15. The Despot Who Bankrupted His Impoverished Country With a Lavish Coronation
The now largely forgotten Jean-Bedel Bokassa (1921 – 1996) was a military officer in the Central African Republican, who had served as a captain in the French colonial army when Central Africa gained its independence from France. When the Central African Republic won its independence, the new country’s president, a distant cousin, appointed Bokassa to head its armed forces. Bokassa showed his gratitude by plotting a coup that aimed to oust his cousin from power, so he could replace him as president.
In 1966, Bokassa followed through, and seized power. He then ruled that small nation as a military dictator until 1979. Erratic and prone to delusions of grandeur, Bokassa declared his small landlocked country an empire, and anointed himself Bokassa I, Emperor of the Central African Empire. An admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte, Bokassa emulated his idol by crowning himself Emperor. He then bankrupted his impoverished country with a lavish coronation event that cost about 80 million dollars, and featured a diamond-encrusted crown worth $20 million.
