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June 1

June 1

June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining.

Events

- 193 - Roman Emperor Marcus Didius is assassinated in his palace.
- 1283 - Treaty of Rheinfelden: Duke Rudolph II of Austria has to waive his right to the Duchies of Austria and Styria.
- 1485 - Matthias of Hungary took Vienna in his conquest of Austria (from Frederick III) and made the city his capital.
- 1495 - Friar John Cor records the first known batch of scotch whisky.
- 1533 - Henry VIII of England's new wife, Anne Boleyn, is crowned as queen.
- 1660 - Mary Dyer is hanged in Boston, Massachusetts, for defying a law banning Quakers from the colony. She is considered to be the last religious martyr in what would become the United States.
- 1779 - American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold is court-martialed for malfeasance in his treatment of government property.
- 1792 - Kentucky becomes the 15th state of the United States.
- 1796 - Tennessee becomes the 16th state of the United States.
- 1812 - War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.
- 1813 - The United States Navy gains its motto as the mortally wounded commander of the frigate Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence, said, 'Don't give up the ship'.
- 1815 - Napoleon swears fidelity to the Constitution of France.
- 1831 - James Clark Ross discovers the position of the North Magnetic Pole on the Boothia Peninsula.
- 1855 - American adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua and reinstates slavery.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Fair Oaks ends, with both sides claiming victory.
- 1869 - Thomas Edison of Boston, Massachusetts, receives a patent for his electric voting machine.
- 1879 - Napoleon Eugene, Prince of France, is killed in the Anglo-Zulu War.
- 1890 - The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to count census returns.
- 1898 - The Trans-Mississippi Exposition world's fair opens in Omaha, Nebraska, United States.
- 1907 - Cricket: Colin Blythe takes 17 wickets for 48 runs against Northamptonshire at Northampton in one day. It is the best analysis ever recorded either for a county cricket match or a single day's bowling, and not bettered in first-class cricket until 1956.
- 1909 - The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition world's fair opens in Seattle, Washington, United States.
- 1910 - Robert Falcon Scott's South Pole expedition leaves England.
- 1918 - World War I: Battle for Belleau Wood begins.
- 1921 - Tulsa Race Riot: A race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, kills at least 85 people.
- 1922 - Official founding of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
- 1925 - Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees plays the first game in his record streak of 2,130 consecutive games, an endurance record in major league baseball that stands till Cal Ripken, Jr. broke it in 1995.
- 1935 - First driving tests introduced in Britain.
- 1938 - Baseball: Protective helmets are worn by batters for the very first time.
- 1941 - World War II: Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany.
- 1943 - A civilian flight from Lisbon to London is shot down by the Germans during World War II, killing all aboard, including actor Leslie Howard.
- 1954 - The Peanuts comic strip character Linus van Pelt is shown with a security blanket for the first time. [http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/peanuts/meet_the_gang/meet_linus.html]
- 1958 - Charles De Gaulle is brought out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.
- 1967 - The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is released; Don Dunstan becomes Premier of South Australia
- 1971 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, claiming to represent the majority of U.S. veterans who served in Southeast Asia, speak against war protests.
- 1974 - Flixborough disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant in Flixborough, UK, kills 28 people.
- 1978 - The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed.
- 1979 - The first black-led government of Rhodesia in 90 years takes power, ousting Ian Smith and changing the country's name to Zimbabwe.
- 1980 - The Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.
- 1990 - U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production and start destroying each of their nation's stockpiles.
- 2000 - The multilateral Patent Law Treaty (PLT) is signed.
- 2001 - Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal slaughters his family during a royal dinner. Diprenda was also shot, and was proclaimed king in his hospital bed, dying three days later.
- 2003 - The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the massive Three Gorges Dam, raising the water level near the dam over 100 metres.
- 2005 - The Dutch referendum on the European Constitution results in its rejection.

