Uploaded September 2022 | Updated September 2026, 20 hours ago
China is an ancient civilization that has existed for nearly 4000 years, responsible for some of the most important inventions ever conceived, such as the compass, gunpowder, paper, and printing. Yet China is also the place where some of the most wicked emperors to ever rule were able to order and perform acts so brutal and savage they defy belief. Here are some of the worst examples.
Gao Yang was an infamous alcoholic who sat on the throne of the Northern Qi from 529 to 559.
Yang wasn’t always a terrible drunk, starting his reign off fairly successfully by strengthening the Qi’s military capabilities and reducing taxes. In fact, within a short space of time, the Northern Qi had become the top dog in China, commanding admiration from all.
With his kingdom flourishing, Yang began to indulge more and more in his favorite pastime to celebrate the stability he had brought to the land. In the later stage of his life, excessive drinking transformed Yang from a respected statesman into a mad crackpot whose depraved acts became a regular feature of court life.
Toghon Temur ascended to the Chinese throne in 1333 when he was only 13 years old, becoming the longest reigning Yuan monarch. Given his young age, it was only natural that Temur would grow up with a wacky sense of entitlement. He was perhaps influenced by his equally outlandish chancellor, Bayan, who suggested that all Chinese with the 5 most popular names should be executed, around 90% of the population!
Sun Hao, who governed ancient China from 242 to 284, was not only an incompetent king but also a vindictive maniac.
At first Sun Hao took his new position as emperor seriously, impressing the populace by lessening taxes, regulating the behavior of many of his corrupt officials, and releasing many concubines. However he soon grew bored of his duties, preferring to fill his days with wine, women, and execution orders.
#chineseemperors #history #chinesehistory #imperialchina #ancientchina #china
Scriptwriter: Jake Leigh-Howarth
Video Editor & Motion Graphics: Abhishek Sharma
Voice-over Artist: Stephan Vox
Music: Motionarray.com
Copyright © 2021 A Day In History. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.com
China is an ancient civilization that has existed for nearly 4000 years, responsible for some of the most important inventions ever conceived, such as the compass, gunpowder, paper, and printing. Yet China is also the place where some of the most wicked emperors to ever rule were able to order and perform acts so brutal and savage they defy belief. Here are some of the worst examples.
Gao Yang was an infamous alcoholic who sat on the throne of the Northern Qi from 529 to 559.
Yang wasn’t always a terrible drunk, starting his reign off fairly successfully by strengthening the Qi’s military capabilities and reducing taxes. In fact, within a short space of time, the Northern Qi had become the top dog in China, commanding admiration from all.
With his kingdom flourishing, Yang began to indulge more and more in his favorite pastime to celebrate the stability he had brought to the land. In the later stage of his life, excessive drinking transformed Yang from a respected statesman into a mad crackpot whose depraved acts became a regular feature of court life.
Toghon Temur ascended to the Chinese throne in 1333 when he was only 13 years old, becoming the longest reigning Yuan monarch. Given his young age, it was only natural that Temur would grow up with a wacky sense of entitlement. He was perhaps influenced by his equally outlandish chancellor, Bayan, who suggested that all Chinese with the 5 most popular names should be executed, around 90% of the population!
Sun Hao, who governed ancient China from 242 to 284, was not only an incompetent king but also a vindictive maniac.
At first Sun Hao took his new position as emperor seriously, impressing the populace by lessening taxes, regulating the behavior of many of his corrupt officials, and releasing many concubines. However he soon grew bored of his duties, preferring to fill his days with wine, women, and execution orders.
#chineseemperors #history #chinesehistory #imperialchina #ancientchina #china
Scriptwriter: Jake Leigh-Howarth
Video Editor & Motion Graphics: Abhishek Sharma
Voice-over Artist: Stephan Vox
Music: Motionarray.com
Copyright © 2021 A Day In History. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.com




![The Soviet Massacre Even Stalin Denied: The Katyn Forest Horror
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In April and May of 1940, thousands of Polish prisoners of war were taken far from their homeland to a secret police prison and a nearby slaughterhouse and shot in the back of the head. The killing was done in an organized and meticulous fashion: most people were taken into a cell that had been padded to prevent sound from escaping, shot in the back of the head, and their bodies taken out through a door in the opposite wall and loaded onto trucks. Whether the cells were hosed down between killings is unknown, but they likely were; dozens of bodies per day per cell means a lot of blood and brains – and last-minute panic when seen. Still, it seems unlikely that the victims didnt know what was in store for them.
It sounds like a description of the horrors the Germans inflicted on and in Poland throughout their occupation of that unfortunate country, but in this case, it wasnt the Germans doing the killing. It was the Soviets, and the killings of the Polish POWs near Katyn in Belorussia were part of Stalins larger plan to control his portion of Poland with an iron fist.
Ironically, the slaughter was discovered and announced to the world by the Nazis in 1943, who tried to use the massacre of Polish soldiers and a large number of civilians as a wedge to cause friction between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies of the United States and Great Britain.
#katyn #sovietunion #ww2 #history
Sources:
United States. Congress. House. Select Committee to Conduct an Investigation and Study of the Facts; Evidence; and Circumstances on the Katyn Forest Massacre. The Katyn Forest Massacre: Hearings Before the Select Committee to Conduct an Investigation of the Facts, Evidence and Circumstances of the Katyn Forest Massacre, Eighty-second Congress, First[-second] Session, on Investigation of the Murder of Thousands of Polish Officers in the Katyn Forest Near Smolensk, Russia. 1952.
Urban, Thomas. The Katyn Massacre 1940: History of a Crime. Pen and Sword Military, 2022.
Zawodny, J. K. Death in the Forest: The Story of the Katyn Forest Massacre. Literary Licensing, LLC, 2011.
Copyright © 2023 A Day In History. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.com The Soviet Massacre Even Stalin Denied: The Katyn Forest Horror](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GmlUqf7OTrE/mqdefault.jpg)





