The history of terrorism is a history of alleged terrorist individuals, groups, and incidents, and of various types of terrorism.

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Definition

For more details and the etymology of the word, see "Definition of terrorism"

Pre-19th century roots of terrorism

Scholars dispute whether the roots of terrorism date back to the Sicarii Zealots in the first century, the Al-Hashshashin in the eleventh century, the Narodnaya Volya in 1878, or somewhere in between.^[1][2] The first-century Zealots used "propaganda of the deed" by publicly murdering Jews who collaborated with Roman rule.^[3][4][5] The Al-Hashshashin focused more on the assassination of prominent political leaders, which is different from "propaganda of the deed" because by killing a political leader one is primarily enacting change directly (by eliminating the person whose policies one disagrees with) rather than enacting change indirectly (by committing some act to intimidate the enemy or make others rally against the enemy).^{[6][7] [8]}

Sicarii Zealots (1st century CE)

The Jewish Zealots were a primarily political group which rebelled against Roman rule in the Iudaea Province. According to the contemporary historian Josephus, in 6 C.E. Judas of Galilee led a small, more extreme group of Zealots to found an offshoot which would later be known as the Sicarii, meaning "dagger men."^[9] Like the Zealots, the Sicarii believed that paying tribute to Rome was a violation of Jewish religious law.^[10] The Sicarii saw the Jewish high priests of the day as collaborators with the Romans, and therefore thought it permissible to use violence to remove them.^[11] Led by Judas' grandson Menahem ben Jair, the Sicarii began agitation in the late 50s, becoming prominent only in the 60s, when they began to murder and kidnap to support their cause.^[12] Their efforts were mainly directed not against the Romans, but against Jewish “collaborators” such as priests of the temple, Sadducees, Herodians, and other wealthy elites who had profited from working with the Romans.^[13] According to Josephus, the Sicarii would hide short daggers under their cloaks, mingle with crowds at the great festivals, murder their victims, and then disappear into the crowd during the ensuing panic. Their most successful assassination was that of the high priest Jonathan.^[14]

Al-Hashshashin (11th century CE)

The Hashshashin (a.k.a. the Assassins) were an offshoot of the Ismā'īlī sect of Shia Muslims.^[15] Led by Hassan-i Sabbah and opposed to Fatimid rule, the Hashshashin militia seized Alamut and other fortress strongholds across Persia in the late eleventh century.^[16] The Hashshashin did not have a large enough army to challenge their enemies directly, so they assassinated city governors and military commanders to curry favor among more militarily powerful neighbors: they murdered Janah al-Dawla, ruler of Homs, to please Ridwan of Aleppo; they killed Mawdud, Seljuk emir of Mosul, as a favor for the regent of Damascus; they attacked Crusader troops in 1126 as a means of cooperating with Tughtigen of Damascus; and they assassinated Marquis Conrad of Montferrat, King of Jerusalem, allegedly on orders from the King of England.^[17] The Hashshashin also carried out assassinations as retribution: Ibn Badi, military commander in Aleppo, had executed Hashshashin leader Abu Tahrir and refused to provide the group with a castle; Buri, ruler of Damascus, had incited the mob killing of thousands of Hashshashin; Dahhak, chief of Wadi al-Tayun, had attacked and defeated the Hashshashin at Hasbayya in 1128.^[18] Sometimes the Hashshashin murdered to seize a town (Khalaf of Afamiya, 1106) or to weaken the leadership of their Fatamid enemies (Army commander Al-Afdal, 1121; Fatimid Caliph Al-Amir, 1130), but never as a means to indirectly bring about political change by changing public opinion towards their cause or striking fear into the populace.^[19]

Gunpowder Plot (1605)

On 5 November 1605, a group of conspirators led by Guy Fawkes attempted to destroy the English Parliament on the State Opening, by detonating a large quantity of gunpowder placed beneath the building. The design was to kill King James I and the members of both houses of Parliament. In the resulting anarchy, the conspirators planned to implement a coup and restore the Catholic faith to England. However the plan was betrayed and then thwarted. The conspirators' intended act, striking at a symbol of power, has been found to parallel the '9/11' attack on the Word Trade Center.^[20] The event has become known as the Gunpowder Plot and is annually commemorated in Britain on 5 November with fireworks displays and large bonfires.^[21]

Sons of Liberty

The Sons of Liberty were an underground group opposed to British rule in the colonies who committed several attacks, most famous among them the Boston Tea Party.^[22]

The 19th century

Prior to the 19th century terrorism had been associated with the Reign of terror in France where the ruling Jacobins would sometimes refer to themselves as terrorists^[23]. Modern scholars, however, do not consider the Reign of Terror itself terrorism in part because it was carried out by the French state.^[24][25]. It was during the 19th century that the common meaning came into use, as terrorism transformed to be associated with non-governmental groups^[26]. Anarchists were the most prominent group to be associated with terrorism during the 19th century,^[27] with the emergence of militancy within nationalist groups, developing over the course of the century. The disjointed attacks of various anarchist groups led to the assassination of Russian Tsars and US Presidents but had little real political impact.^[28]. In mid-19th century Russia, the intelligentsia grew impatient with the slow pace of Tsarist reforms and anarchists like Mikhail Bakunin maintained that progress was impossible without destruction.^[29] 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.^[30][31] Inspired by Bakunin and others, Narodnaya Volya was founded in 1878, and used bombs to kill state officials in an effort to incite state retribution and mobilize the populace against the government.^[32] Inspired by Narodnaya Volya, several nationalist groups in the ailing Ottoman Empire began using propaganda of the deed and terrorism in the 1890s, including the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, and the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO).^[33]

John Brown, abolitionist (1856-1859)

John Brown (1800 - 1859) was an abolitionist who advocated armed opposition to slavery. He committed several attacks between 1856 and 1859, and was also involved in the illegal smuggling of slaves. His most famous attack was in 1859 on the armory at Harpers Ferry. Local forces would soon recapture the fort and Brown, trying and executing him for treason^[34]. His death would make him a martyr to the abolitionist cause, one of the origins of the American Civil War, and a hero to the Union forces that fought in it.

