Most Evil Dictators and What they Did

Joseph Stalin leader of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin was born on December 18 1878 in Gorey Georgia and the Russian Empire to a poor family at age seven he called smallpox leaving him with a puck marked face Joseph's mother was a devout Russian Orthodox Christian and wanted him to become a priest in 1895 she sent him to study into fleece the Georgian Capital however he started reading the writings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin after joining a secret organization which wanted Georgian independence from Russia in 1901 he joined the Social Democratic labor party and organized protests and Strikes for the Revolutionary movement against tsarism a year later he was arrested for coordinating a strike and sent to prison Stalin would join the Bolshevik party and use guerrilla warfare during the Russian Revolution of 1905. he impressed the party's leader Vladimir Lenin and his ability to organize meetings and Strikes as well as his ruthless techniques to raise money for the Party by kidnapping and robbery in 1907 he sold 250 000 rubles in a bank robbery into fleece to fund the cause around this time he adopted the name Stalin which means Steel in Russian or Man of Steel during the Russian Revolution in 1917 Stalin ran the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda by October the Revolution was over and the Bolsheviks were in control a civil war Then followed with a Bolshevik victory in 1922 Stalin was appointed General Secretary of the Communist party and he manipulated his role so that he was in a powerful position Lenin died in 1924 and it was assumed that Leon Trotsky would be the next leader but Stalin would make sure this wouldn't happen he had Trotsky and other threats to his future leadership removed from the Central Committee and exiled eventually Stalin was effectively dictator of the Soviet Union in the late 1920s Stalin would aim to turn the Soviet Union into a modernized industrialized country and he wanted it done rapidly he developed three five-year plans between 1928 and 1938 coal oil steel and electricity production massively increased but workers who failed to achieve their ambitious targets for production were executed or sent to the gulags he also introduced collectivization to increase food production seizing land originally given to the peasants and reorganizing it into Collective Farms Mass famine was caused as a result and millions died but Stalin saw this as a necessary evil to achieve the Ambitions of his five-year plans and transform the Soviet Union has Stalin created a cult of personality through culture he became more paranoid everyone had to praise him and his portrait was everywhere from schools to factories in 1934 Stalin had party member Sergey kirov killed because of the threat to his power throughout the 30s Stalin purged Communist party members and 81 of the 103 generals and Admirals were executed in the Red Army 20 million citizens in the Soviet Union were sent to the gulags or executed in 1939 Stalin made a deal with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 the Red Army was not prepared and suffered massive losses and had not helped that Stalin had purged many talented officers during the 30s Stalin refused to leave Moscow as the German forces moved further east in 1942 the Red Army at Stalingrad were told not to give the city to German forces and to defend it at all costs as the city bore Stalin's name this was the turning point in pushing the Nazis back and soon the Red Army was liberating Eastern Europe all the way to Berlin the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945 between the Soviet Union USA and Britain was tense with the use of the atom bomb the Allies did not need the help of the Soviet Union in defeating Japan Stalin felt betrayed and with the Rivalry between the ideologies of capitalism and communism reignited he grew more suspicious and paranoid of the West the Cold War had begun East Berlin and Eastern Europe which were occupied territories by the Soviet forces were transformed into satellite States forming a bulwark between the Soviet Union and Stalin's former allies as his health deteriorated in the early 1950s and after an attempted assassination Stalin's paranoia increased even to the doctors looking after him which he had tortured to confessions of poisoning he also ordered the head of the secret police laurenti Beria to investigate a new Purge of the Communist Party panicking members of the pilot Borough into wondering if they would be executed before this could happen Stalin died of a stroke on March 5th 1953 at his funeral huge crowds gathered to pay their respects and 500 people were crushed as a result of people surging forward after a power struggle over who would be the next leader of the Soviet Union from the inner circle Nikita Khrushchev succeeded Stalin while he was a stalinist he would denounce the dictator and reform Stalin's policies of Terror and fear during a destalinization process [Music] gulags the Soviet Union gulags or Maine administration of corrective labor camps or forced labor camps in the Soviet Union created under Vladimir Lenin after the Russian Revolution but made famous during the Stalin era prisoners would come into the gulags in large numbers during the years of collectivization of Soviet agriculture from 1929 to 1932 the peak of Stalin's purges during the late 30s and after World War II Rich peasants called culocks criminals axis prisoners dissident intellectuals political and religious prisoners and even innocent people were sent to the gulags as threat to Stalin's regime most of the dulag camps were located in the bitter cold Wilderness of Siberia the camps would be surrounded by barbed wire and fencing with guard towers watching over any potential Escape attempts as well as the cold disease hunger and violence were a common everyday occurrence overcrowding was a big problem in the camps and Barracks were tightly packed with lice infestations and poor Heating prisoners were made to do forced labor such as chopping wood mining or constructing industrial projects refusal could result in Starvation or execution some prisoners rewarded with better rations were also chosen as informers to report on the behavior of fellow inmates for misbehaving Prisoners the guards would put them in solitary confinement cells which were extremely cold and damp with rations every few days the odds of survival were low millions of Soviet citizens were sent to the gulags for going against Stalin's hard-line communist rule in a time of paranoia following Stalin's death in 1953 gulags became less harsh and many prisoners were freed producing gulags in size significantly but the system would exist all the way up until the Gorbachev era punishment in the Congo Free State under Leopold II the 19th century the horrific atrocities that took place in the Congo free state are often compared to the Holocaust with King Leopold II of Belgium being compared to the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler between 1885 and 1908 Leopold II personally ruled the Congo in sub-Saharan Africa which was largely unexplored at this time as only the coastal areas had been claimed by other European countries he named it the Congo free state which is rather ironic when you realize what went on there the local population was anything but free in order to acquire