Births

- 1076 - Prince Mstislav of Kiev (d. 1132)
- 1265 - Dante Alighieri, Italian poet (d. 1321)
- 1300 - Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, son of Edward I of England (d. 1338)
- 1480 - Tiedemann Giese, Polish Catholic bishop (d. 1550)
- 1503 - Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (d. 1567)
- 1563 - Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English statesman and spymaster (d. 1612)
- 1633 - Geminiano Montanari, Italian astronomer (d. 1687)
- 1653 - Georg Muffat, French composer (d. 1704)
- 1675 - Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist (d. 1755)
- 1771 - Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (d. 1839)
- 1780 - Carl von Clausewitz, Prussian general (d. 1831)
- 1790 - Ferdinand Raimund, Austrian playwright (d. 1836)
- 1796 - Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French mathematician (d. 1832)
- 1801 - Brigham Young, Mormon church leader and American western settler (d. 1877)
- 1804 - Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (d. 1857)
- 1815 - Philip Kearny, American general (d. 1862)
- 1815 - King Otto of Greece (d. 1862)
- 1831 - John Bell Hood, American Confederate general (d. 1879)
- 1843 - Dr. Henry Faulds, Scottish fingerprinting pioneer (d. 1930)
- 1878 - John Masefield, English novelist and poet (d. 1967)
- 1881 - Charles Kay Ogden, English writer and linguist (d. 1957)
- 1890 - Frank Morgan, American actor (d. 1949)
- 1898 - Molly Picon, American actress (d. 1992)
- 1899 - Edward Charles Titchmarsh, English mathematician (d. 1963)
- 1901 - John Van Druten, English screen writer (d. 1957)
- 1915 - John Randolph, American actor (d. 2004)
- 1917 - William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1921 - Nelson Riddle, American orchestra leader and arranger (d. 1985)
- 1922 - Povel Ramel , Swedish musician
- 1924 - Dr. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., American clergyman
- 1926 - Andy Griffith, American actor
- 1926 - Marilyn Monroe, American actress (d. 1962)
- 1928 - Georgi Dobrovolski, cosmonaut
- 1928 - Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (d. 2003)
- 1930 - Edward Woodward, English actor
- 1933 - Charles Wilson, American politician
- 1934 - Pat Boone (Charles Eugene Boone), American singer
- 1936 - Gerald Scarfe, British cartoonist and illustrator
- 1937 - Morgan Freeman, American actor
- 1939 - Cleavon Little, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1939 - Jackie Stewart, British race car driver
- 1940 - René Auberjonois, American actor
- 1940 - Kip Thorne, American physicist
- 1945 - Frederica von Stade, American mezzo-soprano
- 1946 - Brian Cox, Scottish actor
- 1947 - Jonathan Pryce, British actor
- 1947 - Ron Wood, English guitarist, (Jeff Beck Group, The Faces, and The Rolling Stones)
- 1956 - Lisa Hartman American actress
- 1959 - Martin Brundle, British race car driver
- 1960 - Simon Gallup, English Bass guitarist, (The Cure)
- 1961 - Paul Coffey, Canadian hockey player
- 1964 - Mark Curry, American comedian and actor
- 1965 - Nigel Short, English chess player
- 1968 - Jason Donovan, Australian actor
- 1970 - Alexi Lalas, American football player
- 1973 - Adam Garcia, Australian actor
- 1973 - Heidi Klum, German model
- 1973 - Derek Lowe, American baseball player
- 1974 - Alanis Morissette, Canadian singer
- 1977 - Danielle Harris, American voice actress
- 1980 - Oliver James, British actor
- 1981 - Carlos Zambrano, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- 1982 - Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgian tennis player

