How to Become a Tyrant

How to Become a Tyrant

2021
1 Season
7.4
DocumentaryWar & Politics

The documentary series explores different political figures throughout history.

Episodes

Seize Power
E1Jul 9, 202131m

Seize Power

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 Rivals
E2Jul 9, 202127m

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.

Reign Through Terror
E3Jul 9, 202128m

Reign Through Terror

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 Truth
E4Jul 9, 202127m

Control the Truth

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

Create a New Society
E5Jul 9, 202126m

Create a New Society

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 Forever
E6Jul 9, 202130m

Rule Forever

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.

Top Cast

Peter Dinklage

Peter Dinklage

Narrator