Origin of Terrorism
"Terror" comes from a Latin word meaning "to frighten".
The “terror cimbricus” was a panic and state of emergency in Rome
in response to the approach of warriors of the Cimbri tribe also
known as the Zealots in 105BC.
The Jacobins cited this precedent when imposing a
“Reign of Terror” during the French Revolution.
After the Jacobins lost power, the word
"terrorist" became a term of abuse.
Although the Reign of Terror was imposed by a government,
in modern times "terrorism" usually refers to the killing
of innocent people by a private group in such
a way as to create a media spectacle.
This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev,
who described himself as a "terrorist".
Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group
"People's Retribution" (Народная расправа) in 1869.
In November 2004, a United Nations Security Council
report described terrorism as any act
"intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians
or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population
or compelling a government or an international
organization to do or abstain from doing any act".
