Dictators
A dictatorship is a form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations. The term dictatorship comes from the Latin title dictator, which in the Roman Republic designated a temporary magistrate who was granted extraordinary powers in order to deal with state crises.
Dictators Encyclopedia Articles
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Sukarno
Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian independence movement and Indonesia’s first president (1949–66), who suppressed the country’s original parliamentary system in favour of an authoritarian “Guided...
Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester
Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester was the leader of the baronial revolt against King Henry III and ruler of England for less than a year. Simon de Montfort, wholly French by birth and education, was...
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista was a soldier and political leader who twice ruled Cuba—first in 1933–44 with an efficient government and again in 1952–59 as a dictator, jailing his opponents, using terrorist methods,...
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin was the secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–53) and premier of the Soviet state (1941–53), who for a quarter of a century dictatorially ruled the Soviet Union...
Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko was the president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) who seized power in a 1965 coup and ruled for some 32 years before being ousted in a rebellion in 1997. Mobutu was...
Alexander I
Alexander I was the king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (1921–29) and of Yugoslavia (1929–34), who struggled to create a united state out of his politically and ethnically divided collection...
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco was a general and leader of the Nationalist forces that overthrew the Spanish democratic republic in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39); thereafter he was the head of the government of Spain...
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party (from 1920/21) and chancellor (Kanzler) and Führer of Germany (1933–45). His worldview revolved around two concepts: territorial expansion and racial supremacy....
Efraín Ríos Montt
Efraín Ríos Montt Guatemalan army general and politician who ruled Guatemala as the leader of a military junta and as dictator (1982–83). In 2013 he was tried by a Guatemalan court on charges of genocide...
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was a professional soldier and dictator of Colombia (1953–57) whose corrupt and authoritarian regime converted his nationwide popularity into united national hostility. Nevertheless,...
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem was a Vietnamese political leader who served as president, with dictatorial powers, of what was then South Vietnam, from 1955 until his assassination. Diem was born into one of the noble...
dictatorship
Dictatorship, form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations. The term dictatorship comes from the Latin title dictator, which...
Getúlio Vargas
Getúlio Vargas was the president of Brazil (1930–45, 1951–54), who brought social and economic changes that helped modernize the country. Although denounced by some as an unprincipled dictator, Vargas...
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein was the president of Iraq (1979–2003) whose brutal rule was marked by costly and unsuccessful wars against neighbouring countries. Saddam, the son of peasants, was born in a village near...
Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini was the Italian prime minister (1922–43) and the first of 20th-century Europe’s fascist dictators. Mussolini was the first child of the local blacksmith. In later years he expressed pride...
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus was a Roman military commander and statesman whose cautious delaying tactics (whence the nickname “Cunctator,” meaning “delayer,” which was not his official cognomen)...
Juan Perón
Juan Perón was an army colonel who became president of Argentina (1946–52, 1952–55, 1973–74) and was the founder and leader of the Peronist movement. Perón in his career was in many ways typical of the...
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar was a celebrated Roman general and statesman, the conqueror of Gaul (58–50 bce), victor in the civil war of 49–45 bce, and dictator (46–44 bce), who was launching a series of political and...
Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee was the first president of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Rhee completed a traditional classical Confucian education and then entered a Methodist school, where he learned English. He...
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet was the leader of the military junta that overthrew the socialist government of Pres. Salvador Allende of Chile on September 11, 1973. Pinochet was head of Chile’s military government...
Luang Phibunsongkhram
Luang Phibunsongkhram was a field marshal and premier of Thailand in 1938–44 and 1948–57, who was associated with the rise of authoritarian military governments in Thailand. He was educated at the royal...