With Colonel Gaddafi's death marking the success of the people over a vicious tyrant, the Huffington Post UK looks back at the rise and fall of dictators over the last century.
Pictures of Libyans rejoicing are reminiscent of the outbreaks of joy that accompanied the fall of Egyptian President Mubarak and Tunisia's Ben Ali.
Embezzlement, corruption and killing were commonplace under the rule of these fanatics. Their overthrow stirred winds of hope and revolt across other Arab countries.
In Eastern Europe, Romania's Ceausescu and Yugoslavia’s Milosevic did not survive the power of popular dissent. Milosevic had the chance to resign whereas others faced deadly punishment for their crimes.
Saddam Hussein's gruesome hanging five years ago, was a gory reminder of Ceausescu's grisly fate. His videotaped execution by an AK-47 rifle shot was transmitted on national television.
Hussein's body, the head uncovered and his neck twisted at a sharp angle was shown by Iraqi state television.
Charles Taylor and Amin Dada were forced to flee their countries. Dada died of kidney failure, while Taylor has been replaced by a Nobel Peace Price winning President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Unlike Gaddafi, their blood-stained bodies were not broadcast on televisions and shown on the front of newspapers world-wide, but these toppled tyrants fell spectacularly from their powerful podiums, challenged by the people who once feared them.