“History is written by the victors”—a timeless truth if there ever was one. With so much conflict and war throughout human history, it’s not surprising that many figures have been demonized and venerated, back and forth, across the centuries. A villain for one is a hero for many (and vice versa), and it’s always dangerous to use either of those labels to talk about another culture or country.
Still, there have been many instances of pure cruelty in history, regardless of which side you’re on. Many of these tales may have been exaggerated by political enemies—but the fact that humans can be unimaginably cruel is a fact. A sad one, but a fact still. And then there are those like Hitler or Stalin, whose wickedness is universally recognized regardless of political inclination.
So, if you think fiction can outdo the cruelty of history—think again: not even the genocidal queen of Game of Thrones can come close to the real thing. Here are a few of the figures history, for whatever reason, has come to hate the most.
Vlad the Impaler (aka Vlad Dracula)
(1428-1476)
Vlad III Dracula, most commonly known as Vlad the Impaler, was the ruthless ruler of Wallachia (in present-day Romania) during the 15th century. And yes, he is the inspiration for the vampire stories we’re so fond today—that’s how bloodthirsty he was. While he was fond of mass murdering, disemboweling, and boiling his enemies alive, his preferred method of torture was impaling his victims (hence the nickname). Stories about his cruelty were spread by friends and rivals alike, so it’s pretty safe to say he earned his reputation.
“Turkish messengers came to him to pay respects, but refused to take off their turbans, according to their ancient custom, whereupon he strengthened their custom by nailing their turbans to their heads with three spikes, so that they could not take them off.” — Antonio Bonfini: Historia Pannonica
Attila the Hun
(406-453 AD)
Attila became the sole ruler of the Hunnic empire when his brother died in 453 AD. Some accounts claim that Attila murdered his brother himself to obtain the throne, but that might have just been defamation on the part of the Roman Empire. Remember that the Huns were one of the “barbaric” tribes that invaded the Roman land shortly before the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and they have remained as vile monsters in the imagination of the West ever since. So, we must take many of the stories about him with a grain of salt.
He expanded the Hunnic empire into present-day Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and the Balkans, and also tried to conquer Gaul (present-day France), but eventually was repelled. He invaded Italy as well and almost managed to take Rome, devastating the northern regions of the peninsula. The Huns in general were feared by the Romans for their savage and unforgiving reputation.
Did you know…
After Attila died, his close adviser revolted against Attila’s own lands, after which the Hunnic Empire soon collapsed.
Genghis Khan
(1162-1227)
Genghis Khan may have created the largest contiguous empire the world has ever known—but he did so at the expense of millions of people. The stories about how he sacked entire cities and exterminated entire populations still resonate through the ages.
According to analyst Steven R. Ward,
“Overall, the Mongol violence and depredations killed up to three-fourths of the population of the Iranian Plateau, possibly 10 to 15 million people. Some historians have estimated that Iran’s population did not again reach its pre-Mongol levels until the mid-20th century.”
It is estimated that the Mongols killed more than 70,000 people in Merv and over 190,000 in Nishapur alone during his rule. All in all, he was a truly ruthless conqueror—not that other conquerors weren’t similarly ruthless, but Genghis Khan stands out for the sheer, unprecedented size of his successful campaigns. More often than not, succeeding in conquest entails committing genocide, after all.
Tamerlane the Great (aka Timur)
(1336-1405)
Founder of the Timurid Empire in present-day Iran and several regions of Central Asia, Timur was the last of the nomadic conquerors like Genghis Khan. In fact, he was a great admirer of Genghis Khan and was directly inspired by the legends of his conquests—to the point that Timur made it his life’s project to restore Khan’s great Mongol Empire. Timur actually considered himself Khan’s heir.
His campaigns cared very little for human life, as scholars estimate he would eventually slaughter a total of about 17 million people, roughly 5% of the world population at the time.
Did you know…
It is said that in Baghdad alone, he beheaded 90,000 people who refused to surrender or accept Islam, and built 100 towers with their rotting skulls. Lovely…
Queen Mary I (aka Bloody Mary)
(1516-1558)
As the only child of the infamous Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Mary Tudor inherited the crown after her father broke relations with the Catholic Church to establish Protestantism in England, in what is known as the English Reformation. But Mary, much like her mother, was a zealous Catholic, which drove her to severely reject Henry’s reforms. In trying to reverse her father’s religious policies, she took it upon herself to reinstate Catholicism in England, and ordered the persecution of many protestants across the kingdom. The onslaught that followed earned her the moniker “Bloody Mary.”
