Curated playlist
Politicide perpetrators
- Mohammad Reza PahlaviOn his first day at a Swiss boarding school, Iran's crown prince got beaten up.
- CaracallaRoman emperor Caracalla was stabbed by a soldier while stopping to urinate on a road. He had turned 29 that very day.
- Ferdinand MarcosFerdinand Marcos was convicted of murder as a law student, then rose to president.
- Ruhollah KhomeiniAt Ruhollah Khomeini's 1989 funeral, the body fell out of the coffin. Grieving crowds in Tehran forced a second funeral.
- Mao ZedongMao Zedong once worked as a library assistant in Peking. He later founded the People's Republic of China.
- Fidel CastroFidel Castro's yacht carried eighty-one men toward Cuba, but only nineteen safely reached the mountains.
- Anwar SadatAnwar Sadat was shot dead by his own soldiers at a parade celebrating his war.
- Benito MussoliniBenito Mussolini was named after a Mexican president. His socialist father chose the name to honor Benito Juárez.
- SuhartoSuharto ruled Indonesia for 31 years, longer than any other president. He grew up poor, passed between relatives.
- Chiang Kai-shekWestern observers once called Chiang Kai-shek the Red General. In 1927 he purged thousands of suspected Communists.
- NeroEmperor Nero was crowned winner of a chariot race he did not finish.
- Nur Muhammad TarakiAfghanistan's Nur Muhammad Taraki was smothered with pillows on orders of the man who built his cult.
- Hafizullah AminHafizullah Amin believed Soviet troops were there to protect him as they stormed his palace.
- Maximilien RobespierreRobespierre was executed without trial in 1794 by the movement he had helped build.
- Carol II of RomaniaCarol II of Romania fled in 1940 as gunmen fired on his train. It carried 30 truckloads of his fortune.
- CaligulaEmperor Caligula once rode a horse across a floating bridge more than two miles long.
- Kim Il SungKim Il Sung stepped off a ship in 1945 as a 33-year-old Soviet captain. He ruled North Korea for more than 45 years.
- Lavrentiy BeriaLavrentiy Beria walked out on Stalin's paralyzed body and told everyone not to panic. No doctor came for twelve hours.
- Catherine de' MediciCatherine de' Medici lost both parents within a month of her birth. She later outlived three French kings, all her sons.
- Tokugawa IeyasuTokugawa Ieyasu once left his castle gates open to scare off an army.
- Francisco FrancoFrancisco Franco was shot in the abdomen at 23 and was not expected to live. He ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975.
- Mobutu Sese SekoMobutu renamed his country Zaire, its cities and himself. He also banned Western suits and European baby names.
- Carlos Castillo ArmasCarlos Castillo Armas, Guatemala's president, was shot dead in his palace by a guard in 1957.
- SullaSulla wrote his own epitaph for his tomb in Rome. It boasted he repaid every friend and enemy in full.
- Efraín Ríos MonttEfraín Ríos Montt was sentenced to 80 years for genocide, and the ruling collapsed within days.
- Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević died in a prison cell in The Hague while still on trial for war crimes.