Grayson West
Betrayal doesn’t always happen on the battlefield. Sometimes, it unfolds behind closed doors with shadowy alliances. These ten individuals, once trusted by their nations, crossed the line into treason or outright sabotage. Their actions left behind legacies steeped in disgrace. Here are the stories of history’s most notorious traitors.
Benedict Arnold
During the American Revolution, General Benedict Arnold once stood as a hero of early American victories. By 1780, he had plotted to surrender the fort at West Point to the British. The plan unraveled. Though he fled to England, Arnold never regained trust and passed away under a cloud of infamy.
Julius And Ethel Rosenberg
Amid Cold War paranoia, the Rosenbergs were accused of giving the Soviet Union access to nuclear secrets. Detained in 1950, their trial drew international scrutiny. Found guilty of espionage, they were executed by electric chair in 1953, the first civilians executed for such charges in U.S. history.
Aldrich Ames
Ames joined the CIA in 1962 and rose through the ranks of counterintelligence. In 1985, he began selling classified information to the Soviet KGB. Over a dozen U.S. operatives were compromised. Nabbed in 1994, Ames received a life sentence without parole and remains incarcerated in a federal penitentiary.
Robert Hanssen
Between 1979 and 2001, FBI agent Robert Hanssen betrayed U.S. intelligence by sharing secrets with Moscow. His disclosures were extensive, spanning decades and exposing critical operations. Detained after a sting operation in 2001, he confessed to 15 espionage charges and passed away in prison in 2023.
Vidkun Quisling
A former Norwegian army officer, Quisling aligned with Nazi Germany during World War II, forming a collaborationist government after the 1940 invasion. His name became synonymous with treachery. Captured after the conflict, he was found guilty of treason and executed in Oslo in 1945.
John Anthony Walker
This U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer created one of American history’s most damaging spy rings. From 1967 to 1985, he passed naval codes to the Soviets. His espionage exposed fleet movements and strategies. Walker was detained in 1985 and sentenced to life in federal prison.
Klaus Fuchs
A physicist on the Manhattan Project, Fuchs secretly conveyed atomic research to the Soviets during World War II. British authorities detained him in 1950 after decrypted communications confirmed his role. He served nine years in a U.K. prison before moving to East Germany, where he continued scientific work.
Kim Philby
Philby rose to senior positions in British intelligence while secretly working for the Soviet Union. As a member of the infamous Cambridge Five, he compromised numerous operations. In 1963, he defected to Moscow, where he was given asylum. He passed away there in 1988, a man honored abroad but exiled from home.
William Joyce
Broadcasting Nazi propaganda to Britain during WWII, Joyce became a notorious voice on enemy airwaves. Captured in 1945 near the German border, he was tried and convicted of treason. Despite holding an American passport, he was executed at Wandsworth Jail in London in January 1946.
Chelsey Manning
A former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning (then Bradley Manning), leaked nearly 750,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks in 2010. The data included diplomatic cables, battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, and the “Collateral Murder” video. Arrested the same year, Manning was convicted in 2013 of multiple charges, including violations of the Espionage Act.