Ku Klux Klan (1865-present)

The original Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was created after the end of the American Civil War on December 24 1865, by six educated, middle-class Confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee.^[35] It soon spread into nearly every southern state of the United States.^{[citation needed]} The Klan has advocated what is generally perceived as white supremacy, antisemitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativism^[36]. The group has often used terrorism, violence and acts of intimidation such as cross burning to oppress African Americans and other groups.,^[37][38] From its creation to the present day, the number of members and influence has varied greatly.^{[citation needed]} However, there is little doubt that, especially in the southern United States, it has at times wielded much political influence and generated great fear among African Americans and their supporters.^{[citation needed]} At one time the KKK controlled the governments of Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Oregon, in addition to some of the Southern U.S. legislatures.^{[citation needed]}

Irish Republican Brotherhood

In 1867 the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a revolutionary Irish nationalist group with support from Irish-Americans^[39] , carried out attacks in England^[40]. These are considered the first acts of "republican terrorism", which became a recurrent feature of British history and Irish history. The Fenians are considered the precursor of the Irish Republican Army^[41].

Narodnaya Volya (1878-1883)

Narodnaya Volya (Народная Воля in Russian, known as People’s Will in English) was founded in Russia in 1878.^[42] Inspired by Sergei Nechayev and by Italian revolutionary Carlo Pisacane (author of the “propaganda of the deed” theory),^{[citation needed]} the group assassinated prominent political figures with shootings and bombings in an effort to spark a revolutionary overthrow of Russia’s Tsarist regime.^[43] On March 13, 1881, the group assassinated Russia’s Tsar Alexander II. The assassination of the Tsar failed to spark the expected revolution and the ensuing crackdown by Russian authorities brought the group to an end.^[44] Narodnaya Volya developed certain ideas that were to become the hallmark of subsequent terrorism in many countries: they believed in the targeted killing of the 'leaders of oppression' and they were convinced that the developing technologies of the age - symbolized by bombs and bullets - enabled them to strike directly and discriminately.^[45] + Narodnaya Volya (Народная Воля in Russian, known as People’s Will in English) was founded in Russia in 1878.^[46] Inspired by Sergei Nechayev and by Italian revolutionary Carlo Pisacane (author of the “propaganda of the deed” theory),^{[citation needed]} the group assassinated prominent political figures with shootings and bombings in an effort to spark a revolutionary overthrow of Russia’s Tsarist regime.^[47] On March 13, 1881, the group assassinated Russia’s Tsar Alexander II in a suicide attack by Ignacy Hryniewiecki. The assassination of the tsar failed to spark the expected revolution and the ensuing crackdown by Russian authorities brought the group to an end.^[48] Narodnaya Volya developed certain ideas that were to become the hallmark of subsequent terrorism in many countries: they believed in the targeted killing of the 'leaders of oppression' and they were convinced that the developing technologies of the age - symbolized by bombs and bullets - enabled them to strike directly and discriminately.^[49]

Armenian Revolutionary Federation (1890-1897)

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (in Armenian Dashnaktsuthium, or “The Federation”) was a nationalist revolutionary movement founded in Tiflis (Russian Transcaucasia) in 1890. It was founded by Christopher Mikaelian, and many of its members had been part of Narodnaya Volya or the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party.^[50] The group published newsletters, smuggled arms, and hijacked buildings because they sought—like the Hunchacks—to bring about the European intervention that could force the Ottoman Empire to surrender control of the Armenian territories.^[51] On August 24, 1896, 17-year old group member Babken Suni led twenty-six Dashnaks in capturing the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Constantinople. They demanded an Armenian state be created and threatened to blow the bank up. The Russian crackdown that followed destroyed the group.^[52]

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (1893-1903)

The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) was a nationalist revolutionary movement founded in the Ottoman-controlled Macedonia territories in 1893.^[53] It was founded by Hristo Tatarchev, who was inspired by Narodnaya Volya.^[54] The group sought to coerce the Ottoman government into creating a Macedonian nation. To do this, the IMRO assassinated prominent political figures (as Narodnaya Volya had) and tried to provoke uprisings (just like the Hunchakian Revolutionary Party).^[55] On July 20, 1903, the group incited the Ilinden uprising in the Ottoman villayet of Monastir. As part of the uprising, the IMRO declared the town’s independence and sent demands to the European Powers that Macedonia be freed.^[56] The demands were ignored and the 27,000 rebels in the town were crushed by Turkish troops two months later. The group then split into two factions: one in favor of uniting the future nation of Macedonia to Bulgaria and one against such a plan. The pro-Bulgaria faction had effectively turned into a tool of the Bulgarian government by 1912.^[57]

The early 20th century

Following the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) campaign against the British in the 1910s, the 1930s saw the Zionist groups Hagannah, Irgun and Lehi fighting the British in the then mandate of Palestine, in the hopes of creating an Israeli state.^[58][59] Like the IRA and the Zionist groups, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood used bombings and assassinations in an attempt to free its country from British control.^[60]

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (1914)

On June 28 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot and killed in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six assassins. The murders produced widespread shock across Europe. The Austro-Hungarian Empire presented to Serbia a list of demands which became known as the July Ultimatum. Included were demands aimed at ending the funding and operation of organizations which arguably had provided support for the assassination, and demands that Serbia suppress "propaganda" against Austria-Hungary in Serbia, even by private persons. Some have claimed that the ultimatum was designed to create a casus belli to enable Austria-Hungary to invade Serbia.^[61] After receiving a telegram of support from Russia, Serbia mobilized its army and replied that it would agree to and partially accept some of the demands but reject the rest. Austria-Hungary rejected Serbia's conditional acceptance and broke off diplomatic relations. Austria-Hungary soon declared war and this set into motion a series of events which led to World War I.

