.
11:12His regime left deep scars that haunt Cambodia, and generations are still coping with the loss.
11:17His regime left deep scars that haunt Cambodia, and many lost their lives, and many lost their lives.
11:31Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
11:37You have the option to be notified for occasional videos, or all of them.
11:41If you're on your phone, make sure you go into settings and switch on your notifications.
11:48Joseph Stalin
11:49I pray for your end and ask the Lord to forgive you. Tyrant.
11:57Pol Pot and Joseph Stalin are cut from the same terrifying cloth.
12:02Both ruled through fear and sacrificed their people for their own warped ideologies.
12:06Stalin's forced collectivization of farming triggered a famine that killed millions,
12:11especially in Ukraine's Holodomor.
12:13Then came the Great Purge, where paranoia turned lethal.
12:17He executed rivals, silenced critics, and sent many to the Gulag,
12:22a forced labor camp where many died of starvation, exhaustion, and cold.
12:26Stalin appealed to Russian patriotism, to the spirit of Alexander Nevsky,
12:31to the great victories of the Tsarist era.
12:36Though Stalin led the Soviet Union to victory against Hitler,
12:40that alone doesn't make him a hero.
12:42After his death in 1953, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced him in 1956
12:48and condemned his cult of personality.
12:51Yet decades later, Stalin's image remains complicated,
12:55with many Russians divided over his legacy.
12:58Ultimately, Stalin, for all his Bolshevik ideology,
13:02was a pragmatist with a keen eye for survival.
13:06Although he was an outsider, his command over the Russian people
13:11gained him an empire, bought with their blood,
13:15that surpassed anything won by the Tsars.
13:18Who is the cruelest among these hated leaders?
13:22Let us know in the comments section.
Recommended
20:58
|
Up next
13:56
26:56
26:56
2:10
1:42
1:17
10:43
11:54
17:50
13:55
12:53
22:12
46:57
19:56
19:39
31:27
13:33
53:54
11:04
9:49
Be the first to comment