The Deadly Toll of Communist Dictatorships Across the 20th Century

Five communist dictators, one ideology. Their countries' death tolls ranging from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions, but which regime claimed the most lives? And how did it happen? Kim Il-sung. After World War II, Korea would be divided between the Soviet-backed north and the US-supported south. Kim Il-sung would be installed as premier of the newly formed Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1948. Once secure in power, he tried to reunify Korea by force. The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953 and would cause millions of casualties on both sides with no real gains made.

Domestically, Kim Il-sung's reign was no less bloody. He instituted the songbun system where North Koreans were ranked based on their political views, economic background, and overall perceived loyalty to the state, a system that's still in place today. For those unfortunate enough to be labeled as hostile, their fate involved forced relocation, limited access to food rationing, and near constant oppression. Kim's reign saw many purges of political opponents, public executions for crimes against the state, and mysterious disappearances of undesirables.

Labor camps were a common feature of North Korean life where prisoners were forced to endure backbreaking physical labor, all the while being underfed and given inadequate housing and medical treatment. Simply being related to a criminal was enough reason for punishment, and North Korea is famous for punishing multiple generations for the crimes of a single individual. These and other policies have left North Korea in a state of near constant famine, which came to a head in the mid 1990s, shortly after Kim's death in 1994. Because North Korea is one of the most closed-off nations on the planet, getting accurate accounting for the deaths caused by Kim Il-sung is next to impossible.

The total death count is estimated between 700,000 and 1.5 million, not counting the Korean War. One thing that connects many of these regimes isn't just violence, it's control. Controlling where people could go, what they could own, and perhaps most importantly, what information they could access. Censorship, surveillance, and restricting outside ideas became powerful tools for keeping these governments in power. While most of us thankfully don't live under anything like that today, protecting our own privacy online is still important. That's why today's sponsor is Surfshark. Every time you browse the internet, your data can potentially be seen by internet providers, public Wi-Fi operators, advertisers, and others.

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History to get Surfshark at an incredible price with four extra months for free. They also have a 30-day money-back guarantee, so it is worth trying. Now, back to the history. Mengistu Haile Mariam In 1974, Mengistu Haile Mariam ascended to power in Ethiopia after a coup against the monarchy. One of his first acts was to sentence members of the monarch's government to death. This was just the beginning of his bloody reign of terror. In 1976, he kicked off what he called the Red Terror. At a speech in Addis Ababa, he dramatically threw bottles

filled with red liquid to the ground signaling the coming bloodshed. His regime targeted so-called counter-revolutionaries and imperialists, mostly members of rival power blocks. And the death toll of this purge has been estimated between 10,000 to 150,000. Even after the mass killings, more clandestine killings and torture would continue for years afterwards. A second wave of terror was aimed at purging former allies fearing that they were not loyal enough to the new regime, and thousands more were killed. Mengistu then instituted agricultural reform, which collectivized farmland around Ethiopia. Families would be forcibly relocated into the supposedly more fertile southern part of Ethiopia.

The plots they were given were too small for substantial agriculture. When drought hit the region in 1984, there was no buffer in place and famine gripped the impoverished nation. More than half a million died as a result. The Mengistu regime would have to face rebellions in the regions of Tigray and Eritrea. After bloody fighting which saw tens of thousands more dead, Mengistu would lose Soviet support, and in 1991, he would be forced to flee the country. He would be tried in absentia on charges of genocide and would be sentenced to death, though he was living abroad in Zimbabwe, where he still lives today.

The total death count between 500,000 and 2 million. Pol Pot After taking power in 1975, Pol Pot implemented Year Zero, a civilizational reset. The urban population would be relocated to the countryside and Cambodia would become a classless, moneyless, rural paradise. Any occupation other than soldiers or farmers was banned. Industry was dismantled, hospitals closed down, and schools were shuttered. The former workers sent to perform back-breaking agricultural labor. In Pol Pot's view, anyone not a farmer was a corrupting influence on society. Teachers, doctors, lawyers, clergy, or other professionals were eliminated without mercy.