The Easter Rising and the Irish Republican Army (1916-1923)

File:Portrait of Micheál Ó Coileáin.jpg

On April 24, 1916, members of the Irish Volunteers, led by Patrick Pearse joined the smaller Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly to seize the Dublin General Post Office and several other buildings and proclaim an Irish Republic independent of Britain.^[62] The action, which came to be known as the Easter Rising or Easter Rebellion, was a failure militarily, but turned into a success for physical force Irish republicanism after the British government had the uprising leaders executed by firing squad, thereby making them into celebrated Irish heroes.^[63] After the Easter Rising, the Irish Volunteers joined with the Irish Citizen Army to form the beginnings of the Irish Republican Army. Michael Collins helped found the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Dublin shortly after the Easter Rising. They carried out coordinated attacks on over 300 police stations in a single day, as part of their campaign to establish an independent Irish state.^[64] On November 21, 1920, the IRA carried out an attack which came to be known as Bloody Sunday, publicly killing a dozen police officers and simultaneously burning down the Liverpool docks and warehouses.^[65] After two years of street fighting between the IRA, the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Black and Tans and the British Auxiliaries, London agreed to a 1921 Anglo-Irish treaty that gave Dublin authority over an independent Irish nation which encompassed 26 of the island's 32 counties.^[66] Collins and the IRA tactics would serve as inspiration to other groups, such as those in Israel.^[67] The IRA would also serve as inspiration for the British^[68] who emulated and improved upon the IRA's tactics during the Second World War.^[69][70].

Irgun (1931-1948)

Irgun was a clandestine militant Zionist group that splintered off of Hagannah in 1931 and operated in Palestine until 1948.^[71] The group was founded by Avraham Tehomi (Irgun leader from 1931 to 1937), who was inspired by Ze'ev Jabotinsky and his theory that only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state.^[72] The group was a non-socialist, more aggressive alternative to Hagannah.^[73] It sought to reduce the threat of Arab attacks on Jewish settlements by launching retaliatory attacks.^{[neutrality is disputed][citation needed]} These tactics, including bombing a crowded Arab market, are considered some of the first examples of terrorism against civilians.^[74] The Irgun also sought to bring to an end the British mandatory rule^[75] by assassinating police and capturing British government buildings and arms. Like the Hagannah, the Irgun also sabotaged British railways in Palestine, in addition to smuggling Jews into Palestine^{[citation needed]}. This occurred mainly between 1945 and 1947. Their goal was to force the British to relax policies restricting Jewish immigration and, ultimately, to force them to withdraw, creating the opportunity to create a Jewish state in Palestine as quickly as possible.^[76] Their most famous attack was the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel, the British Military headquarters in Jerusalem. Ninety-one people, both soldiers and civilians, were killed.^[77] After the creation of Israel two years later, Menachem Begin (Irgun leader from 1943 to 1948) transformed the group into the political party Herut, which would later fold into Likud.^[78]

Lehi (1940-1948)

Lehi (Lohameni Herut Yisrael, a.k.a. “Freedom Fighters for Israel,” a.k.a. Stern Gang) was a revisionist Zionist group that splintered off of the Irgun in 1940.^[79] When the Irgun made a truce with the British in 1940, Abraham Stern led disaffected Irgun members to break off and form Lehi.^[80] Like People’s Will, Lehi used the tactics of assassinating prominent politicians. On November 6, 1944, Lehi assassinated Lord Moyne, the British Minister of State for the Middle East.^[81] The assassination caused a massive stir among the Hagannah, Irgun, and Lehi, with Hagannah sympathizing with the British and launching a massive man-hunt against the other two splinter groups. After the founding of the Israeli state in 1948, Lehi was formally dissolved and its members were integrated into the newly formed Israeli Defense Forces.^[82] Yitzhak Shamir and his fellow underground fighters greatly admired the Irish Republicans and sought to emulate their anti-British struggle. Shamir himself took the nickname "Michael" for Michael Collins.^[83]

Muslim Brotherhood (1928-present)

The Muslim Brotherhood was a nationalist group founded in British-controlled Egypt in 1928. Its leader, Hassan al-Banna, founded the Muslim Brotherhood as a social-welfare and political-activism movement.^[84] In the late 1940s the Muslim Brotherhood began carrying out attacks on British soldiers and police stations, and assassinations of prominent politicians.^[85] In 1948, the Muslim Brotherhood assassinated Egyptian Prime Minister Nuqrashi.^[86] Egypt’s British-friendly government was overthrown in the military coup of 1952, but shortly thereafter the Muslim Brotherhood had to go underground in the face of a massive crackdown.^[87]

