Everyone knows Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot. But there have been plenty of other kings, emperors, military dictators, generalissimos, presidents-for-life than just them. Typically, the world doesn’t care as long as these guys are nice enough to keep their genocidal and repressive policies within their own borders. And luckily for everyone except those within their poor countries, most of the men on this list were more interested in amassing personal fortunes or hiding from perceived threats than by conquering their neighbors. Unfortunately, that means they stayed in power far longer than they deserved and didn’t always face justice. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know about them. Let’s take a look at some of history’s nastiest but most obscure dictators. 

10. U Ne Win 

U Ne Win, the enigmatic Burmese military leader, tormented his native Myanmar as its dictator from 1962 to 1988. Often characterized by his eccentricity, he implemented a series of bizarre economic policies, including the infamous decision in 1987 to demonetize most of the country’s currency overnight, leading to widespread chaos known as the “8888 Uprising.” Despite his autocratic rule, Ne Win’s peculiar actions and unpredictable behavior created a certain magnetic mystique around him. 

For example, he loved numerology and famously selected the number nine as his lucky digit. He also consulted astrologers regularly and even changed the country’s driving laws to be in alignment with his superstitions. U Ne Win’s blend of authoritarianism and quirkiness makes him a more captivating leader than most. But it doesn’t change the fact that he was a brutal, merciless autocrat. As is almost universally the case, U Ne Win’s policies led to widespread poverty and chaos in his country. But unlike almost every other dictator, he actually resigned because of this in 1988. 

9. Jean-Bedel Bokassa 

As if Africa hasn’t been through enough, the poor, neglected, historically exploited continent has also suffered under more than its fair share of authoritarians. Jean-Bédel Bokassa called himself Emperor of the Central African Republic and brought nothing but chaos, cruelty, and death. He emerged as one of Africa’s most flamboyant and eccentric dictators in the 20th century. Rising to power through a military coup in 1966, Bokassa later crowned himself in a lavish coronation ceremony that bankrupted his already impoverished nation. 

Infamous for his extravagant lifestyle, Bokassa was rumored to have kept a personal zoo featuring rare animals, including white tigers and elephants. Additionally, his claim to fame includes allegations of cannibalism, a sensationalized accusation that may or may not be backed up by the facts. Bokassa’s reign came to an end in 1979 when France intervened, toppling his empire and reinstating the republic. Despite his oppressive rule, the peculiarities of Bokassa’s imperial escapades contribute to his unique status among the pantheon of eccentric dictators.

8. Francisco Macias Nguema

Francisco Macías Nguema, the self-styled “Unique Miracle” and first President of Equatorial Guinea, seized power in 1968 via coup d’etat. Macías transformed his country into a one-party state. Nicknamed the “African Idi Amin,” Macías’s eccentricities became a hallmark of his reign. His erratic behavior ranged from ordering the execution of perceived enemies to instituting bizarre policies, like banning the use of lubricants for vehicles to save money.

Like many autocrats, Marcías was known for his paranoia and unleashed a reign of terror marked by arbitrary arrests, executions, and a pervasive culture of fear. His obsession with personal security reached insane heights, as he reportedly believed that enemies were plotting against him from within his own party and even his shower. The extent of his eccentricity and brutality culminated in a reign that left Equatorial Guinea economically devastated and socially fractured. Thing is, he wasn’t entirely wrong about being targeted by other power hungry groups. But he was too blind to see that his own paranoia and brutality contributed to his downfall. Either way, Macías was overthrown in a 1979 coup, bringing things full circle. We suppose it’s true what they say – those who live by the sword will die by it, too. 

7. Saparmurat Niyazov

Coming to power in 1985, Saparmurat Niyazov, brutalized Turkmenistan as its first President for Life with a blend of authoritarian rule and eccentric personal cultism. Niyazov maintained an iron grip on his impoverished nation until his death in 2006. Often referred to as “Turkmenbashi,” or “Father of the Turkmens,” he pursued an extravagant personality cult, saturating public spaces with statues and portraits of himself and renaming months and days of the week after his family members. You know, like a normal, well adjusted man who can be trusted with power. 

