A number of heads of state and heads of government have died as a result of suicide, either while in office or after leaving office. National leaders who die by suicide while in office generally do so because their leadership is under threat – for instance, by a coup or an invading army. Some have done so under compulsion.

Heads of state Name State Year In office? Method (Probable)motive Ref. Zhou Shang dynasty 1046 BC Yes Immolation Impending defeat by rebels under Jiang Ziya Zimri Israel 885 BC? Impending defeat by rebels under Omri Rusa I Urartu 714 BC Stabbing Defeat by Sargon II, looting of Musasir Midas Phrygia 676 BC? Poisoning Impending defeat by the Cimmerians Šamaš-šuma-ukin (disputed) Babylonia 648 BC Immolation Defeat by Ashurbanipal Cheng Chu 626 BC Hanging Palace coup by Prince Shangchen Sîn-šar-iškun (disputed) Assyria 612 BC Defeat by Nabopolassar Ling Chu 529 BC Hanging Palace coup by Duke Qiji of Cai Psamtik III Egypt 525 BC No Poisoning Defeated and deposed by the Achaemenid king Cambyses II Cleomenes I (disputed) Sparta 490 BC Yes Mutilation by sword Imprisonment on grounds of insanity Fuchai Wu 473 BC Hanging or slitting throat (disputed) Defeat by Goujian of Yue Chetaka Licchavi Republic 468 BC Drowning Defeat by Ajatashatru of Magadha Huai Qin 425 BC Compelled after palace coup Chandragupta Maurya (disputed) Maurya Empire 295 BC No Starvation (sallekhana) Piety Cleomenes III Sparta 219 BC Failure of revolt against Ptolemy IV Qin Er Shi Qin dynasty 207 BC Yes Compelled after palace coup by Zhao Gao Xiang Yu Chu 202 BC Slitting throat Defeat by Liu Bang at the Battle of Gaixia An Dương Vương Âu Lạc 179 BC Drowning Defeat by Zhao Tuo Quintus Fulvius Flaccus Roman Republic 172 BC No Hanging Depression after death of son Diaeus Achaean League 146 BC Yes Poisoning Defeat by Romans under Lucius Mummius Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7.16.6. Diodotus Tryphon (disputed) Seleucid Empire 138 BC Defeat by Antiochus VII Sidetes Gaius Papirius Carbo Roman Republic 119 BC No Poisoning Prosecution for treason Gnaeus Papirius Carbo Roman Republic 112 BC Prosecution for losing the Battle of Noreia Gaius Marius the Younger Roman Republic 82 BC Yes Defeat at the Battle of the Colline Gate and impending capture by Sulla Gaius Norbanus Roman Republic 82 BC No Threat of extradition from Rhodes after proscription by Sulla Mithridates VI Eupator Pontus 63 BC Yes Stabbed by bodyguard on command after failed poisoning Impending defeat by rebellion Ptolemy of Cyprus Cyprus 58 BC Poisoning Threat of Roman annexation Juba I Numidia 46 BC Duel as part of suicide pact with Marcus Petreius Impending defeat by Julius Caesar after the Battle of Thapsus Mark Antony Roman Republic 30 BC No Stabbing Defeat by Octavian at the Battle of Alexandria Cleopatra VII Philopator Ptolemaic Kingdom 30 BC Yes Poisoning Death of Mark Antony and defeat by Octavian Nero Roman Empire 68 Stabbing (assisted by Epaphroditus) Impending overthrow Otho Roman Empire 69 Stabbing Impending defeat by Vitellius Decebalus Dacia 106 Slitting throat Defeat by Trajan Uthiyan Cheralathan Chera dynasty 130? Starvation (vaṭakkiruttal) Defeat by Karikala at the Battle of Venni Gordian I Roman Empire 238 Hanging Death of son and co-emperor Gordian II at the Battle of Carthage Sun Liang Eastern Wu 260 No Accused of plotting to assassinate successor after deposition Bongsang Goguryeo 300 Yes Hanging Palace coup owing to popular unrest Samguk Sagi, quoted in Maximian Roman Empire 310 No Failure of rebellion