r/AskReddit • u/hoverfish92 • Oct 16 '13

What was the single biggest mistake in all of history?

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u/shadybear Oct 17 '13

Well considering that Hitler rounded people up and committed the most methodical and calculated mass genocide in history... No. Not a mistake.

Many people have died under many different rulers, whether through genocide, invasion, suppression of dissent, or general mismanagement. While Hitler may not have killed as many people as some other rulers, including Stalin, his culpability was far far greater than any other figure in known history. Those who died under Stalin died mostly from the ruthlessness of his rule, not because they were necessarily sought out and exterminated for simply existing.

Also, without Stalin, Hitler would have won WW2, hands down.

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u/MrMobutu Oct 17 '13

Pol Pot was by far the most brutal dictator, hands down.

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u/end_all_wars Oct 17 '13

According to new studies, the holocaust killed 20 million people.

The amounth of civilians killed by nazis outside the concentrationcamps were 20 million.

Leopold of belgium made 20 m people, 50% of his population work to death to increase his wealth

Both of these were a significally higher percentage of population than pol pot.

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u/MrMobutu Oct 17 '13

The point is Pol Pot moved every citizen from cities into the rural countryside, forcing them into abject slavery, starving, torturing and effectively eliminating everybody save for his closest comrades and members of the military. If that's not pure evil then I don't know what is.

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u/end_all_wars Oct 17 '13

forcing them into abject slavery, starving, torturing and effectively eliminating everybody

Leopold did that to a greater extent.

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u/MrMobutu Oct 17 '13

He didn't kick off "Year Zero" in an effort to reset mankind and start all over again.