{"id":30606,"date":"2025-06-23T10:34:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T08:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/?p=30606"},"modified":"2025-06-25T08:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T06:26:01","slug":"the-weirdest-dictator-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weirdest Dictator in History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>B2 &#8211; Upper Intermediate<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia with huge natural gas wealth, but its former leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, ruled in ways that shocked the world. Known as Turkmenbashi, he filled the country with golden statues of himself, renamed months after his book, and banned things like ballet, gold teeth, and even dogs in the capital city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His rule wasn\u2019t just strange, it affected people\u2019s lives. Hospitals and libraries were shut down outside the capital, and people were expected to read his book Ruhnama to pass driving tests. This video explores how someone can use total power not just to lead, but to shape a country around their personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn more about Turkmenbashi, watch the full video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"The Orphan Who Became the Weirdest Dictator in History...!\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TbirHXDyYpA?wmode=transparent&amp;rel=0&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Vocabulary Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What does <strong>\u201cto hold someone back\u201d<\/strong> mean in the sentence, &#8220;<em>Yet, this adversity didn&#8217;t hold him back.<\/em>&#8220;? Use it in a sentence. Give a synonymous phrase.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What does <strong>\u201cto descend into chaos\u201d<\/strong> mean? \u201c<em>The nation <strong>descended into chaos<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d Use it in a sentence. Give a similar expression.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What does <strong><em>\u201cto come to an abrupt end\u201d <\/em><\/strong>mean? &#8220;<em>His reign <strong>came to an<\/strong> <strong>abrupt end<\/strong>.<\/em>&#8221; Use it in a sentence. Give a synonym. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What are your thoughts on some unusual things that Turkmenbashi did while in power?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do you think having too much power can be dangerous for leaders? Why or why not?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What might life be like for people living in a country with many banned activities?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Can you think of other historical figures who used their power in strange or extreme ways? Talk about them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>B2 &#8211; Upper Intermediate Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia with huge natural gas wealth, but its former leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, ruled in ways that shocked the world. Known as Turkmenbashi, he filled the country with golden statues of himself, renamed months after his book, and banned things like ballet, gold teeth, and even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[291,292,290,496,14],"class_list":["post-30606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homework","tag-b2-upper-intermediate","tag-first-certificate-fce","tag-listening","tag-people-and-human-interest","tag-video"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Weirdest Dictator in History | phone english blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Weirdest Dictator in History | phone english blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"B2 &#8211; Upper Intermediate Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia with huge natural gas wealth, but its former leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, ruled in ways that shocked the world. Known as Turkmenbashi, he filled the country with golden statues of himself, renamed months after his book, and banned things like ballet, gold teeth, and even [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"phone english blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/phoneenglish.es\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-23T08:34:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-25T06:26:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@phoneenglishes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@phoneenglishes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PHONE ENGLISH\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/phoneenglish.es\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/phoneenglish\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/phoneenglishes\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/phone-english1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/phone-english1.png\",\"width\":200,\"height\":124,\"caption\":\"PHONE ENGLISH\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"phone english blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/\",\"name\":\"The Weirdest Dictator in History | phone english blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-23T08:34:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-25T06:26:01+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Blog\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/#webpage\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ac329dac94c9e634dfa799e15e4c55da\"},\"headline\":\"The Weirdest Dictator in History\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-23T08:34:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-25T06:26:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/2025\/06\/the-weirdest-dictator-in-history\/#webpage\"},\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/phoneenglish.es\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"B2 - 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