Show Cover

When you're living in a difficult time, there's an appeal to someone who says, "I alone can fix it all."

# Review

Peter Dinklage narrates this docuseries about famous world dictators and how they came to power. The tyrants covered are Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Joseph Stalin, Muammar Gaddafi, and the North Korean Kim family.

The show examines which techniques these tyrants used to both gain and maintain power, and in most cases what caused the tyrant’s downfall. Many of the techniques boil down to breaking societal fabric, such that the truth is no longer important and that people mistrust one another. This is often accomplished with a campaign of fear and repression of dissenting opinions. What I found interesting is the analysis on how the tyrants ultimately fell from grace; in most cases it’s due to outside influences, such as Hitler and Hussein, but other times it's due to the tyrant’s own errors, such as Gaddafi loosening up his grip on the media.

The series itself is well-done, with slick animations and ample historical footage. The analysis does lack nuance and can feel oversimplified as they ignore important details such as what each tyrant has accomplished for their countries. The series also leaves out many tyrants.

# Conclusion

A superficial introduction to the art of being a tyrant, but further research is warranted as this show is pretty shallow.

# Overall rating: 7.0

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