Saddam Hussein

From his humble beginnings as a farmhand working on tribal Iraqi land to becoming the president of Iraq for more than two decades, Saddam Hussein's life story is nothing short of extraordinary. Transforming Iraq first into a prosperous nation then into a war-ravaged shell of its former self, Hussein is one of the key figures of the twenty-first century.

America nicknamed Saddam "The Butcher of Baghdad" for the atrocities he committed during his reign. The exact number of Iraqi dead is unknown, but estimates suggest up to 100,000 Kurds and 100,000 Iraqi civilians and rebels were killed by the Hussein regime. Hussein lost his own life at the hands of his people, executed for his crimes in 2006.