Niyazov’s eccentric decrees reached new heights of absurdity, including banning ballet, opera, and gold teeth, and renaming the months to honor historical and cultural events. His rule was marked by delusions of grandeur and a financially reckless series of idiosyncratic infrastructure projects, such as a massive artificial lake in the Karakum Desert that Turkmenistan could in no way afford. While his regime did bring a small degree of stability to Turkmenistan, Niyazov’s eccentricities and cult of personality made him one of the worst, and weirdest, authoritarians to ever rule a Central Asian country with an iron grip. 

6. Alberto Fujimori

Alberto Fujimori, the former president of Peru, took office in 1990 and quickly gained popularity for implementing economic reforms that stabilized Peru’s hyperinflation and tackled corruption. However, his presidency also became synonymous with authoritarian practices and human rights abuses.

In a surprising turn of events in 1992, Fujimori dissolved the Peruvian Congress, claiming it was rife with corruption, and took control of the judiciary. This move was met with both support for cracking down on corruption and criticism for undermining democratic institutions. Fujimori’s eccentricities were apparent in his unorthodox governing style and at times flamboyant behavior, but his administration also successfully combated terrorism, most notably capturing the leader of the Shining Path guerrilla group.

Ultimately, Fujimori’s presidency ended in scandal in 2000 when a corruption scandal involving his intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, came to light, leading to his resignation and subsequent exile in Japan. He wasn’t the most brutal dictator on our list, but he doesn’t exactly deserve statues built in his honor, either. 

5. Hissene Habre

Hissène Habré, the former President of Chad, is a controversial figure whose rule was characterized by brutality and widespread human rights abuses. Seizing power in 1982, Habré governed Chad until he was ousted in 1990. His regime employed torture, political repression, and ethnic violence to maintain control.

Habré’s eccentricities were often overshadowed by these grave human rights violations. His political opponents were subjected to harsh treatment, and the notorious secret police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS), was implicated in numerous human rights abuses. Habré’s government was accused of executing thousands of political prisoners and committing atrocities against specific ethnic groups, contributing to a legacy of fear and mistrust.

In 2016, Hissène Habré was convicted by a special court in Senegal for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture during his rule. His trial marked a significant moment in international justice, as it was the first time a former African head of state was held accountable for human rights abuses by the legal system of another country. 

4. Islam Karimov

Islam Karimov, the first President of Uzbekistan, held a firm grip on power from the country’s independence in 1991 until his death in 2016. Known for his authoritarian rule, Karimov maintained control through a combination of political repression and a carefully cultivated personality cult.

Karimov’s eccentricities were evident in his efforts to shape a cult of personality around himself, portraying an image of a strong and wise leader. His policies, however, were often criticized for human rights abuses, including censorship, torture, and the suppression of political opposition. The notorious Andijan massacre in 2005, where government forces violently dispersed protesters, might be the most notorious episode here. 

Despite these controversies, Karimov’s administration did manage to maintain stability in Uzbekistan and pursue economic reforms. The country experienced relative economic growth during his tenure, but this came at the expense of political freedoms and human rights. Following Karimov’s death, Shavkat Mirziyoyev succeeded him as president, bringing some cautious reforms and signaling a departure from the repressive tactics of the past.

3. Nicolae Ceausescu

Nicolae Ceau?escu, the General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party and President of Romania, held power from 1965 until a dramatic and humiliating downfall in 1989. Initially gaining popularity for his opposition to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Ceau?escu’s regime gradually evolved into one marked by increasing repression, a cult of personality, and economic mismanagement.

