Terrorism and Political Violence

History and Geography

I. Terrorism is Old

Definition in dispute: This lecture focuses on violent attacks by nonstate actors for political purposes, outside of the context of war (more on state terror, insurgency, and civil warfare later in the course)

A. Zealots, Thugs, and Assassins

1. Zealot attacks (63-72 CE) – Radical Jewish assassins (Sicarri in Latin), known for their fervent commitment to the Torah, kill Roman soldiers and suspected Jewish collaborators in an attempt to drive Rome from ancient Palestine. Many public assassinations using concealed swords in full daylight.

2. Thugs and Assassins

a. Hindu Thugee -- Thugs originally (1200s) a religious sect that strangled & robbed victims in ritual sacrifice to delay arrival of goddess Kali.

b. Muslim Assassins -- Persian Shiites who targeted Sunni rulers with suicide attacks from the 1000s to 1200s.

B. The Gunpowder Plot

1. Background: Protestant James I assumes power in 1603; Catholics are discouraged by executions of priests and continued ban on Catholicism

2. Failed assassination plots in 1603 torture and executions of plotters

3. 1605: The Guy Fawkes Plan

Guy Fawkes and other plotters plant 36 barrels of gunpowder under House of Lords (sufficient to destroy Parliament, surrounding buildings, and windows within a half-mile radius)

Goal = Kill James I and Parliament (Protestant aristocracy), then mount a Catholic coup

4. Discovery and Aftermath

Plot discovered on November 5, 1605 after a plotter tries to warn a fellow Catholic to avoid Parliament

Guy Fawkes arrested under Parliament and tortured for names of conspirators. Others are tortured to death during interrogation

All surviving conspirators drawn and quartered in public

C. The Invention of “Terrorism” – The French Revolution The Reign of Terror (September 5, 1793 - July

28, 1794): struggles between rival factions led to mass executions by guillotine. About 40,000 executed: 8% aristocrats, 6% clergy, 14% middle class, and 70% workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion, rebellion, etc. “Terrorism” used to describe such methods in 1795.

D. Terrorism and the North-South divide, 1850s-1870s Before civil war:

Massacres by small groups of pro/anti-slavery forces in “bleeding Kansas”

Abolitionist John Brown raids armory at Harper’s Ferry in 1859 – sparks efforts to raise militia throughout South (which become core of Confederate Army after secession)

After civil war: Ku Klux Klan formed to resist Reconstruction, targets Northern officials (carpetbaggers) and Black voters. Backlash leads to decline beginning in 1868 and KKK is virtually wiped out by federal government by 1871. (Reforms 45 years later)

II. Waves of Terrorism since the 1870s

A. The “First Wave” of modern terrorism: Socialism, anarchism, and nationalism1. The People’s Will: Socialists and

anarchists united in opposition to the Russian Tsar; 30-500 members of various levels of commitment.

People’s Will: A Timeline Nov 1879: Attempt to use nitroglycerine to destroy the Tsar’s

train destroys another train instead. Attempt to destroy Kamenny Bridge as Tsar passes over it. Feb 1880: People’s Will member gains employment in the

Winter Palace and plants dynamite under the dining room. Mine detonates when Tsar is expected to be eating. However, his main guest had arrived late and the dining-room was empty. Tsar Alexander II was unharmed -- but sixty-seven people were killed or badly wounded by the explosion.

The People's Will offers to call off the terror campaign if Tsar grants a constitution, free elections, and end to censorship. Alexander II announces plans for a constitution – but then delays any substantive reforms and initiates a secret police campaign against the People’s Will. Arrests decimate the organization over the next year.

March 1881: Bomb-throwers from the remnants of the People’s Will assassinate Tsar Alexander II.

Arrests of remaining members eliminate organization.

2. Anarchism

Radical offshoot of socialism that attempted to use “propaganda of the deed” to spread anti-capitalist and anti-monarchist ideology. Targeted leaders, industrialists, and other “counter-revolutionaries.”

Notable Anarchist attacks, 1892-1912 July 23, 1892. Alexander Berkman tries to kill Henry Clay Frick in retaliation for the killing

of workers by Pinkerton detectives during the Homestead Steel Strike. December 9, 1893. Auguste Vaillant throws a nail bomb in the French National Assembly,

injuring one. He is executed by the guillotine, shouting "Death to bourgeois society and long live anarchy!"

