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incidents
This page highlights the assassination of political and
other figures, illustrating that the phenomenon is not
uniquely modern, tied to religious belief or restricted
to action by groups.
It covers -
Context
is provided by the broader media, business and technology
timeline.
pre-industrial
1582 attempted assassination of William of Orange, who
becomes William the Silent
1583 attempt on life of English Queen Elizabeth I
1586 'Babington Plot' against Elizabeth I
1584 William the Silent dies after stabbing in the Netherlands
1588 French Duke Henri de Guise (1549-1588) stabbed at
Blois
1589 French King Henri III dies after stabbing by Jacques
Clément
1605 Guy Fawkes fails to blow up Houses of Parliament
in London
1610 French King Henri IV dies after stabbing by François
Ravaillac
1757 Robert-François Damiens stabs French King
Louis XV (1710-1774) with penknife
1758 failed murder of King José I of Portugal (1714-1777)
ends with public execution of Távora family, burning
of priest Gabriel Malagrida and expulsion of Jesuits
1786 Margaret Nicholson tries to stab UK King George III
1792 Swedish King Gustav III (1746-1792) dies after shooting
by Jacob Anckarström at costume ball
1793 Charlotte Corday stabs Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793)
1800 attempt to blow up Napoleon Bonaparte in the Rue
Saint-Nicaise, Paris, on Christmas Eve - 52 bystanders
killed or wounded
1800 General Kléber, French governor of Egyt, stabbed
by Suleiman El-Halabi
1800 James Hadfield fires pistol at UK King George III
and Queen Charlotte in Drury Lane Theatre, London
1801 Russian Tsar Paul I (1754-1801) smothered by entourage
1804 'Cadoudal Plot' to kill or kidnap Napoleon
1812 UK Prime Minister Spencer Perceval (1762-1812) dies
after shooting by John Bellingham
1820 Charles Ferdinand, Duc de Berry (1778-1820) dies
after shooting outside Paris Opera by Bonapartist Louis-Pierre
Louvel
1835 Giuseppe Fieschi's 'machine-rifle' misses French
King Louis-Philippe but kills 18 bystanders
1835 Richard Lawrence fails in attempt on life of US President
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) at the Capitol Building, Washington
1840 Edward Oxford fires two shots at UK Queen Victoria
(1819-1901) and Prince Albert
1842 John Francis and John Bean make separate attempts
on life of UK Queen Victoria
bombs and railways
1849 attempted assassination of Queen Victoria by William
Hamilton
1850 attempted assassination of Queen Victoria
1855 attempt on life of Napoleon III
1858 Felice Orsini fails to kill Napoleon III through
bombing in Rue Le Peletier, Paris
1861 attempt on life of Queen Amalia of Greece
1865 US President Abraham Lincoln dies after shooting
by John Wilkes Booth
1866 attempt on life of Russian Tsar Alexander II
1868 Thomas D'Arcy McGee shot in Ottawa
1869 Fenian activist O'Farrell fails to assassinate Duke
of Edinburgh (1844-1900) at Clontarf in NSW
1870 General Juan Prim, Marquis of los Castillejos (1814-1870)
shot while leaving Cortes
1872 attempted assassination of UK Queen Victoria
1873 attempt on life of Russian Tsar Alexander II (1818-1881)
1878 Juan Oliva Moncasi fires at Spanish King Alfonso
XII (1857- 1885) in Madrid
1878 anarchists Holding and Nobiling make separate attempts
on life of Kaiser Wilhelm I
1878 Giovanni Passanante stabs Italian King Umberto I
(1844-1900)
1878 Russian Minister Nikolay Vladimirovich Mezentsev
(1827-1878) shot by Ivan Kravchinsky
1879 Otero fires at Alfonso XII and Queen Maria Christina
on honeymoon
1879 Alexander Soloviev fires at Russian Tsar Alexander
II (1818-1881)
1879 Narodnaya Volya fails to kill Alexander II by bombs
under train and in Winter Palace
1880 US President James Garfield (1831-1881) dies after
shooting by Charles Guiteau
1881 Russian Tsar Alexander II blown up in St Peterburg
street by Ignacy Hryniewiecki
the age of anxiety
1882 Roderick Maclean fires at Queen Victoria while leaving
Windsor railway station
1882 stabbing of Chief Secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick
