Assassinated

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Yitzhak Rabin

Image from Ameinu On November 4, 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Yitzhak Rabin served two terms as the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, first from 1974 to 1977, then again beginning in 1992. He was active in the Israeli military early on in his life, having risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the War of Independence, then later became the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces during the 1967 Six-Day War. As prime minister, Rabin implemented many positive reforms, such as an updated education system and modernized healthcare. He earned much international accolade for his role in the Oslo Peace Accords, for which he - along with Yasser Arafat of Palestine and Shimon Peres of Israel - received a Nobel Peace Prize. Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, an Orthodox Jew and staunch Zionist. He viewed Rabin's plans in the Oslo Peace Accords to return occupied land to Palestine as a betrayal to Zionism, and plotted to put an end to this by killing Rabin. As the

Indira Gandhi

Image from Encyclopaedia Britannica On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated. Indira Gandhi was India's first female prime minister. She served three terms from 1966 to 1977, and a fourth from 1980 to her death in 1984. As part of her foreign policy, Indira Gandhi encouraged Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka, but domestically refused to grant full autonomy to Sikhs in the Punjab region. In June 1984, Operation Blue Star commenced, in which the Indian military launched an assault on the Sikh Golden Temple at Amritsar in an attempt to squash the efforts of separatist extremists. On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was shot several times by Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, two Sikh guards in the prime minister's inner circle. Beant fired the first three shots into Gandhi's abdomen, then Satwant unloaded a machine gun into her chest, heart, and body. Although the prime minister was likely already dead when she arrived at the All India Institute of Medical Science

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Image from People Magazine On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prominent leader of the American Civil Rights movement. He utilized peaceful protest and his powerful rhetoric to press for civil rights laws and behaviors, incredibly noted in his "Letter From Birmingham Jail" and his "I Have a Dream" speech. In 1964, the Johnson administration passed the Civil Rights Act and MLK earned the Nobel Peace Prize. On April 3, Dr. King spoke to a rally of his supporters in Memphis, Tennessee. After the rally, he checked into the Lorraine Motel. The next evening while leaning over a hotel balcony to chat with his friends, he was shot by James Earl Ray. The shot proved fatal, and within the span of approximately one hour, Dr. King was dead. King's death was announced in a speech by presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy (who was assassinated only two months later, in June 1968). The assassination sp

John F. Kennedy

Image from Fox News On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States, from 1961 until his death in 1963. The handsome and charismatic Kennedy was the first Catholic president, and with a team of young advisors, including his little brother Robert F. Kennedy as Attorney-General, ushered in the optimistic dream of an American golden age. As president, JFK had a hand in confronting many Cold War tensions abroad, including in Berlin,Vietnam (see Ngo Dinh Diem ) and in Cuba, with the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis. In the domestic realm, Kennedy launched the Peace Corps, and hoped to bring about income tax cuts and a civil rights bill. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy and his posse were in Dallas, Texas on a fundraising trip. Paraded through downtown Dallas in a motorcade; while incredibly festive, there was a clear lack of effective security precautions. As the president's limousine passed the Texas School

Ngo Dinh Diem

Image from The Daily Telegraph . Photograph of Ngo Dinh Diem, 1957 On November 2, 1963, Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated. In October 1955, Ngo Dinh Diem became president of South Vietnam, a position that he held until his death in November 1963. Diem was both put into and removed from power at the hands of the American government, which acted as puppetmaster. As president, the Catholic Diem used violence against Buddhist organizations, outlawed divorce, abortion, and opium, and installed his brothers in positions of power. His policies led to an outbreak of riots, and refusing to comply with outside demands, the American Kennedy administration began to plot his removal from power. Encouraged by CIA cash payouts, Duong Ban Minh organized and led a coup on November 1, 1963. On November 2, Diem and his brother were killed in an American-supplied armored personnel carrier by members of the South Vietnamese military, each having been shot and stabbed repeatedly. President John F

Mohandas Gandhi

Image from Wikipedia . Photograph of Mohandas Gandhi. On January 30, 1948, Mohandas "Mahatma" Karamchand Gandhi was assassinated. Mohandas Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, politician, and activist largely credited with leading the successful campaign for Indian independence from the British government and advocating for home rule. He is revered for his nonviolent protest approach, using peaceful civil disobedience to campaign for Indian independence. Gandhi began his life of peaceful protest against authorities in South Africa, but returned to India in 1915, where he became a dominating figure in the National Congress movement. While taking a walk with his nieces on January 30, 1948, Mohandas Gandhi met his end. He was shot thrice by Nathuram Godse, a member of an extremist Hindu nationalist party that wished to make India a pure Hindu state. After shooting Gandhi, Godse attempted to shoot himself, but his pistol was knocked aside by a witness. Nathuram Godse a

