10 Real Life Historical Figures With The Highest Kill Counts
7. Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam came to power in 1974, after his organization, the Derg, overthrew the previous government. He was a communist leader, who is recognized as the first president of Ethiopia.
From 1977-78, Mariam had other rival communists in his country slaughtered, in what is referred to as the Ethiopian Red Terror. The death toll associated with the incident varies greatly, though as many as 750,000 people may have been killed, with their bodies sometimes left in the street.
In some cases, after an individual was killed by the regime, their family would then have to pay what was known as 'the wasted bullet' tax, if they wanted their loved one's bodies returned to them.
Between the Ethiopian Red Terror and various other acts of violence, from 1974 to 1991, Mengistu Haile Mariam is associated with the demise of 400,000 to 1.5 million of his countrymen.
Though Ethiopian courts found him guilty of genocide (in absentia), the 82-year-old former dictator is alive and living in Zimbabwe.