Which dictator killed the most people? The infographic above gives a simple answer: Mao Zedong, followed by Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Leopold II of Belgium. Each blood drop stands for one million deaths. The chart was made by the list site popten.net and spread widely online in 2014. The ranking roughly matches the order many historians would give for the top few names, but the exact totals are far less certain than neat rows of drops suggest.
What the chart claims
The graphic lists ten leaders, each with country, years and a death toll:
- Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria, 1966–1975: 1.1 million
- Mengistu Haile Mariam, Ethiopia, 1974–1991: 1.5 million
- Kim Il Sung, North Korea, 1948–1994: 1.6 million
- Pol Pot, Cambodia, 1963–1981: 1.7 million
- Ismail Enver Pasha, Ottoman Empire (labelled "Turkey"), 1913–1919: 2.5 million
- Hideki Tojo, Japan, 1941–1944: 5 million
- Leopold II of Belgium, 1865–1909: 15 million
- Adolf Hitler, Germany, 1934–1945: 17 million
- Joseph Stalin, Soviet Union, 1922–1953: 23 million
- Mao Zedong, China, 1943–1976: 78 million
The chart does not say what counts as a "kill". That single missing definition explains most of the gap between its numbers and the figures you will find in history books.
Why the numbers differ so much between sources
Death tolls for mass atrocities are reconstructed, not counted. Researchers work from censuses taken before and after, archives, survivor testimony and mass-grave surveys. They then have to decide whose deaths to include: people executed, prisoners who died in camps, civilians who starved in a man-made famine, soldiers killed in wars a leader started, or babies who were never born because of the disruption.
Many viral rankings draw on the political scientist R. J. Rummel, who coined the word "democide" for the killing of people by their own government. His totals are widely seen as higher than the scholarly consensus. For Stalin's rule he estimated about 43 million deaths, while many historians cite roughly 6 to 9 million deliberate killings. For Nazi Germany he gave about 21 million, against a commonly cited minimum of 11 million civilian victims.
The famine question matters most for Mao. The Great Chinese Famine of 1959–1961, caused mainly by the policies of the Great Leap Forward, killed somewhere between about 15 and 55 million people depending on the study, with many demographic estimates clustered around 30 million. Whether famine deaths are counted as "kills", and which estimate is used, moves Mao's total by tens of millions.
A closer look at the less familiar names
Leopold II ruled the Congo Free State as his personal possession from 1885 to 1908, not from 1865 as the chart implies (1865 is when he became King of the Belgians). Forced rubber collection, hostage-taking, punitive raids, disease and famine caused a catastrophic population fall. Because no census existed before 1924, estimates run from about 1 to 10 million deaths; the 15 million on the chart is above even the highest figures usually cited.
Enver Pasha was one of the "Three Pashas" who ruled the Ottoman Empire during the First World War and served as Minister of War. He was one of the main perpetrators of the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian genocides. An Ottoman military tribunal sentenced him to death in absentia; he was killed in Central Asia in 1922.
Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge regime, which held power in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, a much shorter window than the chart's dates. Between 1.5 and 2 million people died, about a fifth to a quarter of the population, through execution, starvation, forced labour and disease.
Mengistu Haile Mariam led Ethiopia's military government and launched the Red Terror of 1976–1978. Estimates of its victims vary hugely, from tens of thousands to Amnesty International's figure of up to 500,000. An Ethiopian court convicted him of genocide in absentia; he has lived in exile in Zimbabwe.
Yakubu Gowon was Nigeria's head of state during the civil war of 1967–1970. Most of the war's deaths were Biafran civilians who starved during the blockade, with estimates from about 500,000 to 2 million or more. Whether such deaths belong on the same scale as deliberate executions is exactly the kind of question the chart skips.
How to read any death-toll ranking
A few checks help with any list of this kind:
- Look for the definition. Executions, war deaths, famine and "excess deaths" are different measures.
- Look for a range. Serious historians give low and high estimates. A single round number usually hides a debate.
- Check the dates. Ranges like "Cambodia: 1963–1981" or "Belgium: 1865–1909" stretch well beyond the period of actual rule over the victims.
