Brilliant messages from the late physician and writer
After being deposed in 1979, Ugandan military dictator and president Idi Amin fled to Saudi Arabia, where he spent the remainder of his life. Amin is considered one of the most brutal despots in history, his regime estimated to have killed more than 500,000 people.
Italian diplomat, spy, author, and consummate womanizer Giacomo Casanova was forced to become an exile from Venice in 1756 when he escaped from prison. He later spent years wandering across Europe before finally settling in Bohemia.
Legendary German-American actress Marlene Dietrich left Berlin in the 1930s to work in Hollywood, during which time the Nazis rose to power. She opted to remain abroad, returning to the country of her birth once only, in 1960, for a concert tour.
Charlie Chaplin's self-imposed exile began in 1952 after visiting England and learning his reentry visa to the United States had been revoked. He settled in Switzerland, returning to America just once in 1972 to receive an honorary Academy Award.
Arguably history's most famous exile, Napoleon Bonaparte was twice banished from France. In 1813 after a series of humiliating defeats, he was forced to spend time on the Mediterranean island of Elba. A brief return to power was followed by another defeat on the battlefield. This time he was exiled to St. Helena in 1815. He died on the South Atlantic island in 1821.
French writer and politician Victor Hugo, whose novels include 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame' (1831) and 'Les Misérables' (1862), was exiled in 1851 after falling foul of Napoleon III, who accused him of being a traitor. Hugo sought sanctuary first in Brussels, then in Jersey before finally settling in Guernsey, in the Channel Islands.
Benazir Bhutto spent many years in self-exile during her career, mostly in London and Dubai. The Pakistani politician, who was prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996, was assassinated in 2007 during a political rally in Rawalpindi.
Imelda Marcos, together with her husband President Ferdinand Marcos, presided over one of the most corrupt, extravagant, and brutal regimes in Philippine history. The couple fled into exile in Hawaii when revolution broke out in the country in 1986. Ferdinand Marcos died in exile. His wife returned to the Philippines in 1991.
Author of the 'Divine Comedy,' Dante Alighieri was condemned to exile from Florence in 1302 after refusing to pay a fine. He faced being burned at the stake if he returned. Dante spent the rest of his life roaming across Italy and living in different cities, during which time he wrote his masterpiece, widely considered one of the most important poems of the Middle Ages.
The Dalai Lama has lived as an exile in India since 1959, after being expelled by Chinese authorities in the wake of a Tibetan uprising.
A key figure in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Leon Trotsky saw his authority diminish after the death of Lenin. He was eventually expelled from the country by Stalin, ending up in Mexico where he led the Marxist opposition against the Soviet dictator. Trotsky was later murdered in Mexico City, the victim of an ice axe wielded by a Kremlin assassin.
Juan Perón, president of Argentina, spent 18 years in exile in Venezuela and Spain after being ousted by a military coup in 1955. An estimated three million people turned out to greet him upon his return to Buenos Aires in 1973.
Greek philosopher Aristotle opted for voluntary exile from Athens after his former pupil, Alexander the Great, died. Aristotle was considered an anti-Athenian, pro-Macedonian, and thus was charged with impiety. Mindful of the fate of Socrates, Aristotle left the Greek capital to live out the rest of his days in Chalcis on the island of Euboea.
Chilean poet, diplomat, and pro-communist Pablo Neruda was forced to flee his country in 1948, returning in 1952 after traveling to various European countries. He recalled his time in exile in an acceptance speech after receiving the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Bertolt Brecht, the German theater practitioner, playwright, and poet, felt compelled to leave his homeland after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. He moved to Sweden before ending up in the United States, where the FBI hounded him for his Marxist leanings. He returned to Europe in 1948, residing in East Berlin until his death in 1956.
In 1963, Soviet-born Joseph Brodsky's poetry was denounced by a Leningrad newspaper as "pornographic and anti-Soviet." From then on the authorities persecuted Brodsky to the point where in 1972 he was forcibly put on a plane and flown into exile. Brodsky was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature, and appointed United States Poet Laureate in 1991.