Deaths

- 195 BC - Gaozu of Han of China
- 193 - Marcus Severus Didius Julianus, Roman Emperor (b.133)
- 1434 - King Wladislaus II of Poland
- 1571 - John Story, English Catholic (martyred)
- 1625 - Honoré d'Urfé, French writer (b. 1568)
- 1639 - Melchior Franck, German composer
- 1660 - Mary Dyer, English Quaker (hanged)
- 1710 - David Mitchell, British admiral (b. 1642)
- 1740 - Samuel Werenfels, Swiss theologian (b. 1657)
- 1769 - Edward Holyoke, American President of Harvard University (b. 1689)
- 1795 - Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon (b. 1744)
- 1815 - Louis Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (b. 1853)
- 1823 - Louis Nicolas Davout, French marshal (b. 1770)
- 1826 - Jean Frédéric Oberlin, Alsatian pastor and philantropist (b. 1740)
- 1841 - David Wilkie, Scottish artist (b. 1785)
- 1846 - Pope Gregory XVI (b. 1765)
- 1868 - James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States (b. 1791)
- 1873 - Joseph Howe, Canadian politican (b. 1804)
- 1876 - Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1848)
- 1927 - J. B. Bury, Irish historian (b. 1861)
- 1941 - Hans Berger, German neuroscientist (b. 1873)
- 1943 - Leslie Howard, English actor (b. 1893)
- 1946 - Ion Antonescu, Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1882)
- 1948 - Sonny Boy Williamson I, American musician (b. 1914)
- 1954 - Martin Andersen Nexø, Danish writer (b. 1869)
- 1959 - Sax Rohmer, English author (b. 1883)
- 1960 - Lester Patrick, hockey star (b. 1883)
- 1966 - Papa Jack Laine, American musician (b. 1873)
- 1968 - Helen Keller, American humanitarian (b. 1880)
- 1969 - Ivar Ballangrud, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1904)
- 1971 - Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologist (b. 1892)
- 1979 - Werner Forssmann, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1904)
- 1980 - Rube Marquard, baseball player (b. 1886)
- 1981 - Carl Vinson, U.S. Congressman (b. 1883)
- 1994 - Frances Heflin, American actress (b. 1923)
- 1998 - Darwin Joston, American actor (b. 1937)
- 1999 - Christopher Sydney Cockerell, British engineer and inventor (b. 1910)
- 2001 - Queen Aiswarya of Nepal (shot) (b. 1949)
- 2001 - King Birendra of Nepal (assassinated) (b. 1945)
- 2001 - Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (b. 1920)
- 2002 - Hansie Cronje, South African cricketer (b. 1969)
- 2004 - William Manchester, American writer (b. 1922)
- 2005 - George Mikan, American basketball player (b. 1924)

Holidays and observances

- Children's Day in some countries
- Commemoration of Justin Martyr (Anglican)
- Kenya Madaraka Day 1963
- Nirvana of Buddhists
- Roman Empire - Festival in honour of Carna
- Samoa - Independence Day 1962
- Tunisia - Constitution Day / Victory Day 1959
- Hannah Day (Ethiopia)

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/1 BBC: On This Day] ---- May 31 - June 2 - May 1 - July 1 – listing of all days ko:6월 1일 ms:1 Jun ja:6月1日 simple:June 1 th:1 มิถุนายน

June 1

June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining.

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links

152 (number)

152 (one hundred and fifty-two) is the natural number following 151 and preceding 153.


Cardinal	One hundred [and] fifty-two
Ordinal	152nd
Factorization	$2^3\cdot 19$
Roman numeral	CLII
Binary	10011000
Hexadecimal	98

This number is the sum of four consecutive primes (31 + 37 + 41 + 43). It is a Harshad number. It is a nontotient since there is no integer with 152 coprimes below it.
- In aviation, and in particular in the aviation-frequency radio exchange (pronounced as one-fifty-two), the number 152 is associated with Cessna 152. For the year, see 152 AD. Category:Integers ko:152

