Prior to Nazis/Hitler, what groups or individuals were mostly commonly invoked as examples of the evil that humans are capable of?

by goshdurnit

There are, of course, many examples of evil and depravity in history, but which examples would have been the most widely known? I imagine that different examples would be well known in different regions, and that the global infamy of the Nazis has a lot to do with the global information environment that arose in the 20th century. I'd love to learn about any examples from any era and any place!

IronWarriorU

Hello, there's a small section in the FAQ that deals with this: Who was considered the "most evil person" before Hitler?, featuring u/Georgy_K_Zhukov and u/kieslowskifan. There is also this older answer here by u/DavidlikesPeace.

Certainly-Not-A-Bot

u/Georgy_K_Zhukov posted this answer a while back, which you may want to read until someone answers in this thread

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/gfhk18/nowadays_hitler_is_widely_regarded_as_the_most/fptphl2?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3