During his reign, he instituted the “Red Terror” and instigated a civil war which involved the elimination of millions of people, whether opponents or otherwise. It was also during his political prominence when Russia suffered from one of the most severe famines the country has even seen which cost the lives of about 5 million people.

6. Kim Jong-Il

Kim Jong-Il succeeded his father, Kim Il Sung, to become North Korea’s supreme leader in 1997. In the midst of the economic hardships his people were suffering, Kim Jong-Il directed a huge portion of the national budget to the creation of nuclear weapons and to the maintaining of a large military. To make his fellow countrymen feel good about their country and their accomplishments, Kim’s government ran a propaganda which depicted the West as their country’s nemesis, and which made them believe that North Korea was the most technologically advanced and the richest country in the whole world.