Random Signature Afflictions Suffered By History’s Most Famous Despots (19 items)

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  (#4) Julius Caesar

  • Dec. at 56 (99 BC-43 BC)

  Roman general-turned-dictator Gaius Julius Caesar was one of the most gifted military minds of the ancient world - and he battled an unknown ailment later in life.

  Roman biographer Suetonius claimed Caesar "was subject to sudden fainting fits and disturbances in his sleep. He was likewise twice seized with the 'falling sickness,' while engaged in active service." Plutarch, another ancient writer, believed Caesar's health issues started cropping up in 46 BCE when he was 54.

  What caused these issues remains contested. Many historians suspect Caesar had epilepsy, but recent scholarship suggests he suffered from strokes.

  According to Plutarch, Casear's ailment - whatever it was - didn't impact his work:

  He never allowed his weakened health to slow him down but instead used the life of a soldier as therapy. He marched endlessly, ate simple food, slept outside, and endured every hardship. In this way, he strengthened his body against illness.

  The only things that brought Caesar down were the knives of his assassins: he was slain on the floor of the Roman Senate on March 15, 44 BCE.
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  (#12) Francisco Franco

  • Dec. at 83 (1892-1975)

  Fascist dictator Francisco Franco reigned in Spain for several decades before he started showing signs of Parkinson's Disease. In the early 1960s, Franco's symptoms included hand tremors and muscle weakness in his face. He also struggled with side effects of Parkinson's, including ulcers in his stomach.

  By the end of the 1960s, the dictator's poor health seems to have tempered his ruthlessness. He gradually let others govern, which resulted in reforms throughout Spain. This accelerated after his passing in 1975. 
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  (#19) Herod the Great

  There could be a medical explanation for some of King Herod of Judea's despotic tendencies. Later in life, his physical state was said to have become unbearable. One ancient writer claimed Herod's "privy-member was putrefied, and produced worms" and the king experienced "convulsions in all parts of his body."

  Modern scholars believe that Herod suffered from a lethal combination of kidney disease and Fournier's gangrene, a gangrenous infection of the male privates.

  Herod's probable discomfort may have affected his mental state. Kidney disease often leads to insomnia, for example, and genital gangrene causes intense itching. This may have accounted for his irritability and cruelty. In his final year, he was so uncomfortable that he attempted to take his life.

  Fournier's gangrene coupled with kidney disease probably resulted in Herod's demise in 4 BCE at the age of 69 or 70.
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  (#11) Napoleon Bonaparte

  • Dec. at 52 (1769-1821)

  Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, lived only a handful of years after his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. He passed in 1821 while exiled on the island of St. Helena.

  Historians now believe Bonaparte suffered from stomach cancer, an illness that also took his father in 1785. An autopsy in 1821 revealed lesions in Bonaparte's gut.

  Modern researchers have found evidence of bleeding in the emperor's intestines, another sign of cancer. In the last year of his life, Bonaparte lost around 24 pounds, suggesting the cancer was in an advanced stage. A diet of salty foods may have been to blame. 
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  (#14) François Duvalier

  • Dec. at 64 (1907-1971)

  Haiti's François Duvalier suffered from diabetes, a disease that inhibits the body's ability to regulate sugar in the blood. But that didn't limit his ambitions. Duvalier used the nation's belief in voodoo to leverage political power, and was elected President in 1957. 

  In 1959, a diabetes-induced heart attack forced Duvalier into a coma for nine hours. After he woke up, Duvalier became even more paranoid and ruthless. 

  By the time the president passed in 1971 from complications related to diabetes, some 30,000 Haitians had perished under his rule.
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  (#2) Fidel Castro

  • 92

  Born in 1926, the Cuban revolutionary turned Communist leader generally enjoyed good health for most of his life. However, by 2007, at the age of 80, Castro came down with a serious case of diverticulitis, or intestinal inflammation. 

  Though relatively common in elderly adults, diverticulitis can be incredibly painful and can lead to fatal complications. Castro had multiple operations for diverticulitis that year, with one failed surgery requiring five months of recovery while his brother Raúl took the reins of government.

  Castro's health issues became so severe he retired in 2008 and passed eight years later.

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