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| July 20 Plot |
July 20 PlotThe July 20 Plot was a failed coup d'état which involved an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. It was initiated on July 20, 1944, by officers of the Wehrmacht and other bodies. The leader of the plot was Oberst (Colonel) Claus von Stauffenberg. Others who participated in the plot include General Ludwig Beck, Carl Goerdeler, Alfred Delp, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bernardis, Carl Szokoll, Count Hans-Jürgen von Blumenthal, Adam von Trott zu Solz, Gottfried von Bismark, Princess Marie Vassiltchikov. Scores of others, including Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and Günther von Kluge, may have been involved in the plot, and in any event were forced to commit suicide because of it.
The plan required Stauffenberg to place a time bomb near the seat of Hitler at the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) headquarters in Rastenburg, East Prussia, and then immediately travel to Berlin to command the troops of the uprising. A new government had already been formed, with Beck as Head of State (although most of the plotters hoped for a restoration of the German monarchy under the Hohenzollerns at some point in the future), and Goerdeler as Chancellor. The military plans for the coup were known as Operation Valkyrie which was ostensibly a plan for allowing the military recovery of Berlin assuming a takeover by slave laborers. This cover allowed coup plotters to plan troop deployments before the actual coup.
However, due to unexpected circumstances, Hitler survived the bombing. Due to construction work and the heat of the day, the meeting at which Hitler was to have been killed took place above ground rather than in a bunker. Moreover, Stauffenberg could arm only one of the two bombs, and placed the armed one in the briefcase. Stauffenberg successfully managed to get next to Hitler, telling him that his hearing had been damaged during the war. Hitler accepted this, and Stauffenberg stood next to him. However, Hitler was shielded from the blast by the heavy conference table because a general moved the briefcase containing the bomb. Although four people were killed and almost all present were injured, Hitler was injured only lightly. Stauffenberg only learned of the failure later in Berlin.
Assuming Hitler was dead, Stauffenberg and Haeften flew to Berlin to meet up with their fellow conspirators in the Bendlerblock. Due to a misunderstanding, General Friedrich Olbricht did not launch Operation Valkyrie directly after the attempted assassination. Thus, the coup could only be set in motion four hours later, when Stauffenberg arrived.
In the course of the uprising, conspirators failed to win control over radio stations, therefore the news that Hitler had survived could not be suppressed. Reserve army troops in Berlin, which had carried out Stauffenberg's orders at the beginning, would soon refuse to continue doing so, causing the coup to collapse.
The plot ringleaders, Oberst Claus von Stauffenberg, General Friedrich Olbricht, Oberst Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim and Leutnant Werner von Haeften were caught in the late evening and shot by firing squad in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock (War Ministry), although many, including Hitler, believed that the quick trials and executions were intended to quickly silence the coup plotters so that they would not implicate others. Hitler went on to instigate the purging and execution of nearly 5,000 known opponents of his regime, some of whom were tortured to death.
In modern Germany, the resistance fighters are honoured.
Reference
- Klemens von Klemperer, German Resistance against Hitler: The Search for Allies Abroad, 1938-45, Oxford Univ. Press, 1992.
- Ritter, Gerhard The German Resistance : Carl Goerdeler's Struggle Against Tyranny, translated by R.T. Clark, Freeport, N.Y. : Books for Libraries Press, 1970.
- Rothfels, Hans The German Opposition to Hitler, An Appraisal; translated from the German by Lawrence Wilson, Chicago, Regnery Co. 1963.
- Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John The Nemesis of Power: German Army in Politics, 1918-1945 New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing Company, 2005.
See also
- List of members of the July 20 plot
- Widerstand resistance movements in Nazi Germany
External links
- [http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Center.htm July 20 Plot Information]
- [http://www.britannica.com/dday/article?tocId=9044133 Article on the July Plot from Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Normandy 1944]
Category:Coup attempts
Category:1944
Category:Nazi Germany
ja:ヒトラー暗殺計画
July 20July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining.
Events
- 514 - Pope Hormisdas assumes the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church.
- 1304 - English King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold in the Wars of Scottish Independence, Stirling Castle.
- 1618 - Pluto reached, according to sophisticated mathematical calculations, its second most recent aphelion. The next one occurred in 1866, and the following one will occur in 2113.
- 1712 - The Riot Act takes effect in the Great Britain.
- 1738 - North America: French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
- 1810 - Citizens of Bogotá, Colombia declare independence from Spain.
- 1833 - An Anti-Mormon mob in Independence, Missouri, destroys the printing press for the Book of Commandments, now among the most valuable 19th century books.
- 1861 - American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States of America begins sitting in Richmond, Virginia.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek - Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
- 1866 - Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa - The Austrian navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian navy near the island of Vis.
- 1871 - British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
- 1872 - The United States Patent Office awards the first patent for wireless telegraphy to Mahlon Loomis.
- 1877 - rioting in Baltimore, Maryland by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers is put down by the state militia, resulting in nine deaths.
- 1881 - Indian Wars:Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford, Montana
- 1885 - The Football Association legalises professionalism in football under pressure from the British Football Association.
- 1907 - A train wreck on the Pere Marquette Railroad near Salem, Michigan kills thirty and injures seventy more.
- 1915 - A strike by coal miners in Wales is settled.
- 1916 - World War I: In Armenia, Russian troops capture Gumiskhanek.
- 1917 - World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
- 1917 - World War I: In the United States, the first military draft numbers are drawn for World War I.
- 1917 - Alexander Kerensky becomes Prime Minister and President of the provisional government and survives an assassination attempt.
- 1918 - World War I: German troops cross the Marne.
- 1920 - Boxer Jack Johnson is arrested near San Diego, California as he crosses the border from Tijuana, Mexico after being on the run for five years after his conviction under the Mann Act.
- 1921 - The Amatian oil fields 129 km south of Tampico, Mexico burn, causing millions of dollars in damage.
