Chapter 2: The Origins of Modern Terrorism

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Chapter 2The Origins of Modern
Terrorism
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Modern Democracies and the Birth of
Terrorism in the West
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Modern Democracies and the Birth of Terrorism in
the West

• First use of term terrorism
• The French Revolution
• Middle class wrestled power from nobility
• Extremely bloody power struggle
• Edmond Burke, British political philosopher,
  called the revolution The Reign of Terror
• Terrorism slaughter of French nobles, families,
  and sympathizers

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Modern Democracies and the Birth of Terrorism in
the West

• Radical European democrats of the early 1800s
  wanted to eliminate power of upper classes
• Worked for redistribution of wealth (known as
  socialists)
• Believed political power should be held common,
  wealth belonged to everyone, and all institutions
  should be democratic
• Upper/middle classes often equated terrorism and
  socialism

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Terrorism and the Anarchists
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Terrorism and the Anarchists

• How the terms Socialism and Anarchy became
  related
• By the 1850s, radical democrats divided into two
  factions militant socialists and more peaceful
  socialists. Both groups referred to their
  movements as anarchism.
• Term anarchy originated by Greek philosophers who
  spoke of eliminating governments

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Terrorism and the Anarchists

• Proudhon vs. Marx
• Proudhon
• Called for extension of democracy to all classes
  through elimination of property and government
• Believed all government was evil
• Believed in non-violent anarchy
• Marx
• Saw centralized government as necessary evil
• Government needed to protect individual rights of
  citizens

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Terrorism and the Anarchists

• Major leaders of Anarchist movement
• Mikhail Bakunin Russian revolutionary who
  fought against the tsar joined by Sergey Nechaev
• Nikolai Morozov Primary spokesperson for
  Peoples Will
• Karl Heinzen Radical German democratic who
  advocated political murder
• Johann Most Believed that violent action was
  best form of propaganda advocated philosophy of
  the bomb

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Terrorism and the Russian Revolution
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Terrorism and the Russian Revolution

• Late nineteenth-century Russia
• Peasants extremely poor
• Russias economic and governmental systems were
  insufficient to handle changes brought by
  industry
• When Tsar Alexander attempted changes in the
  system, revolutionary terrorism was the result

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Terrorism and the Russian Revolution

• The Peoples Will
• Motivated by anarchist revolutionary theory of
  Bakunin and Nechaev
• Launched in 1870s, sought to terrorize
  government, Orthodox church, police, and military
  into submission
• Campaign of bombing and murder resulted in
  killing of Tsar Alexander II in May 1881
• Alexander III launched period of national
  repression leaders of Peoples Will killed or
  arrested remaining members went underground
• Peoples Will resurfaced in 1905 revolution but
  failed to topple Tsar Nicholas II.

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Terrorism and the Russian Revolution

• 1905 revolution of lower classes
• Russia plagued by economic problems and
  bureaucratic inefficiency after losing war to
  Japan
• Demonstrations by unemployed workers and mutiny
  by men enlisted in Russian Navy
• Actions brutally repressed but spirit of
  revolution simmered

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Terrorism and the Russian Revolution

• The Revolution of 1917
• Russians tired of tsar and economic woes a
  strike in St. Petersburg became first of two
  revolutions in 1917
• Russian Army joined workers in revolution and new
  government was formed these revolutionaries
  called Mensheviks
• Russians promised allies to remain in war
• Created unrest at home
• Inspired Germans to attempt to remove Russia from
  WW I
• Germans found help from Lenin
• Lenin gained control of Bolsheviks (Communist
  revolutionaries who opposed Mensheviks)
• Orchestrated second revolution in October 1917,
  which removed Russia from WW I
• October revolutionaries used terrorist violence
  to gain power and repressive terrorism to
  maintain power

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Nationalistic Revolutionaries
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Nationalistic Revolutionaries

• 1800s witnessed growth of anarchism and
  nationalism
• Goals of nationalist organizations
• Use terrorism to wrestle control of government
  from other nationalities or ethnic groups
• Nationalists fought to govern, as opposed to
  anarchists who fought to impose ideology on
  government

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Nationalistic Revolutionaries

• Comparison of nationalistic terrorism and
  anarchism
• Both have similar stages of development learn
  terrorist tactics and then use them
• Both groups use similar justifications for
  violence, claiming moral necessity for their
  group to govern society

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Nationalistic Revolutionaries

• Bell links anarchy and nationalistic traditions
  using IRA (Irish Republican Army) as example
• Since 1916, IRA inundated with socialist
  revolutionaries and nationalists who reject some
  aspects of socialism
• Bell believes Ireland is best example of
  nationalistic terrorism and anarchism as
  framework of modern European terrorism

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Nationalistic Revolutionaries

• Clutterbuck vs. Bell
• Clutterbuck argues that link between anarchy and
  nationalistic terror is not so clear
• Believes nationalistic terrorism in Ireland
  extremely important because its innovations
  ushered in practice of modern terrorism
• Terrorism did not develop as logical step from
  anarchist violence to modern terrorist practice
• Ireland set the stage for modern international
  terrorist operations

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Irish History and the Growth of Modern
Terrorism
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Irish History and the Growth of Modern Terrorism

• Why was Ireland ripe for terrorism when IRA was
  created?
• Centuries of religious strife since A.D. 800
• History of violence through every generation
• After American Civil War, Irish soldiers who
  fought for the North joined with other Irish
  people to create republic of Ireland free from
  British control. In 1916, this Irish Republican
  Army tried to take control of Dublin but were
  defeated by the British

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Irish History and the Growth of Modern Terrorism

• Modern terrorism came to Ireland in 1919
• Michael Collins took command of IRA and waged
  fierce campaign against British
• Collins studied tactics of Russian
  revolutionaries, and his followers used bombs,
  murder, ambushes, and other terrorist tactics to
  fight Protestant police force and British army.
  Ireland gained independence in 1921 but British
  held the north of Ireland
• Collins was killed in 1922 by former
  revolutionaries opposing peace with the British.
  After his death, IRA outlawed by Republic of
  Ireland.

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Irish History and the Growth of Modern Terrorism

• Role of British army in rebirth of IRA
• As violence grew in Northern Ireland after failed
  Catholic civil rights movement, British sent army
  to stop rioting
• Young soldiers sided with loyalists against
  Republicans and brutally repressed Catholics

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Irish History and the Growth of Modern Terrorism

• IRA Tactics
• From 1970-1990, bombing was primary tactic
• Murder
• Kidnapping
• Killing adversaries at established roadblocks
• Assassination of government officials, enemy
  terrorists, Catholics advocating compromise,
  police officers, and soldiers

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The Influence of Past Experience
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The Influence of Past Experience

• Dysons conclusions about terrorist behavior
• Unlike criminals, terrorists study the history of
  past campaigns and the theory that motivated them
• Counterterrorism starts with understanding the
  roots of terrorism

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The Influence of Past Experience

• Issues shaping modern terrorism
• The ideology of modern terrorism emerged from
  19th century revolutionary thought
• Such thought spawned revolutions in Russia, and
  influenced Michael Collins to apply the same
  tactics to Irelands nationalistic revolution
• Terrorists in the 20th century studied Michael
  Collins and improvised from IRA tactics

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The Influence of Past Experience

• Current terrorist networks
• Today, terrorism is dominated by religion,
  ideologies serving as surrogate religions, and
  racial/ethnic divisions
• Roots of self-proclaimed religious terrorists
  are in traditions of Lenin and Collins