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> but this guy was just evil: Yeah, in my opinion Beria was even more evil than Stalin, only that his "personal failures" kept him out of holding the "first s

> but this guy was just evil: Yeah, in my opinion Beria was even more evil than Stalin, only that his "personal failures" kept him out of holding the "first spot" in the Soviet State: you have to be efficient with your time like Stalin was if you want to be a ruthless dictator, if you're wasting your time raping innocent women you're not at all on the right track of being in a position to kill millions of people further down the road. That's why Khrushchev's counter-coup just a few months after Stalin's death caught Beria by surprise, something like this would have never happened to a guy like Stalin, who was first and foremost interested in killing (or rather, in having them killed) his enemies and especially his political friends, no need to "waste" time in killing or raping innocent women who had nothing to do with politics. The only other Soviet official who was close to Beria in evilness was Nikolai Yezhov [2], who of course that Stalin had killed once he had done his dirty business for him. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavrentiy_Beria#Arrest,_trial_and_execution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavrentiy_Beria#Arrest,_trial_... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov

arethuza 7y ago
In terms of hands on evil in the Soviet regime I think I'd nominate Vasily Blokhin as one of the worst - during the Katyn massacre he personally executed 7,000 over 28 nights, one after the other: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin
- mc32 7y ago
  That harks to the three kingdoms period where captured armies and populations were slain on the spot day and night day after day. It’s reflected in their census figures: 56MM before the conflict period, 16MM after the conflict.
  - wutbrodo 7y ago
    This is an often-popularized figure that the evidence doesn't really support (as much as I enjoyed Pinker's Better Angels, it bears a lot of the blame here). The "after" number is net of the loss of territory representing a quarter of the empire's territory, coincident with the breakdown of the census system, and post-removal of certain classes of people from being counted in the census. It's not a good proxy for lives lost during the course of the Rebellion. On top of that, the armies involved added up to a million people total, a tiny fraction of China's total population. As is almost always the case with large wars historically, the majority of deaths came from famine and disease caused by upheaval.
    - mc32 7y ago
      Surely the numbers are off but I think they are indicative and point to the utter ruthless methodical approach to decimation. One scene from a Chinese movie is etched into my mind. One of the executioners complains he can’t kill anymore because his blade had become too dull.

arethuza 7y ago

In terms of hands on evil in the Soviet regime I think I'd nominate Vasily Blokhin as one of the worst - during the Katyn massacre he personally executed 7,000 over 28 nights, one after the other: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin

mc32 7y ago
That harks to the three kingdoms period where captured armies and populations were slain on the spot day and night day after day. It’s reflected in their census figures: 56MM before the conflict period, 16MM after the conflict.
- wutbrodo 7y ago
  This is an often-popularized figure that the evidence doesn't really support (as much as I enjoyed Pinker's Better Angels, it bears a lot of the blame here). The "after" number is net of the loss of territory representing a quarter of the empire's territory, coincident with the breakdown of the census system, and post-removal of certain classes of people from being counted in the census. It's not a good proxy for lives lost during the course of the Rebellion. On top of that, the armies involved added up to a million people total, a tiny fraction of China's total population. As is almost always the case with large wars historically, the majority of deaths came from famine and disease caused by upheaval.
  - mc32 7y ago
    Surely the numbers are off but I think they are indicative and point to the utter ruthless methodical approach to decimation. One scene from a Chinese movie is etched into my mind. One of the executioners complains he can’t kill anymore because his blade had become too dull.