Talk:History of terrorism

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BetacommandBot (talk) 15:46, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Earlier version

I thought some of this information might worth reintegrating

Origin The term "terrorism" comes from the French word terrorisme, which is based on the Latin verb terrere (to cause to tremble), [1] It dates back to 1795 when it was used to describe the actions of the Jacobin Club in their rule of post-Revolutionary France, the so-called "Reign of Terror". Jacobins are rumored to have coined the term "terrorists" to refer to themselves. The English word "terrorism" was popularized in English when it was used by the conservative Edmund Burke, an outspoken opponent of the French Revolution and the Terror. Acts described as Jacobin Club "terrorism" were mostly cases of arrest or execution of opponents as a means of coercing compliance in the general public. According to Juegensmeyer, they were public acts of destruction which inflicted a public sense of fear due to the lack of military objectives.

Precursors Because of all the attention paid to it recently, terrorism is viewed as a modern phenomenon. In fact, the use of terror to achieve ideological or political ends is almost as old as human civilization. Starting with the ancient Assyrians, there are many examples of terrorism in the Greco-Roman world, the Mongol conquests, medieval Islam and Christianity. “Modern” terrorism evolved in Europe in the wake of the French Revolution and revolutionary movements of the nineteenth century. Terrorism established itself as a global phenomenon during the course of the twentieth century. Terror was used to enforce religious conformity, to ensure political obedience, and to promote revolution. In the 1st century, Zealots conducted a fierce and unrelenting terror campaign against the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean. The Zealots enlisted sicarii to strike down rich Jewish collaborators and others who were friendly to the Romans. These terrorists were eventually defeated by the Romans in a series of conflicts (First Jewish-Roman War - Kitos War - Bar Kokhba's revolt), culminating in Hadrian edicts against Judaism and the reestablishment of Jerusalem as the Roman pagan polis of Aelia Capitolina.[citation needed] In the 11th century, the radical Islamic sect known as the Hashshashin (this word, derived from the word "Hashish," which the Hash-Ishiim reputedly used regularly, translates directly to the word "assassin" in the English language) employed systematic murder for a cause they believed to be righteous. For two centuries, they resisted efforts to suppress their religious beliefs and developed ritualized murder into a fine art taught through generations. Political aims were achieved through the power of intimidation.

French Revolution During the French Revolution (1789 - 1799), the most severe period of the rule of the Committee of Public Safety (1793 - 1795) was labelled "The Reign of Terror" (1793 - 1794) to describe rule through a systematic use of terror exemplified especially by extensive use of the guillotine. Historic references to the term "terrorism" first appeared during the Reign of Terror.

Nineteenth century The current use of the term "terrorism" is broader and relies more on the example of the 19th-century revolutionaries who used the technique of assassination, particularly the anarchists and Narodniks in Tsarist Russia, whose most notable action was the assassination of Alexander II. An early example of its use in the current sense is in Joseph Conrad's 1907 story "The Secret Agent", where it is used to describe anarchists attempting to cause terror and forment social disruption by blowing up Greenwich Observatory: "The venomous spluttering of the old terrorist without teeth was heard." Ch.3: "What is one to say to an act of destructive ferocity so absurd as to be incomprehensible, inexplicable, almost unthinkable; in fact, mad? Madness alone is truly terrifying, inasmuch as you cannot placate it either by threats, persuasion, or bribes." (Ch.2) In 1867 the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a revolutionary nationalist group with support from Irish-Americans, carried out attacks in England. These were the first acts of "republican terrorism", which became a recurrent feature of British history, and these Fenians were the precursor of the Irish Republican Army. The ideology of the group was Irish nationalism. In Russia, by the mid-19th century, the intelligentsia grew impatient with the slow pace of Tsarist reforms, and sought instead to transform peasant discontent into open revolution. Anarchists like Mikhail Bakunin maintained that progress was impossible without destruction. Their objective was nothing less than complete destruction of the state. Anything that contributed to this goal was regarded as moral. With the development of sufficiently powerful, stable, and affordable explosives, the gap closed between the firepower of the state and the means available to dissidents. Organized into secret societies like the People's Will, Russian terrorists launched a campaign of terror against the state that climaxed in 1881 when Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated. At about the same time, Anarchists in Europe and the United States also resorted to the use of dynamite, as did Catalan nationalists such as La Reixa and Bandera Negra. Two groups within the Ottoman Empire also resorted to techniques considered by some historians to be in the same category as those used by the People's Will and the Anarchists. One group was those fighting for an independent Armenia, divided into two parties, the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party and the Dashnaks or Armenian Revolutionary Federation. The other group was those fighting for an independent Macedonia, divided into two organizations, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and the External Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (EMRO). The IMRO was founded in 1893 in Thessaloniki, now in Greece but then part of the Ottoman Empire. The organisation was driven by Slavic nationalism, and later acquired a reputation for ferocious attacks, including the 1934 assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia during a state visit to France. The Fenians/IRA, the Hunchaks and Dashnaks, and the IMRO may be considered the prototype of all 'nationalist terrorism', and equally illustrate the (itself controversial) expression that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". At least one of these groups achieved its goals: an independent Ireland came into being. So did an independent Macedonia, but the original IMRO probably contributed little to this outcome. The territories of today's Armenia, however, are all in the former Russian empire.

