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Famous Dictators Quiz #2

We give you the dictator. You give us the country they ruled.
Answer must correspond to the yellow box
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: May 20, 2016
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First submittedSeptember 15, 2011
Times taken72,715
Average score63.6%
Rating4.31
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Dictator
Country
Joseph Stalin
Soviet Union
Chiang Kai-Shek
China
Kim Il-sung
North Korea
Pol Pot
Cambodia
Suharto
Indonesia
Slobodan Milosevic
Serbia / Yugoslavia
Park Chung Hee
South Korea
Oliver Cromwell
England
Erich Honecker
East Germany
Julius Caesar
Rome
Pervez Musharraf
Pakistan
Dictator
Country
George Papadopoulos
Greece
Charles Taylor
Liberia
Anwar Sadat
Egypt
Manuel Noriega
Panama
Fulgencio Batista
Cuba
Alberto Fujimori
Peru
Bashar al-Assad
Syria
Saparmurat Niyazov
Turkmenistan
Than Shwe
Myanmar
Maximilien Robespierre
France
Ali Khamenei
Iran
+10
Level 50
Sep 15, 2011
Turkmenistan, interesting. Rome is confusing me a little but I understand now.
+1
Level 48
Sep 22, 2021
Park Chung Hee in south korea was an infamous dictator but also a great leader of south korea whom leaded the country to success.
+1
Level 71
Sep 22, 2021
Turkmenistan is a very... interesting country. I'd highly recommend looking up Niyazov and also his successor, Burdimuhamedow (I made a quiz on the latter if anyone's interested).
+6
Level 72
Sep 25, 2021
John Oliver also has a great episode on Burdimuhamedov. I recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more on the topic.
+8
Level 58
Sep 15, 2011
DDR or German Democratic Republic should be accepted for East Germany
+6
Level 82
Apr 29, 2013
and DPRK or Democratic People's Republic of Korea should be accepted for North Korea. ROK or Republic of Korea should be accepted for South Korea. They are on all the quizzes I make myself... but changing them on every other countries quiz on the site would be a big hassle, I'm sure.
+7
Level 77
May 3, 2013
Why not just type 'East Germany' after 'DDR' hasn't worked? You get long enough to do the quiz and unlimited attempts.
+2
Level 29
Sep 15, 2011
18/22 but with a good amount of guesses
+3
Level 28
Sep 15, 2011
I know! How did I do so bad on this? 13/22
+7
Level 78
Sep 15, 2011
Chiang Kai Shek was also the dictator of Taiwan, after he was booted from China.
+2
Level 33
Dec 26, 2012
That's what I was going to say.
+9
Level 82
Jun 12, 2016
Technically... he still had the same position as before: leader of the Republic of China. It was just that the location of government shifted and the area that the country maintained sovereign control over shrank drastically.
+2
Level 38
Sep 15, 2011
I got turkmenistan on a complete guess!
+3
Level 63
Sep 16, 2011
Hey, I didn't know the Converse All-Star guy also ran Liberia! What an interesting life!
+5
Level 77
Jun 13, 2014
Who do you think he had make all those shoes?
+2
Level 40
Sep 19, 2011
I'm surprised so few knew Charles Taylor as he was recently in court for crimes against humanity and Naomi Campbell testified which made the international news.
+4
Level 57
Nov 22, 2012
Noriega is in #1 as well
+1
Level 75
Oct 22, 2013
England is not a country. It is part of the UK
+10
Level 67
Oct 23, 2013
You're right and you're wrong. Cromwell was Lord Protector of the "Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland." That would be, however, a little wordy for a Jetpunk quiz. And you will notice that other answers refer to the country or empire that the individual ruled, e.g., Julius Caesar ruled Rome.
+2
Level 64
Oct 1, 2021
I think Cromwell would disagree...
+3
Level 70
Dec 12, 2014
This quiz should really be expanded.
+2
Level 10
Feb 2, 2015
100% 0:15
+1
Level 65
Feb 2, 2015
Too many of these can be guessed just by looking at the name. I don't know half these guys but I can tell that they're Slavic, Arabic, East Asian, Southeast Asian, etc.
+23
Level 83
Nov 14, 2015
You can't really blame the quiz for people sounding like the nationality they are.
+13
Level 76
Feb 29, 2020
