Hipparchus, hereditary Tyrant, or dictator of Athens, is assassinated. His brother Hippias continues to rule the city, but responds to the assassination by repealing the reforms of their father Peisistratus.
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-323 Murders in Macedon
Alexander the Great dies without an heir. Olympias, mother of Alexander and wife of the late Philip II, organizes the assassination of Philip II's illegitimate son, who calls himself Philip III and claims kingship. Olympias is more subtle when dealing with Philip III's wife Eurydice; she sends Eurydice a knife, a rope, and a cup of poison. Eurydice hangs herself with her own belt. Olympias, who is suspected of having aided her husband Philip's assassination, gives the kingdom over to her grandson.
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-133 Slaughter of the Gracchi
Four centuries of Roman political life free from assassination ends with the death of Tiberius Gracchus. The popular Tribune and roughly 300 of his supporters are beaten to death by Senators and their supporters shortly after Gracchus announces his intention to run for re-election. Gracchus had earned the loyalty of many Romans, and the enmity of the Senate, by the high-handed methods used to grant squatters' rights to 300-acre plots of land in the newly conquered territories.
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-44 Brutus Assassinates Caesar
Marcus Junius Brutus joins in the conspiracy to murder Julius Caesar, reputedly the lover of Brutus' mother, Servilia. As quaestor, praetor, and governor, Brutus has always enjoyed Caesar's confidence and favored treatment. But Brutus, descended from a founder of the Roman Republic, fears Caesar will make himself a king. Brutus' plan to save the Republic by assassinating Caesar will backfire: the assassination leads to a protracted civil war which ends with Caesar's heir, Octavian, proclaiming himself emperor.
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-44 Assassination of Caesar
Fearing that Julius Caesar will become a king, Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus gather other conspirators and stab Caesar to death in the Forum. The assassination completely divides the ruling class of the Roman republic. In the ensuing civil war, Marc Antony and Caesar's adopted son, Octavian, defeat Cassius and Brutus, who both commit suicide. Octavian becomes the Emperor Augustus, and the Roman republic becomes an empire.
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193 Assassination of Pertinax
A small group of soldiers assassinate Roman Emperor Publius Helvius Pertinax. Pertinax has only served three months as emperor, but he has displeased both the military and civilians with his economic policies.
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1170 Murder in the Cathedral
Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury is murdered at the altar in Canterbury Cathedral by knights who side with King Henry II in his long quarrel with the Archbishop over the respective powers of church and state. The King denies responsibility for the assassination, but his desire to be "rid of this meddlesome priest" is well-known. Henry is forced to do penance for the death of Thomas, who is canonized within three years of his death.
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1192 Kings Pay Protection
Conrad, Marquis of Montferrat and ruler of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem is stabbed to death in Tyre by members of the Order of Assassins, disguised as monks. Muslim and Christian princes alike, including St. Louis (Louis IX, King of France) and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, will pay protection money to the Assassins, to avoid assassination.
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1478 Attack on Lorenzo
Lorenzo de Medici survives an assassination attempt by the rival Pazzi family, carried out at the instigation of Pope Sixtus IV. Lorenzo's brother is killed, Lorenzo only wounded. After his recovery and bloody retaliation he rules Florence as an autocrat and uses public funds for his family businesses.
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1572 St. Bartholomew's Massacre
Many leading French Protestant Huguenots are in Paris for a wedding when a plot against their leader is discovered. Catherine de Medici fears that she will be implicated in this assassination attempt, and calls for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, ostensibly to put down a rebellion the Huguenots are planning. Some 13,000 Protestants are killed in Paris and the Provinces in the next few months.
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1587 Mary Beheaded
Sir Francis Walsingham, the head of Queen Elizabeth's intelligence organization, decodes letters written by Mary Queen of Scots and a plotter against the throne, Anthony Babington. Walsingham breaks the cipher Mary has used and discovers an assassination plot. Queen Elizabeth finally has her cousin Mary beheaded after nineteen years of imprisonment.
