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One man’s hero is another man’s tyrant, a popular aphorism goes.But while we can argue the validity and virtue of certain political agendas, the callous methods by which some leaders attain their goals are less up to interpretation.

After all, no matter how a historian tries to spin it, ordering a tower to be constructed out of live men stacked and cemented together with bricks and mortar is pretty brutal.

Business Insider put together a list of the most ruthless leaders of all time featuring men and women who employed merciless tactics to achieve their political and military agendas.

Note: All people on the list ruled prior to 1980, and no living figures were included. People are arranged in chronological order.

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Here’s the list in order of when their reign of terror began. Details about each are provided within the article

o Qin Shi Hang (Reign 247-200 BC)
o Caius Julius Caesar (Caligula) 37-41 AD
o Attila the Hun (234-247)
o Wu Zetrian (690-705)

o Genghis Kahn (1206-1227)
o Tomas de Torquemada (1453-1498 as Grand Inquisitor)
o Timur (Tamerlane) 1370-1405)
o Vlad III of Wallachia (1448; 1456-1462; 14760

o Czar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) 1533-1547; 1547-1584)
o Queen Mary of Scotland (“Bloody Mary”) 1553-1558
o Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (killing spree 1590-1610)
o Maximilian Robespierre (c. 1789-1794)

o King Leopold II of Belgium (1865-1909)
o Mehmet Talat Paşa (1913-1918)
o Vladamir Lenin (1917-1924)
o Benito Mussolini (1922-1943)

o Joseph Stalin (1922-1953)
o Adolph Hitler (1933-1945)
o Karlooglin Choibalsan (1939-1952)
o Francisco Franco (1938-1975)

o Mao Zedong (1949-1976)
o Pol Pot(1975-1979)
o Idi Amin (1971-1975)
o Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990)

Wikipedia offers an excellent mini-bio of each of these ruthless leaders. The fact that most of them remained in power long after seizing it can be explained by one or more of several reasons.  Here’s one reason:  Michael Corlione took his father’s advice to keep his friends close and his enemies closer. He eliminated each of his enemies. He also knew that an enemy could exploit one of his own associates — it turned out to be  Sally Tessio. Why take a chance?

Here’s a direct link to Holodny and Macias’ complete article.