February 1 (according to the Orthodox “Julian” calendar) is the anniversary of the birth of B.V. Savinkova and L.A. Tikhomirov

THE THIMBERS AT GOLGOTHA

Killing for love

...my strength broke.
I walked and staggered.
The fireball was heating up...
And the heavy one was already rising
Joy. Joy from time to time -
Glad I killed a man.

These poems were published in 1931 in Paris after the death of their author, who lived a short and terrible life.

The future preacher and “aristocrat” of Russian terror Boris Viktorovich Savinkov was born on January 19 (old style) 1879 in the city of Kharkov in the family of a provincial judge.

At the age of 24, he became one of the founders of the Combat Organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, which at the beginning of the twentieth century unleashed a monstrous hunt for representatives state power Russian Empire. Under the direct leadership of Savinkov, the Minister of Internal Affairs Plehve and the Governor General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, were killed. But this is just the tip of the bloody iceberg. The total number of victims of the Socialist Revolutionary terror by 1907 reached more than 6,000 people. And this is not counting the murderers themselves, their parents, wives and children, who also became victims of terror. How can we understand why they ruined their lives?
In those years, Savinkov wrote about it this way: “The will of the people is the law. This was bequeathed by Radishchev and Pestel, Perovskaya and Yegor Sazonov. Whether my people are right or wrong, I am only their humble servant. I serve him and obey him. And everyone who loves Russia cannot think otherwise.”

Today, like 100 years ago, it is beneficial for some to imagine Savinkov and his associates as a gang of soulless cosmopolitans who happily destroyed Russia with Jewish money. As we see, this is not entirely true. Many of them sincerely believed that by killing officials they were helping the Motherland.

“We grew up in greenhouses, in prison or in the “cherry orchard.” The book was a revelation for us. We knew Nietzsche, but we did not know how to distinguish winter from spring crops; “saved” the people, but judged them according to the Moscow “Vankas”. We were bars, people-loving nobles,” Savinkov later wrote.

Decisive measures taken by Prime Minister Stolypin in 1907 eventually stemmed the tide of terror and forced Savinkov to flee Russia. In emigration, new disappointment awaited him. His teacher, boss and creator of the military organization, Yevno Azef, turned out to be a provocateur, a double agent of the same tsarist secret police, for the sake of fighting which Savinkov initially went into terror.

Life is nothing

Savinkov decided to leave the revolution for literature. He wrote Memoirs of a Terrorist and several other books. But his conscience was forever stained with blood. He did not live, but suffered: “As a child, I saw the sun. It blinded me, burned me with a radiant glow. As a child, I knew love - maternal affection. I loved people innocently, I loved life joyfully. I don't love anyone now. I don’t want and I don’t know how to love. The world is cursed and desolate for me in one hour: everything is lies and vanity.” For the rest of his life, Savinkov felt this curse on himself. He suffered from being abandoned by God. But he could not, did not want to seek protection from his Creator.

“Which god should I pray to so that he does not leave me? Where is my protection and who is my patron? I am alone. And if I don’t have a god, I am my own god. I don’t want the prayers of slaves... Let Christ light the light with his word. I don't need quiet light. Let love save the world. I don't need love. I am alone. I will leave the boring booth." After writing these terrible words, he lived for another 15 years. Tried to reconcile with his country in the First world war, help its new, precocious leaders after the February Revolution and even protect it from communism after the October Revolution. He arranged new conspiracies and wrote new books about them. But all these years, his soul was eaten away by despair: “I have no home and no family. I have no losses because I have no property. And I am indifferent to many things. I don’t care who exactly goes to Yar - a drunken Grand Duke or a drunken sailor with an earring: after all, it’s not about Yar. I don’t care who exactly “gets rich,” that is, steals—a tsarist official or a “conscious communist”: after all, man does not live by bread alone. I don’t care whose power controls the country - the Lubyanka or the Okhrana Department: after all, who sows bad, reaps bad... What has changed? Only the words have changed."

In 1924, Boris Savinkov fell into the hands of security officers while illegally crossing the border. At the trial, unexpectedly for many, he recognized Soviet power. The Bolsheviks sentenced him to 10 years in prison. But on May 7, 1925, he carried it out himself and carried it out, throwing himself into the stairwell of the Lubyanka prison.

Long before his death, he wrote: “I do not believe in heaven on earth, I do not believe in heaven in heaven. I don't want to be a slave, even a free slave. My whole life is a struggle. I can't help but fight. But for what I am fighting, I don’t know.”

Underground career

But Savinkov had a different way out. He had only to step over himself, through his despair, pride, fear...

Could he do it? Could. He was given plenty of time and energy. And most importantly, before his eyes was a living example of a man who also devoted his entire youth to terror, but who found the courage to repent. Exactly 27 years before the birth of Savinkov, on January 19, 1852, in the military fortification of Gelendzhik in the Caucasus, the great Russian thinker Lev Aleksandrovich Tikhomirov was born into the family of a military doctor.
“The Russian government has no moral influence, no support among the people, which is why Russia gives birth to so many revolutionaries, which is why even such a fact as regicide evokes joy and sympathy among a huge part of the population! There can be two ways out of this situation: either a revolution, completely inevitable, which cannot be averted by any executions, or a voluntary appeal of the supreme power to the people. The Executive Committee appeals to Your Majesty with advice to elect a second one." When Tikhomirov wrote these lines, he was 29 years old. Member of the Terrorist Party's Executive Committee " People's will” and editor of the party newspaper, by this time he enjoyed unquestioned authority among Russian radicals. His fellow conspirators finally made the seventh, “successful” attempt on the life of Tsar-Liberator Alexander II. Russia froze in horror. And so he, together with his comrades, wanting to “seize the moment,” threatens and boldly sets conditions for the son of the just killed Emperor Alexander III. How insensitive did you have to be to dare to do something like that?

“From my early youth,” Tikhomirov later recalled, “I internalized the worldview that then dominated the “progressive” strata of Russian society. Like everyone else, I accepted these views even when I had no independent observations of life, no independent criticism, and also did not have a mind mature enough for work... Like all those infected with the “progressive” worldview, I first learned about life from books.” .

Less than a year later, the “People's Will”, which threatened the throne with revolution, was completely defeated. Tikhomirov secretly went abroad. He was going to organize the production of subversive anti-government literature there, with the help of which he could seduce a new young generation of Russian citizens with terror. However, life in free Europe and the mood in the circle of Russian revolutionary emigration disappointed him as much as Savinkov later did. “My personal practice as a conspirator, my gradually increasing visual acquaintance with the reality of French politics, my, finally, theoretical, also increasingly accumulating knowledge of social phenomena - everything convinced me that our ideals, liberal, radical, socialist, are the greatest insanity, a terrible a lie, and a stupid lie at that,” he wrote.

Renegade or realist?

Tikhomirov did not immediately change his convictions. It was not enough for him to be convinced of the absurdity of revolutionary theories; his active soul yearned for a new real faith.

