The Most Cold-Blooded Rulers In History

During the 1970s, Uganda was experiencing some serious upheaval. According to History, it started almost right away in 1971, when General Idi Amin took it upon himself to overthrow the nation's government and declare himself president. Those were already after some pretty cutthroat moves on Amin's part, including an incident in the 1960s where Milton Obote, the previous prime minister, had ordered General Amin to dethrone a troublesome nearby king.

But things got truly awful after Amin quasi-officially took power. Tribal members who had sided with Obote in the past were subjected to horrifying killings, while anyone else who even seemed capable of opposing Amin was put in danger, too. All told, Amin's rampant paranoia resulted in the deaths of a staggering 300,000 people over the course of just eight years.

Amin's ruthless tactics weren't just limited to cold-blooded murder of his own people, either. Just a year after becoming president, Amin forced Asian immigrants out of the country, leading to a worker shortage and economic collapse that only made Uganda's situation worse. Unsurprisingly, Amin was deeply unpopular and, after antagonizing nearby Tanzania, was ousted in 1979. He fled the country and lived until his death in 2003, says the New York Times, never facing prosecution for his crimes.

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