- 1921 - Air mail service begins between New York City and San Francisco.
- 1922 - The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
- 1924 - Teheran, Persia comes under martial law after the American vice consul, Robert Imbrie, is killed by a religious mob enraged by rumors he had poisoned a fountain and killed several people.
- 1924 - Americans Helen Wills and Vincent Richards win the Olympic tennis championships in Paris.
- 1924 - On a sweltering day, Coney Island in New York City breaks its attendance record as over 600,000 try to escape the heat.
- 1926 - A convention of the Methodist Church votes to allow women to become priests.
- 1927 - Michael I becomes king of Romania at age five upon the death of his grandfather Ferdinand I.
- 1928 - The government of Hungary issues a decree ordering Gypsies to end their nomadic ways, settle permanently in one place, and subject themselves to the same laws and taxes as other Hungarians.
- 1929 - Soviet troops attempt to cross the Amur River into Manchuria near Blagovestchensk as tensions mount between the Soviet Union and China.
- 1929 - The [France| French]] Parliament narrowly approves President Raymond Poincaré's plan to reschedule the country's foreign debts.
- 1930 - Maxim Litvinov is named the Soviet Union's Commissar of Foreign Affairs.
- 1931 - Former Interior Secretary Albert Fall enters state prison in Santa Fe, New Mexico on his bribery conviction from the Teapot Dome scandal.
- 1931 - Three are dead in rioting in Seville, Spain, after police clash with marchers in a funeral parade for a syndicalist killed by the police days earlier.
- 1932 - German president Paul von Hindenburg signs a decree ordering Franz von Papen to take control of the Prussian state government and declares martial law.
- 1932 - In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force who attempt to march to the White House.
- 1932 - Crowds in the capitals of Bolivia and Paraguay demand their governments declare war on the other after fighting on their border.
- 1933 - Vice-Chancellor of Germany Franz von Papen and Vatican Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli sign a concordat on behalf of their respective nations.
- 1933 - In London, 500,000 march against anti-Semitism.
- 1933 - Germany: Two-hundred Jewish merchants are arrested in Nuremberg and paraded through the streets.
- 1934 - Labor unrest in the United States, as police in Minneaspolis fire upon striking truck drivers, wounding fifty; Seattle police led by the mayor police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen, and the governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.
- 1935 - Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
- 1935 - Riots between Muslims and Sikhs over a mosque in Lahore, India leave eleven dead.
- 1936 - The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
- 1937 - Two black men accused of stabbing a policeman are taken by a mob from the county jail in Tallahassee, Florida and lynched.
- 1938 - The Justice Department files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of anti-trust law. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.
- 1940 - Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
- 1940 - Billboard magazine publishes its first "Music Popularity Chart"; the first number one song is Frank Sinatra's "I'll Never Smile Again".
- 1940 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Hatch Act, limiting political activity by Federal government employees.
- 1940 - Admiral Jean Decoux is named governor of French Indochina by Marshal Philippe Pétain.
- 1941 - Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrenti Beria its chief.
- 1942 - World War II: Red Army troops take bridgeheads over the Don River near Voronezh.
- 1942 - World War II: The first unit of the Women's Army Corps begins training in Des Moines, Iowa.
- 1943 - World War II: American and Canadian troops conquer Enna on Sicily.
- 1944 - World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt (known as the July 20 Plot) led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
- 1944 - World War II: American troops land on Guam near Port Apra.
- 1944 - In Bombay, India, health authorities announce a cholera epidemic has killed 34,000 in three months.
- 1944 - The Democratic Party nominates Franklin D. Roosevelt for a fourth term as president.
- 1944 - Fifty are hurt in rioting in front of the presidential palace in Mexico City.
- 1945 - The U.S. Congress approves the Bretton Woods Agreement.
- 1946 - World War II: The U.S. Congress's Pearl Harbor Committee says Franklin D. Roosevelt was completely blameless for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and calls for a unified command structure in the armed forces.
- 1946 - A grand jury indicts nineteen members of the Michigan state legislature for bribery for obstructing a banking reform bill.
- 1947 - Police in Burma arrest former Prime Minister U Saw and 19 others on charges of assassinating Prime Minister U Aung San and seven members of his cabinet.
- 1947 - The viceroy of India says the people of the Northwest Frontier Province overwhelmingly voted the previous day to join Pakistan rather than India.
- 1948 - President Harry S. Truman issues the first peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.
- 1948 - In New York City, twelve leaders of the Communist Party USA are indicted under the Smith Act including William Z. Foster and Gus Hall.
- 1948 - Syngman Rhee is elected president of South Korea by parliament.
- 1949 - Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war.
- 1949 - Bulgaria: Parliament elects Vassil Kolarov prime minister, replacing Georgi Dimitrov.
- 1950 - Belgium: Parliament authorizes king Léopold III to return from exile in Austria.
- 1950 - Korean War: North Korea attacks the temporary South Korean capital, Taejon.
- 1950 - Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
- 1950 -: A new federal system for Indonesia's government is agreed on to take effect August 17.
- 1951 - King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
- 1952 - The Egyptian prime minister, Hussein Sirry Pasha resigns.
- 1952 - The 15th Olympic Games begin in Helsinki, Finland.
- 1953 - The United Nations Economic and Social Council votes to make UNICEF a permanent agency.
- 1954 - Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.
- 1954 - At Geneva, Switzerland, an armistice is signed that ends fighting in Vietnam and divides the country along the 17th parallel.
- 1955 - China shells Taiwan's islands Quemoy and Matsu.
- 1955 - Michigan: The United Auto Workers is indicted under the Federal Corrupt Practices Act for its activities in Michigan in the 1954 elections.
- 1956 - A nationwide civil defense drill, "Operation Alert", is held, simulating a Soviet nuclear strike on seventy-five American cities. As part of the exercise, 10,000 bureaucrats and officials leave Washington, D.C., for bunkers around the capital.
