I disagree with this. Suicide bombings, hijackings, Oklahoma City-style bombings, etc. all strike me as fairly modern inventions.
At 14:08 2003-07-31 -0400, you wrote:
No, hijackings and truck bombings are modern inventions technologically but the targeting of civilian populations to incite terror can be traced back 2500 years to the writings of Xenophon, the Greek historian. He lived around 4 or 500 BC, I think.
Just off the top of my head, some other examples of terrorism throughout history:
The Crusades
The Spanish Inquisition
Robespierre's Reign of Terror (late 1700's)
Klu Klux Klan (late 1800's)
The Argentine 'Vanished'
The PLO (post WWII)
The Irish Republican Army
And.... the Basque ETA was started in the 1960's, I believe.
Jon
Don't forget the corsair pirates: state sponsored terrorism.
If exploding trucks are a modern invention, it is only because trucks didn't exist before. There is an equivalent in what is called in French a "brulôt". It's a burning ship or raft which may or may not be filled with gun powder, aimed at another ship or at a city's port.
Jean-Louis
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