North Korea: The most repressive, isolated dictatorship in the world, with it’s massive military drills, and even more massive dictator, with his infamous cult of personality, to the point of the North Korean population worshiping the Kim’s like gods. On top of that, they censor all media, “elections”, and threaten the world almost daily with their nuclear arsenal. At this point, North Korea is a byword for a autocratic regime. However, there are also other nations that are just like the DPRK, as they are just as isolated and autocratic, on different points of the globe…

Turkmenistan(1991-Present):

Turkmenistan is a small, empty nation in Central Asia with a mostly Turkic population, that had most of it’s history being occupied by other, more powerful nations(That will be a recurring theme). In the 1880’s, due to the Russian conquest of Central Asia, Turkmenistan became part of the Russian Empire. However, it was not much use to the regime in St Petersburg, and, after the Russian Revolution, it was still not worth much to the regime in Moscow. However, soon, it would be used by the Soviet’s for their cotton, who would construct a massive canal from the Amu-Darya River to Ashgabat to irrigate water for the cotton, known as the Karakum Canal, which would directly cause the shrinking of the Aral Sea.

However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the leader of the Turkmen SSR, Saparmurat Niyazov decided to declare independence with him as their leader. Immediately, he made a cult of personality, calling himself “Turkmenbashi”, of Leader of All Turkmens, and his book, Ruhnama, was mandatory reading for everyone. He also renamed the months of the calender after himself and his family members. In 2006, he died, and his successor, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, continued the dictatorship. During his reign, he decreased Niyazov’s cult of personality, and replaced it with his, making statues of his dog, while banning all non white cars(Why?)!

However, they both also had a dark side, punishing dissidents ruthlessly, had doing constant human rights abuses for the most ridiculous reasons, such as practicing religion, playing video games, or criticizing the regime. Meanwhile, freedom of expression is non-existent. Meanwhile, purges against government officials were common. This has led to several human rights organizations to say that Turkmenistan is as bad, if not worse than North Korea.

The dictatorship in Turkmenistan continues.

Eritrea(1991-Present):

Meanwhile, in Africa, there is another nation that is just as autocratic, Eritrea.

At the beginning of the Scramble of Africa, Italy occupied Eritrea, and made it it’s colony, and used it as a staging ground to invade neighboring Ethiopia. After World War 2, Eritrea was freed from Italian occupation, only to be handed over to Ethiopian occupation for a short time. However, in 1952, Ethiopia annexed Eritrea, to the resentment of the Eritreans. So, in 1964, an uprising against Ethiopia began in Eritrea, beginning the Eritrean War of Independence, which lasted to 1991. The Eritrean Independence movement was led by Isaias Afwerki, the leader of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, the most powerful rebel group. The PFDJ had collaborated with other Ethiopian rebels during the Ethiopian Civil war against the Communist Derg, and was promised independence after the war. So, after Addis Ababa fell, and the EPDRF had taken control of Ethiopia, Eritrea gained independence, with the PFDJ in charge, Isaias Afwerki began to set up a dictatorship.

However, immediately, Eritrea introduced mandatory conscription, which gradually increased over time, to the point of conscription being nearly 50 YEARS long. The conscripts are treated as slaves, and forced to do all the work. Meanwhile, they have grown more and more isolated, starting a trade war and later an actual war with Ethiopia from 1998-2000. Then, they intervened in the Tigray War to destroy the TPLF from 2020 to 2022. Meanwhile, whoever criticizes Afwerki will be put in a shipping container in the middle of the desert, which basically means dead. In 2023, 800,000 people left to be free of the tyranny, out of 3.7 million(Approximately, Eritrea has never conducted a census).

The dictatorship in Eritrea continues…

More information about Eritrea in my essay, How a Nobel Peace Prize winner started 2 Wars

However, there used to be more North Korea style nations…

PSR Albania(1946-1992):

Albania is a small nation in the Balkan Peninsula on the coast of the Adriatic sea, and has had a history of being occupied by larger powers. In 1939, Mussolini invaded Albania to control the entrance to the Adriatic, and used it as a staging point for his invasion of Greece which failed spectacularly, until he called daddy Hitler to help him invade Greece. While under occupation, which intensifies after Italy’s surrender and the Nazi’s occupied Albania, partisans waged war to liberate their country. Several factions existed, including the Royalists, the Nationalists, and some Greek partisans, but the most powerful was the Communist National Liberation Movement, let by Enver Hoxha. In 1944, the Nazi’s were redeployed elsewhere, making Hoxha the leader of the “liberated” Peoples Socialist Republic of Albania. Hoxha, who was a big fan of Stalin, decided to base his new regime off of his handling of the Soviet Union. Immediately, he began setting up a ruthless communist dictatorship, where he immediately began eliminating Bourgeoisie, officials with the past regimes, other partisans, and everyone else suspected of opposing the regime. Meanwhile, state atheism was strictly enforced. Even someone sending a letter telling the party to respect human rights would be immediately sent to the work camps for 30 years, at minimum. On top of that, cars became illegal. Albania would be known as the North Korea of Europe.

Meanwhile, Albania was becoming more and more isolated. It was originally friends with the Soviets and Tito, the dictator of Yugoslavia, but after the Tito-Stalin split relations fell with Yugoslavia. Albania was in the Warsaw Pact, but after the death of Stalin, their relations became more strained, and after the Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Albania left the Warsaw Pact, and made closer relations with China, becoming the only nation to align with the Chinese during the Sino Soviet split. However, after the death of Mao Zedong, Albania announced in 1981 that they would build a socialist paradise on their own, becoming one of the most isolated nations in the world.

However, the people were becoming fed up with this, so, in 1991, a massive uprising began, cumulating with the 1991 elections, where the Democratic Party(The Right Wing Party) defeated the Party of Labor. In 1992, PSR Albania was dissolved.