Christians know that soul-cleansing sorrows are often sent to a person on a spiritual quest. They must not only humble the sinner, but also help him reconnect with God through prayer. Such an event for Lev Tikhomirov was the serious illness of his son (later Bishop Tikhon; † 1955. - Ed.).

“When Sasha’s illness subjected me to real torture, on the one hand, I felt a rush to fight to the extreme, on the other, I had something like a prayer,” the revolutionary later recalled. - I did not pray with generally accepted signs, but I turned to someone in my soul, in my heart. To whom? I didn’t know, and I even knew that I wasn’t addressing anyone, but still I turned... I begged someone for mercy, I made vows to someone. I sometimes said to myself: Lord, if You exist, help me... And faith poured into me every day, a chaotic, unclear faith, a faith in who knows what. I had nowhere to get a clear, dogmatic faith, and I still thought little about it... My mysterious conversations with the Gospel mostly concerned purely higher questions of worldview. Really? What is my responsibility? But it happened that I was looking for consolation and advice to my hopeless financial situation. And at one such moment I came across the answer: “... and delivered him from all his sorrows, and gave him wisdom and the favor of the king Egyptian pharaoh" I persistently came across this answer many times, on different days. He amazed me with this persistence.”

In 1888, revolutionary circles were shaken by unprecedented news. A former member of the executive committee of Narodnaya Volya publicly appealed to the Russian Tsar... with a penitent request for pardon: “In the middle of the year, I published in Paris in French a separate edition of Confessions of a Terrorist.” In Russian, the same brochure was published under the title “Why did I stop being a revolutionary?” It was a bomb that destroyed the revolutionary anthill to the ground. Without naming anyone, I exposed the underground, its skills, techniques, dishonest play, harmful tactics, self-interest, careerism; I repented of my mistakes and put an end to the past, calling on my former comrades to work not against the state, but together with the state, for the people.”

This act of Tikhomirov was talked about for a long time in Russia and abroad. Some were indignant, others suspected deception. But Alexander III believed the word of honor of the one who threatened to kill him seven years ago. Tikhomirov received a full pardon.

Returning to Russia, he could leave politics forever. But his newfound faith instilled in him the consciousness of the need to atone for his previous revolutionary sins. The former atheist became one of the most ardent and profound defenders of Orthodoxy and autocracy. He wrote hundreds of articles criticizing atheism, socialist and liberal teachings, and his fundamental work “Monarchical Statehood” became a reference book for every enlightened defender of the throne.

Lev Tikhomirov died quietly in Sergiev Posad in 1923. The victory of the socialist revolution, to whose cause he had once devoted many years, did not please him, but did not horrify him either. He ended his second major work, “Religious and Philosophical Foundations of History,” with these words: “Humanity decides with its free will whether to go to God or abandon Him. As long as there are people who want to be with God, and God always knows this, the end of the world will not come.

There have been times in history with such a strong tension of evil that it seemed there was no need for the world to continue to exist. Such eras, to which ours belongs, by their nature truly constitute “ last times" But the Lord does not reveal to people the time frame for the life of the world, so that our free will is not bound by considerations - “it’s not soon yet” or “it’s too late anyway,” for our work for the Kingdom of God should not be determined by such applied considerations, but by a free search for good or evil, free desire to work for the Lord or to reject Him.”

Tikhomirov and Savinkov were born on the same day. The beginning of their lives also turned out to be very similar. But they ended their days in completely different ways. Perhaps for many of us, this difference will serve as a reason to once again think about our lives and try to understand where the paths chosen since childhood will lead us.

More attention was paid to this topic in the works of foreign researchers. The American historian N. Neimark was one of the few who tried to create a general concept of the history of Russian revolutionary terrorism, which he outlined in the article “Terrorism and the Fall of Imperial Russia.” Neimark believed that the actions of terrorists, who considered attempts at government reforms insufficient, were used by officials to curtail reforms. The state, in his opinion, by taking extraordinary measures against the revolutionaries, turned away from the path of its own progress and building a civil society.

Origins and immediate reasons for the use of terrorist methods in the revolutionary struggle

Among the reasons that led to the revolutionaries' transition to methods of terror, historians highlight the incompleteness of the reforms of the tsarist government, the masses' failure to accept revolutionary ideas, the passivity of society in relation to the revolutionary movement, revenge on the authorities for repression, including in relation to terrorists, and the excessive personification of power by revolutionaries. Terror was seen by its ideologists, on the one hand, as a way to disorganize the government and induce it to reform; on the other hand, as a way to push the people to revolt, to speed up the course of history.

The beginning of terror

Karakozov’s actions were condemned by a number of well-known figures of the revolutionary movement, including A. I. Herzen, M. K. Elpidin, N. Ya. Nikoladze. At the same time, Karakozov fired a shot strong impression for revolutionary youth. B.P. Kozmin, a researcher of the 1860s, wrote: “Karakozov and his assassination attempt are a common topic of conversation among the revolutionary youth of that time...”.

The first consistently terrorist organization was the “People's Retribution” society founded by S. G. Nechaev in 1869. Nechaev compiled a list of people - the first candidates for destruction, but the only terrorist act that he carried out was the murder of a member of his organization, student I. I. Ivanov, who refused to obey Nechaev. The murder was discovered and compromised the methods of terror in the revolutionary movement for ten years.

A new rise of terrorism in the revolutionary movement occurred in 1878, starting with Vera Zasulich’s shot at the St. Petersburg mayor F. F. Trepov - thus she took revenge on Trepov for his order to flog the prisoner of the Peter and Paul Fortress Bogolyubov, who did not want to take off his headdress in front of Trepov. The jury, to the surprise of the government, acquitted Zasulich. This served, on the one hand, to spread terrorist ideas among part of the revolutionary youth, and on the other, to tighten the repressive measures of the tsarist government. From then on, similar cases of political assassinations and violent acts were brought before military courts rather than jury trials.

Zasulich’s shot was followed by a number of other terrorist acts: attempts on the life of the head of the Odessa gendarmerie, Baron G. E. Geiking, on the Kyiv prosecutor M. M. Kotlyarevsky, on the detective police agent A. G. Nikonov. On August 4, 1878, landowner S. M. Kravchinsky stabbed the chief of gendarmes, Adjutant General N. V. Mezentsev, in the center of St. Petersburg. The revolutionary terror continued the following year, 1879.

The failure of “going to the people,” the seeming impracticability of a popular uprising in the coming years, on the one hand, and government repression, on the other hand, pushed some of the populists towards terrorist methods of political struggle.

"People's Will"

“People's Will” had about 500 active members; only members and closest agents of the Party Executive Committee, as well as several throwers, technicians and observers, were engaged in terror. Of the rank-and-file members of Narodnaya Volya, 12 people took part in the preparation and implementation of all eight assassination attempts on the emperor.

