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wikiHow to Become a Dictator

Two Parts:Personal Keys to Absolute PowerWays to Assume PowerCommunity Q&A

Hitler. Stalin. Castro. Mao. These and many others throughout history rose to power over their people, subjugating the populace. If you have the burning desire in your heart to put others under your thumb and keep them there as slaves, there are some paths that are more likely to becoming all powerful.

Part 1
Personal Keys to Absolute Power

  1. 1
    Crave power. No self-respecting despot comes to power without having some sort of desire for power in the first place. Once the desire for power is implanted, it leads to developing a plan to get that power, and then to developing a plan to get more power.
    • Sometimes, being assigned to a position of power is enough to become a dictator. The 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, in which students were chosen to be either “prisoners” or “guards,” had to be stopped within a week because the “guards” took to abusing the “prisoners.” [1]
  2. 2
    Have military experience. Although a military background isn’t absolutely necessary to your becoming a dictator, it can be a big help. Along with providing you with your first taste of power, you can also learn battle tactics, logistics, recruitment, and leadership skills that can help you take over your country.
    • Being in the military also gives you a cool uniform that you can wear while in power to intimidate friend and foe alike. While both Fidel Castro and Mao Zedong favored simple fatigues, dictators such as Idi Amin[2] and Muammar Gaddafi[3] preferred officers’ uniforms. (Gaddafi went one step further, using the rank of “Colonel” in front of his name.) Even Hitler wore a military-style uniform most of the time, complete with an armband with the swastika logo he designed himself.[4]
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    Become self-centered. Josef “Man of Steel” Stalin and Saddam Hussein were noted for their narcissistic behavior, as were many other strongmen throughout history. To be an effective dictator, you have to love yourself, because you can’t be sure anyone else will.
    • Getting your first taste of power helps you detach yourself emotionally from your future subjects. Studies published in the magazine ‘’Psychological Science’’ in 2006 and 2010 show that people who thought of themselves as well-off became more self-centered and less able to see things from others’ point of view.[5]
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    Espouse non-mainstream beliefs. Most of the great dictators of history, and many of the not-so-great, are remembered for their personal peccadillos and odd beliefs that set them apart from others. If you want to become a great dictator, look at your belief system and what you can take from it to oppress your future subjects with.
    • Personal prejudices are a great place to start, particularly when you need a scapegoat to turn others’ hatred toward and away from you. Protestant Oliver Cromwell’s hatred of Catholics provided him with such a scapegoat during his Protectorate[6], while Adolf Hitler first took to hating Jews on joining the German Workers Party[7] and took that hatred with him, shaping it into his “Final Solution” that led to the death of some 6 million Jews.
    • You can follow this by insisting others share your beliefs. A strict vegetarian, Hitler liked to shame fellow diners with graphic stories of animal slaughter, and as a teetotaler, urged his subjects to keep their bodies free of free of intoxicants and contaminants. [8]
    • Whatever odd beliefs you may have, don’t share them all at once with either your friends or your enemies. Let them think certain things about you are true, whether they are or not. Idi Amin was widely rumored to be a cannibal, although the rumors were never confirmed; some thought he spread those rumors himself to divert attention from the atrocities committed under his rule.[9]
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    Develop your charisma. Despite how outside the mainstream your beliefs may be, you can fool all of the people some of the time if you develop your personal charisma and speaking skills. As a young man, Benito Mussolini earned notice for his charm and ability to persuade others. Although it got him expelled from Switzerland, it helped him eventually become Italy’s ‘’Il Duce’’.[10]
    • Your writing skills can also help you disseminate your beliefs. Hitler wrote ‘’Mein Kampf’’, [11] Mussolini created ‘’Avanti’’ magazine.[12], and Napoleon III wrote a series of tracts advocating that France needed an emperor.[13]
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    Build a cadre of supporters. Your friends should be those who depend on you for their rewards, while your enemies are cut off from them. Provide your supporters with just enough rewards to keep them dependent on you, but not enough so they can build up their own resources to turn on you.
    • You can sustain yourself in power if you have a large number of potential supporters to draw from. A dictatorship in a supposedly classless society, such as that of the Soviet Union, can be sustained longer than one that relies on the support of a small ruling class.[14]
    • Keep the actual number of your core supporters as small as possible, however. Too large a number, and you run the risk of having them revolt against you.
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    Trust no one more than you have to. Although you need supporters to take power, you should remember that they’re your supporters because of what you promise and give them, not necessarily because they like you or believe in your cause. Also, remember that you’re giving your supporters a taste of power, and that can be enough to have them crave more of it want to overthrow you. Can you say “paranoia”?
    • You can cope with your feelings of paranoia by carefully intimidating friend and foe alike. It worked for Stalin.
    • When simple intimidation fails, and your supporters stop being an asset and start becoming a liability, get rid of them. Nazi Germany’s Night of the Long Knives was Adolf Hitler’s way of ridding himself of the ‘’Sturmabteilung’’ (SA, Brownshirts) who had helped him come to power before they could take over the German army.[15][16]

