Monday 10pm - DICTATOR'S PLAYBOOK - History/Biography - See how Idi Amin used lessons learned in the colonial British army to build a powerful dictatorship in Uganda. Through a combination of populist charm and brutal violence, he ruled for eight years until his strategic blunders brought him down.
Amin was perhaps most notorious for his violence and brutality. As dictator, he used his secret police to transform Uganda into a police state. In the first year alone, an estimated 10,000 people were murdered by the regime. Countless others were imprisoned and tortured.
Yet Amin also worked to secure the support of his people. He traveled the country on a charm offensive during his first year as dictator and later, expelled Uganda's Asian community, who ran many businesses. While the move was popular with working class Ugandans, it had devastating consequences. As the economy declined dramatically, Amin's support began to falter and it was the beginning of the end for Uganda's dictator.
THE ROAD TO DICTATORSHIP
- Amin was schooled in brutality as a soldier in The King's Rifles, part of the British colonial army.
- He rose through the ranks as a seemingly loyal supporter of the country's first dictator, Milton Obote. But a rivalry grew between the two men and in 1971 Amin took power in a military coup.
- Amin initially promised great benefits, including better jobs, improved housing and democracy. But within a year he had reestablished Obote's dictatorship and embarked on the the violence that would make him a legend in cruelty.