- 1956 - In Mukden, Pu Yi, the former Emperor of China, testifies in the war crimes trials of twenty-two Japanese, the first time Pu Yi's whereabouts had been known since 1946.
- 1957 - The Soviet Union closes Peter the Great Bay, which provides access to Vladivostok, to foreign ships.
- 1958 - Twenty-six are dead in an explosion at a military base near Kokin Breg, Yugoslavia.
- 1958 - Jordan suspends diplomatic relations with the United Arab Republic after it recognizes the new government of Iraq.
- 1958 - Baseball: Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers pitches a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox.
- 1959 - The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain.
- 1959 - Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, arrives in Paris for a state visit with President Charles de Gaulle.
- 1960 - Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
- 1960 - The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.
- 1960 - Belgium defends its intervention in the Congo to the United Nations Security Council while the government of the Congo appeals to the Soviet Union to send troops to push back the Belgians. The governments of the United States and France and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization warn the Soviets to stay out of the dispute.
- 1960 - In Salisbury, Rhodesia, 20,000 protest over police brutality.
- 1960 - In Lebanon, Saeb Salem is named Prime Minister.
- 1960 - The head of the Physics Department at the Israel Institute of Technology, Kurt Sitte, is arrested for espionage.
- 1960 - King Mahendra of Nepal arrives in New Delhi, India, for a state visit, the first stop on a three- month world tour that will include a visit to the United States.
- 1961 - The United States House of Representatives rejects President John F. Kennedy's proposal to reform the National Labor Relations Board.
- 1961 - President John F. Kennedy transfers authority for civil defense planning to the Defense Department.
- 1961 - The Arab League admits Kuwait to membership.
- 1961 - French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
- 1962 - Earthquakes in Colombia kill 40.
- 1964 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children).
- 1965 - Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Abe Fortas to the Supreme Court.
- 1965 - Columbia Records releases Bob Dylan's groundbreaking single "Like a Rolling Stone" to radio stations.
- 1965 - In Hayneville, Alabama, two civil rights protesters, one a priest and the other a seminarian, are shot by a deputy sheriff. The seminarian dies of his wounds.
- 1965 - Elias Tsirimokos becomes prime minister of Greece.
- 1965 - Turkish prime minister Suat Hayri Urguplu returns from a visit to Moscow and announces the Soviet Union will provide aid to his country.
- 1966 - Prime Minister Harold Wilson announces budget cuts to combat inflation and calls for voluntary wage and price controls.
- 1967 - French President Charles de Gaulle arrives in the North American enclaves of St. Pierre and Miquelon.
- 1969 - Apollo Program: Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first humans to walk on its surface.
- 1971 - President Richard M. Nixon tells Taiwan the United States will continue to sell it arms.
- 1971 - The Soviet Union says it will support China's admission to the United Nations
- 1971 - Syria and Jordan's armies exchange fire over the common frontier.
- 1972 - Netherlands: The cabinet of Prime Minister Barend Biesheuvel resigns in a dispute over the budget.
- 1972 - Uruguay is crippled by a general strike called to obtain wage increases in the face of high inflation.
- 1972 -: Police in Canberra, Australia, break up a protest by indigenous Australians in front of the Australian Parliament over land reform .
- 1973 - The United States Senate passes the War Powers Act.
- 1973 - Vietnam War: In testimony by Assistant Secretary of Defense Jerry Friedheim to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, the United States Defense Department admits it lied to U.S. Congress about bombing Cambodia .
- 1973 - Seventy-three government officials and military officers are charged with conspiracy to overthrow the Greekgovernment.
- 1973 -: Julius Kiano, Kenya's Commerce and Industry Minister, tells Asian-owned businesses to close by the end of the year.
- 1973 - Palestianian terrorists hijack a Japan Airlines jet en route from Amsterdam to Japan and force it down in Dubai.
- 1974 - Turkish occupation of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after Greek Cypriots' attempt at enosis. NATO's Council praises the United States and the United Kingdom for attempts to settle the dispute. Syria and Egypt put their militaries on alert.
- 1974 - Reconsidering its decision in June to create nude beaches, the Los Angeles city council votes to ban nudity on all public beaches after a public outcry.
- 1975 - India expels three reporters from The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and Newsweek because they refused to sign a pledge to abide by government censorship.
- 1976 - The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
- 1976 - Vietnam War: The United States military completes its troop withdrawal from Thailand.
- 1977 - Johnstown is hit by a flash flood that kills eighty and causes $350 million in damage.
- 1977 - The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments.
- 1979 - Diana Nyad swims the sixty miles from the Bahamas to Florida.
- 1979 - American President Jimmy Carter says troop withdrawals from South Korea will cease and the remainder will stay for at least two years.
- 1980 - Takieddih Solh is named Lebanon's new prime minister.
- 1980 - The United Nations Security Council votes 14-0 that member states should not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
- 1982 - The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regents Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
- 1983 - The United States House of Representatives censures two of its members, Gerry Studds (D-Massachusetts) and Daniel B. Crane (R-Illinois), for having sex with congressional pages: Studds for having sex with a sixteen-year-old male page in 1973 and Crane for having sex with a seventeen-year-old female page in 1980.
- 1983 - The Israeli cabinet votes to withdraw troops from Beirut but to remain in southern Lebanon.
- 1984 - Officials of the Miss America pageant ask Vanessa Lynn Williams to quit after Penthouse published nude photos of her.
- 1985 - The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who soon begin to raise $400 million in coins and silver.
- 1985 - The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
- 1986 - In South Africa, police fire tear gas into a church service for families of those held under the government's emergency decrees.
- 1986 - In Cambridge, Gerald Amirault of the Fell Acres Day School is convicted of molesting nine children.
