Topic: Who was the most horrific leader?

Anonymous a9e59378f11520fb7e8d2b5dc429d8a8 started this discussion 2 months (2008-10-12 21:42:34 UTC) ago:

I presume the many cynical,idealist people here will say none of these people were horrific "in theory".. blah blah blah.. but in terms of torment and destruction, and general wrong doing in the eyes of most people, who was the most extreme?

Tomas de Torquemada
Vlad Tepes
Joseph Stalin
Genghis Khan
Adolf Hitler
Mao Tse-tung
Reinhard Heydrich

or other?

Anonymous 6d445ababc826c091382354022e2bccf replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:02:13 UTC) ago, 20 minutes later (#69,018):

I shamefully have to admit that I only recognize three of those, and I only know anything about one (Hitler)… :$

Anonymous a8ffd04b5ecc64d0e9e52fcb8c33b152 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:03:00 UTC) ago, 47 seconds later (#69,020):

A tie between Hitler and George W Bush.

Anonymous 30b5bb3416e9468e46b82df50f8854d5 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:11:06 UTC) ago, 8 minutes later (#69,024):

Mao, he still holds the highscore for kills

Anonymous ad3bb6af5566c71c6590457bd6093ba3 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:20:35 UTC) ago, 9 minutes later (#69,026):

Vlad Tepes was not a horrific leader. A terrific man who knew how to run his country properly.

Anonymous ad3bb6af5566c71c6590457bd6093ba3 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:24:44 UTC) ago, 4 minutes later (#69,029):

Likewise Genghis Khan was not a horrific leader at all. One of the best leaders ever =/

Anonymous f40ab9f5878188f1ca27ca4e20061a1f replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:34:32 UTC) ago, 10 minutes later (#69,031):

Genghis Khan should not be on that list. Any and all successful conquerors raped, pillaged, and killed (that's pretty much the only way to conquer vast amounts of territory). I think "horrific" signifies people who pretty much killed for killing's sake (i.e. Hitler and the extermination of the Jews, or Stalin's purges, though the latter was often due to paranoia).

Mao really shouldn't be on the list either, unless "horrific" means "horrificly stupid," for causing the unintentional deaths of so many people through the Cultural Revolution (which he thought would revitalize China). I don't know many of the other people on the list, and going on the assumption that someone really horrific would be known to me (I am somewhat educated), I would pick between Hitler or Stalin.

Hitler wins in my book for the reason alluded to above (his plan was to exterminate Jews didn't have the additional rationalizations that Stalin did, namely, a legitimate fear of being overthrown, etc. (one can of course, debate this)). My high school history textbook had a picture of a Holocaust body pile, and to this day, it is one of the most graphic, disgusting images that I have ever seen. As a side note, Hitler himself threw up when he saw a pile of "exterminated Jews." He ordered the damn thing, and even he couldn't take it!

Anonymous 9d89ed1617e4b6711eee00956ba758ac replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:34:35 UTC) ago, 3 seconds later (#69,032):

Mahatma Gandhi.

Anonymous f40ab9f5878188f1ca27ca4e20061a1f replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:36:46 UTC) ago, 2 minutes later (#69,033):

@69,020

Look, I hate George W. Bush as much as the next guy, but in all seriousness, he shouldn't even be considered. Idiot, yes. Horrific, no.

Anonymous f40ab9f5878188f1ca27ca4e20061a1f replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:37:20 UTC) ago, 34 seconds later (#69,034):

@69,032

LOL. I'd love to hear the reasons for that one.

Anonymous a9e59378f11520fb7e8d2b5dc429d8a8 (OP) replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 22:55:56 UTC) ago, 19 minutes later (#69,040):

@69,026

you frighten me.

Anonymous df914e88c41b187c0dc405569497af80 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 23:09:59 UTC) ago, 14 minutes later (#69,044):

Oliveira Salazar. That's right.

Anonymous ad3bb6af5566c71c6590457bd6093ba3 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-12 23:31:41 UTC) ago, 22 minutes later (#69,052):

@69,040

> you frighten me.

Why?

=/

Anonymous 9f5b7034fe1f02d90c08a6b4d2c9a948 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 02:38:11 UTC) ago, 3 hours later (#69,138):

The most horrific leader will be the next President of the United States.

Our new CEO is gonna be a real hardass when the corporate property (you) collectively decide that they'd like to be self-employed.

Anonymous eef80c57c955b50d5737a717ec1139ad replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 05:35:31 UTC) ago, 3 hours later (#69,193):

George W Bush.

Hands down. At least Hitler was trying to do good things for Germany, as misguided as he was.

Anonymous 4eec2334442e08c007d8ec10401e9000 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 06:24:18 UTC) ago, 49 minutes later (#69,198):

@69,193

This is what I was going to say.

Anonymous eef80c57c955b50d5737a717ec1139ad replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 06:30:22 UTC) ago, 6 minutes later (#69,200):

@69,031
> Hitler himself threw up when he saw a pile of "exterminated Jews."

Only because they were Jews. He wasn't disgusted by the exterminated part.

Just the Jewish part.

Anonymous 45aab271debcf52f15e536b66feff928 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 06:52:28 UTC) ago, 22 minutes later (#69,207):

Hilter didn't kill for killing's sake, either. He used the Jews as a common scapegoat to galvanize his people into pride and unity.

Anonymous f40ab9f5878188f1ca27ca4e20061a1f replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 12:14:38 UTC) ago, 5 hours later (#69,242):

@69,200

Well, then how come he didn't hurl when he saw live Jews?

Anonymous 416c1fba8f6425076f1f4f366af4b386 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 12:19:33 UTC) ago, 5 minutes later (#69,243):

Most evil: Hitler
Worst outcomes for their countries: Mao, Stalin, some other communists

It depends if you are going by outcomes or the actual "evilness". By "evilness" it'd have to be Hitler. But if I had to choose between living in the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, I'd have to go with Nazi Germany. At least you didn't starve and usually had a home; pretty good conditions. Compared with the starving children of leningrad conscripted into an ill-equipped and led Red army. At least the Nazis gave their troops (incl. conscripts) top-notch training and equipment and their generals were great.

Anonymous 416c1fba8f6425076f1f4f366af4b386 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 12:24:08 UTC) ago, 5 minutes later (#69,244):

@69,243

> Worst outcomes for their countries: Mao, Stalin, some other communists

Stalin was a superb statesman, turning the USSR into a global superpower from a chaotic revolutionary state. At a terrible price, though - some ~50 million people, the holocaust pales in comparison. It wasn't entirely out of spite, though, mainly his intention was to reign in terror. It wasn't as cold blooded as Hitler but turned out much worse, so it really depends on how the question is defined.

Anonymous d944d428f9e53330d2e89c0848a89314 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 16:46:58 UTC) ago, 4 hours later (#69,289):

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Galigula)

Anonymous 02dc270097f8387126d96df62f6a09dc replied with this 2 months (2008-10-13 22:46:41 UTC) ago, 6 hours later (#69,409):

I'm amazed that no one has ever said Tomas de Torquemada yet.

He was a fucking Inquisitor and sent countless people to death in the fire for the sake of puryfing Europe. Old school Hitler if you ask me

Oh and lol to the portuguesefag who said Salazar. He lost his power because of a chair.. Ye that's right the nemesis of our ditactor was a chair. How lame is that?

Anonymous a7c498fd1ece73ccd894cb11134c9a93 replied with this 2 months (2008-10-14 12:10:42 UTC) ago, 13 hours later (#69,775):

AnonTalk BBS — Discuss anything anonymously without registration.

Topic: Who was the most horrific leader?