Sometimes simply owning a pair of spectacles or knowing a second language was proof of guilt justifying execution. All resources would be controlled by the Khmer Rouge and everything would be done communally. Even eating privately was enough to get you killed. Children would be taken from their parents to be raised by the state to prevent any conflicting loyalties. Random disappearances were commonplace and Cambodians soon learned not to question what happened. Many were executed by hand, often with an axe to the back of the head, though being buried alive and disembowelment were also methods commonly used.

Even with almost all the population devoted to farming, famine was inevitable. Most of the new arrivals had no idea how to farm properly and construction projects like irrigation systems were made without oversight from engineers. When they broke, it was obviously due to sabotage leading to new rounds of purges. This was just a small glance at the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot. In 1979, they would be overthrown by invading Vietnamese troops. The killing fields of Cambodia are still counted as among the worst atrocities ever recorded with as much as a quarter of Cambodia's population killed.

Total death count, about 1 and 1/2 to 3 million. Joseph Stalin. After struggles for power, by 1929, leadership of the Soviet Union was firmly in the hands of Joseph Stalin. What followed was a quarter century of unparalleled bloodshed and repression. One of Stalin's first acts was aggressive agricultural collectivization, the cornerstone of which was a process known as dekulakization. Private property was confiscated and redistributed, and anyone who resisted was executed or sent to gulags. The food produced would be taken to feed the industrializing urban population, with the bare minimum left for the farmers.

Famine gripped one of the most fertile regions in the world. The Holodomor, as it became known, cost the lives of between 6 to 7 million. By the mid-1930s, gripped by paranoia, Stalin instituted what became known as the Great Purge. The Soviet secret police, the NKVD, began rounding up what Stalin called saboteurs and enemies of the people, those who supposedly violated Article 58 of the Soviet Criminal Code. These 58ers were accused of anti-Soviet activity, including a man who was sentenced to 3 years in a gulag for smiling when drunken sailors told anti-Soviet jokes, and a woman who was accused of spying for Japan after simply

applying for a job at their embassy. The convicted would then either be executed or given sentences in gulags, where they endured the frigid Siberian climate, back-breaking physical labor, and limited rations. Even after the Great Purge was over, the remainder of Stalin's rule was marked by executions and deportations to the gulag. Other targeted persecutions happened under Stalin's orders, including the of Polish military and civilian leaders after the invasion of Poland in 1939, the suppression of ethnic Germans in 1941, and others too numerous to list here. Joseph Stalin died in 1953, and the Soviet Union breathed a sigh of relief.

His successor, Nikita Khrushchev, denounced Stalin and embarked on a policy of de-Stalinization aimed at undoing some of the damage he had caused. Total death count between 9 and 40 million. Mao Zedong When Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China gained power in 1949, there were the usual purges of those disloyal to the new regime. These would pale in comparison to the deaths that were to come. In 1958, Mao ordered the Great Leap Forward, a process of rapid industrialization and agricultural reform designed to catapult the Chinese economy.

Farms would be collectivized, and much of the population would be utilized for steel production. Rather than work the land, farmers would be forced to produce steel, often in primitive backyard forges. The result was useless lumps of low-quality metal that were not fit for anything. Grain production dropped, but officials in charge did not want to report failure, and would claim record harvests. Mao ordered more and more food to be taken from the countryside and sent to the cities, causing mass starvation. Between 1959 and 1962, estimates place the death toll of the man-made famine between 15 to 50 million people. After the disaster of the Great Leap Forward, Mao turned over much of the leadership of China to others. Many

collectivist policies were abandoned, and China's economy began to grow. Mao became concerned about his diminished status and what seemed like abandonment of communist ideals and instituted the Cultural Revolution. He mobilized the Red Guard, a paramilitary force of young people who would strike out against class enemies, which led to public beatings, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings. In short, Mao launched a revolution against the very system that he created. When Mao Zedong died in 1976, he left behind one of the largest man-made death counts in human history. The total death count between 45 to 80 million people.

These are just a few anecdotes of the terror and repression caused by communist dictators. Their actions played a major part in turning the 20th century into the deadliest ever recorded. History has shown just how dangerous it can be when governments gain complete control over information and the lives of their citizens. And before you go, a quick reminder to check out today's sponsor, Surfshark. Take advantage of the current offer with code simplehistory. Link in the description. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to like, subscribe, and let us know in the comments which historical topic you'd like us to cover next. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you in the next simple history video.