February 12, 1894. Emile Henry set a bomb in Café Terminus, killing one and injuring twenty. During his trial, he declares: "There is no innocent bourgeois.”

June 24, 1894. Italian anarchist Caserio stabs to death French president Sadi Carnot to avenge Auguste Vaillant and Emile Henry. Caserio is then executed by guillotine on August 15.

November 3, 1896. Anarchist shoe-maker Dimitris Matsalis stabs the banker Dionysios Fragkopoulos and the merchant Andreas Kollas.

August 8, 1897. Michele Angiolillo assassinates Spanish Prime minister Cánovas, who had been a key figure in the 1874 overthrow of the Republic, helping the Bourbon monarchy back to the throne.

September 10, 1898. Luigi Lucheni stabs to death with a needle file Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress consort of Austria and Queen consort of Hungary because of her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph.

July 29, 1900. Gaetano Bresci shoots dead Umberto I of Italy, avenging a massacre in Milan.

September 6, 1901. Leon Czolgosz shoots and kills U.S. president William McKinley. October 1902. Gennaro Rubino attempts to murder Leopold II of Belgium. May 31, 1906. Catalan Anarchist Mateu Morral tries to kill Alfonso XIII of Spain and Victoria

Eugenie of Battenberg after their wedding. September 14, 1911. Dmitri Bogrov shoots to death Russian prime minister Pyotr Stolypin. November 12, 1912. Anarchist Manuel Pardiñas kills Spanish Prime Minister José Canalejas

in Madrid. March 18, 1913. Aleksander Schinas assassinates king George I of Greece.

3. Early Nationalist Terror Irish Republican Brotherhood: Strengthened by

influx of Irish veterans from the US Civil War – begins to attack British in 1867

IMRO: Radical Bulgarian group fights Ottoman Turks as well as rival Serbs, Romanians, and Greeks in Macedonia beginning in 1890s

Black Hand: Serbian group targets Austro-Hungarian Empire. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 initiates chain of events leading to World War I.

4. Common characteristics of “First Wave” Circles of conspirators rather than

organizations are key – organizations are quickly dismantled and new conspiracies formed

Focus on leaders – assassination is key tactic, with mass casualties being “collateral damage”

B. The Second Wave: Anti-colonial movements, 1920s-1960s

1. The Irish Republican Army (the “Old IRA”) 1916: Failed anti-British revolt; execution of

conspirators radicalizes Irish public opinion 1919: IRA leader Michael Collins, (who studied

tactics of Russian revolutionaries) initiates campaign of bombs, murder, ambushes to fight Protestant police force and British army.

1921: Treaty grants most of Ireland independence but British retain northern Ireland.

1922: Anti-Treaty IRA members kill Michael Collins. Irish government outlaws IRA – “Old” IRA defunct by 1930s

2. Irgun in Palestine Offshoot of Jewish militant group Haganah (also splits

several times itself) Formed in response to 1929 anti-Jewish riots (100s of

Jews and Arabs killed) Focused on armed attacks

Initial campaign targeted Arabs, especially during Arab revolt of 1936-39 targeted Arabs to avenge attacks on Jews (usually by different Arabs = difference from Haganah)

Shifted to campaign against British by 1944: Seeks expulsion of Britain so Jewish state can be founded in Palestine. Targets railways, British embassies, military clubs and facilities

After British leave, “cleanses” Arab areas to create contiguous Jewish state during War of Independence. Folded into Israeli Army (IDF) in 1948. Several future Israeli Prime Ministers were members (Begin, Sharon)

3. Puerto Rican Nationalists

1950: Uprising by about 2000 nationalists suppressedTwo days later: Attack on Blair House

(temporary residence of President Truman) by armed gunmen. One attacker and one police officer killed.

1954: Attack on Congress from visitor’s gallery, using automatic weapons. Five members of Congress wounded

4. Other Anti-Colonial Movements (1950s) Successful:

Africa: FLN (vs. French in Algeria), Frelimo (vs. Portugal in Mozambique), groups in Angola, Tunisia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cameroon

Unsuccessful: Mau Mau: Attacked those who collaborated with

British in Kenya; suppressed using concentration camps

MDRM: Led a 1947 rebellion against the French on Madagascar. Suppressed using counterinsurgency and mass killings.

