15 Greatest Betrayals in History
15 Greatest Betrayals in History
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00:00These infamous acts of treachery altered the course of history forever.
00:05Join me for today's video.
00:06I'm counting down the top 15 greatest acts of betrayal in history.
00:10Starting with number 15, Guy Fawkes.
00:13Guy Fawkes, also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of
00:18a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
00:24He was born and educated in New York.
00:26His father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant
00:30Catholic.
00:31Fawkes converted to Catholicism and left for mainland Europe, where he fought for Catholic
00:35Spain in the Eighty Years' War against Protestant Dutch reformers in the Low Countries.
00:40He traveled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England, without success.
00:45He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England.
00:49Wintour introduced him to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and
00:54restore a Catholic monarch to the throne.
00:56The plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords.
01:00Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder that they stockpiled there.
01:04The authorities were prompted by an anonymous letter to search Westminster Palace during
01:08the early hours of the 5th of November, and they found Fawkes guarding the explosives.
01:13He was questioned and tortured over the next few days, and confessed to wanting to blow
01:17up the House of Lords.
01:19Fawkes was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, however at his execution on
01:23the 31st of January, he died when his neck was broken as he was hanged, with some sources
01:28claiming that he deliberately jumped to make this happen.
01:32He thus avoided the agony of his sentence.
01:35On 5th November 1605, Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the King's escape from assassination
01:41by lighting bonfires, and an Act of Parliament designated each 5th of November as a day of
01:46thanksgiving for the joyful day of deliverance.
01:50Fawkes was one of 13 conspirators, but he's the individual most associated with the plot.
01:55In Britain, the 5th of November has variously been called Guy Fawkes Night, Guy Fawkes Day,
02:00Plot Night, and Bonfire Night.
02:03Bonfires were accompanied by fireworks from the 1650s onwards, and it became the custom
02:07after 1673 to burn an effigy, usually of the Pope, when their presumptives, James, Duke
02:13of York, converted to Catholicism.
02:15Memories of other notable figures have found their way onto the bonfires, such as Paul
02:20Kruger, Margaret Thatcher, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, and Vladimir Putin.
02:25The Guy visage is normally created by children from old clothes, newspapers, and a mask.
02:3214.
02:33Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold was an American-born military
02:37officer who served during the American Revolutionary War.
02:40He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army, and rose to the rank of
02:44Major General before defecting to the British in 1780.
02:48General George Washington had given him his fullest trust, and placed in him command of
02:53West Point in New York.
02:55Arnold was planning to surrender the fort to the British forces, but the plot was discovered
02:59in September 1780, whereupon he fled to the British lines.
03:03In the latter part of the war, Arnold was commissioned as a Brigadier General in the
03:06British Army, and placed in command of the American Legion.
03:10He led the British Army in battle against the soldiers whom he had once commanded, and
03:14his name became synonymous with treason and betrayal in the United States.
03:20Arnold was born in Connecticut.
03:21He was a merchant operating ships in the Atlantic when the war began.
03:25He joined the growing American army outside of Boston, and distinguished himself by acts
03:29that demonstrated intelligence and bravery.
03:32In 1775, he captured Fort Ticonderoga.
03:35In 1776, he deployed defensive and delay tactics at the Battle of Valcour Island in Lake Champaign.
03:41That gave American forces time to prepare New York's defenses.
03:44His performance in the Battle of Ridgefield in Connecticut prompted his promotion to Major
03:49General.
03:50He performed operations that provided Americans with relief during the siege of Fort Stanwix
03:54and key actions during the pivotal 1777 Battles of Saratoga, in which he sustained leg injuries
04:00that put him out of combat for several years.
04:02However, Arnold mingled with Loyalist sympathizers in Philadelphia and married into the Loyalist
04:08family of Peggy Shippen.
04:10She was a close friend to British Major John Andre, and kept in contact with him when he
04:14became head of British espionage system in New York.
04:17Many historians see her as having facilitated Arnold's plans to switch sides.
04:22He opened secret negotiations with Andre, and she relayed the messages to each other.
04:27The British promised 20,000 pounds for the capture of West Point, a major American stronghold.
04:33Washington greatly admired Arnold, and gave him command of that fort in July 1780.