against Constantine I Diocletian (disputed) Roman Empire 312? Starvation Fear of reprisal by Constantine I Li Qi Cheng Han 338 Hanging Palace coup and deposition by Li Shou Lü Shao Later Liang 400 Yes Palace coup by Lü Zuan Juqu Mujian Northern Liang 447 No Compelled by Taiwu of Northern Wei on suspicion of plotting rebellion Yujiulü Anagui Rouran Khaganate 552 Yes Defeat by Turkic rebellion led by Bumin Qaghan Gao Wei Northern Qi 577? No Compelled by Wu of Northern Zhou on suspicion of plotting rebellion Kōbun Japan 672 Yes Strangulation Defeat by Prince Ōama in Jinshin War Huigang Silla 838 Hanging Impending defeat by rebels under Kim Myeong Zhangxin Qaghan Uyghur Khaganate 839 Defeat by Zhuyue Chixin Zhu Yougui Later Liang 913 Palace coup by Zhu Youzhen Historical Records of the Five Dynasties, 13. Zhu Youzhen Later Liang 923 Impending defeat by Later Tang Gyeongae Silla 927 Compelled after defeat by Kyŏn Hwŏn Li Congke Later Tang 937 Immolation Impending defeat by Taizong of Liao Marasimha II Western Ganga dynasty 975 No Starvation (sallekhana) Failure against Siyaka and Tailapa II, piety Indra IV Rashtrakuta 982 Collapse of Rashtrakuta, failure against Tailapa II, piety Jayapala Hindu Shahis 1001 Immolation Defeat by Mahmud of Ghazni and abdication Someshvara I Western Chalukya Empire 1068 Yes Drowning Defeat by Virarajendra Chola and illness Ananta Lohara dynasty 1081 No Stabbing Breakdown of relationship with son and successor Kalaśa after abdication Zhang Bangchang Da Chu 1127 Hanging Compelled by Gaozong of Song after abdication Aizong Jin dynasty 1234 Yes Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty Prataparudra Kakatiya dynasty 1323 Defeat and capture by the Delhi Sultanate Bayezid I Ottoman Empire 1403 No Defeat and imprisonment by Timur Tezozomoctli Cuauhtitlan 1430 Yes Poisoning Defeat in the Tepanec War Codex Chimalpopoca, 41:34–48, in Hasan Ali Qara Qoyunlu 1469 Defeat by Uzun Hasan Moquihuix (disputed) Tlatelolco 1473 Jumped off pyramid Defeat by Aztecs in the Battle of Tlatelolco Lê Cung Hoàng Lê dynasty 1527 No Hanging Compelled after palace coup by Mạc Đăng Dung Muzaffar Shah III Gujarat 1592 Slitting throat Capture by Mughal forces after failed rebellion Chongzhen Emperor Ming dynasty 1644 Yes Hanging or suffocation (disputed) Impending defeat by rebels under Li Zicheng Mingji beilüe, quoted in , p. 266. Lê Duy Phường Lê dynasty 1735 No Hanging Compelled after palace coup by Trịnh Giang Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve 1794 Gunshot Impending arrest after proscription Philippe Rühl 1795 Stabbing Prosecution after failure of Prairial uprising Louis-Joseph Charlier 1797 Gunshot Mental breakdown Osei Kwame Panyin Ashanti Empire 1803 Poisoning or strangulation (disputed) Deposition by Konadu Yaadom Henri Christophe Haiti 1820 Yes Gunshot Poor health, impending overthrow Monfried, Walter, "The Slave Who Became King: Henri Christophe", Negro Digest, Volume XII, Number 12, October, 1963. Juan Larrea 1847 No Gunshot or slitting throat (disputed) Business failure Anson Jones 1858 Gunshot Political failure "Anson Jones Left Behind", from Triumph and Tragedy: Presidents of the Republic of Texas, Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Talal bin Abdullah Al Rashid 1868 Yes Ill-health Tewodros II 1868 Defeated by the British Expedition to Abyssinia Abdulaziz (disputed) 1876 No Arms cut by scissors Forced abdication Fridolin Anderwert 1880 Yes Gunshot Adverse press coverage, depression, exhaustion José Manuel Balmaceda 