Karl Marx, the German-born philosopher, economist, historian, and sociologist, was exiled to Brussels in 1845 after being expelled from both Germany and France because of the political ideology he was spreading. In June 1849, Marx moved to London where he would remain for the rest of his life. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery.
Karl Marx's closest friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels, also sought sanctuary in Brussels. It's in the city's La Maison du Cygne (the Swan Tavern) where the two men wrote 'The Communist Manifesto.' Engels also spent time exiled in England, dying in London in 1895.
French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas, known for novels such as 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and 'The Three Musketeers,' fled into self-imposed exile to Brussels in 1851 in an effort to escape creditors. After appeasing his lenders, he returned to Paris two years later.
German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, widely held to be one of the greatest and most influential scientific minds of all time, escaped Germany in 1933. Landing in Belgium, he renounced his citizenship and stayed briefly in the country before traveling to the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Evo Morales served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. He was forced out of the country in November 2019 after claims of electoral fraud were leveled against him. He flew to Mexico and then spent a year in exile in Argentina before deciding to return to Bolivia.
Spanish-Mexican filmmaker Luis Buñuel effectively spent a life in exile. Besides living and working in his homeland (including during the civil war), Buñuel spent time in France, the United States, and Mexico, where he was granted exile and gained residency, thus beginning one of the most illustrious and prolific careers in 20th-century cinema.
Mohammad Reza Pahlevi, the last Shah of Iran, fled into exile in 1979 as the Islamic Revolution unfolded. He first flew to Egypt, and later lived in Morocco, and then the Bahamas. He also stayed in Mexico. A brief visit to the United States was followed by a trip to Panama. Stricken with incurable cancer, he again sought asylum in Egypt, where he died in Cairo in 1980.
Notorious American whistleblower Edward Snowden evaded capture by United States authorities by fleeing to Hong Kong before seeking asylum. The former CIA operative now lives in exile in Moscow.
A name unfamiliar to most, Chiang Kai-shek served as President of the Republic of China and the Generalissimo from 1928 to his death in 1975. From 1949, he ruled in exile from Taiwan having fled there after clashing with Mao Zedong and the communists. He never returned to the mainland.
Benedict Arnold was a military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. An increasing empathy with his British enemy prompted Arnold to defect and change sides. He survived the war and lived out the remainder of his life in England. In the United States, his name is synonymous with treason.
Chinese philosopher Confucius spent much of his life in exile. He began his career as a diplomat, but became disillusioned with the corrupt circles he was working in. He resigned his position and spent 13 years on the road, visiting the courts of several states, where he expounded his political beliefs but did not see them implemented. He turned to teaching philosophy and developed what today is known as Confucianism, an ancient Chinese belief system that focuses on the importance of personal ethics and morality.
Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer Jean-Jacques Rousseau was active during the period known as the Age of Enlightenment. As such, his radical views often clashed with those held by conservatives. He chose to live in France, but near the Swiss border. In 1762, he published 'Emile, or On Education,' which was promptly banned and prompted Rousseau's exile from France and, for a while, Switzerland, his home country.
Throughout history, numerous monarchs and other members of English and European royalty have been forced into exile. In the modern era, the Duke of Windsor caused a constitutional crisis when as Edward VIII he abdicated the British throne. He and his wife, Wallace Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (1896–1986), lived out the rest of their days in France.
Sources: (CNN) (National Geographic Society)
See also: A timeline of royals in exile
The Roman dramatist known as Seneca was banished to Corsica by Emperor Claudius after committing adultery with Caligula's sister. Seneca spent eight years on the island before being recalled to Rome.
So, who are some of the best-known men and women that ended up on foreign soil, either willingly or under duress? Click through and join them in exile.
Famous figures who were exiled
Exploring the lives of history's notable outcasts, from poets to emperors
LIFESTYLE History
To be exiled is to be barred from one's native country, typically for political or punitive reasons. The list of history's most famous exiles is long and compelling, and includes emperors, scientists, politicians, despots, poets, spies, and revolutionaries. While a few fled for their own safety and remained willingly in their adopted homelands, others died never having had the chance to be repatriated.
So, who are some of the best-known men and women that ended up on foreign soil, either willingly or under duress? Click through and join them in exile.