History
The study of genocide, a gross violation of human rights, brings us to the ugliest and most despicable moments of human history. Genocide articles from correspondents over the last 100 years chronicles the deliberate large scale decimation, whether in part or in whole, of peoples due to racial, ethic, religions and other sociopathic rationale. This is hatred in action, starting during WWI, notably in Ottoman Armenia. We easily recognize the act with reported mass murders of people in the hundreds to the millions over a period of time, perpetuated by diabolical authoritarian regimes. Apart from the first sensational genocide Armenia suffered that has yet to be recognized, here are four of the worst leaders whose hands were bloodied in the darkest moments of humanity.
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong figures as the founder of the Communist China who led the Chinese revolution that made China what it is today. He lived from 26 December 1893 to 09 September 1976 and ruled the country from 1949 up to his death. While China’s population doubled during his reign, he rule saw severe starvation, mass suicides, and unparalleled political persecution, all of which resulted in the genocide of between 34.6 million to 63.7 million. His remains the one autocrat with the most number of genocide articles in the news during a single tenure.
Joseph Stalin
A contemporary of Mao, Joseph Stalin lived from 18 December 1878 to 05 March 1953, was among the leaders of the Bolshevik revolution that overthrew the Czarist Russian aristocracy in the October Revolution. He eventually led the Soviet Union as its Premiere from 1922 to his death. His merciless political purges are legendary and World War II furthered his genocidal tendencies that have reportedly killed anywhere from 23 million to 60 million Russians, according to genocide articles in the news during and after his time.
Adolf Hitler
The most infamous of them all, Adolf Hitler authored the epic extermination of European Jews in excess of six million that included gypsies and other races he considered inferior to the Aryan race of the Germanic peoples during World War II in what was described the most horrific ethnic cleansing in all of history. This was a remarkable repeat of the genocide Armenia suffered in the preceding world war and the study of genocide, a gross violation of human rights, will not be complete without this.
Hideki Tojo
Coming just one million short of Hitler’s extermination of Jews in genocide articles, Hideki Tojo is credited to have caused the mass slaughter of exceeding five million civilians and prisoners of war in all the Japanese occupied territories during the war. He lived from 30 December 1884 to 23 December 1948, rising to become a General in the Japanese Imperial Army, and as Japan’s 40th Prime Minister. The unconditional surrender of Japan brought him to trial and eventual execution at the hands of the allied that occupied Japan after the war.