From Stalin to Hitler, the most murderous regimes in the world

UPDATED: 16:58 BST, 7 October 2014

The 20th century witnessed death and slaughter on an unprecedented scale.

It was the century of the Holocaust and two World Wars; of communist, Nazi, fascist and military dictators who between them killed more than 100 million people.

Scroll down for the leaders themselves, listed in order of the numbers who died as a result of their rule.

The casualties of conflicts involving the U.S., the UK and France in Korea, Algeria, Vietnam, the Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq are excluded on the grounds that, though many would view these as unjust colonial wars by ‘imperialist’ powers, they weren’t fought by dictators.

Indeed, when the wars proved unpopular or unwinnable, they were brought to an end by the pressure of public opinion.


Mao Zedong: Victims 60 million	Joseph Stalin: Victims 40 million	Adolf Hitler: Victims 30 million

1 MAO ZEDONG China (1949-76) Regime Communist Victims 60 million China’s so-called ‘Great Helmsman’ was in fact the greatest mass murderer in history. Most of his victims were his fellow Chinese, murdered as ‘landlords’ after the communist takeover, starved in his misnamed ‘Great Leap Forward’ of 1958-61, or killed and tortured in labour camps in the Cultural Revolution of the Sixties. Mao’s rule, with its economic mismanagement and continual political upheavals, also spelled poverty for most of China’s untold millions. The country embraced capitalism long after his death.
2 JOSEPH STALIN Soviet Union (1929-53) Regime Communist Victims 40 million Lenin’s paranoid successor was the runner-up to Mao in the mass-murder stakes. Stalin imposed a deliberate famine on Ukraine, killed millions of the wealthier peasants – or ‘kulaks’ – as he forced them off their land, and purged his own party, shooting thousands and sending millions more to work as slaves and perish in the Gulag.
3 ADOLF HITLER Germany (1933-45) Regime Nazi dictatorship Victims 30 million The horror of Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship lies in the uniqueness of his most notorious crime, the Holocaust, which stands alone in the annals of inhuman cruelty. It was carried out under the cover of World War II, a conflict Hitler pursued with the goal of obtaining ‘Lebensraum’. The war ended up costing millions of lives, leaving Europe devastated and his Third Reich in ruins.


KING LEOPOLD II	HIDEKI TOJO	ISMAIL ENVER PASHA
*Belgium (1886-1908)*	*Japan (1941-45)*	*Ottoman Turkey (1915-20)*
Regime Colonial empire in Congo Victims Eight million enslaved Congolese	Regime Military dictatorship Victims Five million (Japan’s victims in World War II)	Regime Military dictatorship Victims Two million (Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians)


POL POT	KIM ILSUNG	MENGISTU HAILE MARIAM
*Cambodia (1975-79)*	*North Korea (1948-94)*	*Ethiopia (1974-78)*
Regime Communist (Khmer Rouge) Victims At least 1.7 million (political opponents)	Regime Communist Victims At least 1.6 million (political opponents/civilians through famine)	Regime Communist military dictatorship Victims 1.5 million (Eritreans/political opponents)


YAKUBU GOWON	JEAN KAMBANDA	SADDAM HUSSEIN
*Nigeria (1967-70)*	*Rwanda (1994)*	*Iraq (1979-2003)*
Regime Military dictatorship Victims One million (Biafrans starved and soldiers killed in civil war)	Regime Tribal dictatorship (Hutu) Victims 800,000 (Tutsis)	Regime Ba’ath Party dictatorship Victims 600,000 (Shi’ites, Kurds, Kuwaitis, political opponents)


JOSIP BROZ TITO	SUKARNO	MULLAH OMAR
*Yugoslavia (1945-80)*	*Indonesia (1945-66)*	*Afghanistan (1996-2001)*
Regime Communist Victims 570,000 (political opponents)	Regime Nationalist dictatorship Victims 500,000 (Communists)	Regime Islamist dictatorship (Taliban) Victims 400,000 (political/religious opponents)


IDI AMIN	GENERAL YAHYA KHAN	BENITO MUSSOLINI
*Uganda (1971-79)*	*Pakistan (1970-71)*	*Italy (1922-45)*
Regime Personal dictatorship Victims 300,000-500,000 (political/personal opponents)	Regime Military dictatorship Victims 300,000 (Bengalis in East Pakistan)	Regime Fascist dictatorship Victims 250,000 (Ethiopians, Libyans, Jews, political opponents)


GENERAL MOBUTU SESE SEKO	CHARLES TAYLOR	FODAY SANKOH
*Zaire/Congo (1965-97)*	*Liberia (1989-96)*	*Sierra Leone (1991-2000)*
Regime Personal dictatorship Victims 230,000 (political opponents)	Regime Personal dictatorship Victims 220,000 (political/military opponents and civilians	Regime Personal dictatorship Victims 210,000 (political opponents)


HO CHI MINH	MICHEL MICOMBERO	HASSAN ALTURABI
*North Vietnam (1945-69)*	*Burundi (1966-76)*	*Sudan (1989-99)*
Regime Communist Victims 200,000 (political opponents, South Vietnamese)	Regime Personal dictatorship Victims 150,000 (Hutus)	Regime Islamist dictatorship Victims 100,000 (political/religious opponents)


JEAN-BEDEL BOKASSA	EFRAIN RIOS MONTT	FRANCOIS/ JEANCLAUDE DUVALIER
*Central African Republic/Empire (1966-79)*	*Guatemala (1982-83)*	*Haiti (‘Papa Doc’ 1957-71; ‘Baby Doc’ 1971-86)*
Regime Personal dictatorship Victims 90,000 (political opponents)	Regime Military dictatorship Victims 70,000 (peasants, political opponents)	Regime Personal dictatorship Victims 60,000 (political opponents


RAFAEL TRUJILLO	HISSENE HABRE	GENERAL FRANCISCO FRANCO
*Dominican Republic (1930-61)*	*Chad (1982-90)*	*Spain (1939-75)*
Regime Personal dictatorship Victims 50,000 (political opponents)	Regime Military dictatorship Victims 40,000 (political opponents)	Regime Fascist/military dictatorship Victims 35,000 (political opponents


FIDEL CASTRO	HAFEZ/ BASHAR ALASSAD	AYATOLLAH RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI
*Cuba (1959-2006)*	*Syria (Hafez 1970- 2000; Bashar 2000-)*	*Iran (1979-1989)*
Regime Communist Victims 30,000 (political opponents)	Regime Ba’ath Party dictatorship Victims 25,000- 30,000 (political/ sectarian opponents	Regime Islamist dictatorship Victims 20,000 (political/religious opponents)


ROBERT MUGABE	GENERAL JORGE VIDELA	GENERAL AUGUSTO PINOCHET
*Zimbabwe (1982-*	*Argentina (1976-83)*	*Chile (1973-90)*
Regime Personal dictatorship Victims 15,000 (political/tribal opponents)	Regime Military dictatorship Victims 13,000 (left-wing political opponents)	Regime Military dictatorship Victims 3,000 (political opponents)

From Stalin to Hitler, the most murderous regimes in the world

1 MAO ZEDONG

2 JOSEPH STALIN

3 ADOLF HITLER