Terror (politics)

For other uses, see Terror (disambiguation).

See also: Political terror scale
Victims of Red Terror in Crimea, 1918

Terror (from French terreur, from Latin terror "great fear", terrere "to frighten"[1][2]) is a policy of political repression and violence intended to subdue political opposition. The term first appears in the Reign of Terror, a revolutionary violence during the French Revolution,[2][3] which also gave rise to the term terrorism.[4]

Before the late twentieth century, the term "terrorism" in the English language was often used interchangeably with "terror". The term "terrorism" frequently refers to acts by groups with a limited political base or parties on the weaker side in asymmetric warfare, while "terror" refers to acts by governments.

  1. ^ Harper, Douglas. "terror". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ a b William Safire (23 September 2001). "The Way We Live Now: 9-23-01: On Language; Infamy". New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 14 January 2019. Finally, the word terrorist. It is rooted in the Latin terrere, "to frighten," and the -ist was coined in France to castigate the perpetrators of the Reign of Terror.
  3. ^ Geoffrey Nunberg (28 October 2001). "Head Games / It All Started with Robespierre / "Terrorism": The history of a very frightening word". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 11 January 2010.
  4. ^ Terrorism, Encyclopedia Britannica