Timeline of Terrorism Definitions

  • Régime de la Terror

    -Terrorism was defined as a positive political force
    -Became an "instrument of governance" — terror was used by state actors (rather than non-state actors) to instill fear in dissenters and counter-revolutionaries
    -Terrorism was closely associated with the ideals of virtue and democracy, as per Robespierre
    -Justification of terror was to create a better society
    -Terror was very organized by different ministries
  • Burke's reaction to the French Revolution

    -Following Robespierre’s death after extremists and modernists had allied to kill him
    -Terrorism became associated with abuse of power and “criminal” implications
    -Burke characterized the French Revolution’s radicals as terrorists
  • Death of Carlo Piscane

    -Piscane was a Italian republican extremist – strong beliefs in federalism and mutualism
    -He believed that terror was necessary to inform of radicalism’s presence but also to rally the masses behind revolutionary ideals
    -Piscane spread the idea of propaganda by deed
    -Killed in a revolt in this year against Bourbon rule
  • Founding of Narodnaya Volya

    -Founded in Russia to challenge czarist rule — constitutionalist ideology
    -This group believed that apathy and alienation of the Russian people meant that terror was the only option
    -“Propaganda by deed” meant an idealistic use of violence against individuals who symbolized the czarist state
    -Believed in the symbolic value of all who were to be killed by Narodnaya Volya
    -Avoided civilian deaths as much as possible
  • London "anarchist conference" leads to global fears of terror

    -Anarchist radicals in London applauded the assassination of Czar Alexander II's murder and created Anarchist International
    -Publicity surrounding the creation of Anarchist International led to global fears of anarchist terror and usage of violence, which were in small cells — led to fear of "lone wolf" attackers who adhered to anarchist ideology
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    "Dynamite Campaign" in the UK

    -Led by Irish radical groups Clan na Gael and the Irish Republican Brotherhood
    -Used transnational terrorism to grow their network and set up larger funding bases
    -Attacked symbolic targets and mass public targets, often in railway stations
    -Indifferent about civilian deaths
    -Started trends of terrorists targeting mass transport stations and using time-delayed explosives
  • Founding of the Black Hand

    -Militant splinter group of the Sprpska Narodna Obrana
    -Embraced violent symbols of terrorism, e.g. skull and bones, knives, poison, bombs
    -Close links to the Serbian government, although Black Hand was more militant than Serbian leadership
    -Some have drawn links between the archduke's assassination and state-sponsored terrorism (with the Serbian government)
  • Assassination of Franz Ferdinand — Mlada Bosna

    -Nationalists joined together in various Balkan states to revolt against the Hapsburgs
    -Allied with Srpska Narodna Obrana, among other terrorist networks
    -A member of Mlada Bosna killed Franz Ferdinand
    -Focus on recruiting young people among Mlada Bosna ad Srpska Narodna Obrana
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    Terrorism of European Authoritarian States

    -Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Stalinist Russia have adopted internal militaristic presences to eliminate political opposition, often enforced through street gangs
    -Leaders of 1930s Italy, Germany, and Soviet Russia had complete authority over street gangs and governance -- total party control
    -Widespread persecution of "enemies of the state"
    -Unlike fascist Italy and Germany, Russia's terrorist regime arose in a time of relative peace
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    Anticolonialist and Nationalist Uprisings

    -Emerged in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East
    -Idea of "freedom fighters"
    -Support for rebels even supplanted in colonial state's population, which led to successful independence movements — more politically neutral language. Rather than "terrorism", nationalist uprisings were described as "wars of liberation"
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    Revolutionary "Terror" Extends Across the Globe

    Separatist Movements
    -Expanded to groups outside colonial or neocolonial occupation, e.g. PLO, Quebecois FLQ, Basque ETA, etc
    -Used terror to draw attention to their movements
    -Tried to bring about revolution
    Left-wing Movements
    -Terrorist groups formed in Western Europe, the U.S., and Latin America to oppose American intervention abroad and global capitalism
    -Based on Marxist/Leninist/Maoist ideology
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    Broader Definitions of Terrorism

    -In the early 1980s, terrorism began to be societally defined as a broader global conspiracy to destabilize the West
    -Popularized by books such as Sterling's The Terror Network — conspiracy by the Warsaw Pact
    -Communist conspiracy theories were replaced by fears about Middle Eastern governments — "surrogate warfare"
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    Narco-Terrorism

    -"'Use of drug trafficking to advance the objectives of certain governments and terrorist organizations'"
    -Initially associated with Marxist governments in the USSR, Cuba, Bulgaria, ad Nicaragua, although later in the decade, the governments involved were in Latin America (e.g. Colombia)
    -Terrorist groups had links with economically motivated criminal organizations to smuggle drugs and to bring about violence to further their goals
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    Gray-Area Phenomena

    -"'Threats to the stability of nation states by non-state actors and non-governmental processes and organizations'" through the use of violence
    -Power in some regions has shifted from governmental control to that of "half-political, half-criminal powers"
    -Terrorism is a subset of this — part of a wider patttern
  • 9/11

    -Terrorists associated with al-Qaeda hijack four planes and crash them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon (the fourth was taken over by the passengers and crashed into a field)
    -Killed nearly 3,000 people —largest magnitude of a terrorist attack
    -"War on Terror" signified a large movement by Americans/the West against anything that posed (even allegedly) a threat to Americans. Adversaries expanded to North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, etc.
    -"WoT" led to broad definition of terrorism