Critical evaluation of our times - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... The history of terrorism dates back to between 10th and 14th century in Syria and Iran. It originated from the Hashhashin, whose English word came to be known as ‘assassins’. They were an unknown Islamic group that killed the Abbasid and Seljuk who were political figures. They cannot be compared with the modern day terrorists due to their failure to use the media and other forms of communication to create a sense of terror to the people. Modern terrorism is experienced virtually everywhere in the world unlike the assassins of Syria and Iran who were only confined to those two countries (Jeroen et al 20).
The history of modern terrorism dates back to 1793 during the Reign of Terror as initiated by Maxmilien Robespierre, who was one of the heads of the new state during the French revolution. He killed the enemies of revolution and mounted totalitarianism in order to regain national stability. To him, his methods were just in the monarchical transformation to liberal democracy. He said that for one to be right as a founder of the republic, he or she needs to pacify by terror the opponents of freedom. With his sentiments, the foundation for modern terror was laid to teach that violence will lead to a better system. But the featuring of terrorism as a state action faded, whereas the thought of terror as an attack against the prevailing political order eventually was more noticeable (Schmalleger, 109).
At the start of 1950s, there was the emergence of non-state terrorism that entailed the rise of guerilla tactics that was being orchestrated by the non-state actors. This had been widely done in the last half of the 20th century. The thriving of tribal nationalism such as the Zionist; the anti-colonial utterances in France and Britain as well as the ideologies like communism were some of the guerrilla tactics (Fukuyama, 45).
In clear terms, the terrorist groups of the 20th century with a one united national goal started forming in ...Download file to see next pagesRead More