The organization set the goal of terror to disorganize the government and excite the masses. The Narodnaya Volya members justified the need for terror by the persecution of the Narodniks by the authorities and the personal responsibility of Alexander II for the repressions, which was recorded by the Executive Committee of the Narodnaya Volya in the death sentence to the Tsar.

A real “hunt” was organized for Alexander II. Three attempts to crash the Tsar's train were made in the fall of 1879. On February 5, 1880, S. N. Khalturin carried out an explosion in the Winter Palace, as a result of which the emperor was not injured, although several dozen people were killed and wounded. Finally, on March 1, 1881, a group of Narodnaya Volya members carried out an assassination attempt on Alexander II by bombing, during which the emperor was mortally wounded along with I. I. Grinevitsky, one of the bomb throwers.

After the regicide, on March 10, the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya presented the new Emperor Alexander III with an ultimatum letter, which declared their readiness to stop the armed struggle and “devote themselves to cultural work for the benefit of their native people.” The emperor was faced with a choice:

Either a revolution, completely inevitable, which cannot be prevented by any executions, or a voluntary appeal of the supreme power to the people. In the interests of the native country,<…>In order to avoid those terrible disasters that always accompany a revolution, the Executive Committee turns to Your Majesty with advice to choose the second path.

By March 17, all participants in the murder of Alexander II were arrested and then put on trial. On April 3, 1881, five March 1st soldiers: A. I. Zhelyabov, S. L. Perovskaya, N. I. Kibalchich, T. M. Mikhailov and N. I. Rysakov were hanged.

In total, in 1879-83, more than 70 political processes of the People's Will took place, in which about 2 thousand people were involved. Energetic opposition to the organization's activities from the authorities led to its ideological and organizational crisis. The surviving members of Narodnaya Volya were sentenced to long prison terms and were released only during the revolution of 1905-1907.

The assassination of Alexander II, contrary to the assumptions of the theorists of populist socialism, did not lead to a revolution - on the contrary, it gave rise to rumors that the Tsar-Liberator was killed by the nobles in order to restore serfdom. The reforms started by Alexander II were stopped. The era of reaction began in the country.

In subsequent years, several attempts were made to revive Narodnaya Volya. The last of them was the creation, under the leadership of P. Ya. Shevyrev and A. I. Ulyanov, of the “Terrorist faction of the Narodnaya Volya party.” With the arrest of the Shevyrev-Ulyanov group after the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Alexander III, carried out on March 1, 1887, revolutionary terror in Russia ceased for almost 15 years.

Terrorism of the early 20th century

A new rise in revolutionary terrorism occurred at the beginning of the 20th century in conditions of a political crisis caused by the government’s refusal to implement urgent reforms. As A. Geifman points out, one of the main prerequisites for the growth of terror during this period was the coexistence of socio-economic growth and political backwardness in the Russian Empire. Many representatives of the emerging new social groups did not find a place for themselves in the old social structure, which caused them disappointment and pushed them onto the path of revolutionary activity and terror.

Unlike terrorists, the second half of the 19th century century, mostly belonging to privileged social groups and commoners, most of the terrorists of the new revolutionary wave came from the first generation of artisans and laborers who moved from villages to cities in search of work. Often coming from impoverished peasant families, they often lived in difficult economic conditions and were slow to adapt to the new environment. Such people easily succumbed to revolutionary agitation, and, for example, of all the political murders carried out by the Socialist Revolutionary Party, more than 50% were committed by workers.

A considerable part of the terrorists of this period were women. In the AKP Combat Organization there were about a third of women, and in general from total number They made up a fourth of terrorists. The influx of women into the revolutionary movement was associated with the revision of family relations taking place in society and the spread of literacy. In underground organizations, they received more respect from men than they could get anywhere in traditional social strata, and, therefore, realized their desire for self-affirmation.

Representatives of national minorities of the Russian Empire took part in the terror more actively than before: Jews, Poles, people from the Caucasus and the Baltic states.

As before, representatives of privileged social strata and commoners also took part in the terror of the early 20th century, many of whom were outraged by the counter-reforms of Alexander III, which largely limited or abolished the political achievements of the 1860s. They chose terror because they considered it impossible to carry out effective peaceful work within the existing political regime.

The famine that arose as a result of the crop failure of 1891, at the same time as cholera and typhoid epidemics broke out in the European part of Russia, played a role in the revolutionaries’ transition to methods of terror. Superimposed on the general poverty of the villages, they created fertile ground for radical agitation, and revolutionary circles appeared everywhere in the starving regions. However, the village in the 1890s was passive to revolutionary agitation, and this forced the revolutionaries to look for other ways of struggle. Many of them returned to the idea of ​​individual terror as a means of fomenting popular uprising.

The attitude of educated society towards radicals contributed to the terror. Already from the time of the acquittal in the Zasulich case in 1878, it became clear that the sympathies of the liberals were on the side of the terrorists. The latter were seen as heroes who showed examples of selfless self-sacrifice and were guided by deep humanity. Even some of the conservative circles stopped supporting the tsarist government in its fight against the radicals, preferring to stay away from politics and condemn both sides.

Scientific and technological progress made it easier for the radicals to carry out terror, allowing them to produce weapons of simple designs and on a large scale. According to contemporaries, “now any child could make an explosive device from an empty tin can and pharmaceutical drugs.”

As Anna Geifman writes, individual terrorists, with their actions, wanted to provoke a tightening of the government’s repressive policies in order to increase discontent in society and cause an uprising.

The impetus for the surge in terrorism was the events of “Bloody Sunday” on January 9, 1905, when government troops shot a workers’ procession heading to the Tsar with a petition.

Scope of terrorism

Anna Geifman provides data on terrorism statistics at the beginning of the 20th century. Thus, during the year, starting in October 1905, 3,611 government officials were killed and wounded in the Russian Empire. By the end of 1907 this number had increased to almost 4,500. Together with 2,180 killed and 2,530 wounded private individuals, the total number of victims in 1905 - 1907 is estimated by Geifman at more than 9,000 people. According to official statistics, from January 1908 to mid-May 1910, there were 19,957 terrorist attacks and expropriations, as a result of which 732 government officials and 3,051 private citizens were killed, while 1,022 government officials and 2,829 private individuals were injured.

Believing that a significant portion of local terrorist attacks were missed official statistics, Geifman estimates the total number of those killed and wounded as a result of terrorist attacks in 1901-1911 to be about 17,000 people.

After the start of the revolution, expropriations became a widespread phenomenon. Thus, in October 1906 alone, 362 cases of expropriations were recorded in the country. During the expropriations, according to the Ministry of Finance, from the beginning of 1905 to the middle of 1906, banks lost more than 1 million rubles.

IN major cities In Russia, the most active party in terrorist actions was the Socialist Revolutionary Party.

Social Revolutionaries

The Socialist Revolutionary Party was formed at the end of 1901, when various neo-populist organizations merged into one party. It became the only Russian party to officially include the ideas of terrorism in its policy documents. The party viewed its terrorist tactics as a continuation of the traditions of the Narodnaya Volya.

