Assassins And Assassinations : A Short History

Assassination is not unknown to history and has been utilized throughout the ages for various aims and purposes. Assassination for military purposes has long been espoused: Sun Tzu, writing around 500 BC, argued in favor of using assassination in his book The Art of War. Nearly 2000 years later, in his book The Prince, Machiavelli also advises rulers to assassinate enemies whenever possible to prevent them from posing a threat. In the modern era, assassins have been idolized, praised, and made into a beacon of chivalry and honor. These characters are not missing from the annals of the history of Islam, rather the word Assassin is thought to be derived from the Arabic word Hashshashin, a famous heretical Order of Assassins, whom themselves got their name from the drug they consumed Hashish, which is concentrated cannabis. Even the famous Italian explorer and merchant mentioned the leader of the order in his writings as the old man of the mountain. There have been many famous attempts and assassinations in history. The earliest recorded assassination attempt in history was on Pharaoh Amenemhat I of the middle kingdom of Egypt around 2000 B.C. In China when the First Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi was in the war to unite China many assassins were sent one of the famous being Jing Ke who was sent by his former hostage Prince of Yan. The Machiavelli of India, Chanakya himself wrote extensively about this art and its extensive applications in his political masterpiece Arthashastra, which would later be applied by his student, Chandra Gupta Maurya. The Roman Empire had begun with an assassination and not just of any person but of the great statesman, ‘Dictator for Life’ Julius Caesar himself. It would thus be led to ruin too by the assassination of many capable emperors by their own Pretorian guard in the 3rd-century crisis. One of the first orders of assassins was actually in the Roman Empire. The Sicarii were Jewish zealots who wanted to free their homeland from Roman oppression and had gotten their name from the daggers they used to carry called Sicae. The middle ages was a high time for unorganized but targeted assassinations of high-profile personalities. One of the most common causes of untimely demises of the perfectly healthy and young heir to the thrones or monarchs themselves was “hunting accidents” either orchestrated by unhappy lords and barons or the person next in line to the throne. One of the most prominent examples being of King William the Second of England. Assassination attempts against female monarchs were also not uncommon as even Queen Mary of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I were targeted. A rather peculiar idea has emerged from fiction and imagination, and it is that ninjas of the Sengoku Jidai era were master assassins and would be always there to do their lord’s bidding and slit throats of rival clan lords but in reality, no such evidence for this claim… or the lack of evidence may point to their degree of professionalism. Their primary role was espionage and sabotage, and their utmost mission was to report to their lord the findings, even if it meant slaying a few, all would count as a day’s work. Ninjas were mostly of the solitary sort but some were part of secret groups and even knew each other and would mostly avoid the others’ lands if they could out of respect. The famous Ninja Hattori Hanzo served one of the 3 unifiers of Japan, Tokugawa Iyeyasu. He saved his life many times and even helped him unite japan. The Order Of Assassins in the Islamic world was led by Hassan-i Sabbah the leader of the Shia sect of Nizari Ismailis and also the leader of their state. They were headquartered in Alamut Castle in Syria. The Assassins posed a substantial strategic threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authorities. Over the course of nearly 300 years, they killed hundreds - including three caliphs, a ruler of Jerusalem, and several Muslim and Christian leaders. They sometimes were allied and sometimes at odds with the Crusader States in the Levant. The first instance of murder in the effort to establish a Nizari Isma'ili state in Persia was the assassination of Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk in 1092. The first Frank and Crusader known to have been killed by the Assassins was Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, in 1152. The Crusaders also lost their King to the assassin order. The Order was finally put to an end by no other than the Mongols Russian Emperor Paul I was assassinated by the British as he had grown too friendly with Napoleon’s revolutionary France. He was also very angry at the British seizure of Malta, which had belonged to the Knights of Malta, of whom he was the Grand Master. The Great War was sparked by the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand. He and his spouse were murdered by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the secessionist terrorist organization, Young Bosnia, suspected to be funded by Serbia, and armed by the Black Hand. The post of president has become the deadliest job in the United States after 4 have fallen to assassinations and almost 20 known attempts on the life of presidents. The revered Mahatma Gandhi was also assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist when he fired 3 bullets into his chest at close range. Even Martin Luther King Jr. was not spared, and neither was Malcolm X. King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia was also assassinated by his nephew. He was a progressive leader who banned slavery in the kingdom and led the kingdom to modernization and even tried to limit the power of the Clergy and thus had made quite some enemies. His oil embargo of 1973 further deteriorated the situation and thus he was assassinated on the 2nd of November 1975. Just this year the former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe was assassinated while delivering a campaign speech. There has also been an attempt on the life of Vice president of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Even the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom is not safe as Christopher John Lewis a New Zealand criminal had made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II in 1981. There have been attempts at King Charles the third and other royals’ life also. One of the more obscure but nonetheless interesting tales are of CIA's 638 assassination attempts on the Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s life, one of them was to blow him through his beloved Cigars. In modern times, unlike many things of the past, assassination has not faded into the pages of history as can be seen by the above examples, rather it has become more pronounced due to the availability of deadly and precise weapons such as Snipers. I firmly believe in discontinuing this outdated medieval practice but as long as hate and hunger for power and love for utterly removing human obstacles from path remains on earth, assassins will thrive, and games idolizing them will continue to be made.