Ceau?escu’s eccentricities became apparent in his later years. He pursued grandiose projects like the People’s House, a massive palace in Bucharest, which became a symbol of his opulence amid widespread poverty. His regime enforced policies that severely restricted personal freedoms, including strict censorship, widespread surveillance, and the ban on contraceptives. The Securitate, the secret police, played a significant role in suppressing dissent.

The 1980s saw Ceau?escu implementing austerity measures to pay off foreign debts, leading to extreme shortages of basic goods. This, coupled with his efforts to increase the country’s population through a pro-natalist policy, further strained the economy and deepened public discontent.

In December 1989, a wave of protests brought Ceau?escu’s regime to a brutal end. Ceau?escu and his wife, Elena, were captured, hastily tried, and executed on Christmas Day 1989. 

2. Mobutu Sese Seko

Mobutu Sese Seko, born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, was the president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) for over three decades, from 1965 to 1997. His rule was, like most dictators on this list, characterized by brutal authoritarianism, corruption, and the systematic looting of the country’s resources.

Mobutu rose to power through a coup in 1965, overthrowing the government of Patrice Lumumba. Once in control, he quickly established a one-party state and consolidated power, adopting a policy of “Zairianization” that involved replacing colonial-era names with African ones.

Under Mobutu’s rule, Zaire became synonymous with corruption and mismanagement. He amassed immense personal wealth while the country’s economy deteriorated. His leadership style was characterized by a cult of personality, exemplified by his leopard-skin hat and an eye-rolling self-bestowed title, “The Guide.” He maintained control through the military and a pervasive intelligence apparatus.

Despite early support from the West during the Cold War, Mobutu’s international standing declined as allegations of human rights abuses and corruption intensified. In 1997, rebels overthrew Mobutu, marking the end of his rule. Mobutu fled into exile, and he died of cancer in Morocco in 1997. 

1. Enver Hoxha

Enver Hoxha was the leader of Communist Albania from the end of World War II in 1944 until his death in 1985, making him one of the longest-serving heads of state in the 20th century. His leadership was marked by a rigid Stalinist ideology, extreme isolationism, and a fervent commitment to building a socialist utopia. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work. 

Hoxha initially rose to power as the head of the partisan resistance against the Italian and German occupiers during World War II. After the war, he became the leader of the People’s Assembly and later the Prime Minister. In 1946, Albania officially became a People’s Republic, and in 1948, Hoxha severed ties with Yugoslavia, marking the beginning of his country’s isolation from both Western and Eastern blocs.

Hoxha brought extreme repression, censorship, and a pervasive surveillance apparatus to the country. He ordered the collectivization of agriculture and the industrialization of the country, often at the expense of personal freedoms and economic efficiency. Perhaps one of the most distinctive aspects of Hoxha’s rule was the construction of thousands of bunkers throughout Albania, reflecting his obsession with perceived external threats. 

Hoxha’s death in 1985 led to the fall of the Albanian communist regime by 1992.

When historians delve into the murky waters of totalitarianism, colored by the bloody unwashed hands of political tyrants, they often highlight the chaos left in their wakes, the hardship brought upon the oppressed, or the sheer horror of their rule, only mentioning the other halves as a sideline to their story. However, the women in the lives of these dictators often play a prominent role in how power-hungry or evil they can be.

Some of these so-called dictator wives, like Lucia Hiriart, wife of Augusto Pinochet, and Asma Al-Assad, the wife of notorious Bashir Al-Assad, avoid the pitfalls of dictatorship. But with riches earned off the back of bloodshed, some of them are not so lucky. Here are ten wives (or mistresses) of dictators that met unfortunate ends.

10 Elena Ceausescu

Elena was the wife of the communist dictator of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu—who succeeded to the leadership after Gheorghiu-Dej passed away in 1965. Her fall was as magnificent as her husband’s rise to power. One of the most powerful women in Eastern Europe during the final decades of their rule, Elana was an important cog in their time in power, which left Romania in economic, social, and moral ruin.

