FROM THE DAGGER TO THE BOMB: KARL HEINZEN AND THE EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL TERROR

Historians and political scientists have been quick to draw a continuum between the tyrannicide theories of years gone by and the modern terrorism of today. Yet the underlying motivations and intended results are very different in tyrannicide and terrorism. The question this raises is what changes occurred in the theory of political violence to make the transition between tyrannicide and terrorism possible? In this article, the author looks at the writings of a little-known nineteenth-century journalist, Karl Heinzen, to gain insight into the connection made in the mind of a terrorist between tyrannicide theory and terrorism.