Macbeth Tyrant Matching

King of England 1509–1547. Ordered friends, relatives, and wives executed; allowed torture; dissolved monasteries; persecuted people who rejected his church supremacy.

President of Chile 1973–1990. Used mass arrests, unfair trials, torture, secret executions, and imprisonment; thousands killed, tortured, or exiled.

Chancellor of Germany 1933–1945. Started World War II and ordered the Holocaust; millions murdered in death camps.

Founder and ruler of the Mongol Empire 1206–1227. Known for brutal conquest, massacres of defeated peoples, and harsh enforcement of his rule.

Leader of the Soviet Union 1922–1953. Responsible for purges, famine, mass killings, and the gulag labor camp system.

Ruler of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) 1975–1979. Killed about a quarter of the population; created the Killing Fields; abolished education and religion.

Tsar of Russia 1533–1584. Used terror and executions without trial; had wives killed and his eldest son murdered.

Leader in France 1793–1794. Directed the Reign of Terror; mass executions following the French Revolution.

Ruler of Libya 1969–2011. Repression and human rights abuses; supported terrorism and was linked to attacks such as Lockerbie.

Leader of Cuba (Prime Minister 1959–1976; President 1976–2008). Human rights abuses; large-scale exile; shortages and restricted freedoms.

Shakespeare’s Scottish ruler who murders King Duncan, arranges Banquo’s murder, orders attacks on Macduff’s family, and rules through fear and violence.