From Adolf Hitler to Bloody Mary: 7 most CRUEL rulers of world

Cruel leaders

There have been cruel leaders at all times and ages, but the ruthlessness of these leaders surpass all in human history. Heres a list of the most ruthless leaders of all time.

Genghis Khan

Khan spent time as a slave during his teenage years before he united the Mongol tribes and went on to conquer a huge part of Central Asia and China. His style is characterised as brutal, and historians say he slaughtered civilians en masse.

Timur

Before heading for Delhi to take over the capital of India, the forces of Timur were ordered to kill every living being in Lahore. They set aside slaves and young women for the use by their soldiers. Once the women were ‘used’ they were also slaughtered.

Joseph Stalin

Stalin is known for Stalinism, the ideology and policies he enforced in his regime. Due to his excessively cruel practices, hes often compared to another tyrant, Adolf Hitler. During his rule, millions of people died through execution, starvation and torture.

Adolf Hitler

German dictator Adolf Hitler instigated World War 2 and orchestrated the Holocaust, leading to the genocide of six million Jews, along with millions of others considered undesirable.

Ivan the Terrible

Ivan 4 of Russia, known as Ivan the Terrible, established a regime of terror and mass executions, including the Oprichnina, responsible for thousands of deaths.

Augusto Pinochet

Pinochet overthrew Chile’s government in 1973 with the help of a US-backed coup. Reports say numerous people ‘disappeared’ under the regime and 35,000 were tortured.Pinochet died before he could stand trial on accusations of human-rights abuses.

Queen Mary I (aka Bloody Mary)

The only child of the King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary I became queen of England in 1553 and soon reinstalled Catholicism (after previous rulers championed Protestantism) as the main religion and married Philip II of Spain — a Catholic. Over the next few years, hundreds of Protestants were burned at the stake, and for that she earned the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’.