Learn more about assassination incidents which shook the world and had a profound impact on global politics and communities.
Assassination attempts on world leaders are not an old thing. We lived through one such attempt just recently! US presidential candidate Donald Trump was subjected to an attack during one of his rallies in July, 2024. Fortunately, he made it out safely. But many world leaders before him with the same predicament weren’t so lucky.
We have lost a lot of brilliant leaders to such attempts. The reason behind the assailant’s attack may differ but there’s one thing in common. That is the impact on the country or community which these leaders leave behind. Assassinations can become the cause of panic, fear, and mass hysteria even.
Such situations have happened enough times to consider it a major threat to peoples’ physical and mental health. You want to know about such instances? Let’s dive in!
Mahatma Gandhi (1948)
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Indian freedom fighter, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, better known as Mahatma Gandhi was shot to death on 30 January, 1948. This was done by a Hindutva activist who had disagreed with Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence towards other communities.
Nathuram Godse was a member of the right-wing Hindu organization, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and had joined the Hindu Mahasabha. His decision and plan to murder Gandhi was a result of his resentment for Gandhi and his treatment of other non-Hindu communities. Godse and his supporters blamed Gandhi for the partition of India and Pakistan.
This hatred gave way to an elaborate plan and finally, Godse had shot Gandhi as he was climbing the stairs of Birla House. He was captured and executed, but it was done. Gandhi was dead.
John F. Kennedy (1963)
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US president John F. Kennedy had been immensely popular. So popular that his assassination left the country reeling from the loss.
Kennedy and his political advisors had decided to start preparing for the next elections. They had been confident about the results too. He started doing his speeches in the west in October, 1963. Mrs. Kennedy had joined him in Texas for a two-day fund-raising trip.
During this trip, at about 12:30 PM on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was mortally wounded as a bullet pierced his neck. Moments later, another bullet was fired at the back of his head. Governor Connally, who had been traveling with them, was also shot in the thigh. He survived; President Kennedy didn’t.
These bullets had been fired by Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US marine who had embraced Marxism. He had affiliations within the Soviet Union and this seemed to be reason enough to murder the US president. But he never went on trial; a distraught and angry local nightclub owner shot him to death when Oswald was getting transferred to county jail. His name was Jack Ruby.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
Source: https://entrepreneurship.babson.edu/honoring-mlk-legacy/
MLK Jr. had been the voice of many. And when such an important leader dies, the public isn’t very happy.
Martin Luther King Jr. had arrived in Tennessee with a march in mind for the Memphis Sanitation Workers. He had been ready to leave but went to his balcony for a brief conversation with some colleagues from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Suddenly, a bullet pierced his neck. This single shot wounded him fatally and he was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital. He was just 39.
The then president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, chose April 7 as a National Day of Mourning for MLK. But he couldn’t control the riots that shook over 100 cities in the country. Over 100,000 supporters followed his coffin through the streets of Atlanta as it was getting dragged by two mules.
Indira Gandhi (1984)
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Indira Gandhi was the daughter of the first prime minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. She had big shoes to fill. Dubbed as the Iron Lady of India, Indira Gandhi was assassinated after a military mission had gone awry.
A curfew had been announced in Amritsar, the Sikh holy city because of Sikh terrorist activity on June 1, 1984. Within the next few hours, thousands of soldiers had marched into the 380-year-old Golden Temple to find the lurking criminals. This was Gandhi’s Operation Blue Star which resulted in the destruction of the temple at many places and 1,000 deaths. Obviously, the Sikh community wasn’t happy.
Gandhi got multiple threats and was advised to keep Sikh soldiers and officers away for a while. As a display of faith, Gandhi refused to part ways with her Sikh bodyguards.
On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi had been assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards who had fired 30 bullets. This wreaked havoc. The Sikh community had become hunting grounds for loyalists of the Indian Prime minister. About 3,350 Sikhs were caught and massacred as revenge.
The massacre in Nepal (2001)
Probably one of the least known massacres to have happened in history, the massacre of the Nepalese Royal Family was brutal. And the worst part is that it wasn’t done by any outsider.
On June 1, 2001, the Crown prince of Nepal, Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah got into an argument with his father, King Birendra and mother, Queen Aishwarya. The argument was about his mother’s choice for his marriage- the prince didn’t want to marry a local aristocrat his mother had chosen for him. As retaliation, he had been told he would lose the right to succeed the throne if he didn’t go through with it. Some others argue it might have been because the king decided to turn Nepal into a constitutional monarchy which upset the prince.
