Real Dictators
Episodes
Hitler's Secret Family (Part 11)
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After the Wall Street Crash, the German economy nosedives. The Nazis find themselves within grasp of government. As Adolf Hitler makes headlines acros...
Hitler's Women & Joseph Goebbels (Part 10)
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Adolf Hitler, at large once again, finds himself barred from public life. Retreating to the mountains, he finds a new home and a female companion. It ...
Introducing: Short History Of... Bonnie and Clyde
11 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From the creators of Real Dictators we present Short History Of... Hosted by Paul McGann, this show gives you a front-row seat as history’s most inc...
Hitler in Prison & Mein Kampf (Part 9)
09 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Adolf Hitler, now a national celebrity, begins his jail term. Besieged by well-wishers, he has faith his time inside will be short. To keep the Nazi f...
Adolf Hitler's Day in Court (Part 8)
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Munich, Germany. November 1923. The Nazis have just attempted to launch a revolution. But instead, Adolf Hitler now finds himself on the run from the ...
Turkmenbashy Part 2: Putin, Taliban, Internet Shutdown
26 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the new Turkmen leader, Saparmurat Niyazov has absolute power. He uses it to construct one of history’s most surreal regimes. Rebuilding the capi...
Turkmenbashy Part 1: Soviet Stooge, Hermit Tyrant
14 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Turkmenistan in Central Asia. Somewhere unremarkable, you might assume. But you’d be wrong. Away from prying eyes, an extraordinary story unfolded h...
Idi Amin Part 6: The Entebbe Raid
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Four Israeli jets descend on Uganda under cover of night. An audacious commando mission begins. It will spark the beginning of the end for Idi Amin. A...
Idi Amin Part 5: Husband, Father, Movie Star
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We delve into Amin’s private life, taking in his many marriages, mistresses and children. The President makes a triumphant return to the boxing ring...
Idi Amin Part 4: Expulsion of the Asians
08 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a speech, Amin makes an extraordinary announcement – something he claims came to him in a dream. All Ugandans of Asian origin must leave the coun...
Idi Amin Part 3: ‘Big Daddy’ Seizes Power
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amin wages war on Buganda’s king. The administration strengthens its grip on power. But after Obote survives an assassination attempt by mere inches...
Idi Amin Part 2: Warlord In-Waiting...
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The curtain falls on the British Empire in Africa. Uganda is free. Idi Amin becomes the right-hand man of the nation's new leader, Milton Obote. Commi...
Idi Amin Part 1: The Butcher of Uganda
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From 1971 to 1979, President Idi Amin Dada devastated Uganda. The military dictator sank the economy and deported an entire ethnic class. He slaughter...
Introducing: History Daily
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On History Daily, we do history, daily. Every weekday beginning November 1st, host Lindsay Graham (American Scandal, American History Tellers) takes...
Introducing: Short History Of...
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From the creators of Real Dictators comes a brand-new weekly show. Short History Of... gives you a front-row seat as history's most incredible moments...
Colonel Gaddafi Part 8: The Arab Spring
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
By early 2011, Libya is changing. The Arab Spring is underway. A young lawyer from Benghazi organises a protest. Before long, it will become a full-bl...
Colonel Gaddafi Part 7: 9/11 and a New Ally
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On September 11th, 2001, life in the West is transformed in an instant. Amidst the fall-out, Gaddafi spots an opportunity. To the surprise of many, he...
Colonel Gaddafi Part 6: The Lockerbie Bombing
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1988, Gaddafi takes his terror to the skies, bringing down a passenger flight over Lockerbie, Scotland. Staffers at the Pentagon team up with Holly...
Colonel Gaddafi Part 5: Reagan vs Gaddafi
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gaddafi takes his terror onto the streets of London and Berlin. Libyan agents hunt down his opponents across the globe. The Reagan administration laun...
Colonel Gaddafi Part 4: The Munich Olympic Massacre
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the summer of 1972, at the Munich Olympic Games, a festival of sport becomes a terrifying nightmare. The Libyan leader tightens his grip on power a...
Colonel Gaddafi Part 3: Vengeance Day
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Muammar Gaddafi can’t quite believe his luck. Still in his twenties, he finds himself leader of an oil-rich country. The Colonel wastes no time kick...
Colonel Gaddafi Part 2: Gaddafi in London
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1960s, Libya gets rich on oil. But, with the wealth squandered, many question the King’s authority. Among them is young Muammar Gaddafi. Sent...
Colonel Gaddafi Part 1: Son of the Desert
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
‘Brother Leader’, ‘King of Kings’, ‘Falcon of Africa’… ‘The Most Dangerous Man in the World'. Colonel Gaddafi was the Libyan tyrant wh...
Franco Part 5: Life After a Dictator
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The horrors of the past are buried. After 20 years in power, Franco embraces capitalism and declares himself a moderniser. Spain becomes a leading hol...
Franco Part 4: The Cold War & the President
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The ‘White Terror’ continues. Spain’s strongman assumes power in Madrid, herding his defeated enemies into concentration camps. Franco commissio...
Franco Part 3: The Spanish Civil War
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In July 1936, Spain erupts into civil war. But Francisco Franco is marooned far away in the Canary Islands. A devious rescue mission ensues. Back on S...