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1610 Assassination of Henry IV
Henry IV of France, a champion of religious freedom, is assassinated by Francois Ravaillac, a Catholic fanatic. Some suspect Henry's widow, Marie de Medici, of involvement in her husband's death, noting their long separation and Henry's many infidelities. Marie rules as regent for their son, young Louis XIII, and reverses Henry's anti-Habsburg policies, giving political power to the Italian statesman Concino Concini.
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1629 Charles Dismisses Parliament
King Charles I of England dismisses Parliament for the second time, blaming Puritan extremists in the House of Commons for the assassination of his favorite, the Duke of Buckingham.
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1771 Parlement's Veto Abolished
Louis XV abolishes the Parlements' tax vetoing power in an attempt to bolster his popularity, which has weakened after an assassination attempt in 1757. This reform is promptly overturned when the king dies.
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1801 Paul I's Assassination leads to Alexander I
Paul I, Emperor of Russia, is assassinated. His son, Alexander I, succeeds him on the throne. It is possible that Alexander's feelings of guilt over his own role in the conspiracy contribute to his later inability to carry out effective reforms.
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1860 Allen Pinkerton
Allen Pinkerton escorts Abraham Lincoln secretly into Washington before the inaugural, thus avoiding an assassination plot Pinkerton has discovered in Baltimore. After the Civil War begins, Lincoln asks Pinkerton to review the security of the North, and particularly Washington. Pinkerton reports of widespread spying, sabotage and corruption. Lincoln chooses not to retain Pinkerton and his firm, but rather to build his own security service.
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1862 National Detective Bureau
After parting ways with Allan Pinkerton, the detective who spirited Lincoln into Washington incognito to avoid a pre-inauguration assassination plot, Lincoln establishes the National Detective Bureau under the command of Lafayette Baker at 217 Pennsylvania avenue. The address will be known as a center of espionage and counterespionage throughout the Civil War.
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1865 News of Assassination
Reuters News Service succeeds in being the first to bring news of Abraham Lincoln's assassination to Europe. They are a week earlier than the competition. Reuters American agent James McClean hires a tug boat, overtakes the mailboat bound for Britain, and throws aboard a cannister containing his dispatch.
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1881 Assassination of Alexander II
The terrorist group Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) assassinates the Tsar Alexander II on the very day he signs a manifesto creating a national assembly. His successor, Alexander III, compounds the tragedy by failing to implement this reform. Instead, the new Tsar declares a state of emergency and imposes severe repressive measures. He either evades or undoes his father's reforms, gives imperial administrators arbitrary powers of law, increases censorship, and enforces anti-Semitic legislation.
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1901 McKinley Assassinated
An anarchist named Leon Czolgosz shoots President William McKinley on September 6. Eight days later, McKinley dies and Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th American President. Czolgosz is electrocuted for the crime. As a result of the assassination, the United States Secret Service is given the responsibility of protecting the chief executive.
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1904 Teddy Gets Elected
Having finished a presidential term that resulted from McKinley's assassination, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt is elected the 26th president of the United States, defeating his Democratic opponent Alton B. Parker. During his next four years in office Roosevelt will continue to vigorously support progressivism - the reform movement that will blossom in the United States until World War I.
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1909 Ito Hirobumi Assassinated
Japan's highly esteemed Ito Hirobumi is murdered by a Korean nationalist in Harbin, Manchuria while serving as the resident general in Korea His assassination spurs demands for the annexation of Korea.
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1911 Premier Stolypin Assassinated
Russia now has political parties, a relatively free press, open political debate in the Duma, autonomy of local governments, improved primary education and trade unions, yet strikes are still illegal, and officials on all levels of government treat the people with suspicion. Premier Stolypin falls out simultaneously with the Duma, the state council, and the emperor which leads to his assassination by a police double agent in September. This leaves the Tsar, once again, surrounded by bureaucrats and sycophants.
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1914 Germany Goes to War
After the assassination of Austria's Archduke Ferdinand, Germany moves quickly to support Austria in its dispute with Russia over Serbian terrorism. When Russia rejects a German ultimatum, Germany declares war on both Russia and France, in accordance with a long-standing war plan. The Social Democrats, led by Friedrich Ebert, support the war effort, although some members, led by Kurt Eisner, quit the party over this decision.