World War II resistance groups

The vast array of guerilla, partisan, and resistance movements that were organised and supplied by the Allies during World War II used tactics that can be considered terrorist in nature^[88]. The British Special Operations Executive (SOE)^[89] successfully conducted operations in every theatre of the war and provided an invaluable contribution to allied victory^[90]. On the eve of D-Day it organised with the French resistance the complete destruction of the rail^[91] and communication infrastructure of western France^[92] perhaps the largest coordinated attack of its kind in history^{[citation needed]}. The SOE drew its inspiration from the IRA^[93][94], Colin Gubbins, a key leader within the SOE, put to use the lessons he'd learned first hand in Ireland first to establish a resistance army in waiting and then at the SOE. The SOE effectively perfected modern terrorism,^[95] pioneering most of the tactics, techniques and technologies that are the mainstays of terrorism we know today.^[96]

The 1950s

With the end of World War II saw a rise in nationalism and the collapses of the old European empires this in turn saw a rise anti-colonial and nationalist campaigns. The 1950s saw the formation of the National Liberation Front (FLN) in French-controlled Algeria, the EOKA in British-controlled Cyprus, and the ETA in Spain.^[97] Many of the resistance groups of World War II would go on to become nationalist groups. The Việt Minh that had fought the Japanese would fight the returning French (and later the Americans), and elements of the Malayan resistance would turn on their former British allies and fight them during the Malayan Emergency. As the old European empires dissolved many nationalist groups fought campaigns against colonial powers, the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya being a notable example.^[61]

Cold War proxies

Throughout the Cold War both sides made extensive use of terrorist organizations to carry on a war by proxy. For example many of the Islamic terrorists of today were trained by the US and UK to fight the USSR in Afghanistan.^[98],^[99] They also funded groups such as the Contras in Nicaragua^[100]. Similar groups such as the Viet Cong received training from Soviet and Chinese military "advisers".^[101] NATO ran a Europe wide network called Operation Gladio which committed both false flag terrorism and would have committed insurgent attacks in the event of a soviet invasion^[102].

Front de Liberation National (1954-1962)

The Front de Liberation National (FLN) was a nationalist group founded in French-controlled Algeria in 1954.^[103] The group was a large scale resistance against French occupation, and terrorism was only one facet of its operations. The FLN leaders, inspired by the Indochina rebels who had made French troops withdraw from their country, started out with support from Egypt’s President Nasser.^[104] The FLN was one of the first ideological groups to use compliance terror on a grand scale. The FLN would establish control over a rural Algerian village and coerce the peasants of that village to execute the loyalists among them.^[105] On the night of October 31, 1954 the FLN attacked French military installations and the homes of Algerian loyalists when it set off a coordinated wave of seventy bombings and shootings that is now known as the Toussaint attacks.^[106] Through the tactics of coercion terrorism,^{[citation needed]} the FLN gained significant support for a 1955 uprising against loyalists in Philipville. This uprising -- and the heavy-handed response of the French government -- convinced many Algerians to support the FLN and the independence movement.^{[citation needed]} The FLN eventually secured Algerian independence from France in 1962, and transformed itself into Algeria’s ruling party.^[107]

Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (1955-1959)

File:Grivas.gif

The Greek National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston, or EOKA) was a nationalist group founded in British-controlled Cyprus in 1955.^[108] Its founder, George Grivas, was covertly supported by the Greek government.^[109] The group sought the expulsion of British troops from the island, self-determination, and union with Greece.^[110] To achieve these means, EOKA carried out a four year spree of IRA style shootings of British soldiers and police.^[111] EOKA also organized Hagannah style attacks on civilians.^[112] In December 1958 a cease-fire was declared and in 1960 Cyprus achieved independence from the United Kingdom; however, the settlement explicitly denied the possibility of a union between Cyprus and Greece.^[113]

The 1960s

Inspired by Mao’s Chinese revolution of 1949 and Castro’s Cuban revolution of 1959, national independence movements in formerly colonized countries often fused nationalist and socialist impulses in the 1960s. This was the case with Spain's ETA, the Front de Liberation du Quebec, and the Palestine Liberation Organization^{[clarification needed]}. ^[114]

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (1959-present)

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA (Basque for "Basque Homeland and Freedom"; IPA: [ˈɛːta]), is an armed Basque nationalist separatist organization.^[115] Founded in 1959 in response to General Francisco Franco's suppression of the Basque language and culture, ETA evolved from an advocate for traditional cultural ways to an armed revolutionary Marxist group demanding Basque independence.^[116] Many of ETA's victims are government officials. The group's first known victim was a police chief who was killed in 1968. In 1973, ETA operatives killed Franco’s apparent successor, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, by planting an underground bomb below his habitual parking spot outside a Madrid church.^[117] In 1995, an ETA car bomb almost killed Jose Maria Aznar, then the leader of the conservative Popular Party, who later served as Spain’s prime minister. The same year, investigators disrupted a plot to assassinate King Juan Carlos.^[118] More recently, in March 2008, ETA killed a former city councilman in northern Spain two days before an election. In 2003, the Spanish Supreme Court banned the Batasuna political party, which was considered the political arm of ETA, and successive efforts by Spanish governments to negotiate with ETA have failed.^[119]

Palestine Liberation Organization and factions (1959-present)

Fatah was organized as a Palestinian nationalist group in 1959. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was organized as an umbrella organization for secular Palestinian nationalist groups in 1964, and began armed operations in 1965.^[120] The PLO's membership is made up of separate and possibly contending paramilitary and political factions, the largest of which are Fatah, PFLP, and DFLP.^[121][122] Factions of the PLO have advocated or carried out acts of terrorism.^[123] Fatah leader and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat publicly renounced terrorism in December 1988 on behalf of the PLO, but Israel has stated it has proof that Arafat continued to sponsor terrorism until his death in 2004.^[124][125]

