Crj 441 Homeland Defense: History Of Terrorism

The word ‘terrorism’ can be traced back to the French Revolution and the reign of terror committed against the population of France in the 1790s. During this time, thousands of people were killed and the general population was severely oppressed. Also, some of the first instances of terrorist tactics, such as assassination and intimidation, were witnessed in the killing of prominent officials and other opponents of the Revolution. In general, terrorists aim to incite fear in the population through pre-meditated violent acts and gain publicity as a medium in achieving their goals. Such acts include taking hostages, bombings and assassinations, all of which create fear and compliance in a victim or audience. Terrorism can be distinguished from other types of political violence through its disregard for and intentional harming of innocent civilians. Also, terrorists usually adopt a state of mind where one side is always good and any opposition is bad and deserves to be punished. As a result, terrorists will always have some supporters who share the same radical thoughts as them and thus terrorism, as a whole, will always be accepted as a legitimate use of violence. This is the reasoning behind the famous phrase by Gerald Seymour, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”(QUOTE

Terrorism is an act that threatens or carries out violence with the intention to disrupt, kill or coerce against a body or nation in order to impose will. This means that a lot of groups use this method to get what they want. The groups use a variety of methods, groups such as:

International terrorism aspires to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a government, or affect the conduct of a government and transcend national

The term terrorism is used widely in present day especially in the United States. Terrorism is a double standard, the people who commit those terrorist acts, commit the acts out of beliefs and in their eyes ok. Terrorism can be described as the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective by targeting innocent people (Laqueur, 1987). To me the definition mention above is a great definition to describe terrorism as a crime. To aim for innocent people to prove a point which lead major injuries or death in most cases is to most people would be a crime, no questions asked. According to Martha Crenshaw (1995), “Terrorism cannot be defined unless the act, target and possibility of success are analyzed”. So to think, terrorist are people who commit these acts as a way to get their political or religious point across. If we look at the some of the most famous terrorist acts they are automatically labeled crimes. 9/11 was a crime because the persons affiliated with the act, targeted the

International terrorism aspire to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a

The perpetrators of terrorism have changed over time. Domestic terrorism has its roots in the United States going back to the Colonial Era, where some argue that patriots such as in the Boston Tea Party used terror tactics to spread their message (Zalman, 2015). Many argue that the acts patriots took were

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines terrorism as the use of violence, or threatened use of violence, in order to achieve a political or religious goal. Terrorism is committed by groups that view themselves as victimized by a historical wrong. These groups of people will most likely have no formal connection to the government. Terrorism comes from the Reign of Terror initiated by Maximilen Robespierre during the French Revolution. The beginning of terrorism goes all the way back to the first

Now, looking back at the Gunpowder Plot it can be stated that it fits the definition on each point that Symeonidou-Kastanidou (2004) brings about. They were a group of thirteen skilled man, who planned an attack on parliament. Attack was planned over the certain period of time, they had finance and equipment (thirty-six barrels of gunpowder, fuse and a fire) to carry out an attack. Equipped with religious grievances and the intention to kill the King and members of the parliament (symbolic place, that is where all the mischief happened according to Catesby). Death of the king would have had brought change of the regime from the Protestant rule to the Catholic reign or created social dissatisfaction and condemnation (Fraser, 1996). Schmid (1992 cited in Lutz and Lutz, 2013) states that for an assassination to be an act of terrorism, it must involve not only an assassin and its victim but also a wider society, that in case of the

Terrorism has been around since at least the First Century. Terrorism is a crime in which people or groups of people use, or say they will use, violence in order to get what they want from the government or society. A terrorist is a person who uses violence and fear to achieve political

The second Part of Jonathan R. White’s ninth edition Terrorism and Homeland Security deals with the national and ethnic movements of international terrorism, their emergence as well as well as motifs. Ideological terrorist and ethnic separatists are hard to differentiate since they use the same procedures and tactics to get their demands. Although both fall under the definition of terrorism, there is a difference in the definition of their goals and demands. While separatists have defined, achievable goal, religious terrorists have a nihilistic ideology that are from a rational point of view not feasible. Therefore, it is impossible for satisfactorily negotiation

Due to its changing nature and different political viewpoints, terrorism is hard to define. Most definitions tend to include some form of fear created through an act of violence. While violence is the tactic, the goal is fear which will serve to create a desired change as a result. However, this definition has not always been appropriate for terrorism. Take for instance the words of Edmund Burke, a British philosopher, who described the situation in France in the 18th century French Revolution as a “Reign of Terror,” (White, Jonathan. 2013. "Defining Terrorism in Modern History." In Terrorism and Homeland Security 3-27, Wadsworth Centage Learning pp 7). In this time period terrorism was a word of the people in describing the brutal tactics of the government which were meant to keep the people in line. Because one time period is looking at

The Central Intelligence Agency defines terrorism as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents” (CIA). This term was specifically created to differentiate terrorism between other acts of violence. These doings of terrorism are not just any act but are specific acts of violence. A dominant reason behind terrorism tends to fall upon religious beliefs and culture ties.

Terrorism has been a part of the history in the world for centuries. Although the definition of terrorism has developed throughout time, many threats and events are described as terrorism. There have been several waves of terrorism, according to David Rapoport (Weinberg, Eubank 2014). These waves showed different goals and outcomes of the terrorist groups during a certain time period. The earliest forms of terrorism were considered assassinations in attempts to change political power. During the eleventh century, the Sicaril and Hashshashin were terrorist of that time because of their attempts at assassinations and kidnappings.

Acts of terrorism are typically political oriented and ideologically motivated, ranging from specific goals expressed in terms of the might of political nation-states to more general purposes connected to the dilemma of certain people and groups. Therefore, terrorism can result from demands made by ethnic groups to receive representation in an existing political community or have its own state be formed, while terrorism can also be part of ideological fights for the acknowledgment of diminished expressions of ideas and ways of life. Because of the essentially political ideological objectives of terrorism, the fundamental ideas of terrorism are important to consider as the inspiring forces that fuel terrorist groups and individuals.

In order to determine whether an action is a terrorist act or not, terrorism must first be defined. Terrorism is the use or threatening the use of violence as a weapon to influence a person or a group of people to change policies or influence decisions according to the terrorist’s desires. The terrorist can be a single person acting on personal wishes or a group of people with an ultimate goal. The goals of a terrorist are normally political, ideological, or religious in nature.