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

Marcus Didius

Marcus Severus Didius Julianus (133–193) was emperor of the Roman Empire from 28 March until 1 June 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax. This incited the Roman Civil War of 193-197. Julianus was ousted and sentenced to death by his successor, Septimius Severus. Julianus was born to Quintus Petronius Didius Julianus and Aemilia Clara, a noble family from Milan. His date of birth is given as January 30, 133 by Cassius Dio and February 2, 137 by the Historia Augusta. Didius Julianus was raised by Domitia Lucilla, the mother of Marcus Aurelius. He was consul in 175. After the murder of his predecessor, Pertinax, the throne was sold by auction by the Praetorian Guard. Didius Julianus offered every soldier 25,000 sestertii, outbidding City Prefect Titus Flavius Sulpicianus. Threatened by the military, the Senate declared him emperor. His wife, Manlia Scantilla, and his daughter, Didia Clara, both received the title Augusta. The auction proved highly unpopular, and three generals in different parts of the empire (Pescennius Niger in Syria, Clodius Albinus in Britain, and Septimius Severus in Pannonia) wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation by rising in rebellion. Septimius Severus marched on Rome, ousted Didius Julianus and had him decapitated. He dismissed the Praetorian Guard and executed the soldiers who had killed Pertinax.

External links

- [http://www.livius.org/di-dn/didius/julianus.html livius.org account]
- [http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/didius_julianus/i.html coinage of Didius Julianus]
- http://www.roman-emperors.org/didjul.htm
- http://myron.sjsu.edu/romeweb/EMPCONT/e085.htm Didus Julianus, Marcus Didus Julianus, Marcus Category:Executed Roman emperors Category:Roman emperors ko:디디우스 율리아누스

Assassin

, 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 U.S. history was President Abraham Lincoln. Three other U.S. Presidents have been assassinated: James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. An assassination plot against Jefferson Davis, known as the Dahlgren Affair, may have been initiated during the American Civil War. In Europe the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered World War I. However, the 20th century likely marks the first time nation-states began training assassins to be specifically used against so-called enemies of the state. During World War II, for example, MI6 trained a group of Czechoslovakian operatives to kill the Nazi general Reinhard Heydrich (who did later perish by their efforts - see Operation Anthropoid), and repeated attempts were made by both the British MI6, the American Office of Strategic Services (later the Central Intelligence Agency) and the Soviet SMERSH to kill Adolf Hitler. The Cold War saw a dramatic increase in the number of political assassinations, likely in large part due to the ideological polarization of most of the First and Second worlds, whose adherents were more than willing to both justify and finance such killings. During the Kennedy era Fidel Castro narrowly escaped death on several occasions at the hands of the CIA (a function of the agency's "executive action" program) and CIA-backed rebels (there are accounts that exploding clams and poisoned shoes were employed); some allege that Salvador Allende of Chile was another example, though specific proof is lacking. At the same time, the KGB made creative use of assassination to deal with high-profile defectors such as Georgi Markov, and Israel's Mossad made use of such tactics to eliminate Palestinian guerrillas, politicians and revolutionaries, though some Israelis argue that the targeted often crossed the line between one or another or were even all three. Most major powers were not long in repudiating such tactics, for example during the presidency of Gerald Ford in the United States in 1976 (Executive Order 12333). Many allege, however, that this is merely a smoke screen for political and moral benefit and that the covert and illegal training of assassins by major intelligence agencies continue, such as at the School of the Americas run by the United States. In fact, the debate over the use of such tactics is not closed by any means; many accuse Russia of continuing to practice it in Chechnya and against Chechens abroad, as well as Israel in Palestine and against Palestinians abroad (as well as those Mossad deems a threat to Israeli national security, as in the aftermath of the Munich Massacre) and Palestinians and other Arab nations against Jews in Israel and abroad. Proponents of assassination as a political tool point out that it can be a very effective and inexpensive way to prevent loss of life. Opponents of assassination bring up a number of objections. The first is that assassination is essentially the death penalty stripped of the normal judicial safeguards that limit its use. Second, opponents of assassination question its effectiveness. Most conventional military and political organizations are robust so that the death of the leader would not cause them to collapse. Furthermore, using assassination against a terrorist or guerilla organization may result in the complete elimination of the known leaders of that organization, but create a set of unknown leaders who cannot then be located. Finally, assassination makes a negotiation of surrender impossible. Near the end of World War II, for example, Allied forces made specific efforts not to target the political and military leadership of the Axis Powers specifically so that there would be someone to authorize a surrender.