Abu Iyad organized the Fatah splinter group Black September in 1970. The group is best known for seizing eleven Israeli athletes as hostages at the September 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. All the athletes and five Black September operatives later died during a gun battle with the West German police, in what was later known as the Munich massacre.^{[126][127][128]} The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was founded in 1967 by George Habash.^[129] On September 6, 1970 the gorup hijacked three international passenger planes, landing two of them in Jordan and blowing up the third.^[130] Founded in 1968, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) is presently led by Abu Nidal al-Ashqar.^[131] The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) was founded in 1969. The PFLP, DFLP, and PFLP-GC lost influence and resources with the rise of Hamas in the 1990s.^[132]

Front de Liberation du Quebec (1963-1971)

The Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) was a Marxist nationalist group that sought to create an independent, socialist Québec.^[133] Georges Schoeters, who founded the group in 1963, had been inspired by Che Guevara and the FLN.^[134] The group sought the overthrow of the Quebec government, the independence of Quebec from Canada, and the establishment of a French-Canadian workers society. It organized bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations against politicians, soldiers, and civilians.^[135] On October 5, 1970, the FLQ kidnapped James Richard Cross, the British Trade Commissioner. Shortly afterwards, on October 10, group members kidnapped the Minister of Labor and Vice-Premier of Québec, Pierre Laporte, and killed him a week later. The events of October 1970 contributed to the loss of support for violent means to attain Québec independence, and increased support for the political party, the Parti Québécois, which took power in 1976.^[136]

File:Posterauc.png

Colombian paramilitary groups

Several paramilitary groups formed in Colombia in the 1960s and afterwards, including the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), and the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC). Originally created as leftist revolutionary groups (except for the AUC), all have conducted numerous attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, and are widely viewed in the West as terrorist organizations. ^{[137] [138]}

The 1970s

Leftist groups on the rise in the 1970s Turkey’s PKK, and Armenian’s ASALA.^[139] In Japan, Europe, and the U.S., leftist student groups such as the Japanese Red Army, the German Red Army Faction, the Italian Red Brigade, and the American Weather Underground sympathized with the Third World and sought to spark anti-capitalist revolutions with bombings and assassinations.^[140] Nationalists groups such as the Provisional IRA and Tamil tigers would also begin operations during this decade.

Provisional IRA (1969-2005)

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is a Irish nationalist movement founded in December 1969 when several militants including Seán Mac Stíofáin broke off from the Official IRA and formed a new organization.^[141] Led by Mac Stíofáin in the early 1970s and a group around Gerry Adams since the late 1970s, the Provisional IRA sought to create an all-island Irish state. Between 1969 and 1997, during a period known as the Troubles, the group conducted an armed campaign, including bombings, gun attacks, assassinations and even mortar attacks on 10 Downing Street.^[142] On July 21, 1972, in an attack later known as Bloody Friday, the group set off twenty-two bombs, killing nine and injuring 130. On July 28, 2005, the Provisional IRA Army Council announced an end to its armed campaign.^[143][144] The IRA is believed to have been a major exporter of terrorism selling arms and providing training to other groups such as the FARC in Columbia^[145] and the PLO ^[146]. In the case of the latter there has been a long held solidarity movement, which is evident by the many murals around Belfast.^[147]

The Jewish Defense League (1969-present)

The Jewish Defense League (JDL) was founded in 1969 by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City, with its declared purpose the protection of Jews from harassment and antisemitism.^[148] Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics show that, from 1980 to 1985, 15 terrorist attacks were attempted in the U.S. by members of the JDL.^[149] The National Consortium for the Study of Terror and Responses to Terrorism states that, during the JDL's first two decades of activity, it was an "active terrorist organization."^[148][150]. Kahane later founded the far-right Israeli political party Kach, which was banned from elections in Israel on the ground of racism^[151]. The group's present-day website condemns all forms of terrorism.[8]

FALN (1974-present)

The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN, “Armed Forces of National Liberation”) was a nationalist group founded in Puerto Rico in 1974. For the next decade, the group used bombings and targeted killings of civilians and police to try to create an independent Puerto Rico. On April 3, 1975, FALN took responsibility for four nearly simultaneous bombings in New York City, by leaving their Communique No. 4 for the Associated Press at a phone booth.^[152] The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies the FALN as a terrorist organization.^[153]

ASALA (1975-1986)

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was founded in 1975 in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War by Hagop Tarakchian and Hagop Hagopian with the help of sympathetic Palestinians. At the time, Turkey was in political turmoil, and Hagopian believed that the time was right to avenge the deaths of the Armenians who died during the Armenian Genocide and to force the Turkish government to a cede to them the territory of Wilsonian Armenia for the purpose of unification with the existing Armenian SSR. In the most famous attack, on 7 August 1982, two ASALA rebels opened fire on civilians in a waiting room at the Esenboga International Airport in Ankara. Altogether, nine people died and 82 were injured. By 1986, the ASALA had virtually ceased all attacks.^[154]

PKK (1978-present)

The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers Party) was a nationalist movement founded in Turkey by Abdullah Ocalan in 1978. Ocalan was inspired by the Maoist theory of people's war--like Mao, Ocalan had a little book outlining his views—and by FLN use of compliance terror^{[citation needed]}. The group seeks to create an independent Kurdish state that consists of parts of south-eastern Turkey, north-eastern Iraq, north-eastern Syria and north-western Iran. Starting in 1984, the PKK transformed itself into a paramilitary organisation and launched conventional attacks as well as bombings against Turkish governmental installations. In 1999, Turkish authorities captured Öcalan. He was tried in Turkey and sentenced to life imprisonment. The PKK has since gone through a series of name changes.^[155]

Red Army Faction (1968-1998)

The Red Army Faction was a New Leftist group founded by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof in West Germany in 1968. Inspired by Che Guevara, Maoist socialism, and the Vietcong, the group sought to raise awareness of the Vietnamese and Palestinian independence movements through kidnappings, taking embassies hostage, bank robberies, assassinations, bombings, and attacks on US air bases. The group is best known for the “German Autumn”, The build of events to German Autumn, began on April 7, when the RAF shot Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback. This was followed on July 30, they shot Jurgen Ponto, then head of the Dresdner Bank in a failed kidnapping attempt; and on September 5, they kidnapped Hanns Martin Schleyer (former SS and one of the most powerful industrialists in West Germany) and executed him four weeks later, on October 19.^[156] The hijacking of Lufthansa aeroplane "Landshut" by the PFLP is also consider to part of the German Autumn.