04:38Arnold's scheme was to surrender the fort to the British, but it was exposed in September
04:42of 1780 when American militiamen captured Andre carrying papers which revealed the plot.
04:48Arnold escaped, and Andre was hanged.
04:50Arnold received a commission as a Brigadier General in the British Army, led British forces
04:54in the raid on Richmond and nearby areas, and they burned much of New London, Connecticut
04:59to the ground and slaughtered surrendering forces after the Battle of Groton Heights,
05:04just a few miles downriver from the town where he had grown up.
05:07In the winter of 1782, he and Peggy moved to London, England.
05:11He was well-received by King George III and the Tories, but frowned upon by the Whigs
05:15and most army officers.
05:17In 1787, he moved to Canada to run a merchant business with his sons Richard and Henry.
05:22He was extremely unpopular there, and returned to London permanently in 1791, where he died
05:28ten years later.
05:3013.
05:31Ephialtes of Trachys Ephialtes was the son of Iridemus of Malus.
05:37He betrayed his homeland in hope of receiving some kind of reward from the Persians by showing
05:42the army of Xerxes a path around the Allied Greek position at the Pass of Thermopylae,
05:47which helped them win the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.
05:51The Allied Greek land forces, which Herodotus states numbered no more than 4,200 men, had
05:56chosen Thermopylae to block the advance of the much larger Persian army.
06:01Although this gap between the cliffs was only wide enough for a single carriage, it
06:05could be bypassed by a trail that led over the mountains south of Thermopylae and joined
06:10the main road behind the Greek position.
06:12Herodotus notes that this trail was well-known to the locals who had used it in the past
06:17for raiding the neighboring Thetians.
06:18The Persians used the trail to outflank the defenders.
06:22The Spartan king Leonidas sent away most of the Greeks, but he himself remained behind
06:26with a rear guard composed of 300 men.
06:29A Thespian contingent composed of 700 Thespians and a Theban detachment comprised of 400 men.
06:35Ephialtes expected to be rewarded by the Persians, but this came to nothing when they were defeated
06:41at the Battle of Solomus.
06:42He then fled to Thessaly and the Pileans offered a reward for his death.
06:47According to Herodotus, he was killed for apparently an unrelated reason by Athenides
06:51of Trachas around 470 BC.
06:55In the 1962 film The 300 Spartans, Ephialtes was portrayed by Ciaran Moore and is depicted
07:01as a shady farmhand who worked on a goat farm near Thermopylae.
07:05He betrays the Spartans because he was spurned by the Spartan maiden, Elis, thinking he could
07:10win her over by dangling riches he thought he would have later.
07:14Frank Miller's 1999 comic book miniseries 300, the 2006 film adaptation of the same
07:19name and the 2014 sequel portrayed Ephialtes as a severely deformed Spartan exile whose
07:25parents fled to Sparta to protect him from the infanticide he would have surely suffered
07:30as a disfigured infant.
07:32Leonidas asks him to support his brethren by bringing the wounded water and clearing
07:36the dead from the battleground.
07:38In anger, Ephialtes swears to prove his parents and Leonidas wrong as he betrays them by revealing
07:44to Xerxes a hidden route that the Persian army could use to outflank the Greek defenders.
07:50After the betrayal, the name Ephialtes received a lasting stigma.
07:53It came to mean nightmare in the Greek language and to symbolize the archetypal traitor in
07:58Greek culture, similar to Judas in Christian culture and to Benedict Arnold in the American
08:03historical memory.
08:0512.
08:07Robert Hansen Robert Philip Hansen was an American FBI agent
08:12who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the U.S. from 1979 to 2001.
08:19His espionage was described by the Department of Justice as possibly the worst intelligence
08:25disaster in U.S. history.
08:27In 1979, three years after joining the FBI, Hansen approached the Soviet Main Intelligence
08:32Directorate, the GRU, to offer his services, beginning his first espionage cycle, lasting
08:38until 1981.
08:40He restarted his espionage activities in 1985 and continued until 1991, where he ended communications
08:46during the collapse of the Soviet Union, fearing he would be exposed.
08:50Hansen restarted communications the next year and continued until his arrest.
08:55Throughout his spying, he remained anonymous to the Russians.