- Name the source. A chart that credits only another website cannot be checked.
Why the comparison still matters
None of this makes the crimes smaller. Even the lowest serious estimates describe catastrophes on a scale that is hard to imagine, and each drop on the chart stands for a million individual lives. What careful numbers add is credibility: they let survivors, historians and courts point to evidence rather than to a viral graphic. The most useful lesson from comparisons like this one is the one Rummel himself drew: unchecked, concentrated power is the common thread running through these regimes.
Sources: Wikipedia: Democide (R. J. Rummel and criticism of his figures); Wikipedia: Great Chinese Famine; Wikipedia: Atrocities in the Congo Free State; Wikipedia: Cambodian genocide; Wikipedia: Enver Pasha; Wikipedia: Qey Shibir (Ethiopian Red Terror); Wikipedia: Nigerian Civil War.
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USA killed 100 million people since 1945 and exterminated the native americans.....
ReplyDelete...but can you pin a single individual to all those deaths?
DeleteSo what? People, not just Americans, of ever race and nationality, are guilty of some past crimes. So, what is your self-righteous point.
DeleteI'm not exterminated, you better check your facts
DeleteMadbat...how did they miss you ? What a pity ...next time... which is probably soon anyway ......
DeleteUhm.. Tojo wasn't a dictator. All power rested SOLEY with the emperor in Japan during the second world war. He was scape goated so the emperor and his family could remain a royal family without tarnish. Learn some history and how japan worked at the time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a propaganda piece of US shit. They forgot Lyndon B. Johnson and used propaganda values for Stalin and Mao. Stalins body count is 1,8 million. A few million came from a famine in Ukraine just as almost all deaths in china came from famines. If you count famines then the Ghandi family will be also on top because while in power for 30 years they never reduced poverty and eliminated starvation but they don't count this because Ghandi was not a "commie".
ReplyDeleteAgain where is Lyndon B. Johnson, the destroyer of Vietnam, East-Timor, Indonesia, Phillippines ? He has about 8 million deaths on his hand - and this does not count famines just wars he started and supported.
There wasn't a famine in Ukraine. Go learn history before posting stupid comments. Look up "Holodomor" and educate yourself.
DeleteNeither Gandhi (note the spelling) nor LBJ were dictators.
DeleteGandhi wasn't a dictator, and was totally against violence, the biggest killer in the world is ignorance such as yours.
DeleteNote: Only one of them is Muslim. Who are terrorist then ?
ReplyDeleteClearly you have overlooked the message here, the dictators were responsible for the deaths of many. This had little to do with religion but rather with revenge, politics and power. The Muslim extremists fight in the name of religion, seeking to overturn cultures so that they can spread their religion, there are numerous individuals with this misguided notion of religion who are willing to kill for it. Their actions is not attributed to one person, but this article states individuals who are personally responsible for the death of millions. I hope this helped with your perspective.
Deletewho were Ghengiz Khan, Kublei Khan, Sukarno and Suharto? Angels? or Apostles?
Deleteno one said "Muslim = Terrorist" here, as far as can recall. It is not the fault of a single religion or belief system, rather the hunger for power that had these dogs (wait, I do a great disservice to dogs, sorry), these fleas bloodying their hands just to consolidate power. Please do not instigate that idea.
Deletemissing sharon and W.bosh
ReplyDeleteWhere is Bush?
