Assassination is the murder of a person who holds a position of public importance. Ordinarily, assassinations are committed for one or more of three reasons: to gain revenge, to earn a reward, or to remove a political enemy from office. The assassination of a ruler has often been applauded. Brutus, one of the assassins of Julius Caesar, was considered a hero by many Romans.
Political assassinations in Europe became more common in the 1700’s and 1800’s. The only British prime minister to be assassinated was Spencer Perceval in 1812. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, in 1914, was one cause of World War I.
In Asia, a series of assassinations committed by the Black Dragon Society in Japan in the 1930’s threw control of the government into the hands of the Japanese Army. Assassinations have shaped the political landscapes of India and Pakistan. Such events have included the assassination of the Indian spiritual and political leader Mohandas K. Gandhi and of Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi. In Pakistan, the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 left the country politically weakened.
Four presidents of the United States have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James A. Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901, and John F. Kennedy in 1963.
The word assassination comes from assassins or hashshashin (hemp-eaters), a band of Muslims in Persia and Asia Minor in the 1100’s. They smoked a drug called hashish, which is made from the hemp plant, and killed their enemies while under its influence.
