The history of terrorism involves significant individuals, entities, and incidents associated with terrorism. Scholars often agree that terrorism is a disputed term, and very few of those who are labeled terrorists describe themselves as such; it is common for opponents in a violent conflict to describe the opposing side as terrorists or as practicing terrorism.
Depending on how broadly the term is defined, the roots and practice of terrorism can be traced at least to the 1st-century AD Sicarii Zealots, though some dispute whether the group, which assassinated collaborators with Roman rule in the province of Judea, were in fact terrorists. The first use in English of the term 'terrorism' occurred during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, when the Jacobins, who ruled the revolutionary state, employed violence, including mass executions by guillotine, to compel obedience to the state and intimidate state enemies. The association of the term only with state violence and intimidation lasted until the mid-19th century, when it began to be associated with non-governmental groups. Anarchism, often in league with rising nationalism and anti-monarchism, was the most prominent ideology linked with terrorism. Near the end of the 19th century, anarchist groups or individuals committed assassinations of a Russian Tsar and a U.S. president.
In the 20th century, terrorism continued to be associated with a vast array of anarchist, socialist, fascist and nationalist groups, many of them engaged in 'third world' independence struggles. Some scholars also labeled as terrorist the systematic internal violence and intimidation practiced by states such as the Stalinist Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
Definition
There is no scholarly consensus over the definition of the term "terrorism."Jeffrey Record. Bounding the Global War on Terrorism, December 1, 2003, . p. 6 (page 12 of the PDF document) citing in footnote 11: Walter Laqueur, The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 6.Angus Martyn, The Right of Self-Defence under International Law-the Response to the Terrorist Attacks of 11 September http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/CIB/cib0102/02CIB08, Australian Law and Bills Digest Group, Parliament of Australia Web Site, February 12, 2002 This in part derives from the fact that the term is politically and emotionally charged, "a word with intrinsically negative connotations that is generally applied to one's enemies and opponents."
The term "terrorist" is believed to have originated during the Reign of Terror (September 5, 1793July 28, 1794) in France. It was a period of eleven months during the French Revolution when the ruling Jacobins employed violence, including mass executions by guillotine, in order to intimidate the regime's enemies and compel obedience to the state. The Jacobins, most famously Robespierre, sometimes referred to themselves as "terrorists". Some modern scholars, however, do not consider the Reign of Terror a form of terrorism, in part because it was carried out by the French state.Chialand, p.6 French historian Sophie Wahnich distinguishes between the revolutionary terror of the French Revolution and the terrorists of the September 11 attacks:
Revolutionary terror is not terrorism. To make a moral equivalence between the Revolution's year II and September 2001 is historical and philosophical nonsense ... The violence exercised on 11 September 2001 aimed neither at equality nor liberty. Nor did the preventive war announced by the president of the United States. The French Revolution also influenced conceptions of non-state terrorism in the 19th century. Although the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars ended with the victory of autocracies opposed to France and with the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, European conservative rulers feared revolutionaries who would overthrow their governments or carry out similar forms of psychological violence. The late 18th and early 19th centuries did see the growth of secret societies dedicated to beginning similar liberal revolutions to the French Revolution, causing conservative autocratic governments to become paranoid of radical terrorist conspiracies.
Early terrorism
Scholars disagree about whether the roots of terrorism date back to the 1st century and the Sicarii Zealots, to the 11th century and the Hashshashin, to the 19th century and the Fenian Brotherhood and Narodnaya Volya, or other eras. The Sicarii and the Hashshashin are described below, while the Fenian Brotherhood and Narodnaya Volya are discussed in a later section. John Calvin's rule of Geneva has been described as a reign of terror. Other historical events sometimes associated with terrorism include the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to destroy the English Parliament in 1605.http://www.berr.gov.uk/fireworks/download/FW1434_Keystage2_07.pdf http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090609003228/http://www.berr.gov.uk/fireworks/download/FW1434_Keystage2_07.pdf
During the 1st century AD, the Jewish Zealots in Judaea Province rebelled against the Roman Empire, killing prominent collaborators such as the Sadducees running the Second Temple and the Hasmonean dynasty.Chaliand, Gerard. The History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to al Qaeda. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. p.56 In 6 AD, according to contemporary historian Josephus, Judas of Galilee formed a small and more extreme offshoot of the Zealots, the Sicarii ("dagger men"). Their efforts were also directed against Jewish "collaborators," including temple priests, Sadducees, Herodians, and other wealthy elites. According to Josephus, the Sicarii would hide short daggers under their cloaks, mingle with crowds at large festivals, murder their victims, and then disappear into the panicked crowds. Their most successful assassination was of the High Priest of Israel Jonathan.