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1914 First World War Erupts
Austria issues an ultimatum demanding that Serbia punish nationalists for the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Russia mobilizes to defend Serbia. Germany, by previous agreement with Austria, also mobilizes, which activates the French army. Germany, caught between Russian and French armies, attacks France by way of neutral Belgium. Britain, outraged by the occupation of Belgium, joins Russia and France in declaring war on Germany.
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1914 Assassination Sparks WWI
During an official procession in Sarajevo, a Serb terrorist throws a bomb at the car carrying the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. The bomb bounces off the car and explodes underneath the next vehicle. When Ferdinand goes to visit one of the bomb victims, another Serb, Gavrilo Princip, shoots the Archduke and his wife Sophia. Ferdinand and Sophia are fatally wounded ; the outraged Austrians declare war on Serbia. Serbia's ally, Russia, and Austria's ally, Germany, join the struggle which becomes the First World War.
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1914 The Yugoslav Idea
The assassination of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo by a Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip, leads to war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. The ranks of the Austro-Hungarian Army include many subject peoples including Croats, Slovenes and Serbs. The Austro-Hungarian rulers have allowed rivalries to develop among the subject peoples to prevent the development of a pan-Slavic movement. With the onset of open hostilities between Serbia and Austria-Hungary however, many Serbs and others seek a unified kingdom of south Slavs: Yugoslavia.
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1918 Assassination Attempt on Lenin
During the Left Socialist Revolutionary uprising in June, the Communist Propaganda Commissar, V. Volodarskiy is assassinated. Two months later on the day of the assassination of M. S.Uritskiy, Chief of the Cheka (secret police), Lenin is shot twice by socialist revolutionary Fanny Kaplan while leaving a factory after giving a speech. Lenin survives, adding to his personal mystique. This leads to the Sovnarkom Decree in September and the "Red Terror," granting the State the legal right to eliminate dissenters and counter-revolutionaries.
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1922 Rathenau Assassinated
German industrialist Walther Rathenau is assassinated by nationalist fanatics. Despite his popularity with western countries for trying to repay German war damages and his attempt to reconstruct the German economy, the extreme right hate him for his Jewish faith and his negotiation of the Treaty of Rapallo, which granted recognition to Soviet Russia. In response to the assassination, Germany passes the Law for the Defense of the Republic. This law gives the government new authority to control extremist elements. The government focuses its efforts on controlling extreme leftists, and inadvertently paves the way for Nazism.
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1934 Shwarze Kappelle
The so-called Shwarze Kapelle or Black Symphony is a group of German army officers who are intent upon removing Hitler from power in Germany. Their reasons vary and overlap. Among the group are humanitarians appalled by his treatment of Jews, intellectuals, and political dissenters; aristocrats who regard Hitler as too crude to represent their country; those of legal bent who despise the way in which he has run roughshod over legal processes; and some still reeling from World War I, who don't want another war at all or feel a war will involve so many other European nations that Germany can't possibly win. These loyal German, anti-Nazis seek to arrest and try Hitler, but when World War II breaks out they realize assassination will be the only effective method of ridding themselves of him. However, these conspirators fear that Hitler's death may make a martyr of him. They are also concerned that his death may only result in another Nazi ruler. They consider the opinion of the world and what other nations will do to help or hinder Germany. Their attempts are all ill-fated and none of them will outlive their detested dictator.
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1935 Death of Huey Long
US Senator Huey Long, political boss and virtual dictator of the State of Louisiana is shot to death on the steps of the Louisiana State House by Dr. Carl Weiss, a 29-year old Baton Rouge physician. Although Weiss is one of many Louisianans who condemn Long's dictatorial rule, some suspect a personal motive for the slaying. In the past, Long has given "evidence" to the press of the alleged African ancestry of his political opponents, ruining their careers in racially segregated Louisiana. Long and his allies are plotting the ruin of Weiss' father-in-law and indeed his whole family, and it may be that Weiss chooses to silence Long for this reason. Weiss is gunned down by Long's bodyguards seconds after the assassination.
