Terrorism
History of terrorism – Factsheet
Terrorism through the ages
1605 – Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes is probably the most famous member of the group who plotted to blow up the Houses of
Parliament. Guy Fawkes was a Catholic at a time when Catholicism had been outlawed in England and he and
his co-conspirators wanted to bring down the Protestant monarchy.
Guy Fawkes and his accomplices were caught red-handed in the early hours of 5 November 1605. After being
subjected to horrific torture they were executed at the order of King James. Subsequently their bodies were cut
up and sent to towns across the country and hung on public display as a deterrent to any other would-be
plotters.
1770s – The Boston Tea Party
During the 18th century the British Government and the East India Company controlled the import and export of
tea in all of the British colonies, including America. The Tea Party was a resistance movement which fought
against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. They objected to the Tea Act for
a variety of reasons, especially because they objected to taxes being imposed on America by a parliament in
another country, for whom they did not vote.
In December 1773 officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain and a group of Tea
Party activists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbour.
Mid-19th century onwards – The Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (the KKK or The Klan) is a secretive group based in America with a history of using violence
and terrorism to highlight their ideology of white supremacy. KKK members adopted masks, robes and conical
hats to hide their identities and to add to the drama of their attacks.
The KKK began in 1865 by attacking and murdering black people during night time raids and have continued
with their violent campaign in a number of waves of activity since. This included a series of bombings targeting
the homes of black people in the 1950s and the murder of those supporting the civil rights movement in
America.
1914 – The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
On 28 June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was shot dead by Gavrilo Princip, a 19 year-old
assassin linked to the Black Hand movement. The Black Hand was formed by members of the Serbian army
whose stated goal was to create a ‘Greater Serbia’, uniting all of the Serb territories annexed by the AustroHungarian Empire, using violence if necessary.
The assassination led to increasing tensions in the region and sparked a chain of events which eventually
triggered World War I.
1960s onwards – The Troubles, Northern Ireland
The term ‘The Troubles’ refers to a period of conflict between elements of Northern Ireland’s nationalist and
unionist communities. The troubles are widely accepted to have begun in the late 1960s and ended with the
Belfast ‘Good Friday’ Agreement in 1998.
The main point of conflict during The Troubles was the constitutional status of Northern Ireland with (mainly
Catholic) nationalists believing it should be part of Ireland and (mainly Protestant) unionists believing it should
be part of Britain.
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Terrorism
History of terrorism – Factsheet
Nationalist and unionist paramilitary organisations conducted terrorist campaigns during this period, both in
Northern Ireland and in mainland Britain. This included the bombing of civilian and military targets. The
response to the tensions led to a number of incidents which some believe helped escalate the violence of the
terrorist campaign. This includes the fatal shooting of 14 unarmed civil rights demonstrators by the British Army
on ‘Bloody Sunday’, 30 January 1972.
1972 – Munich Olympics attack
During the 1972 Olympic games in Germany, members of the Palestinian group ‘Black September’ took Israeli
athletes and coaches hostage, demanding the release of 234 Palestinians jailed in Israel, along with two
German radicals held by German authorities.
After stalled negotiations and a failed rescue attempt the incident ended with the murder of 11 athletes and
coaches and one policeman. Three of the members of Black September survived the incident and were
arrested by police.
1988 – Lockerbie bombing
On 21 December 1988 Pam Am Flight 103 was en route to New York from London when an on-board bomb
exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. All 243 passengers and 16 crew on board the flight lost their
lives. Eleven people in Lockerbie were killed as the falling debris destroyed several houses.
In January 2001 Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of murder in connection with the bombings.
Although Libya formally accepted responsibility for carrying out the attack in 2003 they did not state a clear
motive. However, many people believe that the Libyans were targeting American interests as part of on-going
tensions between the two countries.
2001 – 11 September attacks
On 11 September 2001 terrorists from Al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger planes intending to crash these into
key targets in the USA. The hijackers intentionally crashed two planes into the towers of the World Trade
Centre in New York and one plane into the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia. Passengers on the fourth
plane attempted to overpower the hijackers and the plane came down in a field in Pennsylvania.
Nearly 3000 people from more than 90 countries died in the attacks, including 67 British victims. Al Qaeda’s
leader, Osama Bin Laden, claimed responsibility for the attacks in 2004. Bin Laden had previously declared a
‘holy war’ against the USA, having signed a fatwa (an Islamic religious ruling) in 1998 calling for the killing of
American civilians. Al-Qaeda explicitly cited three motives for its activities against Western countries: the
presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, U.S. support of Israel, and sanctions against Iraq.
2011 – Anders Breivik
On 22 July 2011 Anders Breivik planted a bomb near government buildings in Oslo, Norway. When the bomb
detonated, killing eight people, he was already on his way to the island of Utøya where he posed as a
policeman before shooting and killing 69 people. The victims at Utøya were mostly young people who were
attending a political summer camp.
Breivik was charged with acts of terrorism following the attack and is currently awaiting trial. Since the attacks a
document linked to Breivik has come to light describing preparing for a terrorist attack. This document strongly
opposes European policies on multiculturalism and immigration and blames feminism for eroding the fabric of
European society. Many analysts have characterised Breivik as being a right-wing extremist.
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