More Of The Great Dictator(s) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Myanmar (Burma)

Following a military coup in 1962, Ne Win led Burma's military dominated government for 26 years. His authoritarian rule left the nation one of the UN's 'Least Developed Countries'. Known as a devotee of astrology and numerology, in 1987, Ne withdrew 50 and 100 kyat bills from circulation, replacing them with 45 and 90 kyat denominations - numbers divisible by 9 whose digits add up to nine. People's savings in the old currency were wiped out overnight.

This action led to an insurrection by at least one ethnic group. Ne Win resigned his posts in 1988, leaving leadership of the ruling junta to others.

Answer: Republic of The Gambia

Jammeh ruled The Gambia, Africa's smallest mainland country, from 1994 to 2017. Among his abusive policies was his claim that he could cure HIV/AIDS and asthma with herbal treatments, the killing of several protesters during a student demonstration, the death of up to 1000 people accused of witchcraft and institution of the death penalty for homosexuality. Jammeh lost a supervised election in late 2016 and was finally forced to step down and enter exile by pressure from other African governments.

Answer: Liberia

After leading a faction in Liberia's bloody civil war in the 1990s, Taylor was elected president when the civil war officially ended. His campaign slogan was, "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him." As president, Taylor involved himself in Sierra Leone's civil war, allegedly supporting atrocities committed by his allies.

When charged with various crimes, Taylor replied, "Jesus Christ was accused of being a murderer in his time." He was tried by an international tribunal and found guilty of 11 charges of various crimes against humanity. Sentenced to 50 years, Taylor is serving his sentence in a British prison.

Answer: Nicaragua

Born to a wealthy coffee growing family, Somoza failed in business before entering politics, eventually rising to lead Nicaragua's National Guard. After becoming president in 1936 his regime was one of the most corrupt and brutal of its time. Somoza survived largely due to American support for his anti-Communist policies.

After his assassination in 1956, his sons continued the families dictatorship until 1979 when the Sandinista rebel group took control of the nation.

Answer: Cambodia

Pol Pot and his communist Khmer Rouge government only ruled four years - 1975 through 1979. In that brief time about 1.5 million of Cambodia's 7 million people died. Many were executed, others died of disease, starvation and overwork. The Vietnamese army invaded and ejected the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot led a long-term insurrection but never took power again.

He was never brought to justice.

Answer: Equatorial Guinea

Son of a witch doctor, Nguema was Equatorial Guinea's first president upon its independence from Spain in 1968. During his 11-year reign, the nation became known as 'the Dachau of Africa' due to Nguema's efforts to prevent citizens from leaving the country.

He planted mines in the only road out of the country and banned fishing, ordering all boats destroyed. He was known to have ordered entire villages razed and the people killed. In 1978, he changed the nation's motto to "There is no other God than Macías Nguema".

He was deposed the following year, tried and executed along with several of his cohorts. During Nguema's reign as many as 80,000 people were killed. Equatorial Guinea's population at the time was about 350,000.

Answer: Ethiopia

When a military uprising forced out Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, Mengistu emerged as leader of the ruling Communist junta. His bloody consolidation of power and removal of opposition became known as the Ethiopian Red Terror. Mengistu's government was overthrown in 1991.

A court found him guilty of genocide in absentia for the deaths of up to 2 million Ethiopians, but he continued to live in exile in Zimbabwe.

Answer: Pakistan

Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan was President - really military dictator - of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971. His predecessor, Ayub Khan, left him with a country divided, literally, into East and West Pakistan and ongoing conflict with India over the division of Kashmir. Khan allowed promised elections in 1970 but when East Pakistan elected the entire slate of anti-West candidates, he ordered the army to crack down in the "Operation Searchlight" campaign which ultimately killed 3 million East Pakistanis. The crackdown led to civil war which drew India into the conflict on the side of East Pakistan. Following Pakistan's defeat, the east became the independent state of Bangladesh. Khan stepped down following the humiliating defeat.

He was arrested but suffered a stroke from which he never really recovered, and died in 1980.

Answer: Congo Free State

Congo Free State was the personal domain of Belgium's King Leopold II from 1885 to 1908. With the help of explorer Henry Morton Stanley, Leopold gained control of large swaths of territory along the Congo River during the 1870s. He convinced other European nations that he was interested in humanitarian and philanthropic deeds and was granted personal control over much of central Africa.

In practice, Leopold's governors enslaved much of the population forcing them to gather rubber, ivory and other valuable commodities which enriched Leopold directly. If natives failed to reach quotas assigned them, punishments were severe - amputations of hands and feet were common as was death.

In the first decade of the 20th century, condition in Congo became a major public scandal leading to annexation of Congo by the Belgian government in 1908. Estimates of the number of deaths in the Congo during Leopold's rule vary greatly but 5 to 10 million is a common range.

This would have been as much as 20% of the region's population.

Answer: Mexico

Diaz held Mexico's presidency from 1876 through 1911. Diaz' rule is controversial. He modernized the nation in many ways but his policies also led to the death of large numbers of Mexican peasants. Diaz sold the rights to Mexico's mining, manufacturing and railroads to American businesses.

After saying he would not run for an eighth term in 1910, Diaz changed his mind triggering the Mexican Revolution. He was deposed, fled to Europe and died there in 1920. Several efforts to return his remains to Mexico for interment have failed.

Answer: Turkmenistan

In addition to declaring himself father of all Turkmen, and president for life, Niyazov demanded that his citizens worship him daily, in strange and inconvenient ways. He re-named days of the week, months of the year, entire cities, and even the word for "bread" after himself and members of his family.

He also put his face on every bit of currency, news channel, and nearly every street corner to make sure his people really knew who was in charge. Niyazov was "President" of Turkmenistan from 1985 until his death in 2006.

Answer: Argentina

Videla was in command of the Argentine army and came to power as dictator in a 1976 coup, ruling until 1981. He was held responsible for as many as 30,000 deaths of political opponents. Another charge against him was the disappearance of numerous babies born while their mothers were in detention.

The babies were stolen and illegally adopted by members of Videla's regime. His defense was that the women became pregnant to avoid torture or execution. Following two trials, Videla died in prison at age 87.

Answer: Greece

Papadopoulos was involved in the "Colonels' Coup" which overthrew democratic government in Greece in 1967. He became the de facto leader of the junta, ruling until 1973 when one of his fellow colonels overthrew him. Papadopoulis had close connections to the American CIA claimed the coup was to avoid a Communist takeover of Greece.

The junta arrested thousands of opponents, imprisoning them on several Aegean islands. Torture and murder were common. Unseated by a student uprising in 1974, the colonels were tried for treason and other crimes. Papadopoulos and several others were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He died at age 80 in 1999 having turned down an amnesty which would have required him to acknowledge his crimes.

Answer: Mexico

Santa Anna held the presidency of Mexico an amazing 11 times between 1833 and 1855. He rarely involved himself in governing, preferring the trappings of office, leaving the work of the presidency to his vice presidents. He lost three wars to Texas, the US and France. Among other eccentricities, Santa Anna held a state funeral for his amputated leg after a French cannon shot caused him to lose it.

Answer: Libya

Gaddafi came to power in Libya in 1969 and ruled until his death in 2011 during a civil war. To the extent that he was politically motivated, Gaddafi was an Arab Nationalist. Actually, his regime became a personality cult with him as sole ruler. Gaddafi supported terrorist acts against Israel, Western Europe and the US. Captured in battle during the civil conflict, he was quickly killed by his captors.