Some leaders destroy nations, and these leaders destroyed millions as their decisions reshaped the course of history. With a single order, a single invasion, or a single policy, entire populations paid the price.

A famine driven by politics, an invasion that set the world on fire, a king who turned a country into a slaughterhouse, and a war decision that triggered another world war all stand as stark reminders of the consequences of unchecked power. History remembers their names, but it remembers their choices even more, because sometimes one decision is all it takes to change the fate of the world.

Sources include Smithsonian Magazine, National Archives, Yale Genocide Studies, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Britannica, UN Historical Records, the Imperial War Museum, and Congo Free State documentation.