Weathermen (1969-1977)

The American Weather Underground (a.k.a. the Weathermen) was an extremist faction of the leftist Students for a Democratic Society organization. In 1969, the Students for a Democratic Society organization collapsed and was taken over by the Weathermen group. The Weathermen leaders, inspired by the Maoist revolution, the Black Panthers, and the 1968 student revolts in France, sought to raise awareness of its revolutionary anti-capitalist and anti-Vietnam War platform. It did this by destroying symbols of government power in Hunchakian style. On October 7, 1969, the group held an anti-war demonstration in downtown Chicago and blew up a statue dedicated to the police who died in the 1886 Haymarket Riot. For the next five years, the Weathermen bombed corporate offices, police stations, and DC government sites such as the Pentagon. But after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, most of the group disbanded.^[157]

Italian Red Brigade (1970-1989)

The Italian Red Brigade was a New Leftist group founded by Renato Curcio in 1970. With PLO support, the group sought to create a revolutionary state and to separate Italy from the Western Alliance. On 16 March 1978, the Brigade kidnapped former Prime Minister Aldo Moro and murdered him 56 days later. The murder of Moro began an all-out assault against the Brigade by the Italian law enforcement and security forces. The murder of a popular political figure also drew condemnation from the Italian left-wing radicals and even the imprisoned ex-leaders of the Brigade. The Brigade lost most of their social support and the public opinion turned strongly against them. In 1984, the ailing Brigade split into two factions: the majority faction of the Communist Combatant Party (Red Brigades-PCC) and the minority of the Union of Combatant Communists (Red Brigades-UCC). The members of these groups carried out a handful of assassinations before almost all of them were arrested in 1989.^[158]

Japanese Red Army (1971-2001)

The Japanese Red Army was a New Leftist group founded by Fusako Shigenobu in Japan in 1971. With support from the PFLP, the group murdered, hijacked a commercial Japanese aircraft, and sabotaged a Shell oil refinery in Singapore in an attempt to overthrow the Japanese government and start a world revolution. On May 30, 1972, Kōzō Okamoto and other group members launched a machine gun and grenade attack on Israel's Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, killing 26 people and injuring 80 others. Two of the three attackers then killed themselves with grenades.^[159]

Tamil Tigers (1976-present)

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, (also called "LTTE" or Tamil Tigers) is a militant Tamil nationalist political and paramilitary organization based in northern Sri Lanka.^[160] Since it was founded in 1976, it has actively waged a secessionist resistance campaign that seeks to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east regions of Sri Lanka. This campaign has evolved into the Sri Lankan Civil War, one of longest-running armed conflicts in Asia.^[161] Since its formation, the LTTE has been headed by its founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran.^[162] The group has carried out a number of bombings, including a car bomb attack carried out on April 21, 1987 at a bus terminal in Colombo which killed 110 people.^[163]

Umkhonto we Sizwe (South Africa 1961-1990)

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) was the military wing of the African National Congress, which was opposed to the racist apartheid policies of the South African government^[164]. MK launched its first guerrilla attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961. It was subsequently classified as a terrorist organization by the South African government and was banned. It waged a guerrilla campaign and was responsible for many bombings. Its first leader was Nelson Mandela and he was tried and imprisoned for his involvement in such acts^[165]. With the end of apartheid in South Africa, the Umkhonto we Sizwe was incorporated into the South African armed forces.

The 1980s

In the 1980s, religious groups pursuing violent acts were increasing in number.^{[citation needed]} Many of them drew inspiration from Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, especially Hezbollah.^{[citation needed]} Other well-known Islamic groups include Hamas, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Al-Qaeda. ^[166]

Hezbollah (1982-present)

Hezbollah (“Party of God”) is an Islamist revolutionary movement founded in Lebanon shortly after that country’s 1982 civil war. Inspired by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the Iranian revolution, the group has sought an Islamic revolution in Lebanon and the destruction of the State of Israel and Israeli forces in Lebanon. Led by Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah since 1992, the group has carried out kidnappings and suicide bombings against the Israeli military.^[167]

Egyptian Islamic Jihad (1980-present)

Egyptian Islamic Jihad (a.k.a. Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya) is a militant Egyptian Islamist movement dedicated to the overthrow of the Egyptian government and replacing it with an Islamic state. It is led by Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is accused of participating in the World Trade Center 1993 bombings. The group began as an umbrella organization for militant student groups and was formed after the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s. In 1981, the group assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. On, November 17, 1997, the group carried out an attack on tourists at the Temple of Hatshepsut (Deir el-Bahri) in Luxor, in which a band of six men dressed in police uniforms machine-gunned 58 Japanese and European vacationers and four Egyptians, in what became known as the Luxor massacre.^[168]

Hamas (1987-present)