In April 1902, with the murder of the Minister of Internal Affairs D.S. Sipyagin, she declared herself Combat organization(BO) Socialist Revolutionaries. The BO was the most conspiratorial part of the party; its charter was written by M. Gotz. Over the entire history of the BO (1901-1908), over 80 people worked there. The organization was in an autonomous position within the party; the Central Committee only gave it the task of committing the next terrorist act and indicated the desired date for its execution. The BO had its own cash register, appearances, addresses, apartments; the Central Committee had no right to interfere in its internal affairs. The leaders of the BO Gershuni (1901-1903) and Azef (1903-1908), who was a secret police agent, were the organizers of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the most influential members of its Central Committee.

Under the leadership of Azef's deputy Boris Savinkov, members of the Combat Organization committed two of the most famous terrorist acts: the murder of the Minister of Internal Affairs Plehve on July 15, 1904 and the murder of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich on February 4, 1905. Thanks to these successful assassinations, the AKP and its Combat Organization gained wide popularity and many supporters: on the occasion of the death of the minister, who was considered an opponent of any reforms, no one expressed condolences; Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was also considered a reactionary.

The arrests carried out by the police in March 1905 significantly weakened the Combat Organization. From February to October, its members did not carry out any of the planned terrorist attacks against major officials. After the publication of the October Manifesto, the Central Committee of the AKP decided to stop terrorist activities, and the Combat Organization disintegrated. After the suppression of the uprising in Moscow in December 1905 and the dissolution of the First Duma, attempts were made to resume its activities, but by the beginning of 1907, the Combat Organization of the AKP had completely collapsed.

In addition to the Combat Organization, which was engaged in terror of central importance, local terrorist groups of Socialist Revolutionaries of various levels operated, and most of the terrorist attacks were carried out by local combat groups. During the revolution of 1905-1907 there was a peak in the terrorist activities of the Socialist Revolutionaries. During this period, the Social Revolutionaries carried out 233 assassination attempts. In total, from 1902 to 1911, the Social Revolutionaries committed 248 assassination attempts. 11 of them were organized by the Combat Organization.

In 1905-1906, its right wing left the party, forming the Party of People's Socialists, and the left wing, the Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries-Maximalists, dissociated itself.

Anarchists

Social Democrats

Russian Social Democrats declared and emphasized their reluctance to participate in the terrorist activities that swept Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. In reality, the practice of social democratic organizations sharply diverged from their declarations: the loud words of Marxists about their rejection of terror did not prevent social democratic organizations from supporting and personally participating in terrorist acts.

Bolsheviks

A basket of bombs located in the Bolshevik laboratory school in the village of Haapala. 1907.

As one of Lenin’s closest colleagues, Elena Stasova, testifies, the Bolshevik leader, having formulated his new tactics, began to insist on its immediate implementation and turned into an “ardent supporter of terror.”

Among the terrorist acts of the Bolsheviks there were many “spontaneous” attacks on government officials, for example, Mikhail Frunze and Pavel Gusev killed police officer Nikita Perlov on February 21, 1907, without an official resolution. They were also responsible for high-profile political murders: according to a version common in historical literature, in 1907 it was the Bolsheviks who killed the famous poet Ilya Chavchavadze - probably one of the most famous national figures of Georgia at the beginning of the 20th century. This murder, however, was never solved.

The Bolsheviks also had high-profile murders in their plans: Moscow Governor-General Dubasov, Colonel Riman in St. Petersburg, and the prominent Bolshevik A. M. Ignatiev, who was personally close to Lenin, even proposed a plan to kidnap Nicholas II himself from Peterhof.

A detachment of Bolshevik terrorists in Moscow planned to blow up a train transporting troops from St. Petersburg to Moscow to suppress the December revolutionary uprising. The plans of the Bolshevik terrorists were to capture several grand dukes for subsequent bargaining with the authorities, who were already close at that moment to suppressing the December uprising in Moscow.

As Anna Geifman notes, the Bolsheviks planned to shell the Winter Palace from a cannon, which they stole from the guards naval crew.

The historian notes that many Bolshevik speeches, which at first could still be regarded as acts of “revolutionary struggle of the proletariat,” in reality often turned into ordinary criminal acts of individual violence.

Analyzing the terrorist activities of the Bolsheviks during the years of the first Russian revolution, historian and researcher Anna Geifman comes to the conclusion that for the Bolsheviks, terror turned out to be effective and often used in different levels revolutionary hierarchy tool.

Mensheviks

National Social Democratic Organizations

Expropriation

As follows from the works of various researchers, the decent word “expropriation” was used by radicals from among the Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries to cover up the essence of brazen robbery and extortion. At the same time, such radicals as the Bundists considered this something like ordinary hooliganism

In addition to individuals specializing in political murders in the name of revolution, in each of the social democratic organizations there were people involved in armed robbery and confiscation of private and state property. It should be noted that such actions were never officially encouraged by the leaders of social democratic organizations, with the exception of the Bolsheviks, whose leader Lenin publicly declared robbery an acceptable means of revolutionary struggle. The Bolsheviks were the only social democratic organization in Russia that resorted to expropriations (the so-called “exams”) in an organized and systematic manner.

Lenin did not limit himself to slogans or simply recognizing the participation of the Bolsheviks in military activities. Already in October 1905, he announced the need to confiscate public funds and soon began to resort to “ex” in practice. Together with two of his then closest associates, Leonid Krasin and Alexander Bogdanov (Malinovsky), he secretly organized within the Central Committee of the RSDLP (which was dominated by the Mensheviks) a small group that became known as the “Bolshevik Center”, specifically to raise money for the Leninist faction. The existence of this group “was hidden not only from the eyes of the tsarist police, but also from other party members.” In practice, this meant that the Bolshevik Center was an underground body within the party, organizing and controlling expropriations and various forms of extortion.

In the period from 1906 to 1910, the Bolshevik Center supervised the implementation of a large number of “ex”, recruiting performers for this from uncultured and uneducated, but eager for battle, youth. The results of the activities of the Bolshevik Center were robberies of post offices, ticket offices at train stations, etc. Terrorist acts were organized in the form of train crashes followed by their robbery.

The Bolshevik center received a constant influx of money from the Caucasus from Kamo, who, since 1905, had organized a series of “exes” in Baku, Tiflis and Kutaisi and headed the combat “technical” group of the Bolsheviks. The head of the military organization was Stalin, who did not personally take part in terrorist acts, but completely controlled the activities of the Kamo group.

Kamo became famous due to the so-called “Tiflis ex” - expropriation on June 12, 1907, when in the central square of Tiflis the Bolsheviks threw bombs at two postal carriages carrying money from the Tiflis City Bank. As a result, the militants stole 250,000 rubles. In this case, two policemen were killed, three Cossacks were mortally wounded, two Cossacks were wounded, one shooter was wounded, and 16 passers-by were wounded.

