Who are the most successful mind control masters of all time?

 This is a difficult question because a truly accurate answer would require such a vast knowledge about so much of history and psychology that it is beyond human understanding.

We simply don't know enough and retain enough information as individuals to really fully understand this.

If we try and limit ourselves to modern times the most obvious answers would probably involve candidates like political parties and governments and huge corporations and individuals who have tremendous influence, sometimes any of these can have cults that support them but tremendous influence doesn't always require a cult.

A person or group can have vast influence without a cult or without seeking a cult.

We have to identify criteria for success. Do you mean the longest influence? The most people? The most extreme influence of people? The most significant effect on history? If it involves history are we concerned with numbers of people affected? Duration of effect?

You might see certain philosophers or religious leaders as the most persuasive people in history. People like Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius immediately come to mind.

Influence is not all bad or all good.

You might consider political or military leaders as most influential as they have effected the course of civilization and the fate of countries.

You might see Alexander the Great or Napoleon or Hitler or Churchill or Ghengis Khan or Washington as the most influential person. Though their victims likely see them all as monsters, and make no mistake - monstrous evil was carried out under their orders.

The criteria for success have a lot to do with what we should look at.

The Russian government and the Chinese government and the British, Canadian, American and other governments have tried to perfect brainwashing and methods of interrogation and torture to both destroy people mentally and to control them utterly.

The literature on their efforts is as extensive as it is horrifying. People think they can resist or be themselves in the face of any challenge but apparently the truth is that a mind can be bent or broken, given the right techniques.

Any of us can likely be made to betray ourselves and our values and even beliefs if enough of the right torment is applied long enough, especially if it is relentless and no sleep is allowed, no break from either constant, unchanging stimulus of the same unpleasant kind or constant lack of stimulus, to an extreme degree occurs.

This has been researched extensively by numerous governments. The book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism by Robert Jay Lifton describes this is detail.

The book Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control by Dominic Streatfeild describes this topic in gruesome, truly horrifying details.

One example is a method the Russians have used for interrogation called the conveyor. A subject is made to stand in an uncomfortable position with legs and arms held out in a way that is painful. If they try to move their arms or kegs in to reduce the pain they are assaulted with a rod or instrument.

They have the same view of a wall constantly or have complete darkness with a bag over their head and an unpleasant sound constantly bombards them. A team of interrogators is in the room with them making sure they never get a moment of peace or relaxation.

The team is part of a rotation and if, for example, four men are in the room at a time, then several other groups of four men are part of a rotation, so the team of interrogators is always rested and fresh. They might do four hour shifts and get one shift every day, so they never tire and the subject never gets a break.

It was reported that this method interferes with the natural balance in the brain that sleep and relaxation helps to maintain and that this method will destroy this balance and with it the sanity of anyone who is subjected to it within a few days, perhaps three. Remember the discomfort and torment is constant and you must remain awake and hold the same unnatural, uncomfortable position continuously in growing pain.

There was one exception reported. One individual reportedly appeared to not change no matter how long he was subjected to this. The determination was made that this man was a sociopath before the torture started. The changes that it induces in most people in theory failed to occur with him because he was already irregular in a psychological sense.

You couldn't break what was either already broken or never there to break in the first place, so the treatment had little effect on him.