5. Emperor Bảo Đại of Vietnam was eventually cast down following the end of colonial controls and formal independence of the nation
The thirteenth and final ruler of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling family of Vietnam, Bảo Đại reigned as Emperor of Annam – a protectorate within French Indochina covering approximately the central two-thirds of the present-day nation – from 1926 until 1945. Spending the earliest years of his reign in education in France, ascending formally to the throne in 1932, Bảo Đại oversaw a turbulent period in his country’s history. Occupied by the Japanese during the Second World War, Bảo Đại collaborated with the Imperial forces and declared the independent Empire of Vietnam as part of Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in 1945.
However, with Japanese defeat in the conflict, Bảo Đại was left exposed. In August of the same year, at the persuasion of Hồ Chí Minh, the emperor abdicated his title in the face of growing public resentment. However, following French reassertion of colonial dominance over the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, in 1949 Bảo Đại returned as Chief of State, becoming a monarch in all but name once more. Surviving until the French defeat in the Indochina War at Điện Biên Phủ, following a fraudulent referendum which claimed more votes in favor of a republic than there were registered voters, in 1955 Bảo Đại was ousted for good and exiled to France.