08:59Hansen sold about 6,000 classified documents to the KGB that detailed U.S. strategies in
09:04the event of nuclear war, developments in military weapons technologies, and aspects
09:09of the U.S. counterintelligence program.
09:12He was spying at the same time as Aldrich Ames in the CIA.
09:16Both Ames and Hansen compromised the names of KGB agents working secretly for the U.S.,
09:21some of whom were executed for their betrayal.
09:24Hansen also revealed a multi-million dollar eavesdropping tunnel built by the FBI under
09:28the Soviet Embassy.
09:30After Ames' arrest in 1994, some of these intelligence breaches remained unsolved, and
09:35the search for another spy continued.
09:38The FBI paid $7 million to a KGB agent to obtain a file on an anonymous mole, whom the
09:44FBI later identified as Hansen through fingerprint and voice analysis.
09:48Hansen was arrested on February 18, 2001, at Foxton Park, near his home in Washington,
09:54D.C.
09:55He was charged with selling U.S. intelligence documents to the Soviet Union and subsequently
09:59Russia for more than $1.4 million in cash, diamonds, and Rolex watches over 22 years.
10:06To avoid the death penalty, Hansen pleaded guilty to 14 counts of espionage and one of
10:11conspiracy to commit espionage.
10:13He was sentenced to 15 life terms without the possibility of parole, and was incarcerated
10:18at ADX Florence until his death in 2023.
10:23Number 11.
10:24Aldrich Ames Ames was a former CIA counterintelligence
10:28officer and analyst convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union in 1994.
10:33His access to military intelligence, CIA assets, and the names of U.S. agents against
10:38Russia enabled him to sell valuable information to the Russian government, supporting his
10:43and his wife's luxurious lifestyle.
10:46Ames regularly assisted another CIA office in assessing Soviet embassy officials as potential
10:51intelligence assets.
10:53With the knowledge of both the CIA and the FBI, Ames began making contacts within the
10:58Soviet embassy.
10:59In April 1985, Ames started his espionage activities for the Soviet Union.
11:04He provided information he believed was essentially valueless to establish his credentials as
11:09a CIA insider in exchange for $50,000, which the Soviets quickly paid.
11:15Although Ames initially intended this to be a one-time con game to address his immediate
11:19debts, he later admitted that he could not stop after crossing that line.
11:24Ames soon identified more than 10 top-level CIA and FBI sources reporting on Soviet activities.
11:30He believed betraying these intelligence assets would not only bring him significant money,
11:35but also reduce the risk of his own espionage being discovered.
11:38As a result, the CIA's network of Soviet bloc agents began disappearing at an alarming rate,
11:44including double agents Gennady Veronik and Dmitry Polyakov.
11:48While the CIA realized something was wrong, they were initially reluctant to consider
11:52the possibility of a mole within their agency.
11:56Early investigations focused on potential breaches caused by Soviet bugs or a broken
12:00code.
12:02Despite spying on the Soviet Union, Ames passed two polygraph examinations in 1986 and 1991.
12:07However, the CIA eventually focused on Ames after co-workers noticed his improved personal
12:12appearance, including cosmetic dentistry and tailor-made suits.
12:17They also found it suspicious that, despite his $60,000 annual salary, Ames could afford
12:22a $540,000 house in Arlington County, Virginia, which he paid for in cash, a $50,000 Jaguar
12:29luxury car, and a premium credit card with monthly payments exceeding his salary.
12:3510.
12:36Mir Jafar Mir Sayyed Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur was the
12:41first dependent of Nawab of Bengal under the British East India Company.
12:45His reign is considered by many historians as the beginning of British expansion in the
12:50Indian subcontinent, eventually leading to British domination over pre-partition India.
12:55Mir Jafar served as the commander of the Bengali army under Siraj-ud-Daulah, but betrayed him
13:00during the Battle of Plassey.
13:03After the British victory in 1757, Mir Jafar ascended to the Maznad, the throne.
13:08Initially, Jafar received military support from the East India Company until 1760, when
13:13he failed to meet various British demands.
13:15In 1758, Robert Clive discovered that Jafar had made a treaty with the Dutch East India
13:20Company at Chensura through his agent, Koja Wajid.