Franco Part 2: Murder in Africa
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1917, Franco is posted to northern Spain. He courts a local schoolgirl named Carmen. But soon, a charismatic army superior convinces Franco to retu...
Franco Part 1: Spain’s Buried Past
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Spain is Europe’s holiday capital. But under the sand lie sinister secrets. From 1939 to 1975, Francisco Franco ruled as the nation’s dicta...
Adolf Hitler Part 7: The Day of Treason
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the final part of Hitler’s Early Years, the Nazi leader launches his very own assault on power: the Munich Putsch. Under cover of darkness, the S...
Adolf Hitler Part 6: Hitler’s Secret Book
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Nazis kickstart their media operation. Desperate to be an icon, Hitler pens a secret autobiography, where he compares his own rise to Jesus’s re...
Adolf Hitler Part 5: The Stormtroopers Arrive
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hitler decides he needs an army of his own. The Nazis create a new paramilitary unit – the Sturmabteilung, or SA. These hooligans take National Soci...
Adolf Hitler Part 4: The Spy Becomes the Nazi Leader
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hitler is sent undercover, tasked with spying on a band of extremists. But he soon falls under their spell and breaks cover to join their ranks. They ...
Adolf Hitler Part 3: The 'Stab in the Back'
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Great War ends. Hitler despairs. The Kaiser does a runner. Revolutions break out across Germany. Discharged from hospital, Hitler returns home to ...
Adolf Hitler Part 2: Hitler in the First World War
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
June 1914, Sarajevo. An assassination on the street disrupts the entire balance of power in Europe. The First World War explodes into action. Adolf Hi...
Adolf Hitler Part 1: Birth of a Führer
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You may know something of the Hitler story. But there’s a decent chance you don’t know the half of it. We begin a deep dive into the early years o...
Introducing: Real Narcos Season 2 - Félix Gallardo
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From the creators of Real Dictators comes Real Narcos, the show that takes you to the front line of the war on drugs. For Season 2, we're in Mexico. I...
General Tojo Part 4: The Atom Bombs
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The walls close in on Hideki Tojo. The General turned Prime Minister takes hands-on control of the military, with catastrophic consequences. Emperor H...
General Tojo Part 3: Attack on Pearl Harbor
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. The Pacific War is underway. In Tokyo, Prime Minister Tojo moves to take every significant government job for himself. Jap...
General Tojo Part 2: Terror in China
22 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Major General Hideki Tojo takes command of the secret police - the Kempeitai. The Imperial Japanese Army invades China and terrorises the civilian pop...
General Tojo Part 1: The Young Samurai
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
General Hideki Tojo led Japan into World War Two and oversaw some of the most horrific war crimes in recorded history. Tojo did not hold absolute powe...
Papa Doc Part 3: Vampire of the Caribbean
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
François Duvalier puts the finishing touches to his terrifying cult of personality. The President for Life declares himself an immaterial being - a s...
Papa Doc Part 2: Haiti’s Dictator vs JFK
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Haitian dictator “Papa Doc” Duvalier crushes an attempted coup without mercy. Spooked by this near miss, Duvalier forms his own private militia ca...
Papa Doc Part 1: The Voodoo Tyrant
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Just a few hundred miles south of Florida, across the Caribbean Sea, lies Haiti. From 1957 to 1971, this tropical island nation was ruled by a would-b...
Mao Zedong Part 3: The Cultural Revolution
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mao’s ‘Cultural Revolution’ sets out to purge the minds of an entire population. Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader himself leads a life of debaucher...
Mao Zedong Part 2: The ‘Great Leap Forward’
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mao Zedong's Communists come down from the mountains to do battle with the Nationalists. After clinching victory, Mao is greeted by many as a hero. Bu...
Mao Zedong Part 1: Peasant’s Son, Communist Rebel
28 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the centre of China’s capital city, Beijing, lies a corpse that no one dares remove. It’s been 44 years since Mao Zedong’s body was laid to r...
Joseph Stalin Part 3: Hitler Attacks
14 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Stalin’s regime hits the rocks when Adolf Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa and invades Russia. Nazi tanks plough towards Moscow in a devastating...
Joseph Stalin Part 2: The Secretary Becomes Dictator
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With the First World War underway, Stalin’s journey to dictatorship grinds into gear. After the War, Russia is turned upside down. Stalin thrives in...
Joseph Stalin Part 1: The Young Bank Robber
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Joseph Stalin - the “man of steel” - was the party secretary who plotted a route to absolute power, becoming head of the Eastern Bloc and chief ne...
Kim Jong-il Part 3: Nuclear Armed
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Installed as dictator, Kim Jong-il builds an all-powerful state that dominates the lives and minds of its people. North Korea is wracked by famine. Th...
Kim Jong-il Part 2: Time to Make a Movie…
15 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kim Jong-il has risen to become propaganda chief under the rule of his father. Now, he hatches an audacious plan to turn North Korea into a filmmaking...
Kim Jong-il Part 1: Birth of North Korea
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Kim Jong-il built a rogue state with nuclear missiles trained on its enemies – all while living a life of the utmost luxury. In the first episode of...
Trailer: Real Dictators
11 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How does a single human being convince thousands to kill for them and millions to turn a blind eye? Real Dictators is the new podcast series hosted b...