While philosophers, sociologists, and religions offer opposing viewpoints on evil, ranging from the assertion that evil is an illusion, is relative, or is quite real and must be punished. Nevertheless, non-specialists would generally label some acts, and some persons who consistently commit such acts, as evil. Candidates for most evil usually include national leaders, such as Pol Pot (1925-1998), Idi Amin (1925-2003), and Adoph Hitler (1889-1945). While they may not have been famously evil if they remained regular citizens, their power put them in a position to magnify the effects of their actions. If Idi Amin never came to power in Uganda, for example, he may have merely been a small-scale, wife-beating, murderous thug.
Successful Men from Evil Cultures?
Some of the most evil candidates, like Attila the Hun (410-453) and Francisco Pizzaro (1471-1541) were operating within cultural norms. Conquistadors like Pizzaro considered trickery and slaughter of native populations to be well within the bounds of acceptable behavior. Attila’s extreme slaughters and rapes in the name of conquest were not only normal for his culture, but admired as necessary manly qualities. In those cases, the cultural ideology itself might be considered to be evil, while the individual men were merely “successful.” However, some most evil candidates were regarded as aberrant even in their own societies.
Evil or Insane?
Candidates for most evil can possibly be excused on the grounds of insanity, and Ivan the Terrible (1530-1589) raises suspicions of mental dysfunction. Ivan began throwing cats and dogs from high towers as a child, and had a habit of banging his head on the floor before Christian relics. He believed he had a mission to restore Orthodox Christianity to his region, but also enjoyed personally removing the ribs of living victims with red hot pincers.
Evil by the Numbers
For sheer numbers of individuals murdered by dictators, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953,) who killed 20 million of his own countrymen, may still be the biggest mass murderer of all time. He is quoted as saying, “One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.” Hitler’s cold and methodical slaughter of 6 million Jews and other “undesirables,” is perhaps the most widely known historical atrocity. Pol Pot was responsible for the death of 2 million of his own Cambodian people. Mass-murdering dictators have in common a detached and well-planned strategy for death; but did not normally kill their victims personally. They also shared a total disregard for the value of human life.
Evil on Many Levels
The Roman Emperors Nero (37-68) and Caligula (12-41) may be the most evil on many levels. Caligula went far beyond the bounds of cultural norms, wildly spending public funds on his indulgences, taking other men’s wives for sex, sleeping with his own sisters, and watching victims endure torture while he calmly ate dinner, forcing the victim’s families to join him. Nero betrayed his benefactors, kicked his pregnant wife to death, and put on public performances at which the audience had better applaud. He killed and tortured many and famously used burning Christians to light up his evening garden.
That some of these men were truly evil would be acknowledged by most people in most cultures. While cultures vary somewhat on what constitutes evil, a person who betrays their benefactors, inflicts pain on the defenseless for personal pleasure, and never feels an ounce of remorse would be almost universally regarded as an evil person.
Discovery Channel: Most Evil Men in History
