Robert Mugabe’s decades-long rule in Zimbabwe could end; see pics

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe seemed almost untouchable for much of his nearly four-decade rule. Shrewd and ruthless, he stayed in power despite advancing age, growing opposition, international sanctions and the dissolving economy of a once-prosperous nation. Mugabe, who at 93 is the world's oldest head of state, is confined to his home after a military takeover. It was the most dramatic development in a factional battle within the ruling ZANU-PF party in which first lady Grace Mugabe had been angling, with Mugabe's help, to take over the presidency in a dynastic succession. Even if Zimbabwe's generals allow Mugabe to keep his job for a while, he would likely be a transitional figurehead, no longer wielding unchallenged authority over this southern African country. Let's take a look at his life and political career:

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It is a humbling close to the career of a man who crushed dissent or sidelined opponents after leading Zimbabwe since independence from white minority rule in 1980. (AP Photo)

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A master politician, Mugabe outmaneuvered challenges from within ZANU-PF during the war against Rhodesian rule. (AP Photo)

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After independence Mugabe ruthlessly sidelined his rival Joshua Nkomo by isolating the opposition leader and sending army troops into Matabeleland, Nkomo's stronghold in southern Zimbabwe. (AP Photo)

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In his early days as president, after a long war between black guerrillas and the white rulers of Rhodesia, as Zimbabwe was known before independence, Mugabe reached out to whites. (AP Photo)

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A former schoolteacher, he stressed education and built new schools. Tourism and mining flourished. Zimbabwe was a regional breadbasket. (AP Photo)

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Mugabe, still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero, is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa's most promising states. (AP Photo)

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South Africa said Mugabe had told President Jacob Zuma by telephone on Wednesday that he was confined to his home but was otherwise fine and the military said it was keeping him and his family, including wife Grace, safe. (AP Photo)

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Despite the lingering admiration for Mugabe, there is little public affection for 52-year-old Grace, a former government typist who started having an affair with Mugabe in the early 1990s as his first wife, Sally, was dying of kidney disease. (AP Photo)

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Whatever the final outcome, the events could signal a once-in-a-generation change for the former British colony. (AP Photo)