Ernst vom Rath

Image from Wikipedia . Photograph of Ernst vom Rath. On November 7, 1938, Ernst vom Rath was assassinated . Ernst vom Rath was a German diplomat who went down in history as a Nazi martyr, primarily because of the implications of his assassination. More notable, however, is the story of his assassin, Herschel Grynszpan. Grynszpan was a Polish-German Jew whose life began in a prosperous position but quickly declined as a result of Nazi discrimination and restrictions against Jews. He moved to France at the age of 15, but his stay was cut short and he became a stateless refugee. In early November of 1938, Herschel Grynszpan received a letter from his sister that detailed the unfortunate situation the rest of his family had found themselves in. Viewing this as the last straw, he sought revenge on the Nazis; on November 7, the 17 year old bought a revolver and went to the German Embassy in Paris, where he asked to meet with an official. He was met by Ernst vom Rath, wh

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Image from Smithsonian Magazine . Illustrated supplement from Le Petit Journal, published in 1914. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. Franz Ferdinand was Archduke and heir apparent of Austria-Hungary, and found himself in conflict with Emperor Franz Joseph I on several occasions. The first major source of tension between Franz and Franz stemmed from Ferdinand's romantic interest in Sophie Chotek, a Czech countess, which was not a relationship that the emperor approved of. Another cause for soreness between the two had political roots; Austria-Hungary was a multiethnic empire, with much conflicts between ethnicities. Archduke Ferdinand attempted several peaceful negotiations, such as amending Austro-Hungarian rule to be a triple monarchy between Germans, Magyars, and Slavs, or the creation of 16 state federal government called The United States of Greater Austria. Emperor Franz Joseph I strongly opposed these propositio

Abraham Lincoln

Image from History.com On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States from 1861 to 1865, and died while in office. He is notable for having been president throughout the American Civil War and issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all slaves in the Confederacy to be free. The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865 with the surrender by Confederate General Robert E. Lee to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Five days after the Union victory, President Lincoln attended a play at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. Only minutes after the president's arrival at the play, a gunshot erupted from his box. John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, shot Lincoln in the back of the head once, then leapt from the box to make his escape. In the process, Booth broke his leg, creating a hindrance in his ability to flee far on foot, though he managed to get away on horseback. While th

Czar Paul I

Image from saint-petersburg.com . Engraving by Jean-Jaques Outhwaite. On March 11, 1801, Czar Paul I was assassinated. The son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, Paul I ruled Russia from 1796 until his death in 1801. From a young age, Paul was fascinated with the military and enjoyed drilling troops. When he ascended to the throne in 1796, Czar Paul I issued a Prussian style military drill manual that incorporated strict discipline and the use of violence to enforce correct behaviors. He also introduced several strict and outrageous rules, such as a 10 p.m. curfew in major cities, the banning of sideburns, as well as all things French, and the prohibition of the waltz, among several others. All in all, Paul I was a reactionary ruler who enforced strict rulings and reversed many of the progressive policies set in place by Catherine the Great. His tight discipline and miserable regulations made Paul I an incredibly unpopular r

Jean Paul Marat

Image from My Modern Met . "The Death of Marat" painted by Jacques-Louis David in 1793. On July 13, 1793, Jean Paul Marat was assassinated. The French Revolution began in 1789; a revolution that Jean Paul Marat was heavily involved in. Marat encouraged the 1792 September massacres and other instances of revolutionary violence through his newspaper "L'Ami du Peuple" ("The Friend of the People"). In 1792, Marat was elected to the National Convention and was a key organizer of the Reign of Terror, in which he attempted to eliminate those he felt were a threat to the revolution. Jean Paul Marat suffered from a persistent skin condition, and was in overall poor health, causing him to be largely confined to his bathtub, in which he soaked to ease the irritation. It was here that Marat met his end. Charlotte Corday, a member of the Girondin party (the rival political faction of the Jacobins, to which Marat was involved), declared Marat to be

King Gustav III

Image from Wikimedia Commons . "King Gustav III of Sweden" painted by Alexander Roslin in 1771 On March 16, 1792, King Gustav III was assassinated. An enlightened despot, King Gustav III of Sweden made several reforms to improve the state of his nation and the lives of his subjects. Among other changes made during his rule, taxes on peasants were reduced, rights were extended to Catholics and Jews, capital punishment was limited, and the Swedish Academy and Royal Swedish Opera were founded. The king also made strides to reduce the power of the nobility, and removed their control of alcohol sales; this angered the nobility, and a conspiracy to assassinate the king was quickly hatched. On March 16, 1792, King Gustav III had dinner with some close friends, during which he received a written warning that clearly laid out the threat he was facing: there would be an attempt to assas

Giuliano de'Medici

Image from the National Gallery of Art . "Giuliano de'Medici" painted by Sandro Botticelli c. 1478/1480 On April 26, 1478, Giuliano de'Medici was assassinated. Giuliano and his brother Lorenzo were from the incredibly wealthy and influential Medici family, which exerted its power over the city of Florence. The brothers ruled Florence after their father, Piero de'Medici, passed away. The Medici family accumulated many rivals that desired their power, chief among them being the Pazzi family, which had experienced a decline in prestige as the Medici rose in status. On Easter Sunday in 1478, the Medici brothers attended mass at the Florence Cathedral, the "Duomo." Giuliano was stabbed several times by Franceso de'Pazzi, who had hidden a long dagger in his robes. An attempt was made to assassinate Lorenzo de'Medici as well, however he escaped. The assassination of Giuliano de'Medici and attempted assassination of Lorenzo de'Me