Assassination for money

Individually, too, people have often found reasons to arrange the deaths of others through paid intermediaries. One who kills with no political motive or group loyalty who kills only for money is known as a hitman or contract killer. Note that by the definition accepted above, while such a killer is not, strictly speaking, an assassin, if the killing is ordered and financed towards a political end, then that killing must rightly be termed an assassination, and the hitman an assassin by extension (in the same way that a Manchurian Candidate-style killer would be an assassin because, though they have been brainwashed to kill and have therefore no political aims, those that brainwashed them do have such aims, and if the killing can be termed an assassination, the killer must be an assassin). Entire organizations have sometimes specialized in assassination as one of their services, to be gained for the right price. Besides the original hashshashin, the ninja clans of Japan were rumored to perform assassinations — though it can be pointed out that most of what was ever known about the ninja was rumor and hearsay. In the United States, Murder Incorporated, an organization partnered to the Mafia, was formed for the sole purpose of performing assassinations for organized crime. In Russia, the vory (thieves), their version of the Mafia, are often known to provide assassinations for the right price, as well as engaging in it themselves for their own purposes.

Assassination as military doctrine

While assassination for military purposes has long been espoused — Sun Tzu argued for such in The Art of War, as did Machiavelli in his The Prince — many modern analysts hold the belief that today such a system would not be of any significant use in a strategic way. In medieval times, for instance, an army and even a nation might be based upon and around a particularly strong, canny or charismatic leader, whose loss could paralyze the ability of both to make war. However, in modern warfare a soldier's mindset is generally considered to surround ideals far more than specific leaders. Theoretically, while the death of a soldier's leader would (and does) have a detrimental effect on morale, the comfort of the cause for which they fight is far more sustainable than such supposedly-transitive loyalty to a single person. Also, assassinating a military leader runs the risk of eliminating a later advocate of peace, as many would argue that military leaders, seeing the face of warfare and bearing a clearer sense of the war effort's effects, have more sagacity on the subject. There is the risk that the target may be an incompetent and could be replaced by a more competent leader. Not only that, but worse, there is a high chance such a killing will be treated as not only reinforcing evidence of the opponents' moral bankruptcy, but also "martyr" the leader, increasing their charisma posthumously and rallying still others to an enemy cause and hardening the enemies' resolve to fight — and resist entreaties to peace (indeed, the death in battle of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, while not an assassination, led directly to the Catholic defeat at Lützen as the infuriated Swedes rallied behind their fallen leader). Such an effect can be extremely detrimental to a group or state, but supporters might argue in return that when faced with a particularly brilliant leader, there is no choice but to take the chance and, essentially, hope for a more mediocre successor (one might use the example of the many attempts to kill the Athenian Alcibiades during the Peloponnesian War, the American shooting down of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto during World War II, or arguably Henri IV of France). Also, they might note that in a time-sensitive situation, such a killing could be useful if only to briefly buy time for a more permanent and effective plan to be set into motion or stall an army as reinforcements rush to the area. There are a number of examples from World War II, the last total war, which show how assassination can be used as an effective military tool both at a tactical and strategic level. The American's perception that Skorzeny's commandos were trying to assassinate Eisenhower during the Battle of the Bulge shows that military assassination, or the threat of it, if well timed can be a very effective tactical move. In an interview with the New York Times Skorzeny denied that he had ever intended to assassinate Eisenhower and could prove it. (page 155, Commando Extraordinary, by Charles Foley). There is also a mention in the same book (Page 35) of a British commando raid to "capture" Rommel. If he had been removed from the board, then that might well have had strategic effects. The British, too, decided not to try to assassinate Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr (German military intelligence), because to do so might have improved the service.