Considered to be immensely vain, she also brought about the ruin of Romania’s Academy of Sciences as the institution lost control of all 50 institutes originally under its jurisdiction. To this day, controversy remains regarding her accreditation in many scientific papers. On Christmas 1989, the government collapsed, and Elena and her husband Nicolae were executed later that same day by firing squad.^[1]

9 Kay Amin

The self-proclaimed last rightful king of Scotland, Idi Amin, was the murderous dictator responsible for the death of an estimated 300,000 people. Yes, the smiling deviant had a way with the ladies, and Kay was happy to indulge him with his psychotic tendencies. Kay Amin was Idi’s fourth wife, whom he met while she was studying at Kampala University, despite his already being married.

Seven years later, the couple split after Idi added yet another wife to his repertoire of angels. Less than one year later, in a death shrouded in mystery and uncertainty, Kay’s body was discovered in the trunk of a car, dismembered and sewn together in an unrefined fashion. The car belonged to a doctor with whom Kay was rumored to have had an affair. The doctor’s body was found the day before, ruled a suicide. We should probably take that with a grain of salt.^[2]

8 Eva Braun

No list of dictators would be complete without Adolf Hitler. The man needs no introduction, and his atrocities are well documented. Almost as famous as his reputation as a murderous racist maniac is his exploits with photographer and long-time mistress Eva Braun. Not involved with any of his politics, she was a safe haven for the Führer to escape from killing and pillaging entire nations by providing a simple life of domesticity and relaxation—skiing, swimming, and laughing.

Hitler did not allow her to be seen with him in public, and unlike many others on this list, she remained out of the spotlight. In April 1945, the same day the Americans liberated the Dachau concentration camp, Eva and Adolf were united in marriage and then committed suicide together as the Russians closed in around them. It must have been love, then. Who else would have made such a permanent commitment?^[3]

7 Nadezhda Alliluyeva

Joseph Stalin, the poster child of communism and way up there with the worst on the kill counter, was responsible for millions of deaths (possibly as high as 60 million). The atrocities of his regime were not limited to enemies of the state or neighboring countries who stepped out of line; the majority were his countrymen killed in camps, executions, and famine as a result of failing policy.

Nadezhda Alliluyve’s, Stalin’s second wife, death was ruled as a suicide at the age of 33. Just like all the oligarchs who continue to mysteriously fall from windows at the moment, one can definitely be somewhat suspicious of Russian reports of suicide, even if there were rumors that she was driven to it by Stalin’s behavior.^[5]

5 Eva Peron

María Eva Duarte married Juan Peron in 1945, and she was involved in his campaign to become the next Chilean president, which he did in 1946. Unfortunately, her death would come only a mere six years later. However, before that occurred, she became a beloved symbol to the people of Chile. Her work with the poor and advocacy for women’s suffrage made her a very popular woman. Nothing so unusual about this so far. Well, it soon gets disturbing.

Eva was diagnosed with cervical cancer, but her husband did not tell her. In fact, it was kept a secret so that the people would not see her as weak. Since she was Juan’s connection to the Chilean masses, he didn’t want anything to change that. In fact, he kept the real reason for her treatments and surgeries from her, with rumors of having ordered that Eva receive a lobotomy—supposedly to help her with pain. But this isn’t all.

After Juan Peron was deposed in 1955, his enemies stole her corpse, which was kept hidden in Italy for 16 years. Her body was eventually returned to Juan, who was living in exile in Spain at the time. Upon his death in 1974, Juan’s third wife, Isabel Peron, entombed Eva with her husband in a crypt in the presidential palace in Chile. Only two years later, when new military leadership took over the country, Eva was finally returned to her family, who buried her in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.^[5]

5 Khieu Ponnary

Khieu Ponnary was the wife of the revolutionary Pol Pot (actual name Saloth Sar), the man who presided over the brutal Khmer Rouge regime starting in early 1975. Pol Pot was a man who was responsible for the death of more than a million Cambodians but still managed to live long enough to have age take him rather than a guillotine.