Ivan IV of Russia (aka Ivan the Terrible)
(1530-1584)
Appointed Grand Prince when he was just 3 years of age, Ivan IV went on to become the first Tsar of the Russian Empire at the age of sixteen—much at the expense of his own people and economy. At the time of his coronation he seemed like a promising ruler, but things started getting worse as he aged. One of the early signs of trouble was the premature and mysterious death of his first wife, Anastasia, at 26. According to many reports, he was never the same after that.
Bouts of paranoia and erratic behavior became increasingly common. Distrusting everyone, he resorted to unthinkable torture methods in order to instill terror in the heart of his enemies. Public executions became common. He once made a dissenter wear a bear skin and set starving hounds to hunt him. On other occasions, he would have men, women, and children tied to sleighs and run them into freezing waters.
Did you know…
Many believe Ivan killed his eldest son and heir, as well as his unborn grandson, during one of his outbursts. This single action led to the end of his dynasty and Russia’s Time of Troubles after the death of his ineffective second son.
Leopold II
(1835-1909)
Leopold succeeded his father, Leopold I, to the Belgian throne in 1865, and founded the Congo Free State twenty years later as a private project. Though the European colonial nations authorized the project on the condition that it should improve the lives of the natives, Leopold hypocritically ignored their demands, as he consistently exploited the local population in order to satisfy his own interests. He imposed an illegal policy of forced labor and executed any slave who would stand against him. He allowed for his colonizers to rape native women, and ordered heads or hands of slaves to be turned into superiors to ensure that his soldiers were not wasting ammo in hunting expeditions. Experts estimate that up to 15 million Congolese people died under Leopold’s rule.
Joseph Stalin
(1878-1953)
Stalin truly went too far during his dictatorship over the Soviet Union. Though some of his policies weren’t outright evil, the things he did in order to implement them and maintain power at the expense of political opponents are nothing short of monstrous. His totalitarian government and the immense power he held under the personality cult he established in Russia perpetrated some of the worst crimes of the 20th century—and that’s saying a lot! He oversaw mass repression of free speech and other human rights, ethnic cleansing, massive deportations, famines, and over 700,000 systematic executions throughout the country, not counting 1.7 million deaths in the Gulag agency of forced labor. Some historians think that as many as 20 million people died under his leadership.
Maximilien Robespierre
(1758-1794)
As one of the best known and most influential figures of the French Revolution, you would expect Robespierre to be remembered as a hero of human rights. After all, the French Revolution embodied the ideal that all humans are created with equal rights and dignity, right? Unfortunately, that Dark Knight quote fits perfectly here: “you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” A quote to describe Robespierre if there ever was one.
Though Robespierre was a stern believer of the universal suffrage and stood firmly against racial and religious discrimination, he took things too far after the French Revolution succeeded in the late 18th century, leading France into an era ominously known as the Reign of Terror. He ruled over much of this period, and took a particular liking to the guillotine while in power.
Robespierre executed or imprisoned anyone who did not align themselves perfectly to the ideals of the Revolution—even allies who would dare suggest that the terror be scaled down. Overall, around 300,000 dissenters were imprisoned, and over 40,000 were killed during the Reign of Terror.
Did you know…
Robespierre’s undoing came swiftly after he explicitly betrayed the very ideals he had long defended. When he tried to instill a new national religion called “the cult of the Supreme Being,” he was overthrown and executed via his favorite method—the guillotine.
Adolph Hitler
(1889-1945)
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-H1216-0500-002 / CC-BY-SA 3.0. Image cropped.
There’s not much to say about this character that hasn’t been said a billion times before. Hitler’s project to obtain what he thought was a fundamental right of the German people, “living space” (Lebensraum), directly culminated with one of the most brutal wars and terrifying massacres in history. The notion of Lebensraum, deeply embedded in the German spirit decades before Hitler rose to power, gave the Nazis the perfect excuse to try and colonize other countries and undertake an unprecedented policy of ethnic cleansing—which resulted in the deaths of about 6 million Jewish people during the Holocaust. In addition, Hitler and the Nazi regime were directly responsible for the killing of over 19 million civilians and POWs, and his actions gave us the single deadliest conflict of all time. Talk about a true monster.
Bonus: Augusto Pinochet
(1915-2006)
Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, Chile. CC 3.0. Image cropped.This Chilean general and dictator died with bloodied hands before he could ever stand trial for his crimes against humanity. After overthrowing Chile’s prior government with the help of the US, Pinochet was responsible for “disappearing” more than 35,000 political opponents. His abuse of power and total disregard for human life makes him right at home in this article.
The saddest part about all this is that there are many, many more people that could fit into this list—too many to even try. Let us know in the comments who else you would include.
Take a look at these other articles:
When The U.S. Tried To Kill All The Bisons To Exterminate Native Americans
How Cleopatra’s Disastrous Love Affairs Shaped Western Civilization
7 Medieval Practices That Were Way Grosser Than You Thought