Twentieth century A reincarnation of the 19th Century Ku Klux Klan arose in the United States in 1915, and became active for several decades, using terrorist tactics to promote a doctrine of white supremacy. Today, modern weapons technology has made it possible for a "super-empowered angry man" (Thomas Friedman) to cause a large amount of destruction by himself or with only a few conspirators. It can be, and has been, conducted by small as well as large organizations. Some people considered at some point in their lives to be terrorists, or supporters of terrorism, have gone on to become dedicated peace activists (Uri Avnery), respected statesmen (Yitzhak Shamir) or even Nobel Peace Prize laureates (Nelson Mandela, Yasser Arafat). Though in some instances, the label of terrorist may not follow the standard sense which requires the targeting of non-combatants. Since 1968, the U.S. State Department has tallied deaths due to terrorism. In 1985, it counted 816 deaths, the highest annual toll until then. The deaths decreased since the late 1980s, then rose to 3,295 in 2001, mainly as a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which took about 3 thousand lives. In 2003, more than 1,000 people died as a result of terrorist acts. Many of these deaths resulted from suicide bombings in Chechnya, Iraq, India and Israel. It does not tally victims of state terrorism.

Data from the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base showed a similar decline since the 1980s, especially in Western Europe. On the other hand, Asia experienced an increase in international terrorist attacks. Other regions experienced less consistent patterns over time. From 1991 to 2003, there was a consistent increase in the number of casualties from international terrorist attacks in Asia, but few other consistent trends in casualties from international terrorist attacks. Three different regions had, in three different years, a few attacks with a large number of casualties. Statistically, distribution of the severity of terrorist attacks follows a power law ([1]), much like that for wars and also natural disasters like earthquakes, floods and forest fires. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.107.78.253 (talk) 18:01, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

=Beslan

as has been started before this article can't simple be a list of terrorism, (there is already an article for that), i left Beslan for now with an Expand tag to give the contributor the chance to actually add some information and show why its notable to the history of terrorism, i'm not greatly familiar with terrorism in Russia so any editors who are i'd appreciate it if you could review it. if no expansion is forthcoming the head should be removed —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.26.249.200 (talk) 16:52, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Crusades

Couldn't the crusades have been considered terrorism?--69.234.210.39 (talk) 23:41, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

not really it was a military invasion a brutal one yes but you'd need a very loose defintion of terrorism, and one which would then start to include, the Mongols, and the allies and axis of world war 2 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.12.244.16 (talk) 22:10, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

eurocentric

Up from the Seventeenth century to the Nationalism and the End of Empire it appears that this article is centered around Western events only.--69.234.210.39 (talk) 23:44, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

we have tried to diversify it as much as possible, but if you can add relevant stuff on other events please do —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.12.244.16 (talk) 22:04, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

tamil tigers and Sikh nationalists

These groups should really be added

Stuff to add

Baader Meinhof, Japanese Red Army, PFLP, action directe, Brigate Rosse etc - more or less the whole seventies wave of red terror. Just throwing it out there for less lazy people to add. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.238.113.244 (talk) 05:47, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

thats the problem, its beyond my expertise, so we wait, maybe when i have some time to do the proper work —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.27.165.159 (talk) 06:40, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Cold War Proxy Section

This section is very short, but it has a number of inflammatory and unbacked up claims. The Operation Gladio reference is especially incorrect as it suggests that Operation Gladio has been confirmed to be a false flag operation whereas it seems more likely that it was another case of training done for one purpose later turning around to bite the trainers. The link between terrorism and proxy warfare is real and key, but shouldn't be marred by unverified claims or paranoid conspiracism. 192.31.19.50 (talk) 13:51, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Article needs narrative

I think thsi article should be rewritten in narrative form. As it is, it has so many disjointed sections that its almost like reading a list. The ur-terrorists, the people responsible for popularizing the word in its modern sense, are People's Will and the other late 19th century Russian terrorist groups. So a narrative should begin with the incidents that inspired People's Will, then discuss Russian terrorism, and then continue with the anarchists and others inspired by the Russian terrorists, and then the people they inspired, and so on up to the present. The article shouldn't try to cover every notable act of political violence since the full complexity of the subject goes off in too many different directions. Kauffner (talk) 12:11, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

I completely disagree, how exactly do you connect the people's will to the IRA SOE or Aum Shinrikyo Capt Jack Doicy (talk) 21:49, 5 December 2008 (UTC)