Evpatoria red terror corpses at sea coast

Terror (from French ''terreur'', from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''terror'' "great fear", ''terrere'' "to frighten") is a policy of

political repression Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereb ...

and

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...

intended to subdue political opposition. The term was first used for the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...

during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. Before the late twentieth century, the term ''"terrorism"'' in the English language was often used interchangeably with "''terror''." Some contemporary writers use the term ''terrorism'' to refer to acts by groups with a limited political base or parties on the weaker side in

asymmetric warfare Asymmetric warfare (or asymmetric engagement) is the term given to describe a type of war between belligerents whose relative military power, strategy or tactics differ significantly. This is typically a war between a standing, professional ar ...

and ''terror'' to refer to acts by governments and

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...

officials, usually within the legal framework of the state. Others consider state terror to be a specific type of terrorism.

Revolutionary and counter-revolutionary terror

Revolutionary terror Revolutionary terror, also referred to as revolutionary terrorism or a reign of terror, refers to the institutionalized application of force to counterrevolutionaries, particularly during the French Revolution from the years 1793 to 1795 (see th ...

, also known as ''"

Red Terror The Red Terror (russian: Красный террор, krasnyj terror) in Soviet Russia was a campaign of political repression and executions carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police. It started in lat ...

"'', was often used by revolutionary governments to suppress

counterrevolutionaries A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...

. The first example was the

during the

in 1794. Other notable examples include the ''

'' in

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

in 1918–1922, as well as simultaneous campaigns in the Hungarian Soviet Republic and in Finland. In China

in 1966 and 1967 started the

Cultural revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. Counter-revolutionary terror is usually referred to as ''"

White Terror White Terror is the name of several episodes of mass violence in history, carried out against anarchists, communists, socialists, liberals, revolutionaries, or other opponents by conservative or nationalist groups. It is sometimes contrasted wit ...

"''. Notable examples are the terror campaigns in France (1794–1795), in Russia (1917–20), in Hungary (1919–1921), and in Spain. Modern examples of counter-revolutionary terror include

Operation Condor Operation Condor ( es, link=no, Operación Cóndor, also known as ''Plan Cóndor''; pt, Operação Condor) was a United States–backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of o ...

in South America.

Terror and terrorism

David Forte states that the primary difference between terror and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

is that while terror can be neutrally evil (i.e., random violence committed by

robbers Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

rapists Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or a ...

, and even

military personnel Military personnel are members of the state's armed forces. Their roles, pay, and obligations differ according to their military branch (army, navy, marines, air force, space force, and coast guard), rank (officer, non-commissioned officer, or e ...

), terrorism has the additional political or moral dimension, being the systematized use of randomly focused violence by organized groups against

non-combatants Non-combatant is a term of art in the law of war and international humanitarian law to refer to civilians who are not taking a direct part in hostilities; persons, such as combat medics and military chaplains, who are members of the belligeren ...

to effect a political objective. However, Charles Tilly defines "terror" as a political strategy defined as "asymmetrical deployment of threats and violence against enemies using means that fall outside the forms of political struggle routinely operating within some current regime," and therefore ranges from:

#intermittent actions by members of groups that are engaged in wider political struggles to #one segment in the modus operandi of durably organized specialists in coercion, including government-employed and government-backed specialists in coercion to #the dominant rationale for distinct, committed groups and networks of activists.

According to Tilly, the term "terror" spans a wide range of human cruelties, from Stalin's use of executions to clandestine attacks by groups like the Basque separatists and the

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

and even ethnic cleansing and genocide.

References

"Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy", by Barrington Moore, Edward Friedman, James C. Scott (1993) , p.101: "Social Consequences of Revolutionary Terror" ,{{cite journal , author=Charles Tilly , title=Terror, Terrorism, Terrorists , journal=Sociological Theory , volume=22 , issue=1 , date=March 2004 , pages=5–13 , doi=10.1111/j.1467-9558.2004.00200.x, s2cid=143553555 , url=http://professor-murmann.info/tilly/2004_Terror.pdf , citeseerx=10.1.1.183.7706 specifically page 9 Fear Violence

Revolutionary and counter-revolutionary terror

Terror and terrorism

See also

References