Then may I ask - according to your rationale - what countries you tried for Fujimori?
+2
Level 59
Mar 10, 2015
Seems to be no shortage of dictators, spread all over the world, from which to choose. Good quiz.
+1
Level 75
Jun 2, 2015
please add your source. the list is not complete nor exhaustive. plus it has some names that are popular in their country and it is not reasonable to include them
+15
Level 72
Jun 12, 2016
Dictator, though it usually has negative connotations, does not mean an evil or unpopular ruler- it merely means someone with absolute power, but these days when democracy is so highly valued, that is seen negatively. The Wikipedia entry expresses it much better.
+3
Level 29
Nov 21, 2015
I don't think Oliver Cromwell should be named as a dictator as he was more of a liberator because King Charles I was quite the asshole.
+8
Level 83
Jun 22, 2016
And Cromwell wasn't?
+3
Level 82
Jan 12, 2022
Tell that to the Irish.
+2
Level 65
Jun 12, 2016
A dictator of Liberia. Oh, the irony...
+1
Level 66
Jun 12, 2016
Hahaha didn't think about that until you said it
+1
Level 23
Jun 12, 2016
Rome isn't a country
+4
Level 60
Jun 12, 2016
Sure, but at that time, Italy wasn't a country, so that wouldn't be valid. And Rome was where he ruled from so, yeah
+1
Level 82
Jan 12, 2022
Rome WAS a country at that time.
+1
Level 82
Jun 12, 2016
Maybe accept Republic of China for China.
+7
Level 55
Jun 12, 2016
Robespierre, dictator ??! Re-read french history book please, and edit your quiz
+2
Level 43
Jun 7, 2022
Could you have elected Roberspierre? or could you vote him out on a referendum? Did he allow opposition?
+2
Level 68
Oct 26, 2023
Yes, he was elected, and yes, he allowed opposition. In fact, it's his opposition which ended up beheading him. There were no referendums at the time, but most world leaders can't be outvoted by referendum.
+1
Level 66
Jan 22, 2024
The Committee of Public Safety had multiple members. When Robespierre sat on it, there were 11 other members. He had no special powers over the others. He's just more famous.
+6
Level 55
Jun 12, 2016
Robespierre dans un quiz sur les dictateurs, j'aurais tout vu
+10
Level 68
Jun 13, 2016
22/22! I <3 Dictators! Relevant story about Park Chung Hee: I was in the ROK recently and visited the presidential retreat, which has a small museum that showcases former presidents' typical use of the grounds. While standing in front of Park Chung Hee's display, an elderly Korean woman with her approaching middle-aged son walk by and she says, MOM: "PARK CHUNG HEE?! Why is he here?" SON: "He was a president." MOM: "I know that, but he was horrible!" Ok, maybe not the most interesting story but related nevertheless.
+3
Level 81
Jun 15, 2016
Always thought George Papadopoulos ruled over Webster with a bit too much of an iron fist.....
+1
Level 61
Apr 2, 2018
That was the first thing that popped in my head when I saw his name there.
+1
Level 20
Jun 18, 2016
Dang I tried Persia but it was Iran
+1
Level 72
Aug 18, 2016
Got them all apart from Robespierre. I've never hard of him. Clearly i'm in a minority.
+1
Level 12
Jun 17, 2017
Ey where's the 39-45 dictator
+1
Level 67
Jun 17, 2017
It says name the countries, but Rome isn't a country. Italy should just be accepted.
+5
Level 37
Sep 25, 2017
for the umpteenth time, Italy DID NOT EXIST when Caeser ruled Rome!
+1
Level 33
Jun 17, 2017
Ireland should also be accepted for Cromwell, he set up plantations all over the island.
+6
Level 49
Apr 2, 2018
WTF ! Robespierre was NOT à dictator !!!
+6
Level 82
May 12, 2019
He only took extreme measures to control all politics in France including having his former friends and associates and all political rivals executed? Presiding over "the terror" and eventually being executed himself for his role in this?
+7
Level 69
Apr 9, 2021
Robespierre never ordered to guillotine anyone. It wasn't the role of the Committee of Public Safety. It was the Committee of General Security that had the power to arrest people, and the Revolutionary Tribunal that executed them. The "Terror" is an a posteriori reconstruction meant for propaganda purposes.

