POLL: Most ruthless and vicious leader of all time?

[Brutuskend]

Who do YOU think is the most infamous?

 

[Chronoshock]

Stalin, huge death toll

 

[BigJ]

Stalin was very good at being bad.

 

[nageov3t]

definitely Stalin, with Hitler at a close second.

 

[Heisenberg]

Mao Zedong probably killed more people (or at least as many) through his policies than Stalin. So Zedong, then Stalin, then Hitler.

 

[Mill]

Stalin for GD sure.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
Mao Zedong probably killed more people (or at least as many) through his policies than Stalin. So Zedong, then Stalin, then Hitler.

I thought Stalin killed like 50 million?

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
Mao Zedong probably killed more people (or at least as many) through his policies than Stalin. So Zedong, then Stalin, then Hitler.

I thought Stalin killed like 50 million?

I don't think so. The numbers I've read have it about 20 million at the high end. Zedong is right around there too. Of course, estimates vary quite a bit depending on the source, since nobody really knows for sure.

 

[DOSfan]

I always thought of Vlad Tsepes being the most ruthless and vicious.

But then again, I do not equate body count with ruthless or vicious.

I feel the way you kill is more a sign of viciousness. And why you kill as ruthlessness.

 

[MDE]

Stalin by far. The bastard even killed a few of my relatives...

 

[Orsorum]

Well, there is the question of how one measures ruthlessness and viciousness. Is it by the number of people killed? The method of execution? The accompanying social death and destruction?

I'd say Stalin, but I have some family history mingled in with the Communist purges, so I'm a little biased.

 

[Ketteringo]

Stalin, hands down.

Oh, and it's spelled Genghis Khan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan

 

[wfbberzerker]

no mao?

 

[Manzelle]

George Steinbrenner

 

[zugzoog]

Stalin.

Even though Ghengis may have been more "blood thirsty" and immediately involved, this was also part of his culture and "expected" by his powerbrokers.

Apart from the body count Stalin set up a powerful state and institutions that sponsered state terrorism on his people and vassal states. His terror not only controlled people by fear, but also by defining what they could think. The disruption to families (and communities) through forced collectiviation and encouragement of children to "inform" on their families meant that the terror was permanent and all pervasive, not just when the goons attacked.

 

[AngryGuy]

It's estimated that Stalin killed between 15 to 50 million people but it is probably somewhere around 30 million.

Mao is estimated to have killed 65 million. If you look up Mass Killing in the Guinness Book of World Records, you're going to find Mao at the #1 spot.

Maybe you all know a lot more about Stalin, but Mao was vicious.

 

[Pocatello]

Pol Pot, he killed a third of Cambodians in just a couple of years.

 

[slurmsmackenzie]

mad dog tannen. he shot ol' doc brown in the back over 80 dollars. then again, marty threw that frisbee and changed time so.... king friday on mr. roger's neighborhood. killed like 100 million sock puppets.

 

[yhelothar]

Stalin killed 20 million, definately the most ruthless.
Where's mao ze dong on that list? He pretty much destroyed china. I don't think he massed killed people, but he killed all of his opposition, and anyone suspected of opposing him. He destroyed much of China's history, and burned all of their books...
Hitler is definately the most infamous though.

 

[StageLeft]

I don't see Jean Chretien on the list!

 

[yhelothar]

I don't see Jesus Christ on the list!

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
I don't see Jesus Christ on the list!

Wow....you're gonna go down in flames.

Pass me a Bratwurst!

 

[Manzelle]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
I don't see Jesus Christ on the list!

What did he lead?

 

[Amused]

While most may (correctly) vote Stalin, I think the true answer would be Pol Pot.

If you go by murders per capita, Pol Pot wins. He killed over 1/3 of the population of his country (something that NEVER would have happened had the left/liberal wing of American Politics forced the US to leave Cambodia). Luckily, it was a small country.

At any rate, the top three (Stalin, Pot and Mao) were all in the name of communism/socialism.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
When Genghis went through asia, he would pile people's bodies on top of each other, then build a tower around the pile. As bodies were added, the people on the bottom were continually crushed under the weight of bodies above them. Ouch:thumbsdown: