The Dictators:

By; Jules Archer

Page Number: 184

Originally published: 1967

democracy - “rule by the people”

This engrossing publication by Archer serves as introductory material to the world of tyrants and their similar governing styles. It covers eighteen different autocrats from the twentieth century and the political strategies and tactics they followed when gaining total power over the state. The book simplifies complicated chronological records of the past and presents fundamental historical knowledge fluently. Archer interprets how these dictators gained, maintained, and lost their grip on power. Essentially, he displays a blueprint of the rise and fall of a tyrant.

First, a tyrant gains control, either with a coup, an uprising or by climbing the ladder in the current political government. Then comes the harder part; preserving control. Terrorizing your opponents, controlling all the sources of media and personal freedoms, and prohibiting any form of opposition to your regime are the main steps to strengthening and retaining your authority.

In the meanwhile, a tyrant has to take ownership of all other elements of a state. From military to church, to parliaments and other parties; a tyrant can’t tolerate any separate components of command. Lastly, a tyrant starts distracting the people from the economic, political, and public problems of the country by creating chaos. He does this by pointing the finger at a specific community, blaming other nations or races, or condemning a religion. The censure of a specific group inevitably causes war either in or outside of the state territory. Yet, not far after this stage, the authoritarian regime begins to fade away, leaving behind a dark and cruel era in history that affected thousands, if not millions of people.

1. the Soviet Union

• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870- 1924)

• Josip Stalin (1879- 1953)

• Nikita Khrushchev (1894- 1971)

2. Italy

• Benito Mussolini (1883- 1945)

3. Turkey

• Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881- 1938)

4. China

• Chiang Kai- shek (1887- 1975)

• Mao Tse- tung (1893- 1976)

5. the Dominican Republic

• Rafael Trujillo (1891- 1961)

6. Cuba

• Fulgencio Batista (1901- 1973)

• Fidel Castro (1926- 2016)

7. Haiti

• Francois Duvalier (1907- 1971)

8. Portugal

• Antonio de Oliveira Salazar (1889- 1970)

9. Germany

• Adolf Hitler (1889- 1945)

10. Spain

• Francisco Franco (1892- 1975)

11. Indonesia

• Achmed Sukarno (1901- 1970)

12. Yugoslavia

• Josip Broz Tito (1892- 1980)

13. Argentina

• Juan Peron (1895- 1974)

14. Egypt

• Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918- 1970)

personal rating of the book: 8/10