13:24Dutch ships were also spotted, leading to disputes that culminated in the Battle of
13:28Chensura.
13:29British official Henry Vincitart suggested that Jafar's son-in-law, Mir Qasim, should
13:34act as deputy subahar due to Jafar's inability to manage the difficulties.
13:39In October 1760, the company forced Jafar to abdicate in favor of Qasim, however Qasim
13:44was also overthrown by the East India Company due to trade policy disputes.
13:49Jafar was restored as the Nawab in 1763 with the company's support.
13:54Mir Qasim refused to accept this and went to war with the company.
13:57Jafar ruled until his death on February 5th, 1765, and is buried in West Bengal.
14:02Due to his role in aiding the British colonization of India and contributing to the downfall
14:07of the Mughal Empire, Mir Jafar is widely reviled in the Indian subcontinent, particularly
14:13among Bengalis in both India and Bangladesh.
14:16The poet Muhammad Iqbal condemned Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq, calling them a stigma on humanity,
14:22on religion, and the country.
14:259.
14:26Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were an American
14:31married couple convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union.
14:35They provided top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines,
14:41and nuclear weapon designs.
14:43Convicted in 1951, they were executed in 1953 at Sing Sing in New York, becoming the first
14:49American civilians executed for espionage and the first executed during peacetime.
14:54Other convicted co-conspirators received prison sentences, including Ethel's brother David
14:59Greenglass, who made a plea agreement, Harry Gold, and Morton Sobel.
15:04Klaus Fuchs, a German scientist working in Los Alamos, was convicted in the United Kingdom.
15:09For decades, many, including the Rosenbergs' sons, Michael and Robert, argued that Julius
15:14and Ethel were innocent and victims of Cold War paranoia.
15:17However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, declassified information included decoded
15:22Soviet cables, codenamed Venona, which detailed Julius' role as a courier and recruiter for
15:28the Soviets, and Ethel's role as an accessory who helped recruit her brother David into
15:32the spy ring, and performed clerical tasks for Julius.
15:36After Daniel Patrick Moynihan, vice chairman of the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence,
15:41investigated the Soviet spy ring's impact on the USSR's bomb development, he found that
15:46physicist Hans Bethe estimated in 1945 that the Soviets would build a bomb in five years.
15:53Thanks to information provided by their agents, Moynihan wrote in his book Secrecy, they did
15:57it in four.
15:59Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev wrote in his posthumously published memoir that he could
16:03not specify the Rosenbergs' contributions, but learned from Joseph Stalin that they had
16:08provided very significant help in accelerating the production of our atomic bomb.
16:15Number 8.
16:16Harold Kohl Harold Kohl, also known as Harry Kohl, Paul
16:20Kohl, and by many other aliases, was a petty criminal, confidence man, British soldier,
16:26operative of the Patoliri escape line, and an agent of Nazi Germany.
16:30In 1940 and 1941, he helped many British soldiers escape France after its surrender
16:35to Nazi Germany during World War II.
16:38However, in December 1941, or possibly earlier, he became a double agent for the Germans,
16:44betraying about 150 escape line workers and French resistance members to the Gestapo.
16:49About 50 of these individuals were executed or died in German concentration camps.
16:54Kohl has been described as the worst traitor of the war.
16:58He deceived both the British and the Germans, escaping from prison several times.
17:02Although he survived the war, he was killed while resisting arrest by French police in
17:06Paris in January 1946.
17:09Arie Neve of MI9 called Kohl among the most selfish and callous traitors who ever served
17:15the enemy in a time of war.
17:17MI9 leader James Langley described Kohl as a conman, thief, and utter shit who betrayed
17:23his country to the highest bidder for money.
17:25However, some historians speculate that Kohl might have been an agent of Britain's secret
17:30intelligence services, MI6.
17:33They cite evidence that MI6's deputy leader, Claude Danzy, who also influenced MI9, opposed
17:39executing Kohl when the Pat line first proposed it.
17:42Unconfirmed claims suggest Danzy prioritized preserving MI6's intelligence-gathering operations
17:47over the escape lines and tolerated Kohl's misdeeds to protect him as an MI6 agent.