Cavendish (18836-1882) and Permanent Under Secretary Thomas
Henry Burke (1829-1882) in Phoenix Park, Dublin
1892 US magnate Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) shot by anarchist
Alexander Berkman
1894 French President Marie François Sadi Carnot
stabbed by Italian anarchist Sante Caserio in Lyon
1895 Japanese agents kill Korean Queen Myongsong (1851-1895)
1895 Bulgarian politician Stefan Stambolov (1854-1895)
killed in Sofia
1897 Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del
Castillo (1828-1897) shot dead by Italian anarchist Michele
Angiolillo
1898 Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary dies after stabbing
in Geneva by anarchist Luigi Lucheni
1898 International Anti-Anarchist Conference
1900 US Governor William Goebel (1856-1900) shot
by Kentucky Secretary of State Caleb Powers
1901 US President William McKinley (1843-1901) dies after
shooting by anarchist Leon Czolgosz
1901 US emigre Gaetano Bresci assassinates Italian King
Umberto I
1902 Russian Interior Minister Dmitry Sipyagin (1853-1902)
assassinated by Socialist-Revolutionary Stepan Balmashyov
1903 nationalists assassinate Serbian King Alexander I
(1876-1903) and Queen Draga
1904 Russian Interior Minister Vyacheslav Plehve (1846-1904)
killed when Yegor Sozonov throws bomb into his carriage
1904 Russian Governor-General of Finland Nikolai Bobrikov
(1839-1904) shot by Eugen Schauman
1905 Russian Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857-1905)
killed in the Kremlin by Socialist-Revolutionary Ivan
Kalyayev
1905 failed bombing of French President Émile François
Loubet (1838-1929) and Spanish King Alfonso XIII (1886-1941)
1906 failed bombing of Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria
Eugénie after wedding ceremony in Madrid
1908 assassination of Portuguese King Carlos I (1863-1908)
and crown prince Luis Filipe in the Terreiro do Paco square,
Lisbon
1909 Japanese leader Ito Hirobumi (1841-1909) shot in
Manchuria
1910 Egyptian Prime Minister Butros Ghali Pasha shot
1911 Russian reformer Pyotr Stolypin (1862-1911) shot
by Dmitri Bogrov in Kiev Opera House
1912 Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III (1869-1947) injured
during assassination attempt
1912 John Schrank wounds US presidential candidate Theodore
Roosevelt (1858-1919)
1912 Spanish Prime Minister José Canalejas y Méndez
(1854-1912) killed
1912 unsuccessful attempt to blow up Indian Viceroy Lord
Harding (1858-1944) in New Delhi
1913 King George I of Greece (1845-1913) shot by Alexander
Schinas while talking a walk in Thessaloniki
1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary shot
in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip
1914 French socialist leader Jean Jaurès (1859-1914)
shot
1916 Austrian Minister-President Karl von Stürgkh
(1859-1916) shot by Friedrich Adler
1918 shooting of Hungarian politician Count István
Tisza (1861-1918)
1919 shooting of German politician Kurt Eisner
1921 shooting of German politician Matthias Erzberger
(1875-1921)
1921 former Ottoman Grand Vizier Mehmed Talat Pasha (1872-1921)
shot in Berlin by Soghomon Tehlirian
1921 Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato Iradier (1856-1921)
shot outside parliament
1922 Ernst Tandefelt shoots Finnish Minister of Internal
Affairs Heikki Ritavuori (1880-1922) in Helsinki
1922 shooting of German Foreign Minister Walter Rathenau
(1867-1922)
1922 attempt on life of German politician Philipp Scheidemann
(1865-1939)
1922 Gustave Bouvet fails to assassinate French Alexandre
Millerand (1859-1943)
1922 UK MP Sir Henry Wilson (1864-1922) shot in London
by IRA
1923 anarchist attempts to kill Japanese Emperor Hirohito
1923 Czechoslovak Finance Minister Alois Rasin (1867-1923)
shot by anarchist Josef Soupal
1924 assassination of Italian socialist Giacomo Matteotti
(1885-1924)
1924 Sudan Governor-General Sir Lee Stack (1868-1924)
shot in Cairo
1926 attempt on life of Spanish dictator Primo de Rivera
(1870-1930) in Barcelona
1926 attempt on life of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)
