TV series
How to Become a Tyrant
Overview
The documentary series explores different political figures throughout history.
Details
- First air date
- 2021-07-09
- Status
- Ended
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Episodes
- 6 episodes
- Genres
- Documentary, War & Politics
- Network
- Netflix
- Country
- US
- Original language
- EN
Cast
- Peter Dinklage as Self - Narrator (voice)
- Adolf Hitler as Self (archive footage)
- Kim Jong-il as Self (archive footage)
- Asha Rangappa as Self
- Muammar Gaddafi as Self (archive footage)
- Kim Il-sung as Self (archive footage)
- Joseph Stalin as Self (archive footage)
- Saddam Hussein as Self (archive footage)
- Idi Amin as Self (archive footage)
- Fidel Castro as Self (archive footage)
- Madeleine Albright as Self
- George W. Bush as Self (archive footage)
Creators and crew
- Jake Laufer - Executive Producer
- Jonah Bekhor - Executive Producer
- Jonas Bell Pasht - Executive Producer
- David Ginsberg - Executive Producer
- Peter Dinklage - Executive Producer
Episodes
Episode 1: Seize Power
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: Crush Your Rivals
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: Reign Through Terror
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: Control the Truth
Through public relations spin, revisionist history and censorship. Soviet autocrat Joseph Stalin found a certain flexibility with the truth useful.
Episode 5: Create a New Society
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: Rule Forever
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.
More like this
Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States
Oliver Stone's re-examination of under-reported events in American history.
Hitler's Circle of Evil
Surviving power struggles, betrayals and plots, Hitler's inner circle of Nazi leaders seizes control of Germany and designs its disastrous future.
Greatest Events of World War II in Colour
Using highly advanced colourisation techniques, critical moments from World War II, from Stalingrad to The Battle of Britain, are shown in a whole new light.
Drug Lords
Witness the stories of history's most notorious kingpins, their terrifying enforcers, and the men and women who've sworn to bring them down.
History 101
Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.
The Vietnam War
An immersive 360-degree narrative telling the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film. Featuring testimony from nearly 80 witnesses, including many Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both the winning and losing sides.
World War II: From the Frontlines
Through vividly enhanced archival footage and voices from all sides of the conflict, this docuseries brings WWII to life like never before.
Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror
Modern history can be divided into two time frames: before 9/11 and after 9/11. This five-part docuseries is a cohesive chronicle of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., offering illuminating perspectives and personal stories of how the catastrophic events of that day changed the course of the nation.
Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan
Dynamic reenactments and expert commentaries bring to life the tumultuous history and power struggles of a warring 16th-century feudal Japan.
Churchill at War
This captivating docuseries examines Winston Churchill's pivotal role in World War II and the formative events that made him an ideal leader for the era.