Whatever the reason might have been, the Crown prince had found it enough to murder the nine people in his family by shooting. Following this, he turned the gun on himself and people found him lying in a coma later. He had been proclaimed king.
But what use? He was declared braindead after three days and the throne was taken over by his uncle.
Jovenel Moise (2021)
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The president of Haiti, Jovenel Moise (on the left in the image) had been the subject of hostility and protests as he neared the end of his term after five years since he had stepped up. He was living dangerously that’s for sure. But an assassination is not the best way to make a prime minister step down.
In 2021, residents living around the presidential residence heard shots and explosions in the neighborhood. They feared an earthquake or maybe even gang violence. The reality was different- the president had been killed.
It was reported later by the next morning that some assailants had broke into the president’s house and shot him to death. He had also been tortured- his ankle and arm had been broken, and the attackers had gauged his left eye out. His wife, Martine Moise had also been wounded badly. This was a planned attack.
Seven people were caught and convicted later. They believed they had been working ‘to provide security’ to the people of Haiti.
Shinzo Abe (2022)
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The most recent attack which came to our notice was the assassination of Japanese Shinzo Abe. This incident is fairly recent and still fresh in the minds of many of us.
It happened in Nara, a southern city in Japan, and on July 8, 2022. Abe was 67 and giving his speech in an open campaign. Video footages of the event show a suspicious man with a cross bag slowly making his way towards the prime minister. At around 11:30 local time there, Abe was shot by the killer and fell to the ground. He was visibly bleeding and went into cardiac arrest.
The killer was caught and he revealed the reason. What do you think it was? Well, it’s somewhat complex. The killer had disliked the fact that the prime minister had affiliations with the Unified Church. He hated the church as it had made his mother go bankrupt. This was what drove him to murder the prime minister of the country.
Resources
Mahatma Gandhi (1948)
- Biswas, S. (2022, January 24). Nathuram Godse: The mystery surrounding Mahatma Gandhi’s killer. Bbc.com; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-6001380
- Prasetyo, G., Marjono, M., & Sumarjono, S. (2018). The Assassinaton of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. JURNAL HISTORICA, 2(1), 37-51. Retrieved from https://jurnal.unej.ac.id/index.php/JHIS/article/view/7812
- Assassination_of_Mahatma_Gandhi References. (2023). Earthspot.org. https://earthspot.org/geo/?search=Assassination_of_Mahatma_Gandhi
John F. Kennedy (1963)
- George, A. (2012). The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Political Trauma and American Memory (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203120781
- Assassination of John F. Kennedy | Summary, Facts, Aftermath, & Conspiracy | Britannica. (2024). In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/assassination-of-John-F-Kennedy
- November 22, 1963: Death of the President. (2024). John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president
Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
- Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2024). The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute; Stanford University. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/assassination-martin-luther-king-jr
- Zapata, C. (2010, January 28). Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination – Facts, Reaction & Impact | HISTORY. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination
- Martin Luther King Jr.: 50 Years Later, His Battles Live On (Published 2018). (2024). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/03/us/mlk-assassination-anniversary.html
Indira Gandhi (1984)
- BBC ON THIS DAY | 31 | 1984: Indian prime minister shot dead. (2024). Bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/31/newsid_2464000/2464423.stm
- Bryjak, G. J. (1985). The Economics of Assassination: The Punjab Crisis and the Death of Indira Gandhi. Asian Affairs: An American Review, 12(1), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/00927678.1985.10553675
The massacre in Nepal (2001)
- A royal massacre: 20 years ago, a lovesick Nepalese prince murdered his family – ABC News. (2021, April 30). ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-01/how-a-lovesick-prince-wiped-out-nepals-royal-family/100056562
- BBC ON THIS DAY | 1 | 2001: Nepal royal family massacred. (2024). Bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/1/newsid_3987000/3987183.stm
Jovenel Moise (2021)
- News, B. (2021, July 9). Haiti president’s assassination: What we know so far. Bbc.com; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-57762246
- Haiti’s President Assassinated in Nighttime Raid, Shaking a Fragile Nation (Published 2021). (2024). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/07/world/americas/haiti-president-assassinated-killed.html
Shinzo Abe (2022)
- Introvigne, M. (2022). The assassination of Shinzo Abe and the unification church. The Journal of CESNUR, 6(6), 74-96.
- Greenall, R. (2022, July 8). Shinzo Abe: How the former Japan PM’s assassination unfolded. Bbc.com; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62094363