17:53Some soldiers Kohl helped evade German capture defended him.
17:56Before defecting to the Germans, Kohl was an effective escape line leader, though he
18:00was accused of using funds provided by the Pat line for personal expenses.
18:05Keith James, author of Conscript Heroes, whose father was a British soldier stranded in France,
18:10said,
18:11I will never fully understand how, why, or when Paul Kohl defected to the enemy, but
18:16as far as my father and other evaders were concerned, he served them well.
18:217.
18:23Redl Alfred Redl was an Austro-Hungarian military
18:26officer who rose to lead the Evidence Bureau, the counterintelligence wing of the General
18:31Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
18:33He was a prominent figure in pre-World War I espionage, introducing radical innovations
18:38and advanced technology to catch foreign spies.
18:41However, in 1913, his successor, Major Maximilian Rönsch, discovered that Redl was a highly
18:47paid spy for the Imperial Russian Army.
18:50Upon being exposed, Redl committed suicide.
18:53The motives behind Redl's treason remain unclear.
18:56He may have been blackmailed by Russian agents due to his homosexuality, which, if exposed,
19:01would have ended his career.
19:03Russian military intelligence in Warsaw had known about his homosexuality since 1901 and
19:08used this information to coerce him into revealing classified information.
19:12In 1902, Redl reportedly passed Austro-Hungarian war plans to the Russians.
19:17When General von Gieslingen, head of the Intelligence Bureau, ordered an investigation
19:21into the leak, Redl, consulting with his Russian contacts, identified several low-level agents
19:26as Russian spies, thereby protecting himself and enhancing his reputation for efficiency.
19:33Redl was well compensated by the Russian government, leading to a lifestyle far beyond his official
19:38salary.
19:39Vanity and a taste for danger also seemed to play a role in his actions.
19:44A Russian report from 1907 described him as more sly and false than intelligent and
19:50talented, a cynic who enjoys dissipation.
19:54From 1903 to 1913, Redl was Russia's leading spy, providing them with Plan III, the entire
20:00Austro-Hungarian invasion plan for Serbia.
20:03The Russians informed the Serbian military command about Plan III, allowing the Serbians
20:08to be well-prepared for the Austro-Hungarian invasion.
20:11Redl not only gave away many of his country's military secrets and plans, but also supplied
20:15his own military authorities with incorrect estimates of Russian military strength.
20:216.
20:23JOHN WALKER John Anthony Walker, Jr. was a United States
20:27Navy Chief Warrant Officer and communications specialist who spied for the Soviet Union
20:33from 1967 to 1985.
20:35He was convicted of espionage and sentenced to life in prison.
20:39In late 1985, Walker made a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, agreeing to provide
20:44full details of his espionage activities and testify against his co-conspirator, former
20:49Senior Chief Petty Officer Jerry Whitworth.
20:52In return, prosecutors agreed to a lesser sentence for Walker's son, former seaman Michael
20:57Walker, who was also involved in the spy ring.
21:00During his time as a Soviet spy, Walker helped the Soviets decipher over a million encrypted
21:04naval messages.
21:06The New York Times reported in 1987 that his operation is sometimes described as the
21:11most damaging Soviet spy ring in history.
21:15After Walker's arrest, Caspar Weinberger, President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense,
21:19stated that the Soviet Union made significant gains in naval warfare due to Walker's espionage.
21:25Weinberger explained that the information Walker provided to Moscow gave the Soviets
21:29access to weapons and sensor data and naval tactics, terrorist threats, and surface submarine
21:35and airborne training, readiness, and tactics.
21:38In the June 2010 issue of Naval History Magazine, John Prados, a senior fellow at the National
21:43Security Archive in Washington, D.C., noted that after Walker introduced himself to Soviet
21:48officials, North Korean forces seized the USS Pueblo to make better use of Walker's
21:53spying.
21:54Prados added that North Korea subsequently shared information from the spy ship with
21:58the Soviets, enabling them to build replicas and gain access to the U.S. naval communications
22:03system, which remained compromised until it was completely revamped in the late 1980s.
22:09Number 5.
22:10Kristian Snook-Hogronje Snook was one of the first Western scholars
22:15to deeply immerse himself in Islamic culture and undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca, adopting
22:20the name Haji Abdul Ghaffar to collect information.