The Caucasian organization Kamo was not the only militant group of the Bolsheviks; several combat detachments operated in the Urals, where since the beginning of the revolution of 1905 the Bolsheviks carried out more than a hundred expropriations, attacking postal and factory offices, public and private funds, artels and wine shops. The largest action was taken on August 26, 1909 - a raid on a mail train at the Miass station. During the action, the Bolsheviks killed 7 security guards and police officers, and stole bags containing about 60,000 rubles. and 24 kg of gold.

The appropriation of party money was practiced among radicals, especially among the Bolsheviks, who often took part in acts of expropriation. The money went not only to party coffers, but also replenished the personal wallets of militants

Juvenile terrorists

Radicals involved minors in terrorist activities. This phenomenon intensified after the explosion of violence in 1905. Extremists have used children to perform a variety of combat missions. Children helped militants make and hide explosive devices, and also took part directly in the terrorist attacks themselves. Many fighting squads, especially the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, trained and recruited minors, uniting future child terrorists into special youth cells.

Cooperation of independent radical groups

Representatives of various revolutionary extremist groups often carried out joint terrorist attacks. Cooperation often took the form of joint consultations and meetings to discuss joint extremist acts. So in the summer of 1906 in Finland, such prominent figures of the extremist movement as the Socialist Revolutionaries Nathanson and Azef, the leader of the Polish Social Democrats Dzerzhinsky and the leader of the Russian Bolsheviks Lenin took part in a secret meeting.

Historian Anna Geifman concludes that among all the terrorists, Lenin's followers were "the least dogmatic in their approach to political violence" and that the Bolsheviks actively collaborated with other terrorists. The historian points to the fact that even at the III Congress of the RSDLP in the spring of 1905, the Bolshevik M. G. Tskhakaya paid tribute to the Combat Organization of the Socialist Revolutionaries and called for joining their efforts with it. In accordance with the speeches of Lenin, who argued that “Bolsheviks and socialist revolutionaries must go separately, but fight together,” a resolution was adopted at the congress that allowed joint combat operations As the historian points out, the Bolshevik wife of N. Sukhanov helped hide from the police Pyotr Romanov, a Socialist Revolutionary militant wanted for the murder of the head of the gendarmerie in Samara in 1907, and members of the Bolshevik terrorist detachments, who had previously participated in robberies, committed terrorist attacks together with the Socialist Revolutionaries. At the same time, the Bolsheviks themselves claimed that in many cases their relations with the Socialist Revolutionaries were much more better relationship with the Social Democrats - Mensheviks. In St. Petersburg and Moscow, the Bolshevik Krasin, the organizer of a laboratory for the production of bombs and grenades, always willingly helped the Socialist Revolutionaries in carrying out operations, and his Socialist Revolutionary acquaintances were amazed at the quality of the Bolshevik explosive devices. It should be noted that the huge 16-pound bombs used by the maximalists in the first unsuccessful attempt on Stolypin’s life on Aptekarsky Island in St. Petersburg and during the famous expropriation in Fonarny Lane were manufactured precisely in Krasin’s Bolshevik laboratory under his personal supervision.

In terrorist attacks on the outskirts of Russia, the Bolsheviks actively collaborated with anarchists. Lenin's confidant, Viktor Taratuta, was not only involved in attempts to “launder” the money expropriated during the Tiflis expropriation of June 1907, but also in helping the anarchists “launder” their own money received during the robberies.

On the outskirts of Russia, in the Urals and the Volga region, Bolsheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists even united into partisan detachments.

In the spring of 1907, the Leninists transported a large shipment of weapons to the Caucasian extremists. When carrying out their terrorist attacks, the Bolsheviks used the help of semi-criminal detachments, for example, Lbov’s supporters in the Urals. At the same time, even from the Lbov criminals there were complaints about the Bolsheviks who profited from the Ural bandits during joint robberies. Anna Geifman points out that despite the agreement being drawn up in accordance with all the rules, the Bolsheviks “threw away” the Lbovites, who paid the Bolshevik Center of the RSDLP 6,000 rubles as an advance for imported weapons.

Even more significant was the willingness of Lenin’s comrades to cooperate with ordinary criminals, who were even less interested in socialist teachings than Lbov’s bandits, but who nevertheless turned out to be very useful partners in operations with smuggling and arms sales. In their memoirs, the Bolsheviks claimed that some of their criminal aides were so proud of their participation in the anti-government struggle that they refused monetary rewards for their services, but in most cases the bandits were not such altruists. They usually demanded money for their help, and it was the Bolsheviks, who had the largest sums of expropriated money, who were most willing to enter into business agreements with smugglers, crooks and arms dealers

Cooperation of revolutionaries with different countries during wars

During the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, Russia's foreign enemies were treated as allies by revolutionaries. The radicals were associated with states enemy to Russia, including Japan, Turkey, Austria, and accepted money from these countries, which were ready to support any radical and extremist actions, terrorism, capable of destabilizing the internal order in Russia. Such activity took place during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 and picked up sharply on the eve of the outbreak of World War I in 1914, when Russian extremist organizations received large amounts of funds and weapons from Japan, Germany and Austria.

The end of revolutionary terror

After the decline of revolutionary terrorism after the defeat of the revolution in 1907, terrorism in Russia did not stop; terrorist attacks continued until the February Revolution. The greatest concern with terror during this period was shown by the Bolsheviks, whose leader Lenin wrote on October 25, 1916 that the Bolsheviks were not at all opposed to political assassinations, only individual terror should be combined with mass movements.

Ideology

Notable actions and victims

Innocent victims (terrorist mistakes)

Since acts of terror were personified, errors in execution often occurred and terrorists killed innocent people. Gendarmerie officer Spiridovich recalled that during the “hunt” of social revolutionaries in 1906 for the St. Petersburg Governor General Trepov, the perpetrator of the terrorist attack, Volkov, was mistakenly killed by General Kozlov, whom the revolutionary mistook for Trepov. In Penza, instead of the gendarme general Prozorovsky, the infantry general Lissovsky was killed. In Kyiv, in the Merchant Garden, instead of the gendarmerie general Novitsky, a retired army general was stabbed with a knife. In Switzerland, instead of Minister Durnovo, the revolutionaries killed the German merchant Müller. :148

The wife of gendarme Spiridovich can also be considered an innocent victim of terrorists - in front of her eyes, Bolshevik carpenter Rudenko, who was also an agent of the security department recruited by Spiridovich, seriously wounded her husband, shooting him 5 times with a revolver in the back. The woman went crazy and soon died. :206