The excesses that were committed in these days by some "Représentants en mission" (Members of the National Convention that would be sent by their collegues with full authority to reestablish order in the countryside) were usually condemned by Robespierre. For instance Fouché participated actively to the overthrow of Robespierre in Thermidor precisely because Robespierre wanted him tried for his atrocities in Lyon. The killing of Robespierre and his partisans was in fact the single biggest day of executions of the revolution : I wonder who was the underdog and who was the terrorist, right ?

+3
Level 68
Oct 26, 2023
A lot of the bad reputation Robespierre gets comes from the fact that, in English-speaking countries, the history of the French Revolution that has been is established was largely written by English aristocrats who were terrified of a Revolution - Edmund Burke, for instance. They vilified and greatly exaggerate what happened in France. The reality is a lot more complex. Who knows, for example, that Robespierre consistently spoke out against capital punishment (with one exception)?
+3
Level 62
Sep 22, 2021
Robespierre proposed all Frenchmen should be declared active citizens and eligible to vote, so Elio appears to be correct. There were some elections taking place in 1791.
+1
Level 72
Apr 2, 2018
Fun quiz, might be interesting to have the years in which they were in power as well, even if it only showed after the quiz for a bit of interesting info.
+3
Level 72
Apr 2, 2018
Fun quizz, but I enjoyed more by reading the comments.
+4
Level 59
Jan 29, 2019
Why is Noriega in both quizzes?
+1
Level 37
Aug 9, 2019
19/22. Should have guessed those I wasn't sure of instead of just passing.
+2
Level 34
Oct 4, 2019
You should add Putin in part 3 if you're planning on making it
+2
Level 67
Nov 29, 2019
You should add Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov
+2
Level 57
Sep 22, 2021
Please don't
+4
Level 72
Apr 8, 2020
Is it fair to say that Anwar Sadat was a dictator?
+3
Level 61
Apr 14, 2020
My thought exactly. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize!
+3
Level 57
Jun 8, 2020
Yeah, but so was Yasser Arafat!
+1
Level 82
Feb 17, 2021
'tis
+3
Level 85
Jun 10, 2020
Please accept Kampuchea for Cambodia.
+1
Level 65
Sep 21, 2020
why
+3
Level 79
Dec 19, 2020
Because that was the official name of the country from 1976 to 1989.
+3
Level 60
Aug 28, 2020
I wouldnt call some of these people dictators.
+1
Level 82
Jan 12, 2022
I would. None of them ruled democratically.
+1
Level 59
Sep 9, 2020
Didn't Saparmurat Niyazov change name to Turkmenbashi?
+1
Level 82
Jan 12, 2022
That was a title, not his name.
+1
Level 52
Nov 18, 2020
Please accept “Republic of China” for China in this instance
+1
Level 82
Jan 12, 2022
Usually simply typing roc is sufficient on other jetpunk quizzes, but not this one for some reason.
+7
Level 21
Feb 12, 2021
Robespierre can't be accepted in such a list of dictators !

You can name dozens of our kings instead, but Robespierre has never been seen here in France as a dictator, far from it.

Beware of the foreign's eyes misinterpretation...

+1
Level 82
Feb 17, 2021
Beware more of the local's inability to see things from a clear distance and neutral perspective.
+10
Level 69
Apr 9, 2021
He never held either executive or legislative power. Considering him as a dictator is a farce.

He presided the Committee of Public Safety, which only took decision at the absolute majority, had to be reconducted every month by the National Convention, and was responsible in front of it. No decision could ever hope to pass if the National Convention opposed it. There a reason he was so easy to eliminate : the theoretical and institutional framework of that part of the French Revolution didn't enable him to ever become a dictator, and he never wanted to be one. On the contrary, he was usually in the minority in the National Convention : only his aura as a competent orator supported by the Parisian masses enabled him to have a semblance of authority over the National Convention, authority which always remained a moral one.

+1
Level 68
Oct 26, 2023
A lot of the English-speaking History of the French Revolution was written by foreign, often English, aristocrats, who were completely terrified of losing their privileges in their own country - especially Edmund Burke, who can by no stretch of the imagination be called an impartial onlooker.
+1
Level 28
Apr 1, 2021
Surprised not many people got Erick Honecker right.
+7
Level 69
Apr 9, 2021
Get Robespierre out of that list, this doesn't even remotely make sense.
+3
Level 70
Sep 22, 2021
Stalin too
+1
Level 58
Sep 22, 2021
I like how this quiz reminds us that a lot of countries that we consider more or less democratic today have been dictatorships not so long ago...

In some cases the term "dictatorship" seems not to fit, or at least not in the way we understand it nowadays.

As far as I know, Julius Caesar was the only one in this quiz who actually beared "dictator" as a title

+3
Level 63
Sep 22, 2021
"Quizmaster" should be an answer on here as he rules this site with a cold, unforgiving, iron fist. ;)
+1
Level 67
Sep 22, 2021
Ok.
+1
Level 65
Sep 22, 2021
Where is Adolf Hitler? He was a dictator and was popular
+2
Level 82
Sep 23, 2021
You missed the "#2" in the title?
+1
Level 82
Jan 12, 2022
And this clearly claims to be an exhaustive list of all dictators ever.
+1
Level 41
Jan 12, 2022
how is Franco not in this list
+1
Level 82
Nov 15, 2022
you, too? It's not that hard to see, is it?
+1
Level 27
Aug 3, 2023
noriega was in quiz #1
+1
Level 48
Oct 26, 2023
I will suggest a few more:

- Antonio Salazar, Portugal

- Francisco Franco, Spain