the Congo in 1879 the king sent Henry Morton Stanley to survey the Congo River Basin area he was a journalist and an explorer who like the king saw great economic possibilities in Africa under the guise of the king's holding company which laughingly was devoted to free trade and the suppression of the slave trade he established trading outposts along the navigable river along with fortified military posts built roads and bridges and made treaties with over 500 Congolese Chieftains in return for putting their marks on the mysterious pieces of paper the Chiefs unwittingly accepted the flag of the Congo Association and only received cheap trinkets bags of salt and lengths of cloth for their trouble the king found the perfect political moment to acquire the Congo during the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885. by now many explorers were going to Africa to claim vast areas of land on behalf of their own country and this had become known as the Scramble for Africa and was leading to the carving up of the continent by the major powers using skillful and cunning diplomacy Leopold was able to secure the Congo River basin for himself and this is when he renamed the territory the Congo free state now he was the absolute ruler of an area that was nearly 80 times the size of Belgium in addition to that he found himself in the right technological moment in time to consolidate his grip on the Congo he needed the right tools these tools hadn't been available to the colonists of old but proved to be crucial now a few thousand men were with these tools able to dominate the land holding 20 million Africans the first of these modern tools was the Weaponry the Primitive muzzle loaders were replaced by the new breach loading rifles such as the Albini and if the Congolese wanted to resist they could only obtain the former weapons plus the traditional bow and arrow and the steer the breach loading rifles were far superior they shot much further were more accurate and used quick loading waterproof brass cartridges also firing guns in the rain would no longer be a problem as it had been when using gunpowder secondly medical knowledge was just as important Europeans weren't used to the tropical climate and the diseases it carried this resulted in a very high mortality rate for them around about 1900 the Europeans had learned that quinine was a useful defense against malaria diseases such as malaria and hematuria were now better understood some researchers could also treat yellow fever and many other diseases the death rates therefore dropped significantly the final and most important new tool was the paddle Steamboat this was especially useful in the case of a Congo's unusual topography these steamboats were able to make the long Voyage from Europe to Africa easier and faster which meant that a fixed travel schedule could be maintained these boats carried the waves of Leopold's agents into Africa although Leopold had used the activities of Arab slave traders to justify becoming involved in the Congo he completely ignored the fact that slavery was banned and illegal by the final decade of the 19th century John Boyd dunlop's 1887 invention of inflatable rubber bicycle inner tubes and the popularity of the automobile dramatically increased Global demand for rubber therefore this rubber boom became a godsend for the king he had accumulated a great number of debts due to his investments in the Congo needed to make this whole Enterprise profitable because harvesting rubber from a tree was faster and easier than from a Vine output could be increased and therefore more profit made to make sure that the extraction of rubber from the rubber trees would be maximized he created a labor policy and practically Enslaved the natives this policy is known by critics as the Red Rubber system in reference to the African blood that was shed during this period methods included robbing the natives of their livestock and grain supplies attacking them and then taking their women and children as hostages if the required quota of rubber was presented by the chieftain of the district then the women and children were sold back to their families they had to pay a couple of goats a piece for them if a man refused to work this could result in the death of his wife and if a whole settlement refused to work for the rubber companies then a Detachment of soldiers from the forced public would be sent to destroy their Village and kill anyone who was foolish enough not to flee the area so the workers were to extract rubber with minimal expenses and under terrible conditions the agents Leopold had sent to the Congo used forced labor and slave labor to ensure this happened and the cultures were met in 1885 Leopold formally United his agents and mercenaries under the title of the force public their purpose was to maintain Law and Order in the Congo free state these men enforced the rubber quotas and were armed not only with modern weapons but also with the chicote this was a bull whip made of hippopotamus skin and was used to beat the natives for any misdemeanor or just for their own sadistic enjoyment as if the beatings and abductions weren't bad enough the soldiers of the force public also used to cut off the right hands of the natives as punishment if they refused to work or didn't meet their impossible work quotas some managed to survive this mutilation but many died mostly when Gang Green set in and the wound became infected if they killed a native by shooting them then the soldiers were made to cut off the right hand of their victim to show that a bullet hadn't been wasted as the ammunition was imported from Europe and was expensive to buy and the soldiers would often try and use their issued bullets to hunt the wildlife for sport or to complement their meager rations they would also try and stockpile the ammunition in case of the idea of mutiny ever manifested itself so that they would be prepared for it if a villager decided to flee the horrors and run away then the soldiers would round up their entire family and systematically amputate their hands or feet but not only hands as noses and ears were also cut off while these mutilations were performed on living people they were mostly carried out on villagers who had been killed there were survivors of these massacres that said they pretended to be dead while the attacks went on and managed to remain motionless when the soldiers hacked off their hands and only sought help when the soldiers had gone in some cases the soldiers could reduce their length of service with the force public by bringing extra severed hands to present to the European post commanders but this practice only led to even more unnecessary mutilations the hands became like a currency for the guards and sometimes they were the resource they went out to harvest instead of rubber Captain Leon ROM was a soldier who was the main administrator at one of the heavily fortified trading stations at Stanley falls in the Congo and it was said that he used the severed heads of at least 21 Congolese as a border decoration around the flower beds in front of his house the practice of having skulls on display was not particularly unusual in Central African society at the time another horrific incident reported that the first public soldiers tied 10 villagers inside a fishing net weighted down with rocks and then dragged them into the river to drown King Leopold was set to frown