- 1987 - President Ronald Reagan appoints Larry Kramer, co-founder of Gay Men's Health Crisis, to a federal panel on AIDS.
- 1987 - President Ronald Reagan signs legislation, Public Law 100-75, designating August 3 "International Special Olympics Day".
- 1989 - Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's show opens at Washington, D.C.'s Project for the Arts after the Smithsonian Institution's Corcoran Gallery cancels it.
- 1989 - The United States Senate voted 73-26 to privatize the Energy Department's uranium enrichment program by creating a private company, the United States Enrichment Corporation.
- 1989 - Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
- 1990 - Haiti asks the United States to send observers to monitor its upcoming elections.
- 1990 - A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes at the International Stock Exchange in London.
- 1990 - All of Colonel Oliver North's convictions for perjury and other offenses in the Iran Contra affair are overturned by an appeals court.
- 1991 - The United States Department of Defense begins airlifting supplies to Albania
- 1992 - Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
- 1992 - A TU-154 cargo plane crashes in the suburbs of Tbilisi, Georgia, killing forty.
- 1993 - 20,000 policemen gather at Wembley Stadium in London to protest pay reforms.
- 1994 - Israel's Shimon Peres visits Jordan, the highest ranking Israeli official to do so
- 1994 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Fragment Q1 hits Jupiter.
- 1995 - The Regents of the University of California vote to end all affirmative action in the UC system by 1997.
- 1996 - In Spain, an ETA bomb at an airport kills 35
- 1997 - In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serb Democratic Party forces President Biljana Plavšić to resign.
- 1998 - Two hundred aid workers from CARE International, Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups leave Afghanistan on orders of the Taliban.
- 1999 - Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 is raised from the Atlantic Ocean.
- 1999 - The European Parliament elects Nichole Fontaine its president.
- 2000 - The leaders of Salt Lake City's bid to win the 2002 Winter Olympics are indicted by a federal grand jury for bribery, fraud, and racketeering.
- 2000 - In Zimbabwe, Parliament opens its new session and seats opposition members for the first time in a decade.
- 2000 - Terrorist Carlos the Jackal sues France in the European Court of Human Rights for allegedly torturing him.
- 2000 - American President Bill Clinton arrives on Okinawa, Japan, for the G8 summit and pledges to the islanders that the United States will reduce the impact American military bases have on their lives.
- 2001 - The London Stock Exchange goes public.
- 2002 - Italy: The 27th Annual G8 summit opens in Genoa. An Italian protester in Genoa, Carlo Giuliani, is shot by police.
- 2002 - The United States Senate confirms Roger L. Gregory as the first black to sit on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
- 2002 - South America: A fire in a discotheque in Lima, Peru kills over twenty-five.
- 2003 - Liberia: Fighting between militias controlled by the country's president, Charles Taylor, and rebels continues in Monrovia.
- 2003 - Middle East: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem.
- 2003 - Richard Sambrook, the Director of BBC News, reveals that David Kelly was the source of claims that Downing Street had "sexed up" the "Dodgy Dossier".
- 2003 - France: Sixteen people are injured after two bombs explode outside a tax office in Nice.
- 2003- Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is in a coma at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as Uganda refused permission for him to return home.
- 2003- Golf: Rookie Ben Curtis, ranked 396th in the world, wins the British Open, the first golfer to win a major golf tournament on his first try in more than ninety years.
- 2003- Fourteen people—a American family of twelve who had chartered the plane and the South African crew of two—die when their light plane crashes into Mount Kenya after taking off from Nairobi for Buffalo Springs National Reserve in northern Kenya.
- 2004 - Middle East: Palestinian lawmaker Nabil Amr is shot in the West Bank.
- 2005 - Canada becomes the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, after the bill C-38 receives its Royal Assent.
- 2005 - In China's Shaanxi province, a coal mine explosion kills two dozen.
- 2005 - In Yemen, several people die during demonstrations against oil price increases.
Births
- 1304 - Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet (d. 1374)
- 1519 - Pope Innocent IX
- 1537 - Arnaud d'Ossat, French diplomat and writer (d. 1604)
- 1620 - Nikolaes Heinsius, Dutch scholar (d. 1681)
- 1659 - Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter (d. 1743)
- 1661 - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, French founder of the colony of Louisiana (d. 1706)
- 1673 - John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (d. 1747)
- 1754 - Destutt de Tracy, French philosopher (d. 1836)
- 1774 - Auguste Marmont, French marshal (d. 1852)
- 1797 - Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist (d. 1873)
- 1838 - Augustin Daly, American playwright (d. 1899)
- 1838 - George Otto Trevelyan, British statesman and biographer (d. 1928)
- 1847 - Max Liebermann, German artist (d. 1935)
- 1849 - Robert Anderson Van Wyck, Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
- 1858 - Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (d. 1925)
- 1864 - Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
- 1868 - Miron Cristea, first patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church (d. 1939)
- 1873 - Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviator (d. 1932)
- 1889 - John Reith, British broadcast executive (d. 1971)
- 1890 - Theda Bara, American actress (d. 1955)
- 1890 - King George II of Greece (d. 1947)
- 1895 - László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (d. 1946)
- 1897 - Tadeus Reichstein, Polish-born chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1996)
- 1901 - Heinie Manush, American baseball player (d. 1971)
- 1902 - Jimmy Kennedy, Irish composer (d. 1984)
- 1912 - Tom McDermott, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1918 - Cindy Walker, American singer
- 1919 - Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountain climber
- 1920 - Elliot Richardson, American politician (d. 1999)
Coup d'état
A coup d'état (pronounced ), or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a smaller supposedly weaker body that just replaces the top power figures. It may or may not be violent in nature. It is different from a revolution, which is staged by a larger group and radically changes the political system. The term is French for "a (sudden) blow (or stroke) to a state". The term coup can also be used in a casual sense to mean a gain in advantage of one nation or entity over another; e.g. an intelligence coup. By analogy, the term is also applied to corporations, etc; e.g. a boardroom coup.