Moral issues

Moral equivalence is also important when examining the use of assassination. Opponents of what one American officer called "trial, judgment and execution by intelligence" argue that no state deliberately training, hiring, sanctioning or harbouring an assassin could hope to justify it in such a way that would satisfy its allies and neighbours, much less the affected countries (even though many might use the tactic themselves). In democracies this issue is particularly crucial; much of the impetus for engaging in military action in such states is the motivation of perceived righteousness fighting a brutal enemy, an opinion that is undermined if one's nation is actively and openly engaged in killings outside the laws of war. Many would argue that the negative morale effects alone would outweigh any possible benefits. Therefore a severe injustice is done if a self-proclaimed democracy calls another authority names and mount assassination plots. Supporters of assassination as a policy reply, however, that often the killing of one problematic figure can spare countless lives and years — or even decades — of warfare. An example often cited is the question of what might have come to pass had Adolf Hitler been assassinated in 1935. Countless millions, the argument goes, would have been spared had only such intervention been taken. However, it could be argued that Adolf Hitler was just one man in a Nazi Party of hundreds, and his successor may be just as brutal (not to mention vengeful). Furthermore, it can be argued that this logic would not only justify killing Hitler in 1935 but also killing Adolf in his crib as an innocent infant. However, the widespread attention paid to deeds by those branded as "dictators" such as Saddam Hussein and Idi Amin is seen by many as another persuasive argument towards the necessity of eliminating such individuals. The increasing spectre of terrorism, too, often leads many to question why, if it is "kill or be killed", there should be any delay in taking such action (an opponent would likely be quick to reply, however, that such an action alone leads to the loss of moral equivalence, proving their above argument, although a likely counter could be that moral equivalence is of little use to either a terrorist or one of their dead victims). Others point out that this point of view may create a dangerous slippery slope, to a point where assassination may be advocated, not to save millions of lives, but in order to merely accomplish a self-interested political or economic goal. For an example of this sort of possible over-reaching, see Pat Robertson's comments concerning his advocacy of the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.

Techniques

It's entirely likely that the first strategy used by a political or religious killer was a remarkably simple one: find the leader and stab or bludgeon them to death with whatever weapons were available. This would likely have occurred only in close-knit groups where security was not thought needed, such as amongst nomadic or early sedentary peoples in Mesopotamia where disagreements would be solved with vigilantism (however it's important to note that information from this far back is very sketchy and debatable in nature). As civilization took root, however, any leaders in groups began to have more and more a position of importance, and they would become more detached from the groups they ruled. For the first time, subterfuge would become a major factor in engaging in assassination. From ancient times, then, through to the medieval period, as the rate of technology was slow so, too, would be the changes in assassins' tactics. Infiltration was now the name of the game, and commonly a would-be killer would attempt to gain access to an official or person's guard or staff and utilize a variety of methods for exterminating them, be it the same close-contact stabbing or smothering or a more advanced method, such as using poison to induce death. This, however, must be distinguished from efforts by a person or group to remove a person in order to replace them in the power structure; for more on this, see coup d'état. With the advent of gunpowder and far more effective ranged weaponry, however, bodyguards were no longer enough to hold back determined killers, who no longer needed to directly engage or even subvert the guard to kill the leader in question; it could be done from a great distance in a crowded square or even at a church, as with the Pazzi Conspiracy, for example. Often, muskets or rifles might be used to take down a leader from a rooftop, at greater distance, dramatically increasing the chances for survival of an assassin. Also, explosives became increasingly en vogue for deeds requiring a larger touch; for an example of this, see the article on the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament on the s