Notable Traitors in History- From Listverse.Com

1. Judas Iscariot is considered one of the worst traitors ever. He was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. By the time of the Last Supper, he had already sold Jesus to the Sanhedrin (Jewish leaders) for thirty pieces of silver. He then led them to Jesus in the garden, and betrayed him to the soldiers with a kiss. Later, filled with remorse, Judas returns the money and kills himself. He had turned his back on his friend, his mentor, and his God.

Today, it is debated whether Judas was motivated by money, Roman patriotism, or being possessed. It is also debated whether or not he was damned, and if so, whether it was due to betraying Jesus or his subsequent suicide. In Dante’s Inferno, he was in the deepest pits of Hell, occupying another of Satan’s three mouths. The other two contain Cassius and Brutus. His name is a recognized symbol of throughout all of Christendom.

2. At the beginning of the American Revolution, Benedict Arnold was a successful American commander: he helped capture Fort Ticonderoga and was a significant part of winning the Battle of Saratoga, widely considered to be the turning point of the war. However, Arnold was given credit for neither success, and was brought down and humiliated by his adversaries. Feeling scorned by the United States, he made an evil offer to the British: he would sell them West Point, a possible key to winning the war. The plot was exposed when a British spy, Major John Andre, was captured. Arnold fled and joined the British army, leading raids against the Americans. According to legend, on his deathbed in London, he regretted his treason.

3. started out as a left-wing member of the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, in the days of the Republic. He was a close associate of Sun Yat-sen until Sun’s death. Afterwards, he struggled with Chiang Kai-shek for control of the party, but Chiang ultimately proved successful. Though disagreeing with Chiang and the party often, he stayed inside the KMT. This changed when the Japanese invaded in 1937. He accepted the invitation of the invading armies to set up a puppet government in Nanjing, which became known as the Reorganized National Government.

“Oppose Corrupt Government and Support the Reformed Nanjing Government.” – Wang Jingwei propaganda, advocating against the Republic of China and for his Imperial Japanese puppet state

Wang died in 1944, and his collaborationist regime fell after Japan’s surrender. Today, he is seen as a classic example of a , or a traitor to the Han Chinese. Like other famous traitors, his name has become synonymous with treason.

4. was a Norwegian bureaucrat, eventually serving as the Minister of Defense. In 1933, Quisling founded the (National Gathering), a fascist party. The Nazis invaded Norway in 1940 and deftly deposed the Kingdom. After this, Quisling’s Nasjonal Samling was set up as a puppet government, while the Reichskommissariat (Realm Commissariat) exercised all true authority. Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945; Quisling was arrested on May 9. He was executed, but not before uttering:

“Believe me, in ten years’ time I will have become another Saint Olav.” (May 8, 1945, to Bjørn Foss.)

Fortunately, he was wrong. Quisling’s name is still used to describe the various European puppet regimes that collaborated with the Nazis, and more generally, as a slur for any individual who seems to favor a foreign nation more than his own.