Chronology

647 BCE

Assyrian Emperor Assurnasirpal II terrorizes the city of Susa

514 BCE

Assassination of Athenian tyrant Hipparchus by Harmodius and Aristogeiton

63 BCE

Catiline conspiracy

44 BCE

Assassination of Julius Caesar by Roman senators

66–70

Jewish–Roman War

73

Fall of Masada

1090s

First Assassin leader, Hassan-i Sabbah, seizes the castle of Alamut

1159

Publication of Policraticus by John of Salisbury

1256

Destruction of Alamut and Assassins by Mongols

1407

Assassination of Louis, the French duke of Orléans

1532

Publication of The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli

1605

Gunpowder Plot of Guy Fawkes

1649

Execution of England’s King Charles I

1793–4

Jacobins’ Reign of Terror during the French Revolution

1795

First documented use of the word “terrorist” in English, by Edmund Burke

1811–16

Luddite violence in England

1820s

Carbonari uprisings in Italy, France, and Spain

1828

Publication of The Conspiracy of Equals by Filippo Buonarroti

1831

Nat Turner Revolt in Virginia

1849

Publication of “Murder” by Karl Heinzen

1849

Composer Richard Wagner declares desire to commit “artistic terrorism”

1850

Publication of History of Secret Societies by Lucien de la Hodde

1857

Carlo Pisacane introduces the term “propaganda of the deed”

1858

Assassination attempt on Napoleon III by Felice Orsini

1859

John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia

1860s

Development of nitroglycerin by Alfred Nobel

1865

Assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth

1867

National organizational meeting of Ku Klux Klan

1869

Nechaev Affair and publication of Sergei Nechaev’s “Catechism of the Revolutionist”

1876–9

Execution of Molly Maguires

1877

End of US Reconstruction

1878

Assassination attempt on Teodor Trepov by Vera Zasulich

1879

Johann Most begins publishing Die Freiheit (Freedom)

1881

Assassination of Alexander II by the People’s Will

1882

Phoenix Park murders committed by Irish National Invincibles

1885

Leopold II of Belgium establishes private state in Congo

1886

Haymarket Riot

1892–4

Bombings by François Claudius Ravachol, Émile Henry, and Auguste Vaillant

1893

Bombing of Barcelona’s opera house by Santiago Salvador French

1901

Assassination of US President William McKinley by Leon Czolgosz

1902–5

High-profile assassinations by Combat Organization of the Socialist Revolutionaries

1905–7

Russian Revolution of 1905

1907

Publication of The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad and The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton

1908

Alipore Bomb Conspiracy in India

1914

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip

1915

Formation of second Ku Klux Klan

1916

Easter Uprising in Dublin, Ireland

1918–20

Russian Civil War and Red Terror

1919

Galleanists’ bombing campaign

1920

Wall Street bombing

1920

IRA attacks on British during Black and Tan War

1928

Formation of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

1929

Attack on Indian Legislative Assembly by the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association

1933

Reichstag fire

1934

Assassination of Sergei Kirov

1936–8

Great Terror and Stalinist show trials

1937

League of Nations issues Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism

1938

Irgun market bombings in Palestine

1938

Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht)

1944

Assassination of Lord Moyne by LEHI agents

1946

Bombing of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel by Irgun

1948

Formation of Israel, First Arab–Israeli War, and Arab Nakba

1948–60

Malayan Emergency

1953–9

Mau Mau Insurrection

1954–62

Algerian War of Independence

1955–9

Terrorist campaign of National Organization of Cypriot Fighters

1956–7

Battle of Algiers

1960–2

Terror campaign of Secret Army Organization in Algeria and France

1961

Publication of The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

1963

Bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama

1966

Execution of Sayyid Qutb in Egypt

1967

Six Day War in Middle East

1968

First hijacking by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

1968–72

Urban guerrilla campaign of Tupamaros of Uruguay

1969

British troops return to Northern Ireland

1969

Publication of Mini-Manual of the Urban Guerrilla by Carlos Marighella

1969

Bombing of Milan’s Piazza Fontana by Italian neo-fascists

1970

“Skyjack Sunday” staged by PFLP

1970

Initial bombings by the Weather Underground

1972

Provisional IRA detonates twenty-two bombs in Belfast

1972

Munich Olympics massacre by Black September

1973

Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco, prime minister of Spain, by ETA

1974

Robbery of Hibernia Bank by Symbionese Liberation Army and Patty Hearst

1975

Publication of The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

1976

Anti-Castro terrorists bomb Cuban airliner

1977

German Autumn of Red Army Faction trial and terrorism

1978

Kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro by Red Brigades of Italy

1978

Publication of The Turner Diaries by William Pierce

1979

Iranian Revolution and start of Tehran hostage crisis

1979

Seizure of Grand Mosque of Mecca by Juhayman al-Utaybi and followers

1979

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and beginning of mujahideen campaign

1980

Bombing of Bologna train station, Italy, by Armed Revolutionary Nuclei

1980–1

Hunger strike by Provisional IRA inmates

1980s

Spain’s “Dirty War” against ETA

1980s

Argentine government and Triple-A “disappear” thousands

1981

Publication of The Terror Network by Claire Sterling

1981

Suicide bombing of Iraq’s embassy in Lebanon by al-Dawa

1981

Assassination of Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat by Jama‘at al-Jihad

1983

Bombing of US Marine and French paratrooper barracks in Beirut by Hezbollah / Islamic Jihad

1984

Salmonella attack in Dalles, Oregon, by followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

1984

IRA bombs the Grand Hotel, Brighton, during the Conservative Party’s conference

1985

Seajacking of Achille Lauro by PLO

1987

Massive Tamil Tiger car bomb explodes in Colombo, Sri Lanka

1987

First Tamil Tiger suicide attacks

1987

Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, by Provisional IRA

1987

Hamas formed during first Palestinian Intifada

1988

Bombing of Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, by Libyan agents

1988

Yasser Arafat renounces terrorism

1988

Creation of al-Qaeda by Osama bin Laden

1991

Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the prime minister of India, by Tamil Tigers

1992

Baltic Exchange bombing in London by Provisional IRA

1992

Capture of Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Shining Path, by Peruvian police

1992

Ruby Ridge, Idaho, shoot-out between survivalists and US marshals

1992–2000

Terrorist campaign of Armed Islamic Group during Algerian Civil War

1993

FBI siege of Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas

1993

Bombing of World Trade Center by Ramzi Yousef

1993

Hamas carries out first suicide bombing against Israel

1994

Cave of the Patriarchs mosque massacre in the West Bank

1995

Sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway by Aum Shinrikyo cult

1995

Bombing of Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh

1995

Arrest of Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber

1996

Osama bin Laden “declares war” against US

1996–8

Bombings of Atlanta Summer Olympics and abortion clinics by Eric Rudolph

1997

Luxor Temple massacre in...