20 Worst People Who Ever Lived

Jim Jones

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Building a following with fake ‘miracles’, Jim Jones founded his own church, the Peoples Temple, in Indianapolis in 1954. His religion fused Christianity and socialism. In the 1970s however, investigations began to expose abuses within the church, and the methods behind his fake ‘miracles’. Deciding to leave the US, Jones founded a secluded commune named “Jonestown” in Guyana, South America. When Democratic Congressman Leo Ryan visited the compound to investigate in November 1978, he was assassinated, along with defectors and journalists. The panicked Jones ordered his followers to take their own lives. Under armed guard, 918 people were killed, mostly from poison. Jones also died, but from a gunshot that may have been self-inflicted.

Amelia Dyer

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Back in Victorian England, women could adopt babies for money in a practice known as “baby farming.” Amelia Dyer volunteered her services and charged up to £80 per baby. But Dyer did not care for those she adopted. Rather, she killed them. This wasn’t really questioned at the time, as mortality rates were very high in children. Dyer was allowed to continue the practice for 30 years, claiming hundreds of victims. She was eventually caught after a body was found floating in the Thames, and she was hanged on June 10, 1896.

A prominent socialite from New Orleans, Delphine LaLaurie owned a mansion on the city’s Royal Street. While she presented a kind face in public, rumors circulated about her cruel treatment of slaves. According to funeral registers, a dozen slaves died at her residence between 1830 and 34. She chased one young girl off the roof with a whip. On April 10, 1834, a 70 year old cook who had been chained to the stove deliberately lit a fire. This led to the discovery of seven horrifically abused slaves chained up in the attic. An outraged mob attacked the residence, but LaLaurie fled to France, escaping justice.

Born into a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden fought against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, before founding the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda in 1988. In the mid 1990s he declared war on the United States for the country’s military actions and continued presence in the Middle East, as well as its support for Israel. In the following years, bin Laden and his organization became responsible for thousands of deaths. This included hotel and embassy bombings, and of course the September 11 attacks. The latter claimed the lives of 2,977 innocent people and injured a further 25,000. Bin Laden became the target of a manhunt and was killed by US forces on May 2, 2011.

Elizabeth Báthory

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A Hungarian countess, Báthory is an alleged serial killer who was said to have tortured and killed hundreds of women with her servants. As rumors circulated, the monarch’ representative was ordered to investigate. The investigation supposedly proved that Báthory was responsible for hundreds of murders - perhaps as high as 650. As a result, Báthory became known as The Blood Countess. Her punishment? House arrest inside her castle. It’s there that she died in 1614. However, the case against Báthory is disputable. Some modern scholars argue that Báthory was the target of political machinations and that she was innocent of the horrible crimes so often attributed to her.

Renowned for his temper and paranoia, Russian ruler Ivan IV Vasilyevich inspired incredible fear. As a teenager, he liked abusing animals, throwing cats and dogs from the Kremlin ramparts. He served as the first Tsar of Russia, reigning from 1533 to 1584. He established a personal guard, the oprichniki, who helped him terrorize and oppress his subjects through torture and execution. After defections and the death of his wife in the 1560s, he became even more violent, ordering the Massacre of Novgorod in 1570 - with casualties in the thousands. He also beat his own pregnant daughter-in-law, after which she miscarried, and killed his own son. Ivan IV eventually died on March 18, 1584, leaving his empire to his son Feodor.

After volunteering for Hitler’s SS, this German woman became a concentration camp guard at 19, working at the likes of Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz. Grese became notorious at these camps, striking terror in the prisoners, who testified against her after World War II. A sadist, she set her dogs on prisoners, sexually assaulted them, and beat them with a whip. She helped select victims for the gas chambers. Following the liberation of her camps, Grese was taken into custody and became a defendant in the Belsen Trial. She was hanged at 22 on December 13, 1945.

Idi Amin

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Serving as president of Uganda from 1971 to 79, Idi Amin was one of the most brutal world leaders of the 20th century. Amin rose through the military ranks and deposed the country’s president in a coup in January 1971. A year and a half after gaining power, Amin expelled most Asians from Uganda. His rule was marked by widespread human rights abuses, corruption, and economic mismanagement. It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of people were murdered by his regime, which targeted ethnic minorities, political activists, and journalists. Amin eventually became known as the Butcher of Uganda, but he fled the country in 1979 and died in Saudi Arabia in 2003.

Between 434 and 445, Attila ruled the Huns with his brother Bleda. Attila may have had his brother killed in 445, and ruled alone for the next eight years. His reign was one of terror, as he built an empire by besieging, pillaging, and massacring the inhabits of Roman cities across Europe. In 451, Attila invaded Gaul (in modern day France), but was defeated in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains and retreated. His violent incursions left countless dead, and his empire collapsed soon after his death in 453. His burial place is unknown, as those that performed the burial were reportedly slain to protect the secret.

This infamous Roman emperor was born Gaius Julius Caesar, but was nicknamed “Caligula”, meaning “Little Boot”, as a child. To this day, Caligula’s name is synonymous with tyranny. Contemporaneous sources describe him as an unhinged and unpredictable ruler with a god complex. Narcissistic and cruel, he betrayed allies and family members and had them executed. He extorted his own citizens to pay for his lavish indulgences, and invaded and plundered neighboring regions. He was assassinated in 41 AD at the age of 28. In 54 AD, his nephew, Nero, became emperor and acquired his own reputation for cruelty. Nero is said to have persecuted early Christians, blaming them for the Great Fire of Rome - which he himself may have started.