upon the practice of cutting off hands as it was counterproductive to the useful deployment of the labor force he is reported as shouting cut off everything else but not their hands the one thing I need in the Congo is hands the exact death toll is not known for closely connected sources combined the whole population loss though primarily it was the wholesale genocide of the natives followed by starvation exhaustion and exposure then there were the diseases some were natural like this sleeping sickness outbreak which was caused by the bite from a teetsy fly after initial symptoms including a fever headaches and aching joints the victim then started to hallucinate fall into a coma and die some diseases were introduced by the Europeans such as various venereal diseases and smallpox lastly there was the falling birth rate which was relative to a declining population Edmund Dane Morrell one of the important figures who exposed the atrocities to the world said that the Congo free state consisted of 20 million people before King Leopold II came on the scene Mark Twain a prominent writer who also condemned what happened in the Congo mentioned a number of 10 million deaths so approximately half the population was wiped out during this period the exact number of deaths as a result of Leopold's atrocities in the Congo is unknown but it's definitely in the Millions [Music] the great leaped forward 1958-1962 in 1949 the Communist Party of China had emerged Victorious after a brutal and bitter Civil War their leader Mao Zedong set about radically transforming China which despite being a vast and highly populated country was politically weak very traditional and lacking in industry the Communists began to modernize China drawing up The First Five-Year Plan in 1952 emulating the Soviet model of industrialization this saw extensive investment in heavy industry within the cities in the attempt to increase production the problem was that in a nation where four-fifths of the population lived in rural areas there simply wasn't enough people working in heavy industry to allow it to grow to the desired levels as well as this the rate of agricultural food production wasn't high enough to allow the industrial Workforce to expand further and keep the workers fed mile therefore turned his attention to the countryside rural China was deeply traditional with Society based on the family and deference to the elderly peasants would work the land and small family groups keeping most of their Harvest and selling on small amounts for Mao seeking to build a communist society in which everyone worked for the state and a nation which could rival the USA and USSR this needed to change Land Reform where estates had been taken from rich landowners and redistributed to The Peasants had taken place shortly after the Communists had come to power collectivization where peasants lost their own pieces of land and instead worked for wages on land owned by the state had also begun to take place Mal believed this wasn't enough to expand both Agricultural and industrial production and instead introduced the second Five-Year Plan in 1958 this would become known as the Great Leap Forward the Soviet model of development was now rejected Agricultural and political decisions were decentralized technical expertise within the state bureaucracy were now distrusted with political ideology emphasized the plan was designed to get laborers in the countryside working at full capacity this would allow an agricultural Surplus part of which could be forcibly purchased by the government in order to feed industrial workers and expand production in the cities the plan also sought to find a method to organize rural workers to directly contribute to industrial production to achieve all of these objectives the establishment of communes was ordered on a vast scale in a matter of months millions of peasants were forcibly banded together in large-scale communes numbering 20 000 or more people these communes meant the complete end to individual small Holdings as now all farmers in the commune were responsible for the collective performance of their land it was hoped that labor would be more efficient and food production would grow rapidly therefore helping Agriculture and industry to grow together and prevent the food shortages that had held back industry before the organization of the communes also provided child care facilities for the very young and houses of happiness for the elderly freeing up workers to do their jobs backing was received for the collectivization policy by a wide-ranging program of propaganda people were encouraged to contribute however they could such as banging pots to deter sparrows from eating the crops or shooting them down Millions supported the Great Leap Forward enthusiastically at first especially as it meant readily available food in the commune kitchens regardless of how much work an individual had done the policy also gave great power away and influence to local officials in the countryside who had the role of managing the communes Mao also wanted agricultural workers to contribute to Industry under the slogan walking on two legs agricultural workers were drafted from their jobs as Farmers to work in the countryside factories backyard furnaces were also established where Farmers with little to no experience would produce Iron and Steel everything from cooking pots to radiators were to be melted down while wooden furniture and trees became fuel the plan was to increase Chinese steel production from 5 million tons a year in 1957 to a massive 100 million tons annually by 1962. towards the Autumn of 1958 it seemed to many as though things were going well however the reality was hidden by the uncommonly good weather of that year which had led high levels of agricultural production by the end of the year some officials were beginning to worry in the knowledge that over optimism had led rural workers to eating too much of the Harvest leaving stockpiles for the winter and spring of the following year dangerously low many also recognize the fact that a large proportion of laborers lacked the incentive to work in such large communes or that transport and Supply problems were causing issues the steel which was being produced by rural laborers was also found to be unusable and much of it was left to rust ing so many agricultural workers into the factories had caused a shortage of labor on the farms scaring or shooting sparrows till they dropped causes severe ecological imbalance it resulted in an explosion in the Vermin population including crop eating insects now with no predators deep plowing was another policy that caused Great harm to crops instead of planting seeds in the normal shallow depths they were to be planted 5 feet or 1.5 meters deep into the soil and extremely close together the result was that this severely stunted the growth of the seeds due to overcrowding Mao soon began to talk of scaling back the Great Leap Forward however political rivalry and suspicion soon intervened with MAO ordering purges carried out against those who criticized his policy this had the effect of encouraging local officials desperate to protect their positions to continue to support the Great Leap Forward at times even more keenly than they had done before therefore despite the fact that agricultural production had not expanded these officials did not dare question orders requiring them to