Since the unsuccessful coup attempts of Wolfgang Kapp in 1920, and of Adolf Hitler in 1923, the Swiss German word "Putsch" (originally coined with the Züriputsch of 1839) is often used also, even in France (such as the putsch of November 8, 1942 and the putsch of April 21, 1961, both in Algiers), while the direct German translation is Staatsstreich.
Tactically, a coup usually involves control of some active portion of the military while neutralizing the remainder of a country's armed services. This active group captures or expels leaders, seizes physical control of important government offices, means of communication, and the physical infrastructure, such as streets and power plants. The coup succeeds if its opponents fail to dislodge the plotters, allowing them to consolidate their position, obtain the surrender or acquiescence of the populace and surviving armed forces, and claim legitimacy.
Coups typically use the power of the existing government for its own takeover. As Edward Luttwak remarks in his Coup d'état: A practical handbook: "A coup consists of the infiltration of a small but critical segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder." In this sense, use of military or other organized force is not the defining feature of a coup d'état. Any seizure of the state apparatus by extra-legal tactics may be considered a coup, according to Luttwak.
History
Coups have long been part of political tradition. Indeed, Julius Caesar orchestrated a coup and was subsequently the victim of another coup. Many Roman emperors, such as Claudius, came to power in coups, as did King Jehu of Israel.
In the late 20th century coups occurred most commonly in developing countries, particularly in Latin America (e.g. Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina), Africa and Asia (Pakistan), but also in the Pacific (Fiji) and in Europe (e.g. Greece, Portugal, Spain, and the Soviet Union). Since the 1980s, the coup has been seen somewhat less frequently. A significant reason is the general inability to resolve the economic and political problems of developing nations, which has made armed forces, particularly in Latin America, much more reluctant to intervene in politics. Hence, in contrast to past crises, the armed forces have sat on the sidelines through economic crises such as the Asian financial crisis in Thailand in 1998 or the Argentine crisis of 2002 and have tended to act only when the military perceives itself as institutionally threatened by the civilian government, as occurred in Pakistan in 1999.
Coups d'état have often been seen as a means for powerful nations to assure favorable outcomes in smaller foreign states. In particular, the American CIA and Soviet KGB developed a reputation for supporting coups in states such as Chile and Afghanistan, respectively. Such actions are substitutes for direct military intervention which would have been more politically unpopular. The governments of France and Britain have engineered coups as well.
Recent forms of coup
In recent years, the traditional military coup has declined massively in use. A new, more contemporary form of military intervention which some regard as a coup d'état is simple threat of military force to remove a particularly unpopular leader. This has occurred twice in the Philippines. In contrast to previous coups d'état, the military does not directly assume power, but rather serves as an arbiter for civilian leaders.
In recent years mass street protests have also often been able to force unpopular and corrupt leaders from office in a coup-like fashion. In situations of this sort, such as in Serbia (2000), Argentina (2001), Bolivia (2003), Ukraine (2004–2005), Lebanon, Ecuador and Bolivia (2005), popular uprisings simply forced the sitting president to resign his office, causing someone new to assume the presidency. This often results in a period of stability and calm, in which an unknown and uncontroversial vice president can rule the nation until new elections can be held.
In 2002 the United States allegedly supported a coup in Venezuela against President Hugo Chávez, despite Chávez having been elected by popular vote in two consecutive elections. The coup failed, mainly due to sizable public protests in support of Chávez which dwarfed rallies launched by his opponents. Chávez was returned to office two days after the coup, the provisional military junta was dissolved, and the democratic government survived a referendum on new elections by a large margin. In cases such as these, popular protests have been able to prevent coups and place popular leaders back in office.
Types of coups
Samuel P. Huntington has divided coups into three types (ignoring Luttwak's non-military coups)
- Breakthrough coups - In which a revolutionary army overthrows a traditional government and creates a new bureaucratic elite. Breakthrough coups are generally led by non-commissioned officers (NCOs) or junior officers and only happen once. Examples include China in 1911, Egypt in 1956, Greece in 1967 and Liberia in 1980.
- Guardian coups - These coups have been described as musical chairs. The stated aim of this form of coup is to improve public order, efficiency, or to end corruption. There is usually no fundamental shift in the structure of power, and the leaders of these types of coups generally portray their actions as a temporary and unfortunate necessity. Many nations with guardian coups undergo many shifts between civilian and military governments. Examples include Pakistan, Turkey, and Thailand.
- Veto coups - These coups occur when the army vetoes mass participation and social mobilization. In these cases the army must confront and suppress large-scale and broad-based opposition and as a result they tend to be repressive and bloody. Examples include Chile in 1973 and Argentina in 1976, as well as the overthrow of President Fujimori of Peru in 2000. An abortive and botched veto coup occurred in Venezuela in 2002.
Coups can also be classified by the level of the military that leads the coup. Veto coups and guardian coups tend to be led by senior officers. Breakthrough coups tend to be led by junior officers or NCOs. In cases where the coup is led by junior officers or enlisted men, the coup is also a mutiny which can have grave implications for the organizational structure of the military.
There is also a category known as bloodless coups in which the mere threat of violence is enough to force the current government to step aside. Bloodless coups are so called because they involve no violence and thus no bloodshed. Napoleon's 18 Brumaire coup is often pointed out as an example of bloodless coup, showing that bloodless coups are not always considered to be "bloodless": on 18 Brumaire, several members of parliament were thrown out the windows of the building where they assembled. More recently, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999.
The term self-coup is used when the current government assumes extraordinary powers not allowed by the legislation. An example is Alberto Fujimori in Peru, who was democratically elected, but later took control of the legislative and judicial powers, or the coup of French President Louis Napoléon Bonaparte in 1851 against the powerful National Assembly.