Consequences

see also

Notes

1. Budnitsky O. V. Terrorism in the Russian liberation movement: ideology, ethics, psychology (second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries). - M.: ROSSPEN, 2000. - P. 9, 13.
2. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. 1894 - 1917. / Transl. from English E. Dorman. - M.: KRON-PRESS, 1997- 448 pp. - (Series “Express”) ISBN 5-232-00608-8, Preface to the Russian edition
3. Budnitsky O. V.“Blood according to conscience”: terrorism in Russia (second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries). Domestic history, 1994.
4. Leonov M. I. Terror and unrest in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. Bulletin of SamSU, 2007. No. 5/3 (55).
5. Lantsov S. A. Revolutionary terrorism in Russia // Terror and terrorists: Dictionary. - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg Publishing House. University, 2004.
6. Budnitsky O. V. Terrorism in the Russian liberation movement. - P. 18 - 21.
7. Budnitsky O. V. Terrorism in the Russian liberation movement. - P. 21, 23.
8. Budnitsky O. V. Terrorism in the Russian liberation movement. - P. 24, 25.
9. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. pp. 5, 9 - 10, 16.
10. Budnitsky O. V. Terrorism in the Russian liberation movement. - P. 25 - 26.
11. Geifman A. ISBN 5-232-00608-8 Chapter 8: Under these conditions, as Richard Pipes rightly observes, "no government in the world could remain inactive"; after all, it was the revolutionaries who constantly called their actions a war with the existing system, and declaring war, they should have expected response blows
12. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. 1894-1917. / Per. from English E. Dorman. - M.: KRON-PRESS, 1997-448 pp. - (Express Series) ISBN 5-232-00608-8, Chapter 5 “The Other Side of the Revolution” “Crime and Ethics among Terrorists”
13. Anisimov“Trial and Retribution”, 1932, p.138
14. Budnitsky O. V. Terrorism in the Russian liberation movement: ideology, ethics, psychology (second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries). - M.: ROSSPEN, 2000. - P. 35-38.
15. Budnitsky O. V. Terrorism in the Russian liberation movement. - P. 38, 43.
16. III. The second revolutionary situation in Russia // Nikolai Troitsky
17. Budnitsky O. V. Terrorism in the Russian liberation movement. - P. 59.
18. “People’s Will” and its “Red Terror” // Nikolai Troitsky
19. The second revolutionary situation: The descending phase // Nikolai Troitsky
20. Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd edition, M. 1969-1978, article “People's Will”
21. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia, 1894-1917. M.: KRON-PRESS, 1997. P. 18.
22. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. pp. 18 - 19.
23. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. P. 19.
24. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. P. 20.
25. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. pp. 21 - 22.
26. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. pp. 22 - 23.
27. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. P. 24.
28. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. P. 28.
29. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. P. 32.
30. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. P. 33.
31. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. P. 35.
32. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. pp. 65, 66.
33. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. pp. 78 - 80.
34. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia. pp. 81 - 83.
35. http://vestnik.ssu.samara.ru/gum/2007web53/hist/200753062005.pdf
36. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia, 1894-1917/ Trans. from English E. Dorman. - M.: KRON-PRESS, 1997-448 pp. - (Series “Express”) ISBN 5-232-00608-8
37. The first militant organization of the Bolsheviks. 1905–1907 M., 1934. Pp. 15.
38. ISBN 5-232-00608-8, Chapter 3 "Social Democrats and Terror"
39. Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakhtadze, Merab Vachnadze, Vakhtang Guruli History of Georgia (from ancient times to the present day). TXT. Tbilisi: Tbilisi State University, 1993.
40. Geifman A. Revolutionary terror in Russia, 1894-1917/ Trans. from English E. Dorman. - M.: KRON-PRESS, 1997-448 pp. - (Express Series) ISBN 5-232-00608-8, “Cooperation within the RSDLP”

You can become famous not only through politics or show business. Today, television constantly talks about famous terrorists. Their fame is based on blood and murder. The concept of “terror” arose quite a long time ago. Translated from Latin, this word means fear or horror. Physical violence could be used to frighten one's political opponents or the common population.

Terrorism has many forms - collective and individual, religious, nationalistic, state and international. The first terrorists operated in Judea in the 1st century. Then members of the Sicarii sect killed those noble Jews who advocated peace with the Romans. This was regarded as a betrayal of national interests.

In the Middle Ages, the assassins who operated in what is now Iran became famous. These faceless killers destroyed sinners on the orders of their leader. Today, terrorists are no longer faceless; they do not hide, exposing their dark deeds to the public. The most famous such criminals will be discussed below.

Herostratus. This is the first person who managed to go down in history not with his creative or political abilities, but with his destructive activities. A Greek from Ephesus in 356 BC. in his hometown burned the temple of Artemis, considered one of the wonders of the world. During torture, Herostratus admitted that he did this specifically to perpetuate his name. After the execution, an order was issued to completely forget the name of Herostratus. For this, even the residents of Ephesus hired special heralds who traveled around the country and announced that the name of the ambitious man should be forgotten. However, this crime was outlined in the works of the ancient Greek historian Theopompus. From there, information about Herostratus migrated to the works of later scientists. The story of the arson of the famous temple was invariably accompanied by the name of the perpetrator. Thus Herostratus achieved his goal. Legends say that on the night when the Temple of Artemis was burning, Alexander the Great was born. It’s a stretch to consider Herostratus a terrorist, but he showed how fame can be achieved through criminal means. The phrase “Herostratus’ glory” or “Herostratus’s laurels” appeared, which means fame tantamount to shame.

Boris Savinkov. In the second half of the 19th century, terrorist methods became very popular in Russia - attempts were made on the lives of high-ranking officials and even the Tsar. Revolutionary Boris Savinkova supported such methods of fighting the regime. He himself was born into a family of nobles, but all of his closest relatives opposed the authorities in one way or another. For example, an older brother, a Social Democrat, committed suicide in Siberian exile. Savinkov himself was expelled from St. Petersburg University in 1899 for participating in student riots. In 1903, the young revolutionary was only 24 years old, and he already had arrests and exiles behind him. In Geneva, Savinkov joined the Combat Organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Until 1917, he organized numerous terrorist attacks on Russian territory. The most noisy cases were the murder of the Minister of Internal Affairs Plehve (1904), the Moscow Governor-General Prince Sergei Alexandrovich (1905), the assassination attempt on the Minister of Internal Affairs Durnovo and General Dubasov. After the arrest of the terrorist leader Azef, Savinkov heads the Combat Organization. In 1906, while preparing an assassination attempt on the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Chukhnin, the terrorist was caught in Sevastopol and sentenced to death. But Savinkov was able to escape to Romania at night. It was no longer possible to prepare successful terrorist attacks, the Combat Organization disintegrated, and its former leader began to engage in literary activities. After the February Revolution, Savinkov returned to Russia, he became a commissioner of the Provisional Government, then an assistant to the Minister of War. The former terrorist did not support the October Revolution of 1917. He tried to fight new government, then went to Europe, where he found himself in a political vacuum. As a result, Savinkov returned illegally to Russia, where he was captured by the OGPU and was killed in prison (officially, he committed suicide).