Kim Jong-il

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Between 1994 and 2011, Kim Jong-il served as supreme leader of North Korea, having inherited the mantle from his father and founder of the country, Kim Il-sung. In 1978, before taking over this role, he had South Korean filmmaker Shin Sang-ok and his wife kidnapped to make propaganda films. Kim fostered a cult of personality around himself, and ran a repressive government that gave considerable power to the military and engaged in countless human rights violations. Known for economic incompetence, Kim arguably prolonged a devastating famine triggered by floods and the collapse of the Soviet Union. It’s estimated that this famine alone killed at least half a million people.

Born to a poor family in northern Iraq, Saddam Hussein eventually made his way through the political ranks and helped stage a coup in 1968. After assuming the presidency in 1979, he purged opponents within his own party; hundreds were executed. A year later he invaded Iran, starting a war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. His invasion of Kuwait in 1990 led to the Gulf War. A brutal, repressive leader, his rule included the use of chemical weapons against Iranians and Kurdish separatists, and a ruthless security apparatus that used torture and execution to suppress opposition. Hussein was eventually found guilty of crimes against humanity and hanged in 2006.

The Bosnian War from 1992 and 1995 saw Serb forces perpetrate horrific ethnic cleansing and mass rapes against Bosnian Muslims. Several leaders were indicted for these atrocities, including President of Serbia Slobodan Milošević, and former Presidents of Republika Srpska Radovan Karadžić and Biljana Plavšić. Nicknamed the Iron Lady, Plavšić served as Karadžić’s vice president before ascending to the presidency herself. Originally a biology professor, she claimed that ethnic cleansing was a “natural phenomenon”, blaming “genetically deformed material”. Plavšić entered a plea deal and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. She was released in 2009.

The second King of the Belgians is notorious for his creation of the Congo Free State. Under the guise of humanitarian work, Leopold II took control of a large swath of the Congo Basin and ruled it as his own personal colony, using forced labor to amass a fortune in ivory and rubber. His private army, the Force Publique, committed brutal atrocities, including amputating the hands of laborers who did not meet their quotas. Children were not spared. Many died of overwork and malnutrition, while others were killed outright. It’s estimated that Leopold II’s vicious reign killed 10 million people.

Mao Zedong

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On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China, following a civil war against the Kuomintang, or Chinese Nationalist Party, who retreated to Taiwan. During his rule, Mao persecuted and silenced political opponents, and launched the invasion of Tibet, where Chinese policies have been accused of ‘cultural genocide’. He’s remembered for enacting the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The Great Leap Forward was supposed to industrialize China’s agrarian economy, but resulted in a famine that killed between 15 to 55 million people. As Mao’s power waned, the Cultural Revolution was designed to silence opponents and bolster his power. It saw the persecution and deaths of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, and the destruction of artifacts, erasing much of the country’s history.

Born ‘Temüjin’, this Mongol ruler was one of the most destructive conquerors in human history. Ruling as the first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1206 to 1227, Genghis Khan led his armies to numerous victories and established a massive empire. By 1300, most of Eurasia was under Mongol control. In order to attain such vast power, the Mongol armies destroyed cities and killed all who stood in their way. In fact, some estimates place the death toll as high as 60 million, which would account for roughly 10% of the entire world’s population at the time. Khan’s conquests spread fear throughout the known world, and his empire continued to grow long after his death in 1227.

Officially Vlad III, Vlad the Impaler ruled the Romanian region of Wallachia on and off between 1448 and 1477. He earned his famous nickname owing to his penchant for impaling captured soldiers and villagers on poles. Also going by ‘Vlad Dracula’, he was ruthless in his political campaigns and plundered territories belonging to both the Transylvanian Saxons and Ottomans. By his own account, Vlad killed 23,884 Turks and Bulgarians. According to some estimates, he is believed to have killed up to 80,000 people during his lifetime. It’s no wonder Bram Stoker drew upon this historical figure in creating his vampire character Count Dracula.

Pol Pot

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Born ‘Saloth Sâ’ in Cambodia in 1925, Pol Pot attended school in France, where he started associating with communism. Returning to Cambodia, he ignited a communist revolution in 1968 with his guerilla army, the Khmer Rouge. They took control in 1975 and went to work re-establishing the country as the agrarian socialist Democratic Kampuchea. Pol Pot’s tyrannical regime built detention centers and targeted intellectuals, political opponents, followers of religion, and ethnic minorities. Torture and executions became commonplace. Many more people were starved and overworked. All told, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are believed to have caused the deaths of two million people, most through direct violence.

One of the most infamous dictators of the 20th century, Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953. Stalin subjected his citizens to numerous atrocities while transforming the Soviet Union into a global superpower. He continued to implement Vladimir Lenin’s Gulag system of forced labor camps, and eliminated ideological opponents through the Great Purge, which caused the deaths of roughly one million people. Stalin’s rule also resulted in the Soviet famine of the early 1930s, which killed between 5.7 to 8.7 million people. At the outset of World War II, he also co-operated with Hitler, invading Poland with Germany, and offering to join the Axis Powers, until Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

After Germany’s defeat in World War I, the country was forced to disarm and make reparations. Many Germans saw themselves as the victims, a sense of grievance that populist political leader Adolf Hitler rode to power. He was a mesmerizing speaker, using rallies to fire up his supporters and scapegoat the Jewish people as to blame for the country’s problems. In 1933, he became Chancellor of Germany, and six years later instigated World War II, which claimed an estimated 70–85 million lives. With the help of Heinrich Himmler, he also oversaw the Holocaust, in which six million Jews and other minorities were killed in progroms, shootings, and concentration camps. Responsible for unprecedented destruction, Hitler is regarded today as the epitome of human evil.