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was thinking, Khalid Alzubi. Where is W. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the Zionist that have been exterminating Palestinians for over 65 years while stealing their land? Its time to update this chart.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't these pathetic American Losers keep a count of civilian casualties they inflicted with their nuclear attacks on Hiroshima Nagasaki. Why shouldn't Harry S Truman be part of the list of the villains in the history of world. Okay, the answer could be; he wasn't a dictator and America is a democratic country. Well, it means, each citizen of USA is responsible for the killing of innocent civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each American citizen is responsible for the killing of innocent men, women and children of Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam. But each USA citizen is living in this delusional bubble where they see things through the eyes of Washington Controlled Hollywood. So dear Americans, enjoy your life, keep rocking ... you really have done no harm to humanity...you guys just massacred merely a few hundred millions during the past few hundred years : )
ReplyDeleteHyperbole is easy, facts are not. Please give a breakdown of your suggested numbers. And only include conflicts started by the US, please. Thanks!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSir, with due respect, one of the ethics of war is showing mercy to children, women, elders and even animals, crops and farms. That has always been violated by American Forces coz they really dun't hv the nerve to fight ground battle with an active infantry and instead resort to Ariel Strikes which cause ultimate collateral damage. They care shit about precision guided weapons and go for causing civilian casualties with ‘Fat Man’ and ‘Little Boy’ (nukes). Coming to what you call facts, why there were no WMD found in Iraq. I remember that was the only lame excuse with Bush and Sons to initiate that war. And for your information, why millions of people worldwide and 2 million people in UK came on roads to protest against this war unjustly imposed on Iraq. Why OBL’s body wasn’t shown to public and why there was this haste to screen this propaganda film; zero dark thirty. There's a lot more to mention but as I told before, you may please continue to live in the fairy world the way every common American citizen does. You need notta have any contact with reality that how the dream of ‘serene America’ is being materialized with the bloodshed of poor 3rd world masses all across the world. Salute your war heroes hunting diamonds in African countries, salute your presidents and salute the statue of liberty coz you are not willing to accept anything that makes you feel less proud of them.
ReplyDeleteThe US dropping those bombs on Japan in WWII stopped Japan from masacering entire viliges in Philippines, China, and other countries they invaded. It also made it possible for the US to help bring an end to the Nazi take over of all of Europe and Africa and possibly the world. If it wasn't for those two bombs there is a very good possibility that you or I would have never been born. The US does use guided missiles! As far as innocent people being killed, what about the suicide bombers? Almost every time they blow them selves up its in a public place full of civilians! How about the viliges that Saddam Husain gassed? What about the thousands of innocent civilians that were murdered on 9/11?
DeleteWhat Turkey? That was a multi national empire and with that info estimated kills are wrong. Besided Envar wasn't a dictator. Are you sure you're thinking?
ReplyDeleteEvery one of them supported gun control and an unarmed populace too.
ReplyDeleteI don't know who posted this but I think he/she is totally ignorant. Ismail enver pasa was just a solider of Ottoman empire. Even he was not the leader of ottoman empire how he could be dictator?
ReplyDeleteSo which do you value? Life of the cold blooded criminals or the life of the victims...
ReplyDeleteThe number for Hitler seems a bi small? How this might be counted...?
ReplyDeleteThis info graphic simply means " If a dictator kills even one person he is disgustingly bad while if a person is apparently elected by people can kill millions of people without a blame".
ReplyDeleteAdd Turkish Mustafa Kemal Ataturk responsible for two genocides,killing 1.000.000 Greeks and 1.500.000 Armenians.
ReplyDeleteSurely you dont learn or read history.. From where you learn this info? From your stupid brain?
DeleteFrom the beginning the idea ir expansión was the common goal that hide greed and wealth upon the expense of neighboring governments This being the nativeamerican and Mexico. First one slaughtered and the second one humiliated by the idea of a Devine right to expand ( Devine right to steal from other people?) is this what America stands as a nation?
ReplyDeleteWhere is fucken American and European who through atomic bomb in Hiroshima
ReplyDeleteDictators today kill more democratically.
ReplyDeleteWhat about USA dictators?
ReplyDeleteCan we ask like this? Which country is more responsible to kill civil people through history? Lets talk about it also
ReplyDeleteHi guys! ı should correct info about it Enver Pasha from Ottoman Empire. He was not a leader. It can not be. So he was not a dictator. He was just a soldier general and he didnt manage a country. Even i dont believe numbers for about others. Who wants to learn should read history from many perspective writers. One illustration is not enough. And from modern west country there is not even one president or dictator.
ReplyDeleteIf it said Country and Leader the USA would be at the Top of the List by a wide margin.
ReplyDeleteso you have to be a dictator to qualify as a multiple killer then , according to the usa idea otherise LBJ would win his hands down
ReplyDelete