What is a Dictator?
- Dictator; A ruler with absolute power
- Often rising in times of national weakness
- They introduce themselves as powerful and confident leaders
- Offering to provide fellow citizens with guidance and direction
Past Dictators
Adolf Hitler
- Dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945
- Inflation caused major economic problem (depression)
- Hitler head of GWP (NSGW - Nazis) named Chancellor (1933), dictator by 1934
- Promises jobs, new German “super” race, reclaim land, rebuild military.
- Estimated death toll of 17 to 20 million people
Benito Mussolini
- Dicator of Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953
- Took advantage of Italian unrest.
- Gathered war veteran and generally unhappy citizens as followers.
- Promised to end unemployment, gain land, strengthen military, stop worker strikes, and outlaw communism.
- Used violence to win election.
- Ended free election, press, and speech.
- Goals of state put over individual.
Current Dictators
Kim Jong Un
- Grandson of Kim II Sung (worshiped as god, Juche)
- Kim Jong-un elected unopposed to the Supreme People's Assembly
- At 32 his is the first North Korean leader born after the country's founding.
Alexander Lukashenko
- President of Belarus since 1994
- Dubbed Europe's last dictator
- Lukashenko's son Nikolai is his chosen heir
- "appears to be laying plans to turn his authoritarian regime into a North Korean-style dynasty"