send a large proportion of the grain that did remain to the cities this had the effect of terrible starvation in the countryside which became even worse with bad droughts and floods in the harvests of 1959 and 1960. the communal kitchens where Rice have been freely given in 1958 was now severely rationed in what people received and in the worst cases there was nothing available at all laborers who didn't meet their quotas would not receive their food rations so those were unable to work starved to death there were accounts of people eating everything living or growing that was left Goose cats dogs lime plaster of walls and the leaves and bark off trees were consumed after these were gone people even resorted to cannibalism and murder to feed their extreme hunger despite the famine in the countryside Mao continued to export grain worldwide and refused any foreign aid to maintain face and convince people that his plans were working as the food supply going to the cities began to dwindle famine also hit urban areas the death toll for the Great Leap Forward at the lower end estimate is said to be 18 million while upper estimates find that some 45 million people died Mao was held responsible for this catastrophe by many people within the Chinese Communist Party he remained as party chairman but by 1962 many decisions to do with policy and the economy were taken over by other people the communes were scaled back individual farming was once again permitted and industrial workers were given greater incentives to work hard Mao though remained a powerful figure able to launch the cultural revolution in 1966. King Leopold II and the Congo free state the cruel Congo colony between 1885 and 1908 the Belgian King Leopold II personally ruled the Congo free state which was also known as the independent state of the Congo because he ruled the state personally he had total control of its resources and had to answer to no one in 1865 King Leopold II succeeded his father King Leopold the first to the Belgian Throne the Belgium nation was a young one created in the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1830. it recently had broken away from the Netherlands and was recognized as a neutral and constitutional monarchy Belgium experienced great Industrial Development and Colonial expansion during Leopold's Reign and he is mainly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo free state brutal exploitation of the Congolese population in his pursuit of resources like Ivory and rubber are infamous the king believed that without a colony a country could never achieve any historical significance and in addition to that he believed a colony would have great economic possibilities and could help spread Western Civilization underneath this is a constitutional Monarch Leopold II had no real power in Belgium so it could offer him a way to gain more power and enrich himself however his government disagreed with him they considered colonialism to be anachronistic and were therefore not interested in pursuing his Colonial dreams the king knew he couldn't count on their support and had to think of another way his eyes were set on the Congo in sub-Saharan Africa which was largely unexplored in the mid-19th century and was mostly unclaimed by European countries except for the coastal areas King Leopold II developed a new strategy to obtain the Congo in 1876 he helped organize a geographical conference in Brussels so that his operations would be legitimized there he proposed the creation of a holding company named The Association International African later known as the comate de tud Polo Congo and finally as the association International dukongo from 1879. the AIA would provide a front for his Colonial activities that way he would have a recognized and philanthropic platform as its Mission Leopold pledged to suppress the East African slave trade guarantee free trade with the colony and promote humanitarian policies this was to distract critics and justify Leopold's ambition on the Congo in 1878 the King founded journalist and explorer who also saw great economic possibilities in Africa named Henry Morton Stanley Stanley had been to the Congo between 1874 and 1877. the King decided to hire him to survey the Congo River area in 1879. Stanley was to build roads and bridges established posts along the navigable river and he had to make treaties with the Congolese Chiefs his exploration was under the guise of Leopold's holding company which was devoted to free trade in the suppression of the slave trade Stanley returned in 1882 and had concluded treaties with over 500 Chiefs these Chiefs did not have a true idea of what they had signed and only received a few yards of cloth or a few trinkets in exchange for putting their marks on his mysterious papers and thus accepting the flag of the Congo Association King Leopold II was not the only person to see great opportunities in Africa many explorers went there trying to claim pieces of land this became known as the Scramble for Africa and led to the division of Africa at the Berlin Conference from 1884 to 1885. here Leopold used skillful and cunning diplomacy and played the major Powers against each other he managed to get the Congo River Basin and change the name of the territory to the Congo free state now he was the absolute ruler of the Basin which was eight times the size of Belgium Europe had no way to enforce the general agreements made at the conference which included further steps to root out slave trade and the protection of the rights of the local people as the enforcement of these agreements was therefore impossible Leopold was determined to make the Congo commercially profitable therefore he ignored the fact that slavery was banned the world was demanding rubber for the growing bicycle and automobile industry and much of the resource was found in the Congo the local people were put to work to collect the Rubber and were to meet inhumane quotas under impossible conditions the natives were to slash The Vines and lather their bodies with the rubber and then scrape it off into the baskets if these quotas were not met horrible consequences would follow beatings with a Chicot whip mutilation or death those who refuse to provide labor rubber or Ivory met with the same fate Leopold had set up his own private Army the force public to enforce these quotas and suppress any uprising they were recruited or conscripted from tribes in the old Congo Zanzibar and British West Africa as proof that they had killed a villager who didn't fulfill their quota these soldiers were required to sever the hands-off to show their officers one hand for every bullet used this was because the officers were concerned that ammunition was being wasted on hunting animals for sport Desperate Measures were taken as the quantity of chopped off hands could pay for an unfulfilled rubber quota there were even small Wars between villages to provide enough hands and soldiers would cut them off from villagers dead or alive Leon ROM was the brutal administrator who was in charge of the force public he was known to decorate his flower bed with the severed heads of his victims and kept a Gallows outside his house at Stanley Falls while choosing to maximize his short-term economic gains Leopold II exhausted the resources and Enslaved the people he managed to gain a serious income from this and amassed a personal Fortune but this was not enough to make