A Brief Historical Overview of Terrorism
B. Purpose: Brief History of Terrorism
Any academic definition of terrorism would refer to a violent act committed by individuals or a group, not during a war, undertaken in order to achieve a political goal (Einav, 34). Modern forms of political terrorism became popular during the end of the nineteenth century and terrorism was a powerful political tool in Europe when used by two major ideological political parties (fascism and communism) during the 1920s and 1930s (Einav 34). However, as this brief overview of the history of terrorism will demonstrate, predating so-called modern terrorism were many different forms or types of terrorism.
While terrorism is generally understood as having emerged in the turbulent years of the French Revolution as a state-supported means of eliminating dissent and controlling the masses (Walker 26), many scholars argue that it can be traced to Biblical times and beyond (Drury 1). In fact, Shadia Drury (1) suggests that the story of the Hebrew hero, Samson, who destroyed the temple of the Philistines, represents an example of early terrorist strategy remarkably similar to the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. However, Drury (2) points out that Samson's story is told from the Hebrew perspective and not that of the Philistines who were more likely to view Samson as a terrorist than as a hero who gave his own life for a rational and viable cause.
Bernard Weisberger (24) pointed out that terrorism is by no means a recent phenomenon as extremists have resorted to acts of terror, including bombings, throughout history. Indeed, in ancient Judea, a dominant Roman government was opposed by a Jewish group known as the Zealots and the Sicarii, who used terror to demoralize Roman legions without succeeding in freeing Judea from the Roman yoke (Canada and the World Backgrounder 4). Terror was used in the French Revolution in the 1
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