10. Philippe Pétain agreed to become the Nazi’s puppet ruler in occupied France when he was 84-years-old
When he turned 80, Henri Philippine Pétain almost certainly felt his chance of leading his country had gone for good. While he had risen to the top of the French Army, serving as its Commander-in-Chief from the beginning of 1918 until the end of the First World War, he never made it to the top of the nation’s politics. Indeed, he served as Minister of War and then, in 1939, he left France to serve as the country’s ambassador to Spain. However, what should have been a retirement gig in the sun turned into a short-lived break. When Nazi Germany invaded, Pétain went back to France. He negotiated an armistice. Under the agreement, the Nazis controlled northern France. Pétain, meanwhile, was installed as the head of Vichy France. He was 84-years-old.
While in theory Vichy France was politically neutral, in reality it collaborated with the Germans. What’s more, the Vichy regime even introduced its own anti-Semitic laws. Even though Pétain ended up as little more than a figurehead, when peace returned, he was arrested and charged with treason. The death sentence was commuted to imprisonment. He died in 1951 after spending the last years of his life in solitary confinement, his reputation in ruins.