The Dictator's Playbook - Season 1

The Dictator's Playbook - Season 1

Season 1

They were ruthless men with unchecked power, ruling their nations with an iron fist. Suppressing dissent, they demanded absolute loyalty, jailing or killing those who opposed them. They ruled by force of personality, but were plagued by secret fears and private demons. They were dictators, tyrants who shaped the 20th century and left their mark on our own.

From Benito Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin to Manuel Noriega, dictators confront us with some fascinating questions. What drove their thirst for domination and control? How did they seize and wield power? What forces rose up against them or resisted them in secret? How did they lose control in the end? A new series from Twin Cities PBS sets out to answer these questions in six immersive hours, each a revealing portrait of brutality and power.

As we meet some of the most ruthless rulers of recent history, we trace their rise and fall - and discover that they traveled a well-worn path. As different as these men were from each other, they followed a series of essential steps, from seizing power to eliminating enemies - an unwritten Dictator's Playbook.

Network
Episodes6
DatesJan 9, 2019 - Feb 13, 2019

Episodes

Kim Ii Sung
Season 1Episode 160 min

Kim Ii Sung

See how Kim Il Sung created a North Korean dictatorship that has lasted for three generations.

Jan 9, 2019
Saddam Hussein
Season 1Episode 260 min

Saddam Hussein

Learn how Saddam Hussein seized power in Iraq and maintained it for almost 30 years.

Jan 16, 2019
Benito Mussolini
Season 1Episode 360 min

Benito Mussolini

Meet the man who created fascism, an ideology that would plunge all of Europe into darkness.

Jan 23, 2019
Manuel Noriega
Season 1Episode 460 min

Manuel Noriega

Watch Manuel Noriega's rise and fall, from his early military days to his dictatorship's sudden end.

Jan 30, 2019
Francisco Franco
Season 1Episode 560 min

Francisco Franco

Learn how Francisco Franco won the Spanish Civil War and became the dictator of Spain.

Feb 6, 2019
Idi Amin
Season 1Episode 660 min

Idi Amin

See how Idi Amin used military force to achieve power and build his dictatorship in Uganda.

Feb 13, 2019

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.
Reacher
Running

Reacher

Reacher follows Jack Reacher, a veteran military police investigator who has just recently entered civilian life. Reacher is a drifter, carrying no phone and the barest of essentials as he travels the country and explores the nation he once served. When Reacher arrives in the small town of Margrave, Georgia, he finds a community grappling with its first homicide in 20 years. The cops immediately arrest him and eyewitnesses claim to place Reacher at the scene of the crime. While he works to prove his innocence, a deep-seated conspiracy begins to emerge, one that will require Reacher's keen mind and hard-hitting fists to deal with. One thing above all is for sure: They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.

Chicago Med
Running

Chicago Med

An emotional thrill ride through the day-to-day chaos of the city's newest state-of-the-art trauma center and into the lives of the courageous doctors, nurses and staff who hold it all together. This is one of those days.

Chicago P.D.
Running

Chicago P.D.

District 21 of the Chicago Police Department is made up of two distinctly different groups. There are the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head to head with the city's street crimes. And there's the Intelligence Unit, the team that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond. These are their stories.

GenreDrama, Crime
Slow Horses
Running

Slow Horses

Slow Horses follows the story of a group of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 called Slough House after the big mistakes they've made that resulted in the end of their mainstream careers.

This quick-witted spy drama follows a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents—and their obnoxious boss, the notorious Jackson Lamb—as they navigate the espionage world's smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.

Chicago Fire
Running

Chicago Fire

No job is more stressful, dangerous or exhilarating than those of the Firefighters, Rescue Squad and Paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51. These are the courageous men and women who forge headfirst into danger when everyone else is running the other way and whose actions make the difference between life and death. These are their stories.