Dictators

I say dictator, you say Hitler. Boring. As I tweeted yesterday, let's try to not bore the reader. If your essay topic lends itself to writing about oppression, honesty, power, conformity, authority, or war then you might be tempted to dust off Hitler and write the exact same essay as all the other students with that topic that day. Why don't we try to do better?

How about...

Pol Pot

Pol Pot was the leader of the Cambodian Communist Party also known as the Khmer Rouge. From 1967, Pol Pot's group opposed the Cambodian Government and in 1975 when the Americans withdrew from Vietnam the Khmer Rouge attacked the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge overthrew the government and imposed a harsh communist regime which involved the execution of millions of people, primarily the educated and wealthy, the dispersal of people to the countryside and the eradication of religion. Under the regime all property was communal and people were fed a daily ration that resulted in mass starvation. The regime then attacked Vietnam, even though it too was a communist state, but by 1979 Vietnam had beaten the Khmer Rouge. The complete destruction of the society and the eradication of the educated left Cambodia with few options for leadership and the Vietnamese set up a puppet government while Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge leadership fled to Thailand. Pol Pot and his followers attempted to regain control of Cambodia until 1997 when Pol Pot was arrested and sentenced to life long house arrest. He died the following year.

A Good film to watch that will help you understand these events is "The Killing Fields" (1984).

Other Historical Examples include
Fidel Castro- Cuba
Juan Peron-Argentina
Agusto Pinochet- Chile
Joseph Stalin- U.S.S.R.

If you prefer literary examples, you should read the following:
Animal Farm- George Orwell
1984- George Orwell
Brave New World-Aldus Huxley
A Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood
The Children of Men- P.D. James