Tyrants

by Cawthorne, Nigel

• ISBN13: 9781398843400
• ISBN10: 1398843407
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2024-12-10
• Publisher: INGRAM
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

"I have committed many acts of cruelty and had an incalculable number of men killed, never knowing whether what I did was right. But I am indifferent to what people think of me."
- Genghis Khan

A spine-chilling chronicle of dictators and their crimes against humanity, Tyrants introduces the most bloodthirsty madmen - and women - ever to wield power over their unfortunate fellow human beings.

From Atilla the Hun, who killed his own brother to rule the Hun Empire, to Adolf Hitler, mass murderer and instigator of the most devastating war the world has ever known, this book examines history's most infamous despots and tells in vivid detail the story of the lives they led, their ruthless climb to the top and the destruction and sorrow they left in their wake.

Includes:
• Herod the Great, King of Judaea
• Pheidon of Argos, Tyrant of Athens
• Richard III, King of England
• Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia
• Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France
• Josef Stalin, Leader of the USSR
• Fidel Castro, President of Cuba

Unflinching in its coverage, Tyrants is a gripping and compelling portrait of the darker side of politics and power, revealing the strange and grisly stories behind the world's most infamous autocrats.

Author Biography

Nigel Cawthorne studied at University College, London, where he gained an Honours degree in Physics, before turning to writing as a career. He has written, contributed to and edited more than 100 books, including Fighting Them On The Beaches: D-Day, 6 June 1944, The Battle of Britain, Vietnam: A War Lost and Won, Stalin, and The Story of the SS. His work has also appeared in over a hundred and fifty newspapers, magazines and partworks on both sides of the Atlantic - from the Sun to the Financial Times.

Table of Contents

Introduction

THE ANCIENT WORLD
Akhenaton, Pharaoh of Egypt
Sennacherib, King of Assyria
Pheidon of Argos, Tyrant of Athens
Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia
Emperor Ch'in Shih-huang-ti, Emperor of China
Herod the Great, King of Judaea
Augustus, First Emperor of Rome
Caligula, Emperor of Rome
Agrippina, 'Empress' of Rome
Nero, Emperor of Rome
Domitian, Emperor of Rome
Attila the Hun, King of the Huns
Fredegund, Queen of the Franks
THE MIDDLE AGES
Wu Zetian, Empress of China
Harun-al-Rashid, Caliph of Baghdad
Genghis Khan, Ruler of the Mongols
King John, King of England
Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile
Tamerlane, Ruler of Samarkand
Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan
Tomas de Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain
Vlad the Impaler, Count of Wallachia
Richard III, King of England
Cesare Borgia, Cardinal of Rome
Francisco Pizarro, Conqueror of the Incas
Herna´n Corte´s, Destroyer of the Aztecs
Henry VIII, King of England
Mary I, Queen of England
Catherine de'Medici, Regent of Franc
Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Ruler of Japan
Boris Godunov, Tsar of Russia
Elizabeth Bathory, Countess of Transylvania
Charles I, King of England
Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor of India
Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia
Nadir Shah, Shah of Persia

THE NAPOLEONIC ERA
Catherine the Great, Tsarina of Russia
George III, King of England
Tippu Sultan, Sultan of Mysore
Louis XVI, King of France
Paul I, Tsar of Russia
Maximilien Robespierre, Revolutionary French Leader
Dr Jose´ Gaspar Rodri´guez Francia, Dictator of Paraguay
Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France
Agusti´n de Iturbide, Dictator of Mexico
Shaka, Chief of the Zulu
Juan Manuel de Rosas, Dictator of the Argentine Confederation
Hung Hsiu-ch'uan, Warlord of China
Francisco Solano Lo´pez, Dictator of Paraguay
Antonio Guzma´n Blanco, President of Venezuela
Leopold II, King of Belgium
Mwanga, Kabaka of Buganda

THE MODERN WORLD
Porfirio Di´az, Dictator of Mexico
Tzu-hsi, Dowager Empress of China
Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Leader of the USSR
The Three Pashas, Rulers of the Ottoman Empire
Syngman Rhee, President of Korea
Juan Pero´n, President of Argentina
Josef Stalin, Leader of the USSR
Benito Mussolini, Dictator of Italy
Adolf Hitler, Fu¨hrer of Germany
Anto´nio de Oliveira Salazar, Ruler of Portuga
Rafael Trujillo, Dictator of the Dominican Republic
Francisco Franco, Dictator of Spain
Ayatollah Khomeini, Ruler of Iran
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar, Dictator of Cuba
Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam
Sukarno, President of Indonesia
Franc¸ois Duvalier ('Papa Doc'), President of Haiti
Enver Hoxha, Leader of Albania
Alfredo Stroessner, Dictator of Paragua
Augusto Pinochet, President of Chile
Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines
Nicolae Ceausescu, Dictator of Romania
Jean Bedel Bokassa, President, Central African Republic
Idi Amin, President of Uganda
Francisco Maci´as Nguema, President of Equatorial Guinea
Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe
Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
Efrain Ri´os Montt, Dictator of Guatemala
Pol Pot, Leader of Cambodia
Mobutu Sese Seko, Dictator of the Congo
Mengistu Haile Mariam, Ruler of Ethiopia
Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq
Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia
Muammar al-Gaddafi, President of Libya
Hissen Habre´, Dictator of Chad
Sani Abacha, Dictator of Nigeria
Omar al-Bashir, Dictator of Sudan
Samuel Doe, Dictator of Liberia
Charles Taylor, President of Liberia