22:24He leveraged his knowledge of Islamic culture to quell Muslim resistance in the Dutch East
22:28Indies.
22:29His espionage enabled the Dutch to devise strategies to suppress resistance and impose
22:34colonial rule in Essa, resulting in nearly 100,000 deaths.
22:38Fluent in Arabic, Snook engaged in meditation with the Ottoman governor in Jeddah and, after
22:44being examined by a delegation of scholars from Mecca in 1884, was permitted to undertake
22:49the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1885.
22:51A pioneering traveler, he was a rare Western presence in Mecca, but embraced the culture
22:56and religion of his hosts so convincingly that many believed he had converted to Islam.
23:02He admitted to pretending to be a Muslim in a letter sent to his college friend on February
23:0718, 1886, now archived in the Heidelberg University Library.
23:12In 1888, Snook became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
23:17In 1889, he became a professor of Malay at Leiden University and an official advisor
23:22to the Dutch government on colonial affairs.
23:24He wrote over 1,400 papers on the situation in Essa and the role of Islam in the Dutch
23:29East Indies, the colonial civil service, and nationalism.
23:33As an advisor to J.B.
23:34van Huijts, he played an active role in the final phase of the Essa War.
23:39His understanding of Islamic culture helped develop strategies that significantly crushed
23:43the resistance and established Dutch colonial rule, ending a 40-year conflict with casualty
23:48estimates ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants dead and about a million wounded.
23:56Number 4.
23:57Vidkun Kiesling Vidkun Abraham Rorits Jonsen Kiesling was
24:02a Norwegian military officer, politician, and Nazi collaborator who nominally led the
24:07government of Norway during its occupation by Nazi Germany in World War II.
24:12He first gained international prominence through his close collaboration with explorer Frithjof
24:16Nansen and his efforts to organize humanitarian relief during the Russian Famine of 1921.
24:22Kiesling was later posted as a Norwegian diplomat to the Soviet Union and also managed British
24:27diplomatic affairs there for a time.
24:29He returned to Norway in 1929 and served as Minister of Defense.
24:33In 1933, Kiesling founded the fascist party Nasjonalsamling, National Gathering.
24:39Despite gaining some popularity with his attacks on the political left, his party failed to
24:43win any seats in the Storting, and by 1940 it remained marginal.
24:48On April 9, 1940, during the German invasion of Norway, Kiesling attempted to seize power
24:53in the world's first radio broadcast coup d'etat, but failed because the Germans sought
24:58to have the recognized Norwegian government legitimize the German occupation, as had been
25:03done in Denmark.
25:04On February 1, 1942, Kiesling formed a second government, approved by the Germans, and served
25:10as Minister-President, heading the Norwegian state administration alongside the German
25:14civil administrator Josef Terboven.
25:17His pro-Nazi puppet government, known as the Kiesling regime, was dominated by ministers
25:22from Nasjonalsamling in collaboration with Germany's war efforts, including deporting
25:27Jews to concentration camps in occupied Poland.
25:30After World War II, Kiesling was put on trial during Norway's legal purge.
25:34He was found guilty of charges including embezzlement, murder, and high treason against the Norwegian
25:39state and was sentenced to death.
25:42He was executed by firing squad in Oslo on October 24, 1945.
25:47Since his death, Kiesling has become one of history's most infamous traitors.
25:51The term Kiesling has become synonymous with collaborator or traitor in several languages,
25:57reflecting the widespread contempt for Kiesling's actions both during his time and today.
26:033.
26:05Wang Jingwei Wang Xiaoming, widely known by his pen name
26:09Wang Jingwei, was a Chinese politician who served as the President of the Reorganized
26:14National Government of the Republic of China, a puppet state of Japan.
26:19Initially Wang was a member of the left-wing Kuomintang, leading a government in Wuhan
26:24in opposition to the right-wing government in Nanjing.
26:27However, he became increasingly anti-communist after his efforts to collaborate with the
26:31Chinese Communist Party ended in political failure.
26:35Wang was close associate of Sun Yat-sen for the last 20 years of Sun's life.