it profitable and more Investments were needed in 1889 and 1895 the king borrowed money from his own government in return the government would get the right to Annex the Congo in 1901. that year the government decided not to use that opportunity and Leopold could continue his exploitations the atrocities became clearer and clearer starting in 1890. that year George Washington Williams who was an African-American Baptist Minister made a trip across the Congo free state he was shocked by what he saw and wrote an open letter to the king condemning the brutal and inhumane treatment of the locals he said that the crimes committed were done in the king's name and even though he hadn't set one foot in the Congo he would still be just as guilty unfortunately Williams died on the way home and therefore the king didn't feel compelled to investigate the accusations but after this letter other reports soon followed a public outrage in the beginning of 1904 after European press Revelations of what actually was going on in the Congo led to an international protest movement prominent writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Mark Twain took part in these condemnations Twain wrote a pamphlet called King Leopold Soliloquy and Doyle later in 1909 published the crime of the Congo after supporting the campaign for reforms Joseph Conrad visited the Congo colony which inspired him to write the novel Heart of Darkness and Leon ROM may have been the basis for the character of Kurtz it is estimated that as many as 10 million people had died during the Congo free State's existence which was half of the population in November 1908 it was over the Belgian government forced the king to end his rule over the Congo free state and give it to Belgium starting November 15 1908 the Congo was a Belgian colony China's Little Red Book quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong 1964. there are a handful of books that have influenced hundreds of millions of people's lives over the decades centuries and Millennium of human existence Mao's Little Red Book or quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong was one of these it was a book of political and cultural statements based on the speeches writing and thoughts of China's communist leader Chairman Mao Zedong Mao was the Chinese revolutionary leader who after leading a long-armed struggle helped found the People's Republic of China in 1949. his book quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong which became commonly known as The Little Red Book was the idea of General Lin biao compiled by the staff of the people's Liberation Army daily it was first published in 1964. book helped promote even further the personality cult that surrounded Mao and his own brand of Communism that became collectively known as maoism the book would be printed by the hundreds of millions and it got its name from the fact that it had a vivid red cover and was pocket size the idea was for the party's faithful to carry it around with them constantly so it was always ready at hand for them to consult and inspire the book's slogan was workers of the World Unite and at one stage in China during what was called the cultural revolution it was almost mandatory to carry around a copy the Chinese Cultural Revolution ran from 1966 to 1976 and was pioneered by Chairman Mao its aim was to rid communist China once and for all of the Devils of capitalism and imperialist Chinese traditions final version of the Little Red Book contained 267 quotations covering 25 topics such as War and Peace Unity discipline women criticism and self-criticism it imperialism and correcting mistaken ideas one section was on how to be a good communist and citizen stating a communist must be selfless with the interests of the masses at heart he was to possess a largeness of mind as well as a practical far-sighted mindset another stressed how everyone was involved intellectuals students soldiers and the average peasant were to involve themselves in political work and study Marxism and leninism it was at first only distributed among top officials in order to get feedback then an expanded version was given out to the people's Liberation Army finally a year later in 1965 hundreds of print shops were set up across China and it was made available to the masses because it was a simplified version of Mao's writings the Little Red Book helped the peasants and workers understand Mao's ideas therefore helping the widespread indoctrination of Mao's cult of personality and communist ideology the authorities expected all loyal citizens to own a copy and not only to carry it around at all times but to actively read it on a daily basis for inspiration and guidance in all aspects of everyday life disrespecting or misquoting the book could get you in trouble after that it was actively promoted in communist countries but when Chinese and Soviet relations started to turn sour during the 1960s the book was banned in the Soviet Union after Mao's death in 1976 his successors tried to discourage the book and its maoist teaching operation Valkyrie the plot to kill Hitler July 20th 1944 World War II Nazi Germany the courtyard of the high command building in Berlin it was early in the morning of July 21 1944 and in a courtyard lit by the headlights of an army truck a 36 year old colonel was placed before a firing squad to be executed for high treason just before he was shot he cried out defiantly long live our sacred Germany so who was this man his name was Klaus Von stauffenberg and apart from being an officer in the German Army he was also a war hero having been awarded the Iron Cross first class he was also of noble blood holding the grand title of count of stauffenberg his family being one of the oldest and most distinguished aristocratic Catholic families in southern Germany at the beginning of the war stauffenberg took part in the Polish French Russian and North African campaigns he was also the man who nearly assassinated Adolf Hitler Hitler had survived several assassination attempts prior to this but this was to be the very last stauffenberg's views on Hitler were conflicting on one hand he thought he was a good military leader and was impressed by the fuhrer's grasp of military strategy and he also thought he could save Germany from the corrupting dangers of Communism but he had serious misgivings about his social policies which went against his strong Catholic Christian and political beliefs stauffenberg thought that World War II was an unnecessary War feeling the conflict could and should have been avoided this view was quickly reinforced as the war unfolded he was first approached about joining the German resistance as early as 1940 but he declined out of loyalty to the oath he took to obey the office of the fuhrer that Adolf Hitler held so at this stage he felt honor-bound to not get involved with the resistance but he became further disillusioned with what he saw when he took part in the invasion of Russia in 1941 and was particularly disgusted by the SS's violent treatment of the Jewish population by 1942 he was meeting regularly with opponents of Hitler and coming around to the idea that Hitler's removal was the only way to save Germany stauffenberg was sent to Tunisia to join the Africa Corps to take part in the North African campaign in April 1943 his unit was strafed by an RAF fighter bomber and he was severely injured costing him and I