Idi Amin, a towering and enigmatic figure in African history, seized power in Uganda in 1971 through a military coup, plunging the nation into a dark era of tyranny and bloodshed. His eight-year rule was characterized by gross human rights violations, economic mismanagement, and bizarre personal behavior. Amin's reign of terror, marked by arbitrary arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings, claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ugandans, earning him the infamous title of "Butcher of Uganda." His eccentric antics, including self-proclaimed titles like "Conqueror of the British Empire" and his idiosyncratic foreign policy, further cemented his image as a despotic and unpredictable leader. Amin's regime eventually crumbled under the weight of international condemnation, economic collapse, and a successful military invasion by neighboring Tanzania, forcing him to flee into exile in 1979.