1926 Ukrainian politician Symon Petlyura (1879-1926) shot
in Paris by Sholom Schwartzbard
1928 Chinese warlord Chang Tso-Lin (1873-1928) killed
by mine
1928 Mexican President General Álvaro Obregón
Salido (1880-1928) shot by José de León
Toral
1930 Japanese Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi wounded
by Sagoya Tomeo
1932 French President Paul Doumer (1857-1932) assassinated
at Paris bookfair by Russian emigre Paul Gorguloff
1932 Mitsui magnate Dan Takuma (1858-1932) shot in Tokyo
by Hishinuma Goro
1932 Japanese Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai (1855-1932)
shot in official residence
1933 Zionist leader Chaim Arlozorov murdered in Palestine
1933 Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak (1873-1933) shot in Miami
by Giuseppe Zangara during attack on Franklin D Roosevelt
1934 Yugoslav King Alexander I (1888-1934) and French
Foreign Minister Louis Barthou (1862-1934) shot in Marseilles
by Vlada Georgieff
1934 Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss (1892-1934)
shot in Chancellery
1935 US Senator Huey Long (1893-1935) shot by Carl Weiss
1936 former Japanese Prime Minister Saito assassinated
1936 former Japanese Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo
(1854-1936) shot
1936 Swizz Nazi leader Wilhelm Gustloff (1895-1936) shot
1939 Johann Georg Elser succeeds in killing and wounding
73 people but misses Adolf Hitler
1940 Communist leader Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) dies after
stabbing by Stalinist Ramon Mercader
1944 Stern Gang assassinates UK Minister Resident in the
Middle East Lord Moyne (1880-1944) in Cairo
1944 Claus von Stauffenberg fails to blow up Adolf Hitler
at Rastenburg
1947 Burmese politician Aung San (1915-1947) shot in Cabinet
meeting
1948 Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) shot by fundamentalist
Nathuram Godse
1948 UN Delegate Count Folke Bernadotte dies after shooting
1950 Oscar Collazo and Girsel Torresola attempt to assassinate
US President Harry Truman
1951 King Abdullah of Jordan shot while visiting the al-Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem
1951 Liaquat Ali Khan (1896-1951), first Prime Minister
of Pakistan, shot during rally
1956 Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza García
(1896-1956) shot
infamous for 15 seconds
1959 Central African Republic President Barthelemy Boganda
killed by bomb on plane
1959 Sri Lankan Prime Minister Solomon Dias Bandaranaike
(1899-1959) shot
1960 Japanese Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma (1898-1960)
stabbed to death at political rally
1962 Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry of OAS fails to assassinate
Charles de Gaulle at Petit-Clamart
1963 US President John F Kennedy shot in Texas
1964 US civil rights leader Martin Luther King shot in
Miami
1965 Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) shot in New
York auditorium
1966 South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd (1901-1966)
shot by gunman in Parliament
1966 Peter Kocan attempts to assassinate Australian politician
Arthur Calwell
1968 US presidential candidate Robert Kennedy shot by
Sirhan Sirhan in California
1969 Mozambique guerrilla leader Eduardo Mondlane killed
by letter bomb
1969 Somalian President Abdirashid Shermarke (1919-1969)
assassinated
1969 Kenyan Foreign Minister Tom Mboya shot by gunman
1970 Canadian politician Pierre Laporte (1921-1970) strangled
by members of the Front de Libération du Québec
1972 US presidential candidate George Wallace shot and
paralyzed
1973 Spanish Prime Minister Carreo Blanco (1903-1973)
blown up by mine
1975 Saudi King Faisal shot by nephew Prince Faisal Ibn
Musaed
1975 Lynette Fromme draws revolver on US President Gerald
Ford
1975 Sara Moore fires revolver at US President Ford
1976 car bomb kills former Chilean ambassador Orlando
Letelier (1932-1976) in Washington DC
1977 Ugandan Anglican archbishop Janani Luwum and cabinet
minister Wilson Oryema killed in staged car accident
1977 Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt shot in central
Lebanon.
