In this account of tyranny from Caligula to Putin, a group of renowned historians investigate the personal characteristics and forms of rule that are typically found in, and under, a tyrant. The vivid and yet accurate descriptions of these figures and the analysis of their actions and atrocities combine to show that the history of these tyrannical rulers also provides an account of the constantly changing face of unjust rule. It also highlights differences in the political interpretation of the subject.

Caligula – Nero – Henry IV – Richard III – Catherine of Medici – Ibrahim the Mad Ivan IV ‘The Terrible’ – Peter I ‘The Great’ – Friedrich Wilhelm I Napoleon Bonaparte – Leopold II – Franco Mao Tse-tung – Jiang Qing – Pinochet – Idi Amin – Mugabe – Bashir al-Assad – Kim Il Sung to Kim Jong Un – Erdoğan – Trump – Putin

‘A tyrannical ruler will put force above the law.’ Aristotle