Real Dictators

Muammar Gaddafi can’t quite believe his luck. Still in his twenties, he finds himself leader of an oil-rich country. The Colonel wastes no time kicking out the Americans and the Brits. He instigates a 'Vengeance Day' to deal with Libya’s colonial oppressors. Living standards soar for ordinary Libyans. But the cracks are already appearing. Things are about to spin off in a very different direction....

In the 1960s, Libya gets rich on oil. But, with the wealth squandered, many question the King’s authority. Among them is young Muammar Gaddafi. Sent to England as a military cadet, Gaddafi roams the streets of Swinging London in flowing Bedouin robes. With his training complete, he readies himself for an audacious seizure of power. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new e...

‘Brother Leader’, ‘King of Kings’, ‘Falcon of Africa’… ‘The Most Dangerous Man in the World'. Colonel Gaddafi was the Libyan tyrant who abused his people on an industrial scale, until he was murdered by them as they rose up against him. A revolutionary who freed his country from empire, only to squander its riches. Terrorist sponsor one moment, Western ally the next. At the height of World War Two...

The horrors of the past are buried. After 20 years in power, Franco embraces capitalism and declares himself a moderniser. Spain becomes a leading holiday destination. Later, Franco plans his own succession. The ailing Generalissimo headhunts a dashing young heir. But it remains to be seen whether this successor will keep to Franco’s script. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early acces...

The ‘White Terror’ continues. Spain’s strongman assumes power in Madrid, herding his defeated enemies into concentration camps. Franco commissions a movie to tell his own life story. Up in the mountains, die-hard rebels continue to resist. After World War Two, Franco seeks to re-brand. ‘El Caudillo’ sets about seducing a brand-new ally: the United States. For ad-free listening, exclusive content a...

In July 1936, Spain erupts into civil war. But Francisco Franco is marooned far away in the Canary Islands. A devious rescue mission ensues. Back on Spanish soil, Franco begins the process of conquering his homeland, butchering his enemies as he goes. Mussolini and Hitler lend a hand. Closing in on Madrid, Franco lays the groundwork for a decades-long dictatorship. For ad-free listening, exclusive...

In 1917, Franco is posted to northern Spain. He courts a local schoolgirl named Carmen. But soon, a charismatic army superior convinces Franco to return to Africa. In Morocco, he brutalises the local population. Climbing the military ranks, Franco becomes something of a celebrity. Meanwhile, Spain itself spirals towards civil war. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new ep...

Today, Spain is Europe’s holiday capital. But under the sand lie sinister secrets. From 1939 to 1975, Francisco Franco ruled as the nation’s dictator. Despite his bloody reign, the General died peacefully in his bed at a ripe old age. How was he able to get away with such atrocities? The story begins in the 1890s. Francisco Franco is born and raised on Spain’s Atlantic coast. After joining the arm...

In the final part of Hitler’s Early Years, the Nazi leader launches his very own assault on power: the Munich Putsch. Under cover of darkness, the SA prepare to storm locations across Munich. Hitler himself prepares to kidnap a senior politician. Will the Nazis take over Germany? Or will they fail and fade back into obscurity? For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episod...

The Nazis kickstart their media operation. Desperate to be an icon, Hitler pens a secret autobiography, where he compares his own rise to Jesus’s resurrection. French and Belgian troops cross the German border, while the economy goes into meltdown. Amidst the turmoil, the Nazis plot their very own coup d’état. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+....

Hitler decides he needs an army of his own. The Nazis create a new paramilitary unit – the Sturmabteilung, or SA. These hooligans take National Socialism onto the streets. Hitler assembles an executive team of deputies. They include Ernst Röhm - an army insider with a stockpile of weapons. And a celebrity fighter pilot called Hermann Göring... For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early acc...

Hitler is sent undercover, tasked with spying on a band of extremists. But he soon falls under their spell and breaks cover to join their ranks. They will soon become the Nazi Party, and this new recruit their leader. Under a new mentor, Adolf Hitler finds his voice. His march towards power is grinding into gear. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noise...

The Great War ends. Hitler despairs. The Kaiser does a runner. Revolutions break out across Germany. Discharged from hospital, Hitler returns home to Munich, desperate to keep his army job. The Allies gather in Paris to settle the tab for the War. Hitler drinks in far-right conspiracy theories. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available f...