Today, Albania has achieved some economic growth, and joined NATO, while Tirana has achieved some development, Albania is still poor and has work to do.

Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma(1962-1988):

On the other side of the world, Burma(Myanmar) was colonized by the British, along with the rest of the British Raj, and was gaining independence. However, Burma is a multi ethnic state, with a dozen or so ethnic groups, with the majority being the Burmar, but there were others like the Karen, the Kanchin, the Chin, the Rohingya, and others. However, the leader of the independence movement, Aung San, suggested making autonomous zones for the ethnic groups, but he got assassinated before his dream was realized, beginning the Burmese Civil War, which is still in part going today. However, in 1962, the Burmese Military, the Tatmadaw, launched a coup and declared the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma, and began totalitarian military rule in the country. The Union of Burma immediately increased it’s oppression of ethnic minorities, while pushing a policy of isolating Burma from the rest of the world. Meanwhile, all industries were nationalized, and it began Soviet style central planning, which went horribly wrong. By 1988, Burma was the second poorest country in the world, slightly ahead of Cambodia, which we will get to later. However, the people were extremely discontent, and revolted, beginning the 8888 uprising, which the Tatmadaw reacted violently. However, they realized that, if they continued this system, more 8888 uprisings would occur.

After the 8888 uprising, the Tatmadaw began democratizing, which cumulated in 2011 with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and her election in 2015. However, in 2017, the Tatmadaw conducted a genocide against the Muslim Rohingya, which shocked the world. In 2020, Aung San Suu Kyi won elections again, but the Tatmadaw clamed it was rigged, and did a coup in 2021, which was popularized by this video:

Myanmar erupted into civil war, which still continues.

Maoist China(1949-1976):

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Nationalist Kuomintang took power in China, but faced opposition from warlords. So, they teamed up with the communist CCP, led by Mao Zedong. However, the Kuomintang turned on the CCP, initiating the Chinese Civil War. But, with Japanese invasion looming, they teamed up again during the Second Sino Japanese War. However, after it’s conclusion and the end of World War 2, they both still didn’t trust each other, especially due to the fact that the CCP had large swaths of the territory occupied by Japan. So, the second phase of the Chinese Civil War began, with the CCP winning and declaring the People’s Republic of China, while the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan.

Now, Mao Zedong was in charge of China, and he sought to make the people worship him like a god. First, he began executing all bourgeoise, and anyone associated with them. Then, he made the Giant Leap Backward Forward, where he rearranged all farms into massive collectives, which caused some of the largest famines in history, killing 60 million people. He also began a campaign to eliminate sparrows, which caused a massive surge of locusts, which added to the death toll. By now, it was 1966, and he was paranoid that members of the party planned to replace him. So, he murdered them all, except Deng Xiaoping. He then began the Cultural Revolution, where he sought to completely remake Chinese Society, by getting rid of the 4 Olds: ‘old ideas’, ‘old culture’, ‘old customs’, and ‘old habits, while making everyone worship him. The Cultural Revolution also bought upon the Red Guards, students who terrorized everyone not completely loyal to Mao, destroyed cultural heritage sites, and then the began murdering each other. After that, all the youth were sent to work in the countryside for the next 7 years.

All in all, Mao Zedong was responsible for the deaths of 85 MILLION PEOPLE, more than anyone in human history.

In 1976, Mao Zedong died, so Deng Xiaoping, to make sure this never happened again, decided to move China to a more free market system. However, China is still a brutal dictatorship, as was shown by the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

The dictatorship in China continues…

Democratic Kampuchea(1975-1979):

Meanwhile, Cambodia was taking it so far that fellow Communist nation Vietnam had to take them down.

Cambodia was colonized by the French until the end of the First Indochina War in 1954. However, there was continued conflict on who should run the country, between the Monarchy, Liberals, and the growing faction of Communist Peasants, known as the Khmer Rouge(Red Cambodia), who was lead by Pol Pot. With the Vietnam War next door, Cambodia was initially neutral, even when the Viet Cong invaded, but, in 1967, the Khmer Rouge revolted, beginning the Cambodian Civil War. In 1970, the monarchy was overthrown by right wing generals, led by Lon Nol, and allowed US presence in Cambodia. The deposed king, King Sinahook, decided to team up with the Khmer Rouge, and they gained support. Finally, on April 17, 1975, Phnom Penh fell, and the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia, renaming it to “Democratic” Kampuchea.

Immediately, Pol Pot declared 1975 “Year 0”, and sought to create a new agarin society from scratch. After that, everyone was forced to move out of the cities into the fields, where they had to produce impossible to meat rice quotas, or else. Meanwhile, people from the city, known as “New People”, were treated ruthlessly, and were often accused of being American, Soviet, or Vietnamese spies. They would be tortured in the infamous killing fields until they admitted their alleged crimes, naming collaborators, continuing the cycle. Meanwhile, any Khmer Rouge officers who didn’t have sufficient results would be executed immediately. They even also perused an anti intellectual stance, banning books, and even banning glasses! By 1979, 3 million people, from famines, or the Killing Fields, or 36% of the population would be killed in the Cambodian Genocide. This means that Pol Pot had caused the most deaths by proportion to any countries population.

However, Pol Pot also wanted to expand Cambodia’s borders, starting with Vietnam. So, in late 1978, his troops attacked a small border town, killing 3000 people. Vietnam retaliated by invading Cambodia, ending the Khmer Rouge Regime, and initiating the Third Indochina War. However, the Khmer Rouge continued an insurgency until 1997, with the death of Pol Pot. Pol Pot never faced justice for his actions.

I will soon make a post about Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge Cambodia.

So, although North Korea is the most famous of the worst dictatorships, there are others, some of which might have been even worse…