26:40After his death in 1925, Wang engaged in a political struggle with Chiang Kai-shek for
26:44control over the Kuomintang but ultimately lost.
26:48He remained within the Kuomintang but continued to have disagreements with Chiang until the
26:52outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.
26:57Following this, he accepted an invitation from the Japanese Empire to form a Japanese-supported
27:01collaborationist government in Nanjing.
27:04Wang served as the head of state for this puppet government until his death shortly
27:08before the end of World War II.
27:10Wang's legacy remains controversial among historians.
27:13While he is regarded as an important contributor to the Xinhai Revolution, his collaboration
27:18with Imperial Japan is a subject of academic debate.
27:22Typical narratives often regard him as a traitor in the War of Resistance, with his name being
27:27synonymous with treason.
27:302.
27:31Marcus Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus was a Roman politician,
27:36orator, and the most famous of Julius Caesar's assassins.
27:40After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Cintus Servilius Capio Brutus, which
27:45remained his legal name, but he is often referred to simply as Brutus.
27:49Early in his political career, Brutus opposed Pompey, who was responsible for his father's
27:54death, despite also being close to Caesar.
27:57Caesar's attempts to evade accountability in the law courts put him at odds with the
28:01Roman elite and the Senate, leading Brutus to eventually oppose him.
28:06Brutus sided with Pompey against Caesar's forces during the Civil War.
28:10After Pompey's defeat at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, Brutus surrendered to Caesar, who
28:15granted him amnesty.
28:17As Caesar's behavior became increasingly monarchical and autocratic after the Civil War, several
28:23senators, later known as Libertores, plotted to assassinate him.
28:28Brutus took a leading role in the assassination, which was carried out successfully on the
28:32Ides of March, March 15th of 44 BC.
28:36Popular unrest forced Brutus and his brother-in-law, fellow assassin Gaius Cassius Longinus, to
28:41leave Rome in April 44 BC.
28:44Following a complex political realignment, Octavian, Caesar's adopted son, became consul
28:50and with his colleague passed a law retroactively declaring Brutus and the other conspirators
28:54murderers.
28:56This led to a second Civil War, with Mark Antony and Octavian fighting the Libertores,
29:01led by Brutus and Cassius.
29:02The Caesareans decisively defeated Brutus and Cassius' outnumbered armies at the Battles
29:07of Philippi in October 42 BC.
29:10After their defeat, Brutus took his own life.
29:13Brutus' name has been condemned for betraying Caesar, his friend and benefactor.
29:19In this respect, his name is often rivaled only by Judas Iscariot, with whom he is portrayed
29:24in Dante's Inferno.
29:27Number 1.
29:28Judas Iscariot
29:29Yeah, who else could we have at our number one spot?
29:33Betrayals don't come more famous than this one.
29:36Judas Iscariot, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, was a first-century
29:41Jewish man who became a disciple and one of the original twelve apostles of Jesus Christ.
29:46Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane by kissing him on
29:51the cheek and addressing him as Master to reveal his identity in the darkness to the
29:56crowd who had come to arrest him in exchange for thirty pieces of silver.
30:01Like Brutus, his name is often synonymous with betrayal or treason.
30:06The Gospel of Mark gives no motive for Judas' betrayal, but does present Jesus predicting
30:11it at the Last Supper, an event also described in all other gospels.
30:15The Gospel of Matthew 26.15 states that Judas committed the betrayal in exchange for thirty
30:21pieces of silver.
30:23The Gospel of Luke 22.3 and the Gospel of John 13.27 suggest that he was possessed by
30:29Satan.
30:30According to Matthew 27.1-10, after learning that Jesus was to be crucified, Judas attempted
30:36to return the money he had been paid for his betrayal to the chief priests and hanged himself.
30:42Due to his notorious role in all the gospel narratives, Judas remains a controversial
30:47figure in Christian history.
30:49His betrayal is seen as setting in motion the events that led to Jesus' crucifixion
30:54and resurrection, which according to traditional Christian theology, brought salvation to humanity.
31:00The Gnostic Gospel of Judas, rejected by the Proto-Orthodox Church as heretical, portrays
31:06Judas' actions as done in obedience to instructions given to him by Jesus, suggesting that he
31:12alone among the disciples knew Jesus' true teachings.