June 1914, Sarajevo. An assassination on the street disrupts the entire balance of power in Europe. The First World War explodes into action. Adolf Hitler relocates to Munich. After dodging the draft, he later embraces life as a soldier. But then, serving in Flanders in 1918, a traumatic injury threatens to end his rise to power before it’s even started. For ad-free listening, exclusive content an...

You may know something of the Hitler story. But there’s a decent chance you don’t know the half of it. We begin a deep dive into the early years of a man who became the very embodiment of evil. Peeling away Hitler’s own myths about his childhood, we explore how he emerged from obscurity. The future German Führer isn’t born in Germany. Growing up in Austria, he clashes with his father but idolises...

From the creators of Real Dictators comes Real Narcos, the show that takes you to the front line of the war on drugs. For Season 2, we're in Mexico. In 1985, Kiki Camarena is a US DEA agent on the trail of Félix Gallardo - the man known as the Mexican Godfather. But Camarena's kidnapping at the hands of the cartel will send shockwaves around the world. Search 'Real Narcos' in your podcast app and...

The walls close in on Hideki Tojo. The General turned Prime Minister takes hands-on control of the military, with catastrophic consequences. Emperor Hirohito pulls the plug. With Tojo forced out of office and on the run from the Allies in Tokyo, the end of World War Two arrives. But its final chapter will change the world forever more. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to n...

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. The Pacific War is underway. In Tokyo, Prime Minister Tojo moves to take every significant government job for himself. Japanese troops sweep through the Malay Peninsula. Thousands of Allied soldiers are interned in prisoner of war camps, in conditions that beggar belief. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now availab...

Major General Hideki Tojo takes command of the secret police - the Kempeitai. The Imperial Japanese Army invades China and terrorises the civilian population. Kempeitai operatives set up a secret lab where they carry out horrific medical and weapons experiments. This is only the beginning. Before long, Prime Minister Tojo will ready the nation for war with the United States. For ad-free listening,...

General Hideki Tojo led Japan into World War Two and oversaw some of the most horrific war crimes in recorded history. Tojo did not hold absolute power, but he more than earns his place at this table. Ruling under a compliant Emperor, Tojo gathered power to himself. He was the minister who outgrew his master, the bureaucrat whose relentless work ethic took him to the apex of government. Hideki Toj...

François Duvalier puts the finishing touches to his terrifying cult of personality. The President for Life declares himself an immaterial being - a spirit that will hover over Haiti even after his body dies. Thoughts turn to succession. His son - "Baby Doc" - waits in the wings. Our contributors reflect on the legacy of Papa Doc - a name that will forever haunt the nightmares of Haitians. For ad-f...

Haitian dictator “Papa Doc” Duvalier crushes an attempted coup without mercy. Spooked by this near miss, Duvalier forms his own private militia called the Tonton Macoute. They take their name from a terrifying bogeyman of Haitian mythology. As the horrors of the regime become impossible to ignore, President Kennedy decides to lay down a marker. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early ac...

Just a few hundred miles south of Florida, across the Caribbean Sea, lies Haiti. From 1957 to 1971, this tropical island nation was ruled by a would-be demigod. François Duvalier - better known as “Papa Doc” - wielded the twin powers of state violence and voodoo. Real Dictators takes you behind the scenes of Papa Doc’s maniacal regime. His victims and adversaries tell the story of the medical doct...

Mao’s ‘Cultural Revolution’ sets out to purge the minds of an entire population. Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader himself leads a life of debauchery and excess - as his former doctor remembers. The Chairman seems invincible. But as his health deteriorates, his legacy is anything but assured. Eyewitnesses to his brutality reflect on what Mao means to China today, more than 40 years after his death. Fo...

Mao Zedong's Communists come down from the mountains to do battle with the Nationalists. After clinching victory, Mao is greeted by many as a hero. But life under the new Chairman is about to get a whole lot worse. Installed as Supreme Leader, Mao sets about revolutionising the way his people live, work, and even think. His ‘Great Leap Forward’ is intended to be an economic masterplan. Instead, it...