Married in 1956, Ponnary was also a communist by heart and eight years his senior. She was also the first Cambodian woman to obtain a bachelor’s degree and taught linguistics and literature. She tested the waters of extremism politics before paranoia got to her, convinced that the Vietnamese were out to kill her and her husband. Incapacitated by her mental health for the remainder of her life, she passed away, out of the public eye.^[6]

4 Yang Kaihui

Yang Kaihui was the second wife of Mao Zedong, the leader of the Communist Party in the Republic of China, a man responsible for millions upon millions of deaths. Mao’s first marriage was arranged when Mao was only 13—they never lived together, and Mao never acknowledged her as his wife). Kaihui shared Mao’s political views and, shortly after meeting him, took up membership in the party. Her marriage to Mao ended when he took up with another woman, Mao’s second wife, He Zizhen. And that should have been the end of it.

But they were in a civil war, and as you may have noticed from this list, there aren’t many happy endings. In November 1930, Kaihui was captured by a Guomindang warlord and executed in front of her infant son. It doesn’t always help to get out while you still can—it also didn’t help that she maintained her political views throughout her life.^[7]

3 Jiang Qing

The women in Mao’s life had about as torrid a time as his unfortunate subjects. As the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, a movie star, and part of the infamous Gang of Four, Qing was the most influential woman in the People’s Republic of China until Mao passed away in 1976. Then, her steady downfall began.

Jian was arrested in 1977 and expelled from the Communist Party. Three years later, Qing and the other members of the Gang of Four were held responsible for provoking turmoil and bloodshed, charges which she denied while denouncing the courts and the current leadership. She was found guilty and sentenced to death. Two years later, the Chinese government changed her sentence to life imprisonment. In 1991, Jian Qing reportedly committed suicide in prison.^[8]

2 Imelda Marcos

Another woman many might already know is Imelda Marcos, the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, a lawyer and politician. He established an authoritarian regime in the Philippines, which came under severe criticism for suppression of democratic processes. Imelda was also known as the Steel Butterfly and the Rose of Tacloban for her fashionable beauty. She married Ferdinand after only two weeks in a very Hollywood move, and so began her time in the political spotlight. Unlike others on this list, she is still alive—as of this writing—but still met with some unfortunate events.

Considered by most as an asset to the leader, she oversaw numerous beautification projects in Manilla. This position swiftly changed after her husband declared martial law, and the rest of the world characterized her as a drain on the treasury (how many shoes did she have?) and a proponent of nepotism. After a controversial election, the Marcos family fled the country to Hawaii—with gold and jewels galore—where they spent their time in exile.

After her husband died in 1989, she returned to the Philippines, holding office in the Lower House. In 2018, she faced a setback as she is now on bail after being sentenced for embezzling $200 million in funds decades ago. Her son, Ferdinand “Bongbong,” was elected to the presidency in 2022. What does this mean for the former Steel Butterfly?^[9]

1 Clara Petacci

Benito Mussolini, the famous Italian dictator and Nazi sympathizer, had a wife, Rachele Mussolini, who lived out her life in peace at her home in the town of Predappio. Clara, Benito’s mistress, who was comfortable with her role in the public eye as his mistress, remained by his side until the bitter end. Mussolini, having an insatiable thirst for women, was open about his affection for Clara, noting that she was the only woman he ever truly loved.

After the Nazis lost their grip on northern Italy, Mussolini met with a group of partisans, knowing his hold on Milan was on shaky ground. After learning the situation was even more dire, he stormed from the meeting with Clara in tow. Later, they joined up with a convoy of fellow fascists that were traveling north. Unfortunately, their car was stopped, and they were attacked by partisans. Petacci and Mussolini were then taken to a remote Italian town and executed by machine gun fire. Their heavily mutilated bodies were strung up and paraded for all to see.^[10]