Ilyich Ramirez Sanchez, "Carlos the Jackal". The international terrorist was born in 1949 in Venezuela. His name was given in honor of Lenin, because his father was also a convinced communist. In 1968-1969, the young fiery revolutionary studied in Moscow and the Peoples' Friendship University. In 1970, Sanchez acquired the nickname "Carlos" while interning at a terrorist camp in Palestine. During the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the terrorist performed well, and in 1973 he tried to kill an influential Jewish politician and businessman Edward Schiff in London. In the 70s, Sanchez succeeded in a whole series of terrorist attacks - an attack on a bank, an explosion of French newspaper offices, attacks on planes and a restaurant. The Jackal's most famous action was the attack on the OPEC headquarters in Vienna and the taking of hostages in 1975. At the same time, the terrorists managed to escape unpunished. In the 80s, Sanchez was credited with a series of bombings in France, killing 11 people and injuring more than 100 more. The criminal is constantly hiding, now in Hungary, now in Syria, now in Algeria. He began selling weapons, eventually moving away from his main activity. The terrorist was eventually extradited by Sudanese authorities in 1994. In France, Sanchez was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1997, and a second similar sentence was handed down in 2011. Now the terrorist sits in a Paris prison and writes autobiographical books.

Ulrike Meinhof. This German journalist comes from an intelligent bourgeois family - her ancestors were pastors, and her parents were art critics. In 1955, at the age of 21, the smart girl entered the University of Marburg, where she studied philosophy, pedagogy, and sociology. But the musty atmosphere did not suit her active character. In 1957 she transferred to the University of Münster, where she led the student movement against nuclear weapons. In the first half of the 1960s, Meinhof became one of the most famous journalists in Germany, she received large fees. At the same time, she actively participates in the anti-fascist movement, opposes the war in Vietnam and the adoption of anti-democratic laws. When left-wing organizations begin to be banned and persecuted in Germany, Ulrika's activities become much more radical. In 1970, the journalist organized the armed release of the leader of the Red Army Faction (RAF), Andreas Baader. This mission succeeds, albeit at the cost of injuring innocent people. The newly-minted terrorist herself goes underground. Since then, the RAF has been active. The group visited training camps of the Palestine Liberation Front. The terrorists needed money and upon returning to Germany they began to attack banks. Ulrike Meinhof herself was called the queen of terror. The RAF was credited with 555 terrorist attacks. Among the victims were ordinary people and even comrades who wished to retire. In 1972, Ulrike Meinhof was finally arrested. In 1975, she died under strange circumstances in prison. Her funeral turned into a mass protest.

Timothy McVey. Until the emergence of Osama bin Laden, this was the largest terrorist in American history. IN teenage years Timothy grew up withdrawn and unsociable. He was more interested in computers, and later firearms, rather than studying and communicating. In 1988, at the age of 20, McVeigh became a soldier in the US Army. He took part in the war in Persian Gulf, deserved awards. McVeigh underwent special training, studied explosives, sniper tactics. But a career in the army did not work out due to bad physical fitness McVey. In 1992, he was transferred to the reserve. The former soldier was a right-wing anarchist who believed that gun control was a restriction of constitutional freedoms. The actions of the authorities at Ruby Ridge in 1992 and at the siege of the Mount Carmel estate in 1993, when innocent people died as a result of the authorities' actions, became the reason for McVeigh's desire for revenge. On April 19, 1995, a terrorist bombed the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. For these purposes, a car mined with 5 tons of explosives was used. 168 people died then, including 19 children under 6 years old. Another 680 people were wounded. Total damage from the explosion was $652 million. Within an hour and a half after the explosion, McVeigh was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm. In 1997, a trial was held that sentenced the terrorist to death. In 2001, McVeigh was given a lethal injection. In America itself, legislation was changed that tightened the security of federal buildings.

Patrick Magee. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is waging a terrorist war against the British. The most famous revolutionary is Patrick Magee. In 1984, he carried out his most famous action. Then the carefully prepared assassination attempt on English Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was practically successful. When the British Conservative Party held its congress in the town of Brighton, Magee managed to plant a bomb in the politician's hotel room. Thatcher narrowly escaped death because she was in the toilet at the time of the explosion. But 5 innocent people died. Magee himself received the nickname “Brighton Bomb Thrower” for his terrorist attack. The terrorist knew in advance which hotel the distinguished guest would be accommodated in. Six months in advance, under a false name, he booked a room next door. And the signature he accidentally left in the guest book gave him away. The court sentenced the Irishman to 8 life sentences. In prison, Magee studied and even passed exams, receiving a second education. After 15 years he was released. Today, Magee continues to actively participate in demonstrations against the authorities.

Shoko Asahara. This man managed to create an entire deadly sect, which, under the guise of a neo-religious organization, began to kill people. Chizuo Matsumoto grew up in a large family. Unable to get into university, he took up the practice of Chinese medicine. Back in 1981, he was arrested for fraud, selling energy-charged drugs. In 1987, Asahara made a pilgrimage to the Himalayas, where he claims to have been spiritually cleansed. A little earlier, he founded an organization called Aum Shinrikyo. Since 1989, the sect has become known in Japan. It attracted many young Japanese students from elite universities. Active cooperation with the Dalai Lama led to his recognition of this organization. Studying Buddhist texts and meditation were just a decoy. Aum Shinrikyo began to act more actively. The rituals included the use of drugs and shock therapy. In 1989, the first murder of a sect member who wanted to leave occurred. In 1990, Asahara tried to run for parliament, but failed. The sect began to secretly acquire weapons, including chemical weapons. Sarin and VX gas have previously been used to kill or assassinate Aum Shinrikyo critics. But on June 27, 1994, gas was released against civilians. Members of the sect used sarin gas in the central park of the city of Matsumoto. Then 7 people died, another 200 were injured. The police were preparing to close the sect, but Asahara managed to carry out another high-profile terrorist attack. On March 20, 1995, a gas attack took place in the Tokyo subway. The victims were 12-27 people; in total, the effects of sarin were felt by several tens of thousands of people. The trial of Shoko Asahara turned out to be the longest in the country's history. As a result, he was sentenced to death, but the sentence has not yet been carried out.

Shamil Basayev. After completing his military service, Basayev ended up in Moscow. There he never managed to enter university and was content with low-paid work. After the collapse of the State Emergency Committee, Basayev returned to Chechnya and felt a field for self-realization. He became part of the armed formation created under the National Congress of the Chechen People. In the summer of 1991, Basayev created the armed group “Vedeno”, and in October he formed a group of saboteurs. They were supposed to protect the freedom of the Chechen Republic and the interests of the President. On November 9, 1991, as a sign of protest against the introduction of a state of emergency, Basayev hijacked a passenger plane from Mineralnye Vody to Turkey. There the invaders surrendered and were sent to Chechnya. Then Basayev noted his participation in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. During the First Chechen War, the terrorist gradually moved from active participation to sabotage. On June 14-20, 1995, militants led by Basayev seized a hospital in the city of Budennovsk, Stavropol Territory. 1,600 people became hostages, 147 of whom died. Before the Second Chechen War, Basayev was actively involved in politics. Nevertheless, he continued to organize terrorist attacks on Russian territory. These include the hostage taking in Dubrovka in 2002 (129 dead), the explosion of a truck near the government building in Grozny (72 victims), a series of suicide bombings in 2003, explosions in the metro in 2004, the seizure of a school in Beslan in 2004 ( 330 dead hostages). In 2006, Basayev was killed by Russian special services while preparing a new terrorist attack.