Hamas (حماس Ḥamās, an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement") is an Islamic Palestinian group. Hamas was created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mohammad Taha of the Palestinian wing of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood at the beginning of the First Intifada, an uprising against Israeli rule in the Palestinian Territories.^[169] Between February and April 1988, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin raised several millions dollars from the Gulf states, which had withdrawn their funding from Fatah following its official support of Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War. Beginning in 1993, Hamas launched numerous suicide bombings against Israel and, on March 27, 2002, bombed the Netanya hotel, killing 30 and wounding 140.^[170] Hamas ceased the suicide attacks in 2005 and renounced them in April, 2006.^[171] Hamas has also been responsible for Israel-targeted rocket attacks, IED attacks, and shootings, but reduced most of those operations in 2005 and 2006.^[172] Since June 2007, Hamas has governed the Gaza portion of the Palestinian Territories.^[173]

Al-Qaeda (1988-present)

File:Bin laden 12 27a.jpg

Al-Qaeda (Arabic: القاعدة‎, meaning "The Base") is an international Sunni Islamist extremist movement founded by Osama bin Laden in 1988 to end foreign influence in Muslim countries and create a new Islamic caliphate. On October 12, 2000, Al-Qaeda carried out the USS Cole bombing, suicide bombing the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole while it was harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden and killing seventeen U.S. sailors.^[174]

On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists^[175] affiliated with al-Qaeda^[176] hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center in New York City and one into the Pentagon. As a result of the attacks, both of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers completely collapsed. Not including the hijackers, nearly 3,000 people died during the attacks.

Lockerbie bombing (1988)

Pan Am Flight 103 was the Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London's Heathrow International Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. On December 21 1988 it was destroyed by Libyan terrorist mid flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The bombing was widely regarded as an assault on a symbol of the United States, and with 189 of the victims being Americans, it stood as the deadliest attack against the United States until the September 11 attacks. Pan Am entered bankruptcy partly as a result of the attack. On January 31, 2001, Libyan Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was convicted by a panel of three Scottish judges of bombing the flight. He was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment for the attack. In 2002 Libya offered financial compensation to the families in exchange for lifting of UN and U.S. sanctions.

The 1990s

By no stretch of the imagination did Islam have a monopoly on religious terrorism, as evidenced by Aum Shinrikyo and the bombing of Oklahoma City’s Murrah Federal Building by Christian extremists^{[citation needed]}. Secular nationalist groups to carry out attacks, most famously the Chechyan separatists and the Tamil Tigers.^[177]

Aum Shinrikyo (1990-1995)

Aum Shinrikyo, now known as Aleph, is a Japanese religious group founded by Shoko Asahara. Aum Shinrikyo started in 1984 as a yogic meditation group, but later transformed into a very different organization. Seeking to "demonstrate charisma" to attract a larger audience and make the group more influential politically, Asahara began issuing bold and controversial statements. In 1990, Asahara and 24 other members stood for the General Elections for the House of Representatives under the banner of Shinri-tō (Supreme Truth Party). After none of them were voted in, the group began to militarize. Between between 1990 and 1995, the group attempted several apparently unsuccessful acts of biological terrorism using botulin toxin and anthrax spores.^[178]

File:Aftermath Sarin attack in Tokyo.jpg

On June 28, 1994, Aum Shinrikyo members released sarin gas from several sites in the Kaichi Heights neighborhood of Matsumoto, Japan, killing eight and injuring 200 in what became known as the Matsumoto incident.^[178] in the Kaichi Heights neighborhood.

Seven months later, on March 20, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo members released sarin gas in a co-ordinated attack on five trains in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 commuters and damaging the health of about 5000 others^[179] in what became known as the subway sarin incident (地下鉄サリン事件, chikatetsu sarin jiken). In May 1995, Ashara and other senior leaders were arrested and the group's membership rapidly decreased.

Lashkar-e-Taiba (1991-present)

Lashkar-e-Taiba (Urdu: لشکرطیبہ laškar-ĕ ṯayyiba; translated as Army of the Righteous) is a militant organization currently based near Lahore, Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba members have carried out major attacks against India and its objective is to introduce an Islamic state in South Asia and to "liberate" Muslims residing in Indian administered Kashmir.^[180]

Baruch Goldstein and the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre (1994)

Baruch Goldstein (December 9, 1956 – February 25, 1994), an American-born Israeli physician, perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, in which he shot and killed between 30 and 54 Muslim worshippers inside the Ibrahimi Mosque (within the Cave of the Patriarchs), and wounded another 125 to 150 victims.^[181] Goldstein was lynched and killed in the mosque.^[182] Goldstein was a supporter of Kach, an Israeli political party founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane that advocated the expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian Territories.^[183] In the aftermath of the Goldstein attack and Kach statements praising it, Kach was outlawed in Israel.^[184] Today, Kach and a breakaway group, Kahane Chai, are considered terrorist organisations by Israel,^[185] Canada,^[186] the European Union,^[187] and the United States.^[188]

Chechyan separatists (1994-present)

File:Shamil basayev.jpg

Led by Shamil Basayev, Chechyan separatists carried out several attacks from the 1994 until 2006.^[189] In the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis, Basayev-led separatists took over 1,000 civilians hostage in a hospital in the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk. When Russian special forces attempted to free the hostages, 105 civilians and 25 Russian troops were killed.^[190] In the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis, 50 Chechyan separatists took 850 hostages in a Moscow theater, demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War.^[191] On September 1, 2004, in what became known as the Beslan school hostage crisis, 32 Chechyan separatists took 1,300 children and adults hostage at Beslan’s School Number One. When Russian authorities did not comply with the rebels’ demands that Russian forces withdraw from Chechnya, 20 of the adult male hostages were shot. After two days of stalled negotiations, Russian special forces stormed the building. In the ensuing melee, approximately 300 hostages were killed, along with 19 Russian servicemen and all but one of the rebels. Shamil Basayev is believed to have participated in organizing the attack. Like Basayev’s hospital and theater hijackings, the attack at the Beslan school was propaganda of the deed.^{[192][clarification needed]}

