worst kings in history

He suppressed his opposition and the rights of the indigenous people, he gave away land and concessions to Chil, and was totally ignorant of foreign policy.

Only years later did she return Philip to the ground—burying him right outside her window.Understandably, her father had to came out of retirement to act as regent for her during this time, and when he died, her son had her declared unfit and locked up in a nunnery for the rest of her life.Rachel Seigel is an avid reader and book enthusiast with over 15 years of experience writing. He also sucked as a military strategist and didn’t really care much what was good for the people, so it was to be expected that something would give. From tyrannical Roman emperors to unruly and insane monarchs around the world, whether they were crazy, incompetent, evil, or all of the above, they were disastrous for their countries and their subjects.

She somehow convinced him to appoint the military leader Tiberius to take over for him—because obviously he was in no shape to rule—and he lived peacefully in seclusion until his death.The members of the Liu Song dynasty really enjoyed killing people, and particularly members of their own family or the families of everyone else. He had his nephew Arthur murdered to remove his most likely competition for the throne and then started a war with France, which he lost. That plan didn’t end up working so well.

I guess his instinct was right!In 1757, Mir Jafar made a secret pact with the British to overthrow the leader of Bengal in exchange for being made leader himself. Biter or not, Justin still had to be contended with, so his servants built a throne on wheels, and pushed him around the palace in it. He said: “I’ve just thought that I’ve only to give the word and you’ll all have your throats cut.” By the time he died, he was so hated that the Senate pushed to have him completely erased from Roman history.King Herod the Great is definitely not remembered as much for his greatness as for being the evil King who wanted to slaughter the baby Jesus.

Blessed and cursed with, as one historian put it, a willingness to believe almost everything, Rudolf was an equally enthusiastic supporter of astrologers, alchemists and mystics of every stripe. He was a reportedly handsome man, but completely lacked any sort of ability to rule independently. According to that account, the arrogant king was struck down for his disbelief in the Hebrews’ God, leaving his palace and living in the wild. Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis. Here are 41 appalling facts about the worst rulers in history.When Peter III was 14, his closest relative and Aunt Elizabeth became Empress of Russia and she dragged his sorry butt with her to Russia.

The nobles might have overlooked his bizarre wanderings, but they couldn’t tolerate murdering the Sture family, and they rebelled and dethroned him. Not surprisingly, he was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard.Once, in the middle of a dinner party, Caligula reportedly burst into raucous laughter for no apparent reason.

The Protestants formed a self-defense league, the Hungarians revolted against it, and the Turks went on the offensive. Altogether, there were six King James’ but the worst of them was probably James III, who took the throne at nine-years-old and died at age 28. Being under perpetual attack can be stressful even for the most seasoned leader, but Murad took it all in stride and did as the Romans do, using the violence to his advantage.

Of course, that was the year that she lost her husband, so it’s understandable that she would be off her game. During his reign, he killed his siblings, banned smoking and coffee (making their use punishable by death), and made sure to hang or impale anyone who defied him—and that was just for starters. That is until Rudolph went into a rage and started riled up the Turks all over again. Nine days after his forced abdication and exile he was assassinated—probably at Catherine’s order.