his right hand two fingers on his left hand and damage to his legs he spent three months in a hospital in Germany recovering from his wounds once recovered he could no longer carry out combat duties so stauffenberg was assigned to the office of General Friedrich ulbricht in Berlin obrecht was the chief of the general Army office among the many things that his office had worked on Albrecht was to develop the contingency plan operation Valkyrie this was to be used in case of internal Uprising or unrest which was becoming a possibility as Germany was losing the war ingeniously the German resistance realized they could use this plant to mobilize the reserve Army to suppress the Nazi government as the conspirators who were seizing control for themselves for the plan to work Hitler had to be dead and this would allow for operation Valkyrie to be activated and have his inner circle falsely arrested framing them to look as if they were the heads of a fictitious coup attempt then the true conspirators would form a government more acceptable to the Allies which they then hoped could negotiate a reasonable peace with them schnaufenberg was crucial for this plan to work as his duties in his new position included him attending regular meetings with Hitler and his high command so a plan was formulated with stauffernberg and his growing band of fellow conspirators that he would have a bomb with a 10-minute timer hidden in his briefcase among his papers they planned not only to kill Hitler but his two closest and Powerful trusted commanders at the same time reich's Marshall Hermann Goering and reich's fuhrer Heinrich Himmler but this proved impractical so on July 20th 1944 they put their plan into action stauffenberg attended a conference at Hitler's command headquarters called the wolf's Lair complex in East Prussia the original plan for the conference was that it was to be held in a secure underground concrete bunker but at the last minute perhaps because of the extreme heat of that summer day it was decided to hold the day's meetings in a more spacious above-ground and well-ventilated Conference Room around 20 people attended including Hitler stauffenberg had already set the fuse when he entered the conference room he then placed the briefcase under the giant Oak conference table that everyone was crowded around as Hitler was pointing to various Maps then a pre-arranged phone call gave schnaufenberg the excuse that he needed to leave the room straight away shortly afterwards at 12 42 the bomb exploded completely wrecking the conference room blowing out its walls causing the roof to collapse and starting several small fires the meeting stenographer was killed instantly three officers died a few days later from their injuries many others were also injured unknown to stauffenberg and his co-conspirators Hitler had survived the blast though his right arm had been badly injured it was also said his trousers had been blown off by the force of the explosion but in reality they were torn to shreds schnaufenberg believing Hitler was dead had immediately driven away from the wolf's Lair and took a plane back to Berlin ordering operation Valkyrie into effect units of the German Reserve Army were mobilized and took control of radio stations telephone centers and key government buildings at this time there were conflicting reports on Hitler's status after the explosion then the reserve Army also believing Hitler was dead made arrests on the leading members of the framed Nazi government thinking they were putting down a coup when in fact they were unwittingly aiding one major Otto Ernst Rima was ordered to arrest minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels however the truth came out when Goebbels handed Remer the telephone and he heard Hitler's voice on the other end realizing he had been taking orders from mutineers reamer was now ordered to crush the plot by Hitler the conspirators plan was brilliantly simple but quickly fell apart when it became apparent Hitler was still alive and the truth was out all of those involved were quickly rounded up including stauffenberg who was arrested after a short shootout where he was wounded in the shoulder Colonel General Friedrich Fromm who had been a quiet supporter of the coup betrayed them once it had failed schtaufenberg and three other of the officers involved quirnheim ulbricht and Verna Von haften were hastily tried in a court-martial and taken to the Courtyard of the Mendler block where they were shot this was against the orders by Hitler to arrest the conspirators alive most likely to hide frome's involvement in the coup of the conspirators evaded capture and many chose suicide rather than face torture and humiliation at the hands of the Gestapo the much feared secret police so after rushed mock trials that were ironically called The People's Court and Sham court martials it's estimated nearly 5 000 Germans were executed for their direct or indirect involvement in the plot they were executed by various means hanging guillotining firing squad and even strangulation stauffenberg's own brother was one of those slowly strangled to death in a Berlin prison in August since the war streets schools and buildings have been named after stauffenberg in recognition of the sacrifice he had made to rid Germany of the Tyrant that was Hitler and the Nazis a day in the life of Stalin Joseph Stalin originally Jose riones deseguya gashvili was born in the small Georgian town of Gori in December of 1878. he grew up poor but excelled at school after a brief stint in a seminary Joseph became interested in socialist politics inspired by the writings of Karl Marx by 1912 adimir Lenin who he had first met in 1905 at a Bolshevik conference in Tema Force Finland had made him a member of the Bolshevik Central Committee this paved the way for him to play a key role in the Bolshevik uprising of 1917 which brought about the demise of thesaurus Russia and ultimately led to the establishment of the USSR in 1922 after the death of Lenin in 1924 and the ensuing power struggle it was Stalin who emerged Victorious ruling the USSR with an iron fist until his death in 1953. it's believed that Stalin was responsible for the deaths of at least 6 million people while some Scholars have argued that the figure was closer to 20 million Stalin is therefore considered to have been one of the most ruthless and notorious dictators of the 20th century despite the brutality of his regime and the violence often shown towards those who lived under its Authority Stalin was a crucial Ally in the fight against Nazi Germany without the Soviet Union's role in World War II it's very likely that the Allies would have failed in their attempt to liberate Europe from the Axis powers at the outbreak of the so-called Great Patriotic War Stalin increased his work day significantly according to field Marshal gayorgi zukov Stalin worked as many as 15 hours a day and took no less than five leading positions upon himself these responsible roles included Supreme Commander General Secretary of the Central Committee of the all-union Communist Party chairman of the Council of people's commissars of the Soviet Union Head of the State Defense committee and people's commissar of Defense aware of the mounting stress on the Supreme Commander zhukov was cleverly able to gauge Stalin's mood when drawing deeply on his pipe it meant he was in a good mood if however Stalin failed