In the 16th century a spate of European explorers pursued gold and glory across the so-called New World. Among them was Hernán Cortés, a fame-seeking descendant of Spanish warriors who became a soldier on Diego Velazquez’s expedition to Cuba. His ambition ever rising, Cortés set his sights on a conquest he could call his own — the great capital city of the Aztec Empire, Tenochtitlan.

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After experiencing a brutal colonization in the late 19th century, and years of political corruption afterward, the Congolese people desperately needed a virtuous leader. In 1965, they got Mobutu Sese Seko. For the next thirty years Mobutu used his position to enhance his riches — and by doing so, tanked the economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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In Somalia, after losing both of his parents to clan factionalism, Siad Barre joins the military and ascends its ranks over the decades. As his country finds independence from British and Italian colonizers, Barre finds power — so much, in fact, that he’s placed in charge after a coup. But whatever idealism he brings to the role is overshadowed by his turn to totalitarian policies and misguided, deadly conflicts.

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He was supposed to be the revolutionary spark that swept through Libya, inspiring the masses to rule themselves through direct democracy. Instead, his brutal authoritarianism transformed the country into a police state and international pariah.

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The 1950s in Libya saw the dawning of a new era, when foreign rule ended and the country became an independent kingdom. Muammar Gaddafi was just a boy then. But inspired by Egypt’s anti-imperialist president, he became a devoted pan-Arab nationalist dedicated to one cause: overthrowing Libya’s corrupt king. In time, Gaddafi himself would become one of the most reviled dictators of the 20th century.

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Hitler’s favorite commando took every opportunity he could to lionize himself after the raid on Gran Sasso. His efforts paid off: As the German war effort stalled, Nazi leadership used him not only as a tool of propaganda, but as an instrument of terror and chaos during their final, desperate counteroffensives.

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Skorzeny was an Austrian fascist whose thirst for military glory led him to the Waffen-SS. In the summer of 1943, Hitler hand-selected him for a mission: rescue Benito Mussolini.

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Between his stranglehold on the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and his authority over the Nazis’ anti-Jewish policies, 38-year-old Reinhard Heydrich controlled the fates of millions. His fate, though, would be determined by the same resistance he tried to stamp out.

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Reinhard Heydrich was a disgraced German naval officer who became a devout fascist under the tutelage of Heimlich Himmler. As the Nazis consolidated their power, he became one of the most ruthless officers in the entire regime, earning the nickname “Man with the Iron Heart” from Hitler.

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With his power secured, Himmler began a wave of terror that started in Germany and spread throughout Europe. Today we’re covering how he convinced Hitler to sanction the Nuremberg Laws, supplied Hitler with the pretext to invade Poland, and developed the Final Solution in a devastating genocide that claimed millions.

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