Post-military-coup governments
After the coup, the military is faced with the issue of the type of government to establish. In Latin America, it was common for the post-coup government to be led by a junta, a committee of the chiefs of staff of the various armed forces. A common form of African post-coup government is the revolutionary assembly, a quasi-legislative body made of members elected by the army. In Pakistan, the military leader typically assumes the title of chief martial law administrator.
According to Huntington, most coup leaders act under the concept of right orders: they believe that the best way to solve the problems their country is facing is to issue correct orders. This view of government underestimates the difficulty in implementing government policy and the amount of possible political resistance to certain orders.
Important coups in the 19th century
- 1874: Arsenio Martínez Campos overthrows the First Spanish Republic and install Alfonso XII as king.
Important coups in the 20th century
- 1920: The Kapp Putsch, a failed coup attempt by the Freikorps Ehrhardt.
- 1923: Miguel Primo de Rivera installs a dictatorship without overthrowing the king.
- 1923: The Beer Hall Putsch, a failed coup attempt by Adolf Hitler in Germany.
- 1926: Coup of Jozef Pilsudski in Poland.
- 1926: 28th May military coup of Gomes da Costa in Portugal.
- 1932: The Mäntsälä Rebellion, failed coup attempt by the Lapua Movement in Finland.
- 1932: The May 15th Incident, a military coup in Japan.
- 1933: Failed coup against Franklin D. Roosevelt alleged in the United States (see Business Plot).
- 1934: Coup of Kārlis Ulmanis in Latvia.
- 1934: Coup of Konstantin Päts in Estonia.
- 1935: Coup in Greece.
- 1936: Part of the army seizes control of parts of Spain commencing the Spanish Civil War. Later General Francisco Franco assumes control of the country.
- 1936: The February 26th Incident, a failed coup attempt in Japan by junior military officers that did succeed in installing a militarist government.
- 1937: Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas, governing democratically until then, launches a self-coup and becomes the Dictator of Brazilian Estado Novo.
- 1942: French resistance coup in Algiers, by which 400 Civil French patriots neutralized Vichyst XIXth Army Corps in Algiers during 15 hours, arrested vichyst generals (Juin, Darlan, etc.), and so allowed the immediate success of Operation Torch.
- 1943: Military coup in Argentina leads to the ascent of extremely popular President Juan Perón.
- 1944: The July 20 Plot, a failed attempt to overthrow Hitler in Nazi Germany, led by Claus von Stauffenberg.
- 1945: Getúlio Vargas's government ends due to a coup, led by General Mourão, one of his former supporters.
- 1947: Coup in Thailand.
- 1948: Communist coup in Czechoslovakia.
- 1952: Military coup in Egypt.
- 1952: Fulgencio Batista leads successful and bloodless coup to topple democratically elected government of Cuba.
- 1953: Anglo-American coup in Iran, codenamed Operation Ajax.
- 1954: Military coup in Paraguay.
- 1955: A contra-coup in Brazil led by Marechal Lott grants the presidency to elected one, Juscelino Kubitschek and overtrhown the two-days-long legal government of Carlos Luz.
- 1958: Military coup in Pakistan. Army Chief and Defence Minister Gen. Ayub Khan overthrows the government of Iskander Mirza and becomes President after a winning a rigged referendum.
- 1958: Civic/Military coup in Venezuela, overthrowing Marcos Perez Jimenez.
- 1958: Military coup in Iraq overthrows the monarchy.
- 1960: Military coup in Turkey.
- 1961: The Coup d'état of May Sixteenth in South Korea. Park Chunghee established presidency.
- 1962: Failed Military backed and Catholic action led Coup in Sri Lanka then Ceylon.
- 1963: Military coup in South Vietnam, overthrowing Ngo Dinh Diem.
- 1963: Alleged coup in the United States, overthrowing John F. Kennedy (See Kennedy assassination theories).
- 1963: Military coup in Ecuador.
- 1963: Military coup in Syria.
- 1963: Coup in Iraq, followed by a counter-coup.
- 1964: Military coup in Brazil.
- 1964: Military coup in South Vietnam, overthrowing Duong Van Minh.
- 1966: Military coup in Ghana.
- 1966: Military coup in Nigeria leading to end of first republic.
- 1966: Shakhbut Bin-Sultan Al Nahyan, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates was deposed in a bloodless coup, being replaced by his brother Sheikh Zayed Bin-Sultan Al Nahyan.
- 1967: Military coup in Greece. See Greek military junta of 1967-1974.
- 1967: Military coup in Nigeria. Yakubu Gowon comes to power.
- 1968: Coup in Panama by Omar Torrijos.
- 1968: Coup in Iraq establishes rule of the Ba'ath Party.
- 1969: Colonel Qadhafi overthrows monarchy in Libya.
- 1969: Military coup in Somalia.
- 1970: Military coup in Pakistan, Army Chief Gen. Yahya Khan forces President Field Marshal Ayub Khan (who himself came to power in a coup) to hand over power to him.
- 1970: Coup in Bolivia, soon followed by a leftist countercoup.
- 1971: Military coup in Turkey (Coup by Memorandum).
- 1971: Military coup in Uganda led by Idi Amin.
- 1973: Military coup in Chile. The democratically elected Marxist president Salvador Allende is replaced by the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. See Chilean coup of 1973.
- 1973: The President of Uruguay dissolves Parliament and heads a coup.
- 1974: Military coup in Portugal (Carnation Revolution).
- 1974: Military coup in Cyprus sponsored by Greek colonels overthrows Makarios and triggers invasion by Turkey.
- 1975: Military coup in Ethiopia by the communist junta led by General Aman Andom and Megistu Hailemariam.
- 1975: Military coup in Bangladesh overthrows & kills Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
- 1975: Military coup in Nigeria overthrows Yakubu Gowon. Murtala Ramat Mohammed comes to power.
- 1976: Military coup in Ecuador.