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1944 Plot to Kill Hitler in WWII
On July 20, a bomb explodes in Adolf Hitler's East Prussian headquarters, killing several staff officers, but only wounding Hitler himself. The failed assassination attempt is the culmination of a large conspiracy, one that includes many Nazis and former Nazi who believe Hitler's conduct of the war will ruin Germany. Most of the conspirators are captured. Hitler has them shot, beheaded or, in some cases, strangled in full view of movie cameras.
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1945 Hooper Assassination
Michigan State Senator Warren Hooper is scheduled to testify as a witness against members of the State legislature who accepted bribes in return for passing a law that permits pari-mutuel betting in Michigan. The senator is assassinated before he can testify. It is believed that organized crime is responsible for the assassination.
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1960 Female Prime Minister
Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes the world's first female prime minister when she is elected to the position in Ceylon. After her husband's assassination she is elected leader of the Sri Lankan Freedom Party and then leader of the nation. She improves health and education, and promotes the native religion and culture. When she nationalizes the western-controlled industries such as rubber and oil, Britain and the USA cease aid. She maintains her office until 1977, stepping down for five years between 1965 and 1970.
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1961 Trujillo Assassinated
Although Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship has brought public order and economic stability to the Dominican Republic, oppressed citizens, neighboring countries, and the Organization of American States oppose him. His cruel despotism crushes civil rights and gives the secret police unrestricted power to arrest dissidents. After the OAS votes to ostracize Trujillo, he is assassinated by army leaders. Although economic problems persist, Trujillo's assassination paves the way for a new constitution and sweeping reforms that help farmers and workers.
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1963 Stock Market Grieves Briefly
The stock market plummets 21 points in thirty minutes after news of US President Kennedy's assassination, but recovers quickly.
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1977 Red Army Faction
The German terrorist group Red Army Faction, previously known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, begins a new campaign of assassination and kidnapping. In April, Siegfried Buback, chief federal prosecutor, is gunned down, along with his driver and bodyguard, allegedly as retaliation for the jailhouse suicide of Ulrike Meinhof, founder of the terror group. In September, Hanns-Martin Schleyer, a prominent West German industrialist and former economic advisor to the government, is abducted from his limousine by attackers who machine-gun his driver and three police guards. The government refuses to negotiate with the terrorists, who demand the release of imprisoned comrades. When three of the prisoners commit suicide, Schleyer's captives "execute" him. Many of those responsible are in custody by the end of the year.
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1978 Camp David Summit
In September, Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt meet with US President Jimmy Carter at the Presidential retreat, Camp David, Maryland, where they sign preliminary documents for the peace treaty known as the Camp David Accords. Egypt recognizes the State of Israel, and forswears further warfare. Israel agrees to return the Sinai Peninsula, captured in the 1967 Six Day War. Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai is to be carried out over a three-year period. Sadat's rapprochement with Israel will cost him the support of his Arab neighbors, and may contribute to his assassination in 1981.
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1979 Coup in Korea
Park Chung Hee, South Korea's dictator, is assassinated by Kim Jae Kyu, the head of the South Korean Central Intelligence Agency. Park had helped strengthen the nation's economy, but his methods of maintaining power raised political opposition. After Park's assassination, Chun Doo Hwan uses his position as head of army intelligence to seize power.
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1979 Assassination Of Mountbatten
The Provisional IRA plants a bomb on the yacht of Lord Louis Mountbatten. Mountbatten is killed.
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1981 The Pope Is Shot
Pope John Paul II is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt at Saint Peter's Square. The pope will recover, and subsequent investigations will reveal that Eastern European and possibly Soviet intelligence services have organized the plot.
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1981 CNN First to Report Sadat's End
The American government receives reports that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat has been shot in an assassination attempt. CIA reports hold that Sadat is still alive. Electronic media, led by the newly formed Cable News Network (CNN), report Sadat's death. International reliance upon CNN as the most reliable immediate source for breaking news will cause embassies and chancelleries throughout the world to sprout satellite receiving antennas to insure access to CNN.
