How to Become a Tyrant

S1 · E1 — Seize Power

Season 1 · 6 episodesHow to Become a Tyrant
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Episodes

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Seize PowerE1 · 31 min

Interested in becoming a tyrant? There are rules, and the playbook for a rise to dictatorship starts with one of history's most brutal: Adolf Hitler.

Crush Your RivalsE2 · 27 min

You've secured your place at the top, but maintaining power means watching your back. Nobody did that better or more ruthlessly than Saddam Hussein.

Reign Through TerrorE3 · 28 min

When keeping your population under control, is it better to be loved or feared? Idi Amin certainly thought he knew the right answer to that question.

Control the TruthE4 · 27 min

Through public relations spin, revisionist history and censorship. Soviet autocrat Joseph Stalin found a certain flexibility with the truth useful.

Create a New SocietyE5 · 26 min

Free speech? Right to assembly? Rebel-turned-dictator Muammar Gaddafi realized that civil liberties had to go when reshaping society. But he got soft.

Rule ForeverE6 · 30 min

Seizing power is hard, but keeping it is harder. In North Korea, the Kim dynasty unlocked the secret to ruling forever: They declared themselves gods.

Up next·S1 E2

Crush Your Rivals

You've secured your place at the top, but maintaining power means watching your back. Nobody did that better or more ruthlessly than Saddam Hussein.

Continue the story

Episodes

Now playing
Seize PowerE1 · 31 min

Interested in becoming a tyrant? There are rules, and the playbook for a rise to dictatorship starts with one of history's most brutal: Adolf Hitler.

Crush Your RivalsE2 · 27 min

You've secured your place at the top, but maintaining power means watching your back. Nobody did that better or more ruthlessly than Saddam Hussein.

Reign Through TerrorE3 · 28 min

When keeping your population under control, is it better to be loved or feared? Idi Amin certainly thought he knew the right answer to that question.

Control the TruthE4 · 27 min

Through public relations spin, revisionist history and censorship. Soviet autocrat Joseph Stalin found a certain flexibility with the truth useful.

Create a New SocietyE5 · 26 min

Free speech? Right to assembly? Rebel-turned-dictator Muammar Gaddafi realized that civil liberties had to go when reshaping society. But he got soft.

Rule ForeverE6 · 30 min

Seizing power is hard, but keeping it is harder. In North Korea, the Kim dynasty unlocked the secret to ruling forever: They declared themselves gods.