The Cruelest Leader

    In 1241, the Mongols entered Poland and Hungary in full force about 150,000 strong. Most Western Christians were stunned and shocked as this highly mobile and well-organized Mongol army quickly and decisively defeated the Poles and Germans at Leignitz and the Hungarians and Cumans at Mohi. All of Western Europe was open to the Mongols as no united Christian military force existed to oppose them on the battlefield. Western Christians were awe-struck by the Mongols' great numbers, their speed, and their cruelty; ....

 Pope Innocent IV sent four separate embassies to preach and gather information in 1245. The two Franciscan and two Dominican missions all carried religious and diplomatic letters addressed to various Mongol leaders and military commanders. The papal letters asked Mongol intentions, told them to stop killing and slaughtering people (especially Christians), and urged them to accept baptism.

 the Mongols believed that they had a divine right and mandate to rule the entire world.

Chinggis khaan's tax law.
 

The Mongol Horde ... with their mighty Genghis Khan leading them they nearly ruled the earth! The incredible war machine that Genghis Khan built is difficult to imagine even by modern standards. Cities in his path were obliterated, rivers diverted, deserts crowded with the fleeing and dying. In the wake of the ruthless horde birds of prey were often the sole living creatures to inhabit the bloody, ravaged land. Such wholesale destruction can only be compared to modern nuclear warfare. /From Ghenghis Khan and the Mongol Horde, by Harold Lamb/
 

"cities in his path were often obliterated, and rivers diverted from their courses; deserts were peopled with the fleeing and dying, and when he had passed, wolves and ravens often were the sole living things in once populated lands.

To say someone is the most cruel, it falls into the eye of the beholder. Certainly the original question implies merely a comparison of degrees of cruelty in different leaders but if the greatest harm to the greatest number defines the term "most cruel leader" then firstly Stalin, secondly Mao, and Hitler are all overly quallified.

http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM

Stalin hardly killed more than 6 million people and that's a very generous estimate. Hitler's actions resulted in the death of 60 million people,  although he directly can be credited only with the victims of the Germans and not of the cobatants - that would make Hitler directly responsible for about 25 million deaths.

Why was it necessary to disband the autonomous state of the Crimea and deport all of its population to Siberia?

In 1933 Germany was not the power it eventually became in 1939. Don�t get me wrong, it was necessary to industrialize. But, selling crops for industrial equipment and allowing people to starve is brutal.

 Aside from that, if Stalin was so worried about Germany how could he have been so damn stupid to purge most of the officer corps?

How many people died in his Gulags? How many people were killed in his purges?

It amazes me that there are so many apologists for this man. It is not quite as bad as being an apologist or Hitler, but it is close.

Was Stalin a great leader? Unquestionably he was.

I think 60 years is too soon for us to objectively analyze what happened in the 30�s and 40s. We can analyze WW1 with out a problem I think, but not WW2 (the 30s and 40s included). I say this because it is obvious that even though we are armature historians and know much about the past, our own political philosophies interfere too much with more recent history.