to light his pipe once it was out of tobacco it was a sign of impending anger this understanding allowed zhukov to deal with Stalin in a way that the other generals couldn't it's believed that Stalin suffered from insomnia and was not an early riser he often slept in his clothes on a military-style camp bed in his personal residence failing any earlier emergencies that required his immediate attention he usually Rose at about 11 A.M to receive the first reports on how the war was progressing Stalin would have a light breakfast before spending several hours working which involved taking reports issuing orders and conducting meetings either at his home in kunzel or at the Kremlin twice a day at noon at 9 00 pm he received updates from his staff GA Planet potentiaries men who were directly overseeing the war effort failure to submit these reports was met by a harsh rebuke from the supreme leader often in the form of threats against their position within the government and even against their lives in the early hours of the evening Stalin would head to his office known to the regime insiders as the little corner which was on the second floor of the Kremlin from here he would run sessions of the gko the Soviet state defense committee which can be best compared to a war cabinet these sessions would go on for many hours sometimes not ending until well into the night this was a particularly tense time of day for Stalin's underlings both military and civilian the dictator's paranoia became increasingly worse throughout his Reign and entry to the little corner was tightly controlled no weapons were permitted and everyone no matter their rank had to carry their identification papers visitors were encouraged to never disagree with Stalin not to engage in small talk and to leave his presence quickly once they had finished giving their report the threat of arrest was ever present at the end of Stalin's heavy work day he would frequently invite other high-ranking members of the regime to join him for dinner at kunzel often to be followed by a movie these were not the kind of invitations that could be turned down after his men were finally allowed to return to their homes for a few hours of much needed rest Stalin would end the day reading books before finally going to sleep in the early hours of the morning whilst Stalin had the luxury of not having to rise until late into the day many members of the regime were not so fortunate and had to be ready for work in the early hours in order to ensure that the state ran smoothly Stalin's control over the lives of those who worked for him including his generals was so pervasive that many of them were even given set sleep times Alexander vasilevsky chief of the general staff of the Soviet armed forces and Deputy minister of defense for example was told that he had to be asleep between the hours of 4 AM to 10 a.m Stalin would personally phone him during these times to ensure that his orders were being followed such was the extent of vasilevsky's workload though that he was forced to order his staff to lie to Stalin and say that he was resting when he was in fact trying to sneak in a few extra hours of work in the early years of the war while there was still a serious threat of defeat by the Germans Stalin was not a heavy drinker he also strongly encouraged sobriety and those who worked for him from 1943 onward though this began to change and Stalin's near nightly dinners became increasingly drunk in events especially for his men these Affairs usually began late in the afternoon when Stalin's magnates would receive invitations to join him for dinner as before these were not the sort of invitations that could be declined over the course of the next six hours or so Stalin's Associates were encouraged to drink to excess Stalin joined in to drinking although his drinks were often watered down on medical advice these were not fun social events for the Soviet officials a single mistaken word could place either themselves or their families in danger in fact the Statesman anastas mikayan claimed that Stalin forced us to drink to loosen our tongues situation became so dire that some of the men were prepared to risk Stalin's anger and attempt to maintain some degree of sobriety through tactics such as sneaking out of the room for naps or having waitresses pour them colored water instead of wine it was in this atmosphere that a great deal of Soviet state business was done throughout the evening Stalin would continue to issue orders receive messages and even approve executions if necessary according to field Marshal zhukov many decisions relating to the armed forces and the security of the Soviet Union were regulated in these unofficial meetings as the contingent of the Gatherings largely consisted of the ussr's highest ranking officials late into the night usually around 2 A.M Stalin would suggest watching a movie Sometimes more than one he is known to have favored westerns detective films and gangster movies after this he would sometimes suggest another bite to eat meaning that his poor exhausted and now hungover officials often didn't get home until well past Daybreak as in earlier years Stalin would end his day reading books before finally falling asleep this state of affairs continued until March 1st 1953 when Stalin suffered a massive stroke he lingered on for several days before ultimately passing away on the evening of the fifth following the appropriate preparation his body was then displayed in the famous Hall of columns for mourners throughout the Soviet Union to visit Hitler's personal train the fury zonderzog during Hitler's occupation of Europe in World War II Hitler needed a way to travel the continent and a headquarters that was constantly on the move his answer a train Hitler first started using his personal train in January 1939 after commissioning several coaches between 1937 and 1939 that were made from welded steel and each weighing over 60 tons a few months later in August the German Railway authorities The Rice Pond christened the wartime version of the train as firer hot cortia or Furious headquarters later codenamed America but once most code names for German military trains were replaced on the 1st of February 1943 it was renamed as Brandenburg the wartime fear is under Zug meaning the fewer special train was used to visit many battlefronts and theaters of War across Germany Poland Italy and France however the train itself is shrouded in mystery we will never know exactly what parts the train consisted of as after each Journey all documentation on it was destroyed so it could not be used against the Nazis moreover Hitler's personal Carriage was blown up on the 27th of April 1945 by Hitler's trusted employee Julius Gregor Shaw but leaked information from June 1941 as well as Exton respond records have given us some idea as to its basic makeup the fear is under Zug was rearranged occasionally during its lifetime consequently it would have measured between 300 and 430 meters in length and would have had 10 to 16 components the first components were the two locomotives initially only one immediately followed by a flatbed flock wagon which was designed to look like a normal Freight wagon but had two anti-aircraft guns placed on top of it a baggage carrier followed the flock wagon and then behind that was Hitler's personal Carriage the fury wagon Hitler's Carriage must have been sizable because it