1891 No Defeat in the Chilean Civil War of 1891 Nikolay Chkheidze 1926 Slitting throat Depression over the Bolsheviks' conquest of Georgia Germán Busch 1939 Yes Gunshot Political frustration, depression Otto Strandman 1941 No Impending arrest by NKVD Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski 1942 Jumped off a building Defeat of Poland and political frustration in exile Adolf Hitler 1945 Yes Gunshot Pending defeat in the European theatre of World War II Nguyen Van Thinh 1946 Hanging Political failure Omer Nishani (disputed) 1954 No Gunshot Poor health, political failure Getúlio Vargas 1954 Yes Opposition from the military Salvador Allende 1973 Military coup Chivu Stoica 1975 No Out of favour with leadership of the Romanian Communist Party Carlos Prío Socarrás (disputed) 1977 Faced questioning by the House Select Committee on Assassinations Antonio Guzmán Fernández 1982 Yes Corruption allegations Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado 1983 No Poor health, bereavement Lazarus Salii 1988 Yes Corruption allegations Wypijewski, JoAnn. "Broken Trust." The Nation. The Nation Institute. September 26, 1988. Zviad Gamsakhurdia (disputed) 1993 No Defeat in the Georgian Civil War Reburial for Georgia ex-president. BBC News. 1 April 2007. Dipendra 2001 Yes Unknown: had just killed nine family members Carlos Roberto Reina 2003 No Ill-health Milan Babić 2006 Hanging Imprisonment over war crimes "UN finds no foul play in Serb's death", New York Times, June 9, 2006. Roh Moo-hyun 2009 Jumped off a cliff Corruption allegations Alan García Pérez 2019 Gunshot Allegations of corruption Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Islamic State 2019 Yes Suicide bombing Avoiding capture during the Barisha raid

Heads of government Name Country Year In office Method Probablemotive Reference Hurshid Pasha 1822 Yes Poison Defeat in the Greek War of Independence and execution threat Bhimsen Thapa 1839 No Slit throat with a kukri Disgrace of third wife Abdul Muhsin al-Sa'dun 1929 Yes Gunshot Political frustration Iosif Adamovich 1937 No Being taken to Moscow under arrest Walery Sławek 1939 Political failure Włodzimierz Kalicki: 2 kwietnia 1939. Stary browning. Gazeta Wyborcza, 2 April 2006. Pál Teleki 1941 Yes Distress over entry of German troops into Hungary Alexandros Koryzis 1941 German invasion of Greece Joseph Goebbels 1945 No Gunshot or cyanide Defeat in European theatre of World War II Fumimaro Konoe 1945 Cyanide Accused of war crimes Milan Nedić (disputed) 1946 Jumped from prison window Imprisonment after defeat in World War II Johannes Vares (disputed) 1946 Gunshot Disillusion with Soviet system Tawfik Abu Al-Huda 1956 Hanging Dying of cancerBidwell, R. L. (1998:8). Dictionary of modern Arab history: an A to Z of over 2000 entries from 1798 to the present day. United Kingdom: Kegan Paul International. John McEwen 1980 Starvation (refused food) Ill-health Julian Fitzgerald, On Message: Political Communications of Australian Prime Ministers 1901 – 2014. Clareville Press, 2014. p.2 92. Mehmet Shehu (disputed) 1981 Yes Gunshot Nervous breakdown Hailu Yimenu 1991 or 1993 No Hanging Avoiding capture by the EPRDF Pierre Bérégovoy 1993 Gunshot Depression and being investigated Mahmoud Zuabi 2000 Allegations of corruption Alan García Pérez 2019 Allegations of corruption Dries van Agt 2024 Assisted suicide Poor health

See also List of assassinated and executed heads of state and government List of heads of state and government who were sentenced to death

References