Dictators of the 20th Century Quiz

Question: Who was the premier of North Korea from 1948 to 1972 and the country’s president from 1972 until his death in 1994?

Answer: Kim Il-Sung was the communist leader of North Korea from 1948 until his death in 1994. He was the nation’s premier from 1948 to 1972, chairman of its dominant Korean Workers’ Party from 1949 to 1994, and president and head of state from 1972 to 1994.

Question: What was the name of the black-uniformed elite corps of the Nazi Party, founded by Adolf Hitler as his bodyguard?

Answer: The SS, or Schutzstaffel (German: “Protective Echelon”), was the black-uniformed elite corps of the Nazi Party. Founded by Adolf Hitler in April 1925 as a small personal bodyguard, the SS grew with the success of the Nazi movement and, gathering immense police and military powers, became virtually a state within a state. With their sleek black uniforms and special insignia (lightninglike runic S's, death's head badges, and silver daggers), the men of the SS felt superior to the brawling brown-shirted storm troopers of the SA (Sturmabteilung), to which initially they were nominally subordinate.

Question: Which dictator killed or displaced millions of Cambodians during his reign of terror from 1975 to 1979?

Answer: Pol Pot was the Khmer political leader whose totalitarian regime, from 1975 to 1979, caused the deaths and displacement of millions of people in Cambodia. Forced labour, starvation, disease, torture, and executions were common during his program of radical social and agricultural reforms.

Question: Which communist leader’s economic strategy was called the Great Leap Forward?

Answer: During the winter of 1957–58 Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong worked out the policies that were to characterize the Great Leap Forward. His economic strategy promoted the establishment of “people's communes” as part of the Great Leap strategy, but these plans, compounded with a series of natural calamities, resulted in the deaths of about 20 million people as a result of starvation between 1959 and 1962. Mao then went on to lead the Cultural Revolution.