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1983 Assassination of Benigno Aquino
After three years of self-imposed exile in the United States, Benigno Simeon Aquino steps off his plane into the humid air of his homeland, the Philippines. Gunfire thunders through the air and the returning opposition leader falls.
This assassination incites mass demonstrations amid widespread suspicions that President Ferdinand Marcos played a role in the plot. President Marcos denies the allegations and conducts an investigation that clears his own name. The Supreme Court of the Philippines acquits the military personnel responsible for the slaying.
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1989 Iran's Khomeini Dies
Iran's religious and political leader, the Ayatolla Khomeini, dies in June. Sayyed Ali Khamenei agrees to become the spiritual leader and Hojatolislam Hashemi Ali Akbar Rafsanjani is elected president by 94.5% of the vote. Most opposition groups called for a boycott of the election, which had a 68.5% turn out. The UN Committee on Human Rights criticizes the Iranian government for its harsh suppression of political opponents, including the assassination of the top two leaders of the Kurdish Democratic Party.
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1990 Covert War Feared
Fears rage that if a real war does not break out in the troubled Gulf region, a covert war will erupt throughout the world as spies, provocateurs, assassins, and terrorists run rampant. Some feel Egypt and Saudi Arabia might be the first targets of covert war because they are moderates and have the support of the US Police stations and public transport facilities are thought to be particularly vulnerable. It is thought that Iraqi embassies may be hot beds of assassination.
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1990 No One Slaps Saddam's Hand
Some observers say that although Saddam Hussein miscalculated what the world's response would be should he attack Kuwait, he had little reason to fear widespread condemnation of the move since the world failed to respond to his use of chemical warfare, his appalling human rights record and his propensity for accumulating brutal weaponry. His intentions seem to have been advertised but left unread. Fear of Iran may have been at the root of world indifference towards Iraqi misdeeds. Iran had already proved its malicious intentions toward Americans by seizing the American Embassy in Tehran ten years before, and toward Britain by offering an enormous reward for the assassination of British subject novelist Salman Rushdie. Rushdie is the Iranian-born author of "The Satanic Verses," a work of fiction which has been interpretted as a work of sacrilege by Muslim fundamentalist. The United Nations Security council seems to have regarded Iraq as the lesser of two evils and, when Iran and Iraq went to war, world opinion at the time leaned toward Iraq.
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1991 Coalitions Leaders
The wartime coalition between Islamic Arab governments and Western countries is shaky at best. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia has close ties with the United States and it is he who has invited Allied troops into his nation. But his kingdom is essentially an extremely conservative regime with a devoutly Moslem populace who are opposed to the religion, laws, and principals of the forces sent to assist them. Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt, also fosters a close relationship with the US but is vulnerable to terrorism and assassination by Fundamentalist elements within Egypt. Helping Mubarak's case for supporting the coalition, however, is the fact that Egyptians working in Iraq have suffered mistreatment. King Hussein of Jordan, increasingly compared to a figure from a Greek tragedy, governs a country whose population is mainly Palestinian while he, himself, is a member of the Bedouin minority. Unluckily situated between Israel and Iraq, the King of Jordan has always enjoyed a strong alliance with the West and is married to an American. Yet, Yassir Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, has proclaimed all Palestinians to be on the side of Saddam. However, divisions exist within the ranks of the PLO and Arafat's aids have been assassinated just before the outbreak of the war. Finally, Hafez Assad, the president of Syria has just become friendly with the West. It is thought that he might become a Pan-Arab leader following Saddam's downfall. None of the Arab coalition countries is friendly with Israel, but recent events have drawn Israel and America so close as to seem virtually inextricable.
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1992 De Klerk Purges Forces
An investigation ordered by South African President De Klerk finds that senior members of the country's security forces have engaged in illegal political activities, activities that may include assassination. De Klerk suspends or expels 23 officers, but the details of the investigation remain secret.
