The Early History of Terrorism

As a counter-terrorism instructor, students often inquire about the early history of terrorism and the influence religion/politics have on certain terrorist acts. Political science historians and terrorism experts (Pape, 2005; Boltz, Dudonis, & Schulz, 2012) have stated that terrorism has been occurring since the first century with the Jewish Zealots and Sicarii. While the organizational structure of the Jewish Zealots and Sicarii are relatively unknown, their strategic logic is notorious (Pape, 2005). The Zealots and the Sicarii used violent attacks designed to incite an uprising among the Jewish targeting the Roman occupation at the time. After several decades of attacks, the Zealots and Sicarii triggered the Jewish War of 66 A.D.(Aberback & Aberback, 2000). The Jewish War, which resulted in defeat, led to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem; extermination of Jewish areas in Egypt and Cyprus; and the exodus of Jews from Judea (Aberback & Aberback, 2000). After four years the war ended in Masada, where 960 members committed one of the largest group suicides in history rather than submit to Roman rule after years of war, murder, rape, and slavery.

One of the most well-known historical terrorist groups to date was the Ismaili Assassins. The Ismaili Assassins attempted to overthrow the existing Sunni Muslim order during the Fatimid dynasty, 909 to 1171 A.D. in the Middle East. The Assassins were a small fundamentalist religious sect that believed that they were more true to Islam than the Shiites and the more dominant Sunni Muslims. They engaged in acts of murder for their political goals and frequently used the threat of suicide attacks to compel Sunni rulers to abandon military campaigns against them (Pape, 2005). Besides their reputation for violent attacks, the Assassins were also accredited with the invention of chain –mail armor to protect themselves from dagger attacks (Boltz et al., 2012).

Although the Ismaili Assassins have been labeled one of the most notorious groups of historical terrorists, there has been many more. In previous posts, the definition for terrorism and the acts of suicide terrorism have been explored. Often, suicide terrorist acts have been primarily motivated due to religious or political beliefs. In the 1980’s the Shia Muslims battled the Israeli (Jewish) and Western (Christian) opponents in Lebanon (Pape, 2005). In Sri Lanka, the Tamils (Hindu) battled the Sinhalese (Buddhist) in the 80’s and 90’s. The Tamil Tigers, as they are frequently called, have been attributed to mass usage of suicide bombers to commit murder for political ends. Often women have been used as a suicide bombers, since they arouse little suspicion from their intended targets prior to detonation.

While acts of terrorism did not end in the 1990’s, this brief history should show that terrorism in general has been around since the writing of the Bible. In counter-terrorism circles, often there are theories and strategies to combat terrorism but in reality terrorism will be something that will never be stopped. As history has shown, terrorism is constantly evolving in ideology but some methods and acts of terrorism will never change.

Aberback, M. & Aberback, D. (2000). The Roman-Jewish Wars and Hebrew Cultural Nationalism. New York: St. Martin Press.

Bolz, F. Dudonis, K. & Schulz, D. (2012). The Counterterrorism Handbook: Tactics, Procedures, and Techniques-4^th Ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Pape, R. (2005) Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. New York: Random House.