consisted of two anti-chambers on each side a bedroom bathroom showers sitting room and three guest quarters next was the befills wagon the command car where Hitler's staff officers worked the first half of the wagon contained a conference room containing maps and three telephones in the second half there were four rooms which acted as the communications and deciphering center with switchboards a radio transmitter and a morse code receiver so Hitler could receive important information even on the move next was the big like mondovagon Barracks for Hitler's 22 SS bodyguard soldiers and rice Security Service the reiche steinheinsteins or RSD for short followed by the dining Carriage two guest carriages and the bathing car another dining Carriage followed two bedroom cars for staff and then the pressavagan which housed Hitler's press Chief Dr Otto Dietrich and his staff propaganda was an important part of Hitler's hold over Germany and it was important that the Press went where he did the final two carriages were another baggage car and flock bucket when Hitler wished to travel by the train he had to give up to two hours notice as it was usually kept at the temple hop maintenance Depot in Berlin the route and any stops along the way were kept to an absolute minimum and only a select few trusted staff knew information on where the train would travel policemen would be sent to patrol small portions of the track so as to thwart any assassination attempts like blowing up the Train by the Allies or anyone else similar to the German's other special military trains coaches would often follow the fear of Zander Zug or move ahead to confuse hostile enemies any station the train stopped at was heavily guarded and the platform was emptied of all luggage carriers and containers Railway police guarded all entrances and exits and Hitler's RSD Commander Johann rotten Uber was automatic head of Railway police for the duration of the journey before each Journey the fury zanderzug was carefully swept for explosives or concealed weapons and at the end every account of the journey from notes to written orders timetables and documents were collected counted and destroyed to hide the Train's Journey history Hitler's routine on the train consisted of Consulting with his advisors at 10 o'clock in the morning in his but feels wagon most of the rest of the day he spent supervising the ongoing work of his passenger employees view of his order survived but we do know he had a strict policy against smoking inside the carriages from 1939 to 1940 Hitler would appear at the windows of the train during stops greeting and saluting his crowds of supporters it proved an effective way of bolstering his Cult of Personality across Germany on the other hand there was little Hitler's RSD could do if an assassin were to emerge from the sea of hands and aim a gun or lob a grenade through the window consequently this practice was phased out and he kept the curtains of his car drawn during the end stages of the war in this way the curtains were also closed over the countless Jews being deported to his concentration camps and The Bleak ruins of Germany's once proud infrastructure leveled by Allied bombing by the end of the Balkans campaign in 1941 the train was no longer classed as Hitler's mobile headquarters although he continued to use it extensively to travel across Germany and to his multiple headquarters throughout the rest of the war whenever Hitler went on his private train his car and plane would follow close behind ready to whisk the fur away at a moment's notice on the 24th of October 1940 after an unproductive meeting with the Spanish General Franco at ondai the previous day Hitler traveled to Montauk Railway Station to meet the French Marshall baton it was in the dining car of the fura zanderzog that the fuhrer impeton first verbally discussed a state collaboration between Vichy France and Nazi Germany Bataan announced his collaboration to the French public six days later on the 27th of August 1941 Benito Mussolini prime minister of Italy and Germany's Ally met Hitler at onlage Zug to discuss their Soviet Union campaign both men traveled by train to a location where two reinforced tunnels were built 30 kilometers from each other the tunnels completed by hundreds of Polish concentration camp workers that summer perfectly fit the special trains and could be sealed in case of attack Hitler's fear is under Zug was parked in a Strife soft tunnel and Mussolini's in estepina and Hitler never once left the train each of the tunnels were 480 meters in length 8.3 meters wide and 12 meters high they were reinforced with two meters of solid concrete with the aim being to resist heavy aerial bombardment until support arrived shockingly the enormous inexpensive bunker tunnels would only be used twice by the pure over the course of the war the second time with Mussolini in October two months later there were multiple attempts on Hitler's life throughout the war but one that never made it off the planning board was the British idea to bomb the fury zondersuk the British Special Operations Executives had extensive explosives training and were confident they could successfully blow up the Train the plan never came to fruition however as it was deemed infeasible due to Hitler's extensive preparations before his journey on board the train his route was too unpredictable for the British to plant the bomb somewhere useful stations were only informed of his arrival minutes beforehand and he would travel at irregular times to throw them off the sand to be successful an assassin would need immediate and secret access to all this Insider information as well as somehow avoiding the surveillance of the permanent Railway guards once that idea had been scrapped a short-lived plan was to instead add 768 grams of what was called eye poison to the Train's kitchen water supply I was a lethal substance that would only show its effects after nearly a week and had no cure the Assassin would be a foreigner recruited to wash the Train's carriages and would find an opportunity to pour the poison into the 540 liter water tank of Hitler's private dining car while passenger food and bottled drinks were carefully checked the British soe believed that tap water was not therefore given that Hitler was fond of drinking tea The Poisoned water would not likely be noticed when he mixed it with milk however this was quickly labeled as too difficult Hitler's last journey on the fury zondersug was on the 16th of January 1945 when the Nazi leader left his headquarters in alderhaus to go back to Berlin although Hitler tried to destroy the Train by ordering the SS to blow it up his two steel carriages survived the war they were split between the USA and Britain who later returned the parts in the 1950s the German Chancellor Conrad Adenauer used some of the parts for his own train and other bits continued to be used until 1990 before they were eventually retired you can still see some of the remaining cars today in various museums across Germany

Channel: Simple History

Views: 2,527,396

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, Most Evil Dictators and What they Did, dictators in history, stalin, mao, leopold ii, congo free state, great leap forward, china, germany, ussr, russia, belgium, famine, totalitarian

Id: 5Bn1KWCpXPs

Length: 62min 3sec (3723 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 01 2022