HISTOIRE DU TERRORISME

A historic approach to terrorism has long been lacking. This major international synthesis resituates this phenomenon in a broad and encompassing context.

If, today as yesterday, terrorism is in all the headlines, it remains a problematic subject whose very definition is the object of debate. Doubtless, legal experts, political scientists, sociologists, and even journalists have no difficulty describing it. But a historical approach has long been missing, for terrorism, indeed, has a history. Scattered among different groups, justified by any number of various ideologies, nonetheless, it cannot be reduced to a series of attacks and ensuing trials. On the contrary, the intent of this first vast synthesis is to offer a global vision that allows the reader to understand the historical conditions in which violence appears and spreads in societies. It also defines the ties that are woven among different movements, but also between succeeding generations of terrorists. Beginning with the first appearance of the term « terrorism », in the late 18th century and in the context of the French Revolution, this work covers over two centuries of history, recalling the political violence that has struck the Western world as well as the East, both State-inspired and the tool of minorities, in order to evaluate the actual importance of this phenomenon in History. Gilles Ferragu, former member of the École française de Rome, is a lecturer in contemporary history at the Université Paris Ouest and at Sciences Po Paris. He is, notably, the co-author of the classic Le XXe siècle (a collaborative work, Hachette, 2010), Écrivains et diplomates (Armand Colin, 2012), and Dictionnaire du Vatican et du Saint-Siège (Robert Laffont, 2013).