This is a list of titles used by dictators, authoritarian political leaders. Various authoritarian political leaders in various official positions assumed, formally or not, similar titles suggesting the power to speak for the nation itself. Most commonly the title is a form of "leader" or "guide", such as "Supreme Leader". See dictatorship.
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Vozhd ("leader") Joseph Stalin, dictator of Soviet Union has also been referred to as Father of Nations, "Great Leader", "General Secretary", "Generalisimus", "The Man of Steel", "Brilliant Genius of Humanity", "Great Architect of Communism", "Gardener of Human Happiness", "Dear Father".
El Caudillo de España ("the Chieftain of Spain") Generalísimo Francisco Franco Bahamonde, Jefe de Estado (Chief of State) and "Chief of Government" (Prime Minister). He adopted this title for himself and came to power after winning the Spanish Civil War. During World War II he maintained the neutrality of Spain. In fact the title of Franco was used officially and rather than personally (cf: "mein führer" or "mio duce" my fuhrer and my duce). It is alleged that it was often used as a protocolary title; preceded with By the Grace of God it would indicate that the Spanish People had been luckily spared from the Soviet invasion.
Maréchal ("Marshal") - Between 1940 and 1944, when Marshal Philippe Pétain was Chief of the French State (Vichy France), the name for his military rank became synonymous with Pétain. Though the country retained the Marseillaise as its national anthem, Maréchal, nous voilà! was widely seen as the alternative Vichy French anthem.[citation needed]
Adipati ("chief of state" or "generalissimo"), the title used by Ba Maw of the Japanese satellite State of Burma
Udhëheqësi [i partisë dhe i popullit] ynë i madh, Our great guide [of the party and of the people], the most common title used by Albanian communist dictator Enver Hoxha.
In areas occupied by the Axis powers, some states or ethnic-cultural communities aspiring to national self-determination found they were not handed real power by their victorious German allies as they had hoped. Their nationalist leaders, too weak to gain control independently, were simply used as pawns.
Such Nazi collaborators include De Leider "leader" Staf De Clercq of the VNV (Flemish National League) in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking northern majority of Belgium), who had dreamed of a 'Diets' nation uniting Flanders, the Netherlands and Frans-Vlaanderen (the French part of historic Flanders, united with Belgium into one military occupation zone and Reichskommissariat). Even when the Germans decided in December 1944, after the Allied breakthrough, to carve up Belgium, leaving only bicultural capital Brussels under the Reichskommissar, the post of Landsleider van het Vlaamsche Volk ('Land leader of the Flemish people') of the new Reichsgau (integral 'Germanic' part of the Reich, in this case merely on paper) (Flandern, Vlaanderen in Dutch; capital Antwerp) went to another collaborating party, Devlag, in the person of Jef Van de Wiele (1902–1979), 15 December 1944 – 1945, in exile in Germany as the Allies controlled all Belgium since September 1944; meanwhile in the French-speaking south of Belgium, partially reconquered by the Wehrmacht (December 1944 – January 1945), the equivalent post of Chef du Peuple Wallon ('Leader of the Walloon People'), at the head of the Reichsgau Wallonien, went to Léon Degrelle (in exile in Germany) of the Belgicist Rex Party.
In the post-war era, dictatorship became a frequent feature of military government, especially in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. In the case of many African or Asian former colonies, after achieving their independence in the postwar wave of decolonization, presidential regimes were gradually transformed into personal dictatorships. These regimes often proved unstable, with the personalization of power in the hands of the dictator and his associates, making the political system uncertain.
During the Cold War, both the U.S. and the USSR managed to expand or maintain their influence zones by financing paramilitary and political groups and encouraging coups d'état that have led many countries to brutal civil wars and consequent manifestations of authoritarianism. In Latin America, the fear of either communism or socialism was often used as justification for dictatorship.
Individual cases
Idi Amin's official title while in office as President of Uganda was 'His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular'. He also claimed to be the uncrowned King of Scotland.