Part 2
Ways to Assume Power

  1. 1
    Take over an existing dictatorship. Taking power in a country that’s always been led by a dictator is easier than conquering one that has known freedom in the past. You can do this in one of two ways:
    • The easier way of taking over an existing dictatorship is to inherit power. This worked in Syria, with Bashar el-Assad inheriting the mantle of power from his father, Hafez el-Assad[17], and in Cuba, with Raul Castro taking over for brother Fidel. It’s worked for three generations in North Korea, with Kim Jong-Un taking over for father Kim Jong-Il, who in turn succeeded his father, Kim Il-Sung. Usually, you have to be born in a family of dictators to use this option, but in some regimes, you just have to hold a powerful position under the existing leadership to take over when the leader dies.
    • The harder way is to overthrow an existing dictatorship and set up your own. Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba by toppling the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had first come to power by toppling the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado.[18]
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    Find a need and fill it. If you can’t succeed another dictator, then you need to think like an entrepreneur and find a country that’s ripe for taking over. There are several things to look for:
    • Oppressive or repressive governments. Unpopular governments aren’t limited solely to existing dictatorships. Monarchies have been a popular target for overthrow, particularly when the royal rulers are out to line their own pockets or are just simply out of touch with their subjects. Gaddafi came to power in Libya by overthrowing King Idris, whose centralized federal system was unpopular with the country’s various tribes[19], while Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of Great Britain after the execution of King Charles I[20] and the dissolution of the Rump Parliament that ruled the republic that succeeded him.[21]
    • Weak governments. The Weimar Republic that succeeded Kaiser Wilhelm’s German empire after World War I lacked the support of its people and was additionally burdened with having to pay the tab for Wilhelm’s bad behavior. It was rife with extremists on both ends of the political spectrum, and the 1922 assassination of moderate foreign minister Walter Rathenau didn’t exactly encourage the government to address its economic problems.[22]
    • Economic hardships. As noted above, the Weimar Republic was beset with economic problems, stemming from being required to pay war reparations in gold-backed German marks, while Kaiser Wilhelm had removed the gold standard in 1914. Prices that went doubled during the war doubled again a few years after the war ended, leading to a thriving underground economy. .[23]
    • Famine. While the Great Famine of Ireland is remembered for its impact on that country, it actually spread across parts of northern Europe as well.[24] It presaged several wars and revolutions on the European mainland, one of which led Charles-Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte to become Louis-Napoleon, president of the Second Republic of France. When he wasn’t allowed to run for re-election, he seized power and became Napoleon III, ruler of the Second Empire. [25]
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    Identify a common enemy to fight. If you’re planning to forcibly take over an existing dictatorship or take down another form of oppressive government, you already have that enemy. If not, you may have to find one to play on that “us vs. them” mentality. Here are some candidates:
    • Rival political parties. Hitler used the burning of the Reichstag to accuse and arrest his Communist enemies just after becoming chancellor of Germany, then followed by getting the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act to let him make his own laws.[26] From there, it was just a few more steps to becoming ‘’Der Fuhrer.’’
    • Racial or ethnic groups. Hitler and the Jews is the most obvious example.
    • Religious groups. Again, Hitler and the Jews, as well as Cromwell and the Catholics. For Stalin, it was the follower of any religion in general.
    • Foreign governments. Any government that practices an economic system different from yours and that has a reputation for helping out your enemies and wanting to stick its nose in your affairs makes a good straw man to knock down. The United States is most often the “paper tiger” of choice these days.

Community Q&A

Add New Question
  • How do I commit genocide without the UN declaring war on my nation?
    wikiHow Contributor
    Overthrow a weak government that has at least some expendable military, then blame the people you want killed for anything reasonable. Then proceed by getting the UN to back you (you need tons of support by both the US, UK, and obviously your own country). Make your attacks slow to not trigger the "genocide" title.
  • What if my "common enemy" is a democratic republican government?
    wikiHow Contributor
    Then make your rhetoric as left wing, socialist, even communist as humanly possible, complain about everything wrong in the world and rally the college kids. They're always the first to take up a cause.
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  • You’ll last longer as a dictator if you provide your subjects some minor freedoms and at least some of their basic needs. Just don’t provide all of them at once, all the time.
  • For more inspiration in how to grind others under your boot heel, read George Orwell’s ‘’Animal Farm’’ and ‘’1984’’. If you’re looking for despotic role models, check out the list of 25 of History’s Deadliest Dictators at http://list25.com/25-of-historys-deadliest-dictators/.
  • You don’t have to have been born in the country you want to become dictator of. Although he was the dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler was born in Austria and did not become a German citizen until 1932, the year before he took power.[27]
  • You don’t necessarily need to be a visible leader to be a dictator. After overthrowing Machado, Batista served as the “power behind the throne” for a series of puppet presidents before actually being elected to the office himself in 1940.[28]


  • Don’t become too ambitious. Attempts to conquer Russia led to the undoing of both Napoleon and Hitler.
  • Don’t become victim to your grudges. During his time in power in the 1950s, Batista used his resentment against the snubs of Cuba’s wealthy to launch both a massive building program and large-scale gambling in Havana. Both failed to gain him the popularity he sought, so he turned to suspending the constitution and condoning police brutality, making him still less popular.[29]
  • Don’t believe your own propaganda. Although Mussolini reputedly kept the trains in Italy running on time, most of the trains actually still ran slow. Because he believed he really had kept the trains running on time, he failed to set up a proper wartime communications system or provide adequate rail capacity to ship coal when it was no longer possible to import it by sea.[30]

Sources and Citations

  1. http://www.livescience.com/12843-dictator.html
  2. http://www.biography.com/people/idi-amin-9183487
  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_Gaddafi
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Categories: Political Campaigning and Participation

In other languages:

Italiano: Diventare un Dittatore, Русский: стать диктатором, Deutsch: Ein Diktator werden, Español: convertirte en un dictador, Português: se Tornar um Ditador, Français: devenir un dictateur, 中文: 成为独裁者, Bahasa Indonesia: Menjadi Seorang Diktator, Nederlands: Zo word je dictator

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