Frenemies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Philippe Pétain

Phillipe Pétain was a famous war general and Marshal of France. Following the German invasion, Pétain sided with the Nazis and took over the country calling himself the acting "Chief of State". With German support he established a Fascist régime. He passed the anti-Semitic laws under which thousands of Jews were sent to Nazi concentration camps.

This Nazi collaborator fled to Germany towards the end of the war but voluntarily returned to France to face trial in the arrogant belief that he had done nothing wrong.

After being found guilty of treason, the jury voted for the death penalty. Due to his age and his heroism during World War I, he was sent to prison on the Ile d'Yeu, a secluded island off the coast of Brittany, where he died in 1951.

Answer: Marcus Junius Brutus

One of history's most famous traitors is Marcus Junius Brutus, better known simply as Brutus. Brutus had a very close relationship with Julius Caesar and was even rumored by some to be his son, though this is doubtful. As a member of the Roman Senate, Brutus had a strong sense of loyalty to his country.

When Caesar declared himself "Ruler for Life", he outraged his enemies and many of his friends who feared his growing power. Roman general Cassius provided Brutus with fake letters from a variety of sources which claimed to support any acts to overthrow Caesar. Out of a possibly misguided sense of loyalty to his country, Brutus used his friendship with Caesar to lure him to his death.

Answer: Vidkun Quisling

Vidkun Quisling is Norway's most notorious traitor. As a young man he served in the Norwegian Army and served as a military attaché to Russia/Soviet Union and Finland. He assisted in humanitarian work for the League of Nations and, popular and well-respected, he was appointed to the position of Minister of Defense. With Hitler's backing, Quisling took over as Minister President.

At the end of the war he was found guilty of murder and high treason and was promptly executed.

Answer: Robert Hanssen

To those who knew or worked with Robert Hanssen, he appeared to be happily married, a very devout Catholic, and very patriotic FBI agent. None of it was true. Using the code name of Ramon Garcia he spied for Soviet Russia for over twenty-two years. Hanssen was so good at what he did that for decades, neither side knew who he was.

At one time Hanssen was assigned to his own case. What it took the FBI two decades to figure out was that Hanssen was a double-agent who provided the Russian KGB with the names of those trying to defect, the locations of military submarines, and information on a multitude of investigations being carried out by the FBI.

When caught, in order to save his life, he gave a full confession and was given a life sentence to be spent in solitary confinement twenty-three hours a day.

Answer: Julius Rosenberg

David Greenglass passed secrets about the creation of atomic weapons to his brother-in-law Julius Rosenberg with the full knowledge that they were then being passed on to the KGB. The two of them were directly responsible for the creation of atomic weapons by Soviet Russia. Greenglass also stole uranium-238, a highly toxic and radioactive substance which he claimed to have poured into the East River, possibly exposing an unknown amount of people to it. Greenglass' acts of treachery were discovered and he immediately turned on his family, testifying in court against them. Both Julius and his wife, Ethel, Greenglass's sister, were executed for treason. Greenglass served less than ten years in prison because of his confession and court testimony.

Answer: Aldrich Ames

The highly intelligent Aldrich Ames began working for the CIA in 1957 while he was still in high school. Due to simple greed, he began selling the names of undercover CIA agents to the KGB. He also told the KGB of every one of their agents who were actually working for the CIA causing the deaths of at least twenty-five Soviet agents.

His deeds endangered at least one hundred American agents and was the direct cause of death for ten of them. Ames greatly embarrassed the CIA who took years to figure out what he was up to, in spite of the fact that he had millions in the bank, drove a fancy Jaguar to work, and dressed in expensive clothing.

He openly lived well above his salary, and it still took the CIA until 1994 to discover his activities. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in a plea bargain in which he divulged all his activities so that the death penalty would be taken off the board.

Answer: Mata Hari

Mata Hari was a dancer and courtesan originally from the Netherlands. The bedfellow of many powerful men of the time, she was admired for her exotic looks. During World War I, she was accused by the French of spying for Germany. She led a life of travel and visited the Dutch East Indies and most of Europe. Rumors that she was a spy circulated for years as the British and the French believed she sold secrets to Germany having learned them while sleeping with a variety of politicians and high-ranking soldiers. Mata Hari was openly accused of causing the deaths of thousands of French soldiers and was executed by firing squad in 1917.

There is some doubt as to whether these accusations had any basis in truth. Some historians believe she may have been mistaken for a spy named Clara Benedix, with whom she shared a resemblance.

Her promiscuity and self-promotion did not help her.

Answer: Soviet Union

The exact number of men involved in The Cambridge Ring may never be known, but most historians believe there were at least five men. The most notorious members of the group were Harold "Kim" Philby, Donald Maclean, and Guy Burgess. These men were all educated at Cambridge University, accounting for the moniker.

They spied for the Soviet Union throughout the 1940s and 1950s until they were finally detected. When their misdeeds were uncovered in 1951, both Burgess and Maclean fled to Moscow. Philby followed suit in 1963 after a Soviet defector, Anatoliy Golitsyn, provided damning evidence as to Philby's involvement. All three of these men lived out the remainder of their lives in the Soviet Union.

These men were in a position of power and belonged to an elite group.

Answer: Robert Ford

For over sixteen years, the James gang was one of the most infamous robbery gangs in the world. During their robbery spree they robbed banks, trains, and even ordinary citizens. The state of Missouri issued a $10,000 reward for the capture of Jesse James, dead or alive. One afternoon while sitting in the living room of Jesse James home, longtime gang member Robert Ford shot James in the back, killing him. For his deeds, he was awarded part of the reward and had all charges against him dropped. He was labeled a coward and a turncoat and was shot and killed by outlaw Edward O'Kelley in 1892.

His tombstone reads: "Robert Ford, The man who shot Jesse James".

Answer: False

While Benedict Arnold is one of America's most infamous traitors, he never attempted to have Washington assassinated. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war he fought bravely for the Continental Army. What Washington did not know was that Arnold had been carrying on negotiations with the British after becoming disillusioned with the war. Because of his reputation as a brilliant strategist he was given command of West Point, which was a key military position during the war.

He offered to turn over West Point to the British, thus becoming one of America's most infamous traitors.

He joined the British Army and was commissioned a brigadier general, leading many raids against the Continental Army. After the war was over he escaped to England where he ended his days as a wealthy pariah.