Oklahoma City bombing (1995)

The Oklahoma City bombing was considered a terrorist act against the U.S. Government.^[193] The attack on April 19 1995 was aimed at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, a U.S. government office complex in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The attack claimed 168 lives and left over 800 injured.^[194]

It may be questioned whether the bombing was a terrorist act or not since the target was a government installation. But perhaps the it strongest argument against calling it a terrorist act is that the actions of Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted and executed for his role in the bombing, seem to have been more to get revenge on the government rather than have any real political goal. He stated, "What the U.S. government did at Waco and Ruby Ridge was dirty. And I gave dirty back to them at Oklahoma City,"^[195]

21st century

September 11, 2001

In the September 11 attacks, nineteen attackers^[196] affiliated with al-Qaeda^[197] hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon. As a result of the attacks, both of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers completely collapsed. Not including the hijackers, nearly 3,000 people died during the attacks, and the attacks prompted drastic changes in United States foreign and domestic policy and security protocol, and placed national security at the forefront of American political dialogue. The War on Terrorism is the ongoing US military response to the attack, which is now the focus of American security and foreign policy.

Table of non-state groups accused of terrorism

NAME	LOCATION	FOUNDED	CEASED ATTACKS	FOUNDER	SUBSEQUENT LEADERS	TACTICS	FAMOUS ATTACK	INFLUENCED BY
Hashshashin	Persia	1090	1256	Hassan-i Sabbah		assassinations
Narodnaya Volya	Russian Empire	1878	1883			bombings, assassinations	Assassinated Tsar Alexander II, 1881
Hunchakian Revolutionary Party	Ottoman Empire	1887	1896	Avetis Nazarbekian			Destroyed Ottoman coat of arms, 1890	Narodnaya Volya
Armenian Revolutionary Federation	Ottoman Empire	1890	1897	Christopher Mikaelian			Held hostages at Ottoman Bank, 1896	Hunchakian Revolutionary Party
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization	Ottoman Empire	1893	1903	Hristo Tatarchev			Led Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, 1903	Narodnaya Volya
Irish Republican Army	Ireland	1916	1923		Michael Collins		Bloody Sunday, 1920	Irish Republican Brotherhood;
Irgun	Palestine	1931	1948	Avraham Tehomi	Menachem Begin	bombings	King David Hotel bombing, 1946	Irish Republican Army
Lehi	Palestine	1940	1948	Abraham Stern	Yitzhak Shamir	assassinations	Lord Moyne assassination, 1944	Irish Republican Army
Muslim Brotherhood	Egypt	1928		Hassan al-Banna		assassinations	Assassinated former PM Mahmud Fahmi al-Nuqrashi, 1948
Front de Liberation National	Algeria	1954	1962				Toussaint Rouge attacks, 1954	Indochina rebels
EOKA	Cyprus	1955	1959	George Grivas
ETA	Spain	1959				bombings, assassinations	Assassinated “President” Blanco, 1978
Fatah	Palestine	1959		Yasser Arafat			Munich Olympics massacre, 1972	Algerian rebels
PLO	Palestine	1964			Yasser Arafat
PFLP	Palestine	1967					Black September skyjacking, 1970	Che Guevara
PFLP-GC	Palestine	1968					Hangglider shooting, 1970
DFLP	Palestine	1969					Avivim school bus massacre, 1970
Front de Liberation du Quebec	Quebec	1963	1971	Georges Schoeters		bombings, kidnappings, assassinations	October Crisis kidnappings, 1970	Che Guevara; the FLN
Provisional IRA	Ireland	1969	2005	Seán Mac Stíofáin	Gerry Adams	bombings, assassinations	Bloody Friday bombings, 1972
FALN	Puerto Rico	1974				bombings	Four NYC bombs, 1975
ASALA	Turkey	1975	1986	Hagop Tarakchian			Attack on Ankara airport, 1982
PKK	Turkey	1978		Abdullah Ocalan			Assassinated former Prime Minister Nihat Erim, 1980	Mao; FLN
Red Army Faction	Germany	1968	1998	Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof			German Autumn killings, 1977	Che Guevara; Mao; Vietcong
Weathermen	U.S.A.	1969	1977				Chicago police statue bombing, 1969	Mao; Black Panthers
Italian Red Brigade	Italy	1970	1989	Renato Curcio			Assassinated former Prime Minister Aldo Moro, 1978
Japanese Red Army	Japan	1971	2001	Fusako Shigenobu			Lod Airport Massacre, 1972
Tamil Tigers	Sri Lanka	1976					Columbus bus terminal bombing, 1987
Hezbollah	Lebanon	1982			Hassan Nasrallah			Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Egyptian Islamic Jihad	Egypt	1980			Omar Abdel-Rahman		Luxor massacre, 1997
Hamas	Gaza	1987		Sheikh Ahmed Yassin				Muslim Brotherhood
Al-Qaeda	Saudi Arabia	1988		Osama bin Laden			9/11 attacks, 2001
Aum Shinrikyo	Japan	1990	1995	Shoko Asahara			Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, 1995
Lashkar-e-Taiba	Pakistan	1991					Mumbai train bombings, 2006
Chechyan Separatists	Russia	1994			Shamil Basayev		Beslan school hostage crisis, 2004

References