Despots, Dictators, Revolutionaries & Rebels

Ferdinand Marcos 1917-1989
Marcos appears as an overprint on this 1981 10 Piso note, commemorating his 3rd inauguration as President of The Philippines.
Young Ferdinand was involved in the murder of a political rival of his father in 1938 & sentenced to death, an appeal resulted in the sentence being overturned. Next up for Marcos was allegations of cheating his Law exams.
Along comes WWII and Marcos is enlisted to fight alongside US forces, he is captured by the Japanese Army & much controversy surrounds his release, said to have been realised by his influential father co-operating with the Japanese.
After WWII Marcos fraudulently claims to have approx 33 military decorations, using this hero status to great effect in his blossoming political career.
Becoming President of The Philippines in 1965 things start off well, 2nd biggest economy in Asia he invests in an infrastructure programme funded by foreign loans. A period of inflation results though & civil unrest ensues. Marcos places the country under Martial Law in 1972, critics, media are silenced and opposition leaders arrested.
His regime was fuelled by extravagance, luxury and brutality, eventually ousted from power in 1986 he fled to Hawaii, where he died.
It is estimated that the Marcos family acquired between $5-$10 billion in wealth.





There is an unissued, 1985 500 peso Ferdinand Marcos banknote out there somewhere too

Nice write up on Marcos "Scots." I did not know the 500 Piso note existed until now.

Gyorgy Dozsa 1470-1514 was a 'soldier of fortune' who led a peasants revolt against the Kingdom of Hungary's landed nobility.
He was tasked with raising a fighting force in preparation for a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, a 40,000 strong force consisting of peasants, students & some of the lowest ranking members of medieval Hungarian society was assembled.
After some brief military training the peasants began to air their grievances about lack of food, proper clothing and their standing in society in general.
As unrest grew Gyorgy Dozsa began to lose control of the peasant army, 100's of manor houses & castles were burnt, 1000's of the nobility were slaughtered.
Vengeance was brutal from the nobles, eventually captured Gyorgy Dozsa was sat on a heated iron throne, a hot iron crown was placed on his head, red hot pliers were used to tear his flesh & some of his followers were forced to eat his flesh.
A Square, an Avenue and a Metro station in Budapest are named after him along with many streets in rural villages all over Hungary.
He is the face on this 20 Forint note from 1965

1980 Iraq 250 mils....
I took an Egg ad from a magazine and cut out the jail bars and photo copied it and then reduced the size to fit the 2x2 then I copied that on to a mylar overhead projector plastic then cut it to fit and then used a craft plastic rivet to keep it in place. I thought this was so cool and fun. I can remember when they first caught him. this coin on ebay was going for $90.00 in this grade. now it brings from $12.00-250.00.

Very nice!


It is a bit of a stretch.

Thanks jbuck ^^^^

Very interesting (& thanks for sharing)

Thanks jbuck & walk2dwater

Gualberto Villarroel 1908-1946
After a coup in 1943, he declared himself de facto President, the 46th President in Bolivia's history.
He led many reforms in recognising Worker's Unions, creating Retirement Pensions and the abolition of Unpaid Servitude.
However, alleged fascist sympathies and an alignment with the previous Bolivian military regime who sided with the Axis powers pre WWII, meant a struggle to be recognised as President, by the Roosevelt administration in the USA.
The workers with their new found rights demanded more & this was suppressed quite viciously by the Government killing many.
In 1946 crowds of protesters laid siege to the Palace of Government, Villarroel announced he would resign, however weapons were taken from the arsenal, the crowd stormed the building & assassinated Villarroel & his aides.
His body was tossed from a balcony and hung on a lamppost opposite.
Very Benito Mussolini-esque.