- 1976: Failed coup attempt in Nigeria. Murtala Ramat Mohammed killed but Obasanjo survives and becomes head of state.
- 1976: Military coup in Argentina leads to the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional.
- 1978: Communist coup in Afghanistan.
- 1979: Military coup in Pakistan. Army Chief Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrows the civilian government and hangs Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto after a sham trial.
- 1979: The Coup d'état of December Twelfth in South Korea. Chun Doo-hwan established presidentship.
- 1980: 'Cocaine Coup' in Bolivia of Luis García Meza Tejada.
- 1980: Military coup in Turkey.
- 1980: Military coup in Liberia.
- 1980: Successful coup in Suriname by military officers led by Dési Bouterse that resulted in military rule until 1988.
- 1981: Failed coup in Spain led by Antonio Tejero.
- 1982: Failed coup in Kenya by some members of the Kenya Air Force.
- 1983: Military palace coup in Nigeria. Second republic overthrown.
- 1985: Military coup in Uganda led by Basilio Okello and Tito Okello.
- 1985: Military coup in Nigeria. Ibrahim Babangida replaces Muhammadu Buhari.
- 1984: Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya raise to power in Mauritania after a coup that overthrow the president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah.
- 1989: Failed coup attempt in the Philippines led by Colonel Gregorio Honasan.
- 1990: Failed coup attempt in Nigeria led by Col. Orkar.
- 1991: Failed coup attempt (the so-called August Putsch) in the Soviet Union.
- 1992: Alberto Fujimori launches a self-coup in Peru.
Recent coups and coup attempts
- 1997: Military coup in Turkey, called Post-modern coup (February 28) overthrows the coalition government
- 1999: Military coup in Pakistan. Army refuses to obey Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government. General Pervez Musharraf becomes dictator (with the title "Chief Executive") and exiles Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia.
- 1999: Military coup in Côte d'Ivoire
- 2000: Unsuccessful coup in Fiji, under George Speight
- 2000: Coup in Ecuador
- 2000: Overthrow of President Fujimori in Peru
- 2002: Unsuccessful coup to overthrow Hugo Chávez in Venezuela
- 2002: Military coup in Central African Republic
- 2003: Attempted coup in Mauritania
- 2003: Military coup in São Tomé and Príncipe
- 2003: Military coup in Guinea-Bissau
- 2004: Military coup in Haiti
- 2004: Attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- 2004: Second attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo (June)
- 2004: Attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea (August)
- 2005: Coup in Togo legalized by parliamentary vote but unrecognized by international community.
- 2005: Coup in Ecuador overthrows Lucio Gutiérrez
- 2005: Coup by Nepalese monarch, overthrows constitutional monarchy. Restoration of absolute monarchy.
- 2005: Military coup in Mauritania overthrows president Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, who came to power after a coup, in 1984.
Currently-serving leaders who came to power via coups
- Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, President of Sudan (1989–)
- Muammar al-Qaddafi, leader of Libya (1969–)
- Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros (1999–)
- Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia (1987–)
- François Bozizé, President of the Central African Republic (2003–)
- Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso (1987–)
- Lansana Conté, President of Guinea (1984–)
- Idriss Déby, President of Chad (1990–)
- Yahya Jammeh, President of The Gambia (1994–)
- Gérard Latortue, Interim president of Haiti—not recognized by CARICOM
- Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea (1979–)
- Pervez Musharraf, Chief of Army Staff and President of Pakistan (1999–)
- Alfredo Palacio, President of Ecuador (2005–)
- Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, Chairman of the Military Council for Justice and Democracy in Mauritania (2005–)
See also
- Contrast with civilian control of the military
- List of protective service agencies
- List of fictional revolutions and coups
Reference
- Edward Luttwak, Coup d'etat: A practical handbook, Harvard University Press, 1969, 1980. ISBN 06-741-75476.
- Curzio Malaparte, Technique du Coup d'Etat (Published in French), Paris, 1931.
- D. J. Goodspeed, Six Coups d'Etat, Viking Press inc., New-York, 1962.
Category:French phrases
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Category:Civil-military relations
ko:쿠데타
ja:クーデター
Assassinate
, the alleged assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, in a very public manner]]
In its most common use, assassination has come to mean the killing of an important person. An assassin — one who carries out the assassination — is usually motivated by ideological or political reasons. Other motivations may be money in the case of a hitman; opposition to a person's beliefs or belief systems in the case of a fanatic; orders from a government that are often carried about by a subversive agent such as a spy; or loyalty to a competing leader or group.
Assassination, like companion terms such as terrorism and freedom fighter, is often considered to be a loaded term. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, "To murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack, as for political reasons."[http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=assassination]
The definition of assassination is generally much clearer than the others. Most assassins appear comfortable enough with their deed to describe it as such publicly, whereas few call themselves terrorists.
Etymology
The term Assassin originally referred to a heretical Islamic order known as the Hashshashin. According to one derivation, the word means "those who use hashish" (cannabis resin) in Arabic because, according to Crusader histories, that group used to ingest hashish before carrying out military or assassination operations, in order to be fearless. The group, known as the Nizari Ismailis, was a Shia order who believed in the notion of the hazir imam and was organized as a secret underground political order, which infiltrated areas under the control of Seljuk Turks. In 1090 the sect captured a castle called Alamut in the mountains of Northern Iran. This sect was said to carry out assassinations of the enemies of the order, or Muslim rulers they believed to be impious. The earliest known record of the word in English dates back to 1603, referring to this sect rather than its more general modern sense. Similar words had earlier appeared in French and Italian.
However, according to another derivation, the word Hashshashin derives from the Arabic word hassas, from the root hassa, meaning "to kill".