5. Common characteristics of “Second Wave” Mass movements with strong organization Terrorist attacks seen as prelude to full-

scale rebellion Casualties are much higher than “First

Wave” attacks – ordinary “collaborators,” civilians, soldiers targeted

C. The “Third Wave” – Networks of Terror (1960s-1980s)

1. Nationalist-separatist groupsa. IRA re-forms in 1968-69 in response to deaths

of Catholics in Belfastb. FALN forms in Puerto Rico in 1970s – carries

out bombings in 1970s, smaller attacks sincec. PLO forms in Arab Palestine in 1964 – Targets

Israelis and their supportersd. ASALA forms in 1975 – attacks Turkish

ambassadors, airlines on behalf of Armenianse. ETA seeks Basque independence in Spain –

Begins armed attacks in 1968

2. Marxist groups Origins: Many Marxist revolutions succeed (e.g. Cuba

and China) inspires others to attempt to foment revolution within capitalist societies

Some groups (sponsored by USSR or PRC) wage full-scale war in developing countries -- but groups in wealthy countries remain small

Targets: US and local military personnel, politicians, bankers and industrialists

Examples: Red Army Faction (West Germany), Japanese Red Army, Red Brigades (Italy)

US: Weathermen bombed federal buildings (including a Senate

restroom in 1971) in opposition to Vietnam War. Armed Resistance Unit bombs Republican Cloakroom in Senate

in response to 1983 invasion of Grenada

3. Common characteristics of “Third Wave” Small groups with little hope of waging full-

scale war Lower body count than “Second Wave” –

Groups want publicity Linkages to each other – IRA, PLO, and

Marxist groups sold each other weapons and trained each other’s members

State support – Many groups had ties to USSR or other states

D. A “Fourth Wave”?1. Fundamentalist terrorism has increased

1979: Iranian Revolution inspires radical Muslims elsewhere

1980s-1990s: Virtual anarchy in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia creates plethora of armed groups competing for power (many state-sponsored, but some branching off on their own)

Invasion of Afghanistan -- End of Cold War: Splinter groups reject Marxism in favor of Islamic principles (e.g. Hamas vs. Fatah-PLO)

2. Modern Religious Terrorism: A Lack of Inhibition? Al Qaeda – 9/11 and other attacks Aum Shinrikyo – Carried out anthrax and

nerve gas attacks in Tokyo Rajneeshee cult – Carried out biological

terror attack (salmonella) in The Dalles, Oregon

3. Terrorism may be decreasing

Terrorism may be decreasing (continued)

Terrorism may be decreasing (continued)

But terrorism statistics are unreliable

III. Common Tactics and Responses are Old

A. Scapegoating: The fear of terrorism often allows leaders to blame distrusted minority groups. Examples:Nero blames Jews for burning of RomeHitler blames Jews for Reichstag fireStalin blames Trotskyites for Kirov

assassination

B. Ancestors of the Car Bomb Macedonia, early 20th century: Bulgarians,

Serbians, Greeks fight for control using “donkey bombing” (animals packed with dynamite and sent into crowded markets)

New York City, September 1920: Italian anarchist Mario Buda leaves a horse-drawn wagon packed with dynamite and iron shrapnel on Wall Street (across from JP Morgan Company). Explosion kills 40, wounds 200

C. Mass Casualty Attacks

More than 1000 Killed in a Single Attack by Small Nonstate Groups in Peacetime24 March 1824: Powder magazine detonated

in Cairo’s Citadel – Disgruntled Albanian troops suspected. Up to 4000 killed.

11 September 2001: Hijacked jets flown into Pentagon, World Trade Center – Al Qaeda responsible. About 3000 killed.

IV. The Geography of Terrorism

A. Terrorism is a global problem, not just a Middle Eastern one

A. Terrorism is a global problem, not just a Middle Eastern one

B. European terrorism: concentrated in UK, Spain, Italy, France

3. Americans: Risk of Death

Smoking 10 cigarettes a day One in 200

All natural causes age 40 One in 850

Road accident One in 8,000

Playing soccer One in 25,000

Homicide One in 100,000

Terrorism attack in 2001 One in 100,000

Hit by lightning One in 10,000,000

Terrorism attack in 1990s One in 50,000,000