How to Become a Tyrant - Season 1

How to Become a Tyrant - Season 1

First aired: 7/9/2021 6 episodes

The documentary series explores different political figures throughout history.

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Episodes

Episode 1

1. Seize Power

Aired: 7/9/2021

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.

Episode 2

2. Crush Your Rivals

Aired: 7/9/2021

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.

Episode 3

3. Reign Through Terror

Aired: 7/9/2021

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.

Episode 4

4. Control the Truth

Aired: 7/9/2021

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

Episode 5

5. Create a New Society

Aired: 7/9/2021

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

Episode 6

6. Rule Forever

Aired: 7/9/2021

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.