Benjamin of Tudela provided the first western account of the sect. Marco Polo's elaborate account is probably fictionalized in part. He said that recruits were promised Paradise in return for dying in action. They were drugged, often with materials such as hashish (although some suggest opium and wine instead, despite all three drugs being condemned by Islamic religious authorities and interpretations of the time) then spirited away to a garden stocked with attractive and compliant women and fountains of wine. At this time, they were awakened and it was explained to them that such was their reward for the deed, convincing them that their leader, Hassan-i-Sabah, could open the gates to Paradise. The name assassin is derived from either hasishin for the supposed influence of their attacks and disregard for their own lives in the process, or hassansin for their leader. All this history, however, is tenous, as it relies entirely on crusader-authored histories which have been traditionally very unreliable for information about native cultures.
Nowadays is known that "hashishinnya" was an offensive term used to depict this cult by its Muslim and Mongolian detractors; the extreme zeal of Nizarites and the very cold preparation to murder makes it very unlikely they ever used drugs, while there is evidence that one of the first of Hassan's sons was sentenced to death by his father only for drinking a little wine. Moreover, despite many unlikely legends, they usually died along with their target (a tale tells of a mother being sad knowing her son survived a "mission"). As far as known they only used daggers (no other weapons, poison or whatever fictional records make them use) and it seems that they killed only five westerners during the time of the Crusades.
Hassan-i-Sabah. He was shot and injured, and thereafter appeared in public in a custom-built "Popemobile" featuring bulletproof glass]]
Definition problems
Unlike some topics, notably terrorism, wherein there is a substantial grey area and often bitter controversy between which specific instances qualify or even what standards should be used, the "common sense" classification of assassination stated at the outset of this article seems to stand with few objections. However, this does open larger issues concerning interpretation, notably regarding attempted killings by those with other motives — is it an assassination simply if the person is a major leader or public figure espousing a cause, or only if the assassin's reason for the attack is due to that person's status as a figurehead for a particular issue?
Notable instances in which this definitive problem might come into effect include the attempt on the life of United States President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley, who was determined subsequently to have serious psychological problems and publicly stated his intent was to get the attention of actress Jodie Foster rather than make any political statement. The killing of former Beatle John Lennon would raise the same problem — despite Lennon's outspokenness on many liberal political issues, his killer does not seem to have been more than an unstable fan. The use of the term "assassination" to describe Lennon's murder is a matter of some additional debate, since Lennon was primarily an entertainer, not a political figure, and it could be argued that describing his killing as an assassination is no more appropriate than, for example, using the term to describe the murders of singers Selena Quintanilla or Marvin Gaye. In another example, although conspiracy theorists suggest the apparent suicide of Marilyn Monroe might have been a politically motivated murder, the term "assassination" is rarely, if ever, used in this context. The attempt on the life of President Gerald Ford by a member of Charles Manson's cult could be the same; while it might perhaps be considered part and parcel of the anti-government, neo-fascist ideology to which Manson and his group adhered, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, the assassin, was not widely considered legally competent in her judgment at the time (although she was later tried and convicted). Should these cases be classified as attempted assassinations? The issue is further complicated by the fact that while Lennon was likely as outspoken politically as Reagan and Ford, and certainly as famous, Reagan and Ford were elected officials at the time, possibly requiring different criteria for Lennon's case.
One can take one of three positions (note that this consideration is of necessity strictly based upon language, not law): that the killing of someone only for political, moral, or ideological reasons constitutes an assassination (hence neither Reagan nor Lennon were the victims of assassins' attacks, while Ford was), that the killing of someone serving in politics or public office counts (thus Reagan's and Ford's attackers were would-be assassins, while Lennon's killer was not), or that anyone with a significant level of political involvement would be an assassination victim in the event of their murder (in which case all three instances would be assassinations or attempts).
While it must be acknowledged that attempting to read a person's thoughts is both imperfect and somewhat antithetical to the nature of such an issue, for the purposes of this article, the first, most conservative definition is taken. Although it is likely that the second is the most popular, the first is technically the most correct, and the third is generally considered to be too general in application. Therefore, all assassinations or attempts mentioned in the article will strictly follow the guidelines outlined at the outset to prevent confusion.
Reasons for assassinations
Assassination as a political tool
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme' top political nemesis, was shot dead by an alleged assassin in 1983, who was later killed by military escorts of Aquino. Investigations later concluded that one of the escorts shot the late senator.]]
Some would argue that assassination is one of the oldest tools of power politics, dating back to the earliest governments of the world.
Towards the end of the Warring States Period (3rd century BC) in China, the state Qin rose to hegemony over other states. The Prince of the state Yan felt the threat and sought to remove the Qin king (later Qin Shi Huang) and sent Jing Ke for the mission. The assassination attempt was foiled and Jing Ke was killed on the spot.
Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, can be viewed as a victim of assassination. It is a fact, however, that by the fall of the Roman Republic assassination had become a commonly-accepted tool towards the end not only of improving one's own position, but to influence policy — the killing of Gaius Julius Caesar being a notable example, though many Emperors met such an end. In whatever case, there seems to have not been a good deal of moral indignation at the practice amongst the political circles of the time, save, naturally, by the affected.
As the Middle Ages came about from the fall of the Roman Empire, the moral and ethical dimensions of what was before a simple political tool began to take shape. Although in that period intentional regicide was an extremely rare occurrence, the situation changed dramatically with the Renaissance when the ideas of tyrannomachy (i.e. killing of a King when his rule becomes tyrannical) re-emerged and gained recognition. Many a head of state of the time fell at the hands of an assassin, such as Henri III and Henry IV of France. There were notable detractors, however; Abd-ul-Mejid of the Ottoman Empire refused to put to death plotters against his life during his reign.
As the world moved into the present day and the stakes in political clashes of will continued to grow to a global scale, the number of assassinations concurrently multiplied. In Russia alone, five emperors were assassinated within less than 200 years - Ivan VI, Peter III, Paul I, Alexander II and Nicholas II. The most notable assassination victim within early | | |