Osama bin Laden. This man became the largest organizer of terrorist attacks in modern history. He also quite generously sponsored the entire Islamic radical movement. Osama was born in Saudi Arabia and received a good education. He became involved in the family construction business, but the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan forced bin Laden to join the Afghan Jihad. Bin Laden's activities against Soviet troops (recruitment of volunteers, active fighting) were under the control of American intelligence. In 1989, Osama returned to his homeland, continuing to sponsor radicals. But the Gulf War and Saudi Arabia's alliance with the United States angered Osama, which led to his expulsion to Sudan. In 1996 and 1998, bin Laden issued proclamations instructing Muslims to fight the Americans. The result was the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998. The eighth anniversary of the entry of American troops into Saudi Arabia. As a result of the terrorist attacks, 290 people were killed and about 5 thousand were injured. Then Osama bin Laden was added to the list of most wanted terrorists. After the events of September 11, 2001, Osama's name became known throughout the world. It was he who was declared the main suspect in a series of major terrorist attacks in America. Bin Laden himself either refused to participate in the attack or confirmed his involvement in it. The United States sent troops into Afghanistan, wanting to destroy the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Bin Laden himself hid for a long time until he was killed by special forces in 2011.

Andres Behring Breivik. The recent terrorist attack shocked everyone, because it turned out that the attack could be carried out in quiet prosperous countries. Norwegian Andres Breivik led an inconspicuous life, but his political activities were active. Since 1997, Breivik has been involved in the youth wing of the Progress Party. In the 2000s, the Norwegian's views became more radical. He positioned himself as a nationalist and hated multicultural politics and Muslims. Breivik gradually came to the conclusion that he could not do anything through political methods, therefore, it was necessary to use weapons. Before carrying out his terrorist attack, Breivik posted a 12-minute video on the Internet and sent out a 1,518-page manifesto. There he called on Europeans to return to the policy of isolationism and Christian medieval values. Breivik was able to legally purchase weapons in his native Norway, and components for explosives from a fertilizer seller. On July 22, 2011, an explosion occurred in the government quarter of Oslo. 8 people were killed and 92 more were injured. Nearby buildings were damaged and a fire started. An hour and a half after this, Breivik arrived at the ferry crossing near the island of Utøya. There was a summer camp for the ruling Workers' Party. There were more than 600 young people there. Dressed in a police uniform, Breivik did not arouse suspicion; he gathered young Social Democrats around him and began shooting at them. The terrorist killed another 69 people on the island. After an hour and a half of massacre, he surrendered to the authorities without resistance. The law provides for a maximum prison term of 21 years; the terrorist himself does not intend to challenge the upcoming court decision.

Terrorist acts committed by lone terrorists, terrorist organizations and illegal armed groups occurred both during the USSR and in modern Russia. We recall the most notorious incidents in this article.

Known-unknown terrorist attacks in the USSR

Terrorist attacks occurred not only in modern Russia, but also in the USSR. True, then they tried to keep silent about them.

Plane hijacking by the Ovechkin family

In 1988, the Ovechkin family hijacked a passenger plane flying from Irkutsk to Leningrad via Kurgan. Their demand is landing in London. The plane landed near Vyborg, after which the assault began, which resulted in the death of three people and the injury of several passengers. The plane burned down.

Explosions in Moscow

The year 1977 began in the USSR with a terrible terrorist attack - three explosions occurred almost simultaneously in Moscow. One of them was carried out by terrorists identifying themselves as members of the Armenian nationalist party in a subway car. The second occurred in a grocery store, and the third was the result of an explosive device going off in a cast-iron trash can next to one of the stores.

The explosions killed twenty-nine people. The terrorists were convicted and shot.

Explosion in the Tu-104 plane

In 1973, a plane flying from Irkutsk to Chita was hijacked by a terrorist who brought an improvised explosive device on board. Threatening an explosion, he demanded that the plane land in China.

The policeman accompanying the flight shot the hijacker, but the explosive device went off and the plane was destroyed. Thus, all passengers and crew on the plane died - that’s eighty-two people.

Explosions of residential buildings

In residential building explosions, it is impossible to avoid casualties. Terrorists often blow up high-rise buildings or high-density buildings.

Explosion in Buinaksk

In 1999, in Buinaksk, Dagestan, a powerful explosion occurred in a residential building. The result of this terrorist attack was the death of sixty-four people. Almost one hundred and fifty people were wounded.

Explosions in Moscow

In 1999, two residential buildings were blown up by terrorists in the Russian capital, four days apart. One house was located on Kashirskoye Highway, the second was on Guryanov Street. The explosions claimed the lives of two hundred and twenty-four people.

Explosion in Volgodonsk

Also in 1999, a residential building was blown up in Volgodonsk. More than a thousand people were wounded and injured, nineteen residents of the house died.

Other tragedies of modern Russia

The history of modern Russia has many sad pages associated with the mass death of citizens as a result of terrorist attacks. Among them are explosions in buses, trains, planes, seizures of buildings, schools, and hospitals.

"Nord-Ost", terrorist attack on Dubrovka

In two thousand and two, in the capital of Russia, spectators in the theater on Dubrovka were captured by terrorists. Chechen fighters Nine hundred people were held in the Theater Center.

During the assault, all the militants were destroyed, one hundred and twenty hostages were killed. The reason for this number of deaths was the sleeping gas used during the assault.

Explosion in Domodedovo

In 2011, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow. Thirty-seven people died this way. The terrorist himself was among the dead.

Seizure of a hospital in Budennovsk

In 1995, in Budyonnovsk, one hundred and ninety-five terrorists seized the city hospital, driving people there. About one thousand six hundred people were taken hostage.

Trying to free them, the special forces fought for four hours. As a result, many died among both hostages and terrorists.

Five days later, the authorities had to fulfill the conditions of the invaders, who, together with the hostages, went to the village of Zandak. There the terrorists released everyone and disappeared.

The result of this terrible terrorist attack was the death of one hundred and twenty-nine people, and more than four hundred were injured.

Explosion at a train station in Volgograd

The cynical terrorist attack occurred on December 29, 2013. The explosion occurred in the inspection area when law enforcement officers tried to stop a suspicious person.

An explosion at a train station in Volgograd killed 14 people. Another 49 people were injured. There could have been more victims if the police had not been vigilant.

The worst terrorist attack in Russian history

The most terrible terrorist attack in Russia is considered to be the terrorist attack in Beslan, committed on September 1, two thousand and four. On that day, a school in Beslan became the target of the seizure.

Modern history full of other tragic events. The site has detailed information about other terrible events of the twentieth century.
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