The first group of people whose members were called terrorists in the Islamic world were the Kharijites, who declared that any Muslim, regardless of lineage or ethnicity, was eligible to serve as caliph as long as they were morally upright, and that Muslims had a duty to rebel against and overthrow sinful caliphs. They consequently rose up in revolt against both the legitimate rulers and the Muslim rulers who did not uphold Islamic law. The Kharijites were the first sect in Islamic history to practice takfir, allowing them to use it as a defence for killing people they deemed to be heretics; they believed that heretics were apostates who were worthy of punishment. The sect bears similarity with later "takfiri" doctrines of Islamism. In the late 11th century, the Hashshashin (a.k.a. the Assassins) arose, an offshoot of the Isma'ili sect of Shia Muslims.Rapoport, David. "Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions." American Political Science Review, 1984. p.658 Led by Hassan-i Sabbah and opposed to Fatimid and Seljuq rule, the Hashshashin militia seized Alamut and other fortress strongholds across Persia.Willey, Peter. The Castles of the Assassins. New York: Linden Press, 2001. p.19 They briefly seized power in Isfahan before the populace revolted against their brutal rule. Hashshashin forces were too small to challenge enemies militarily, so they assassinated city governors and military commanders in order to create alliances with militarily powerful neighbors. For example, they killed Janah al-Dawla, ruler of Homs, to please Ridwan of Aleppo, and assassinated Mawdud, Seljuk emir of Mosul, as a favor to the regent of Damascus.Daftary, Farhad. The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Isma'ilis. London: I. B. Tauris, 1995. p.42 The Hashshashin also carried out assassinations as retribution.Hodgson, Marshall G. S. The Secret Order of Assassins: The Struggle of the Early Nizari Ismai'lis Against the Islamic World. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. p.83 Under some definitions of terrorism, such assassinations do not qualify as terrorism, since killing a political leader does not intimidate political enemies or inspire revolt.Chaliand, Gerard. The History of Terrorism: From Antiquity to al Qaeda. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. p.68 (see also List of assassinations by the Assassins)
The Sons of Liberty was a clandestine group that was formed in Boston and New York City in the 1770s. It had a political agenda of independence of Britain's American colonies. The groups engaged in several acts that could be considered terroristic and used the deeds for propaganda purposes.
Gunpowder Plot
After Queen Elizabeth I restored the Church of England as the state church after years of persecution of Protestants under her sister Mary I, Pope Pius V excommunicated her and called on English Catholics to depose her. His successor Sixtus V and King Philip II of Spain sponsored numerous plots against her, which continued after she was succeeded by her cousin James VI and I.
On November 5, 1605, a group of conspirators led by Robert Catesby attempted to destroy the English Parliament on its State Opening by King James I. They planned in secret to detonate a large quantity of gunpowder placed beneath the Palace of Westminster. The gunpowder was procured and placed by Guy Fawkes. The group intended to enact a coup by killing King James I and the members of both houses of Parliament. The conspirators planned to start a rebellion in the English Midlands, make one of the king's children a puppet monarch, and then restore the Catholic faith to England.
The conspirator leased a coal cellar beneath the House of Lords and began stockpiling gunpowder in 1604. As well as its primary targets, it would have killed hundreds, if not thousands, of Londoners – the most devastating act of terrorism in Britain's history, plunging the nation into a religious war. English spymasters uncovered the plot and caught Guy Fawkes with the gunpowder beneath Parliament. The other conspirators fled to Holbeach in Staffordshire. A shoot out on November 8 with authorities led to the deaths of Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy and the brothers Christopher and John Wright. The rest were captured. Fawkes and seven others were tried and executed in January 1606. The planned attack has become known as the Gunpowder Plot, and is commemorated in Britain every November 5, with fireworks displays and large bonfires where effigies of Guy Fawkes and the Pope are often burned. Comparisons are often drawn between the gunpowder plot and modern religious terrorism, such as the attacks in the US by Islamic terrorists on 9/11 2001.The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605; Author Antonia Fraser; published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Emergence of modern terrorism Terrorism was associated with state terror and the Reign of Terror in France, until the mid-19th century when the term also began to be associated with non-governmental groups. Early non-governmental terrorist groups include the nationalist Carbonari who sought to unite the Italian Peninsula under a liberal democratic government and the Luddites in Great Britain who sought to resist the Industrial Revolution by attacking mechanized textile plants. The term terrorism became increasingly used for acts of political violence from the 1840s onwards. Anarchism, often in league with rising nationalism, was the most prominent ideology linked with terrorism.The Dynamite Club by John Merriman Attacks by various anarchist groups led to the assassination of a Russian Tsar and a U.S. President.