1978 Lebanese politician Tony Franjiya shot at his home
in Ehden, north Lebanon
1979 Raymond Harvey foiled in plot to shoot US President
Jimmy Carter
1979 South Korean President Park Chung Hee (1917-1979)
shot
politics by other means
1979 Earl Mountbatten (1900-1979) killed by bomb in his
boat on Donegal Bay
1979 UK MP Airey Neave (1916-1989) killed by car bomb
1980 Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980) shot in cathedral
1981 Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat (1918-1981) shot
at military parade in Cairo
1981 John Hinckley Jr. fires six shots at US President
Ronald Reagan
1981 Pope John Paul II shot by Mehmet Ali Agca
1982 Lebanese President-Elect Bashir Gemayel (1947-1982)
killed via bomb
1982 South African activist Ruth First (1925-1982) killed
by parcel bomb from BOSS
1983 Philippines politician Benigno Aquino Jr (1932-1983)
shot at Manila airport
1984 Indian Prime Minister Indhira Gandhi (1917-1984)
shot at residence
1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme (1927-1986) shot
leaving Stockholm cinema
1987 Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami (1921-1987)
killed by bomb in army helicopter
1988 Pakistan President Zia ul Haq (1924-1988) killed
in bomb explosion on plane
1989 Sunni Grand Mufti Shaikh Hasan Khalid (1921-1989)
killed by car bomb in Beirut
1989 Lebanese President Rene Muawad killed in bomb explosion
in Beirut
1990 UK MP Ian Gow (1937-1990) killed by Provisional
IRA carbomb
1991 former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991)
assassinated by Tamil Tigers
1991 former Iranian Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar (1914-1991)
stabbed to death in Paris
1992 Algerian President Muhammad Boudiaf (1919-1992) shot
by boduguard
1993 African National Congress Secretary General Chris
Hani (1942-1993) shot by Janusz Walus
1994 Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio
(1950-1994) shot at rally
1994 Frank Corder crashes light aircraft into US White
House grounds
1994 Francisco Duran fires at US White House
1994 NSW politician John Newman shot
1994 Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira (1955-1994)
and Rwandan President Juvenal Habriarimana killed by missile
attack on plane
1995 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1922-1995)
shot at peace rally
1995 failed assassination attempt on Spanish King Juan
Carlos
1998 Burundi Defence minister Firmin Sinzoyiheba killed
by bomb on helicopter
2000 Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent-Désiré
Kabila (1939-2001) shot by bodyguard
2002 Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn (1948-2002) assassinated
by animal-rights extremist in Hilversum
2003 Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic (1952-2003)
shot in Belgrade
2005 car bomb kills former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq
al-Hariri (1944-2005) in Beirut
2005 Sri Lankan former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar
(1932-2005) killed in Colombo
2006 Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko poisoned in
London
2007 car bomb kills Lebanese officer Major General Francois
al-Hajj
2007 bomb kills Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Resha in Iraq
2007 former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007)
blown up in Rawalpindi
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