Café Terminus attack

Café Terminus attack
Representation of the Terminus bombing in Le Petit Journal (26 February 1894)
LocationCafé Terminus
Coordinates48°52′32.2724″N 2°19′31.9375″E / 48.875631222°N 2.325538194°E / 48.875631222; 2.325538194
Date12 February 1894
Attack type
bombing
Deaths1
Injured17
PerpetratorÉmile Henry (anarchist)
MotiveAnarchism
Accused1
Convicted1
VerdictGuilty (death)

On 12 February 1894, Émile Henry carried out an anarchist attack at the Café Terminus. Initially planning to assassinate Sadi Carnot, the president of the republic, who had just refused to pardon Auguste Vaillant, he decided against the attack upon noticing the large number of police officers stationed around the Élysée Palace. Instead, he redirected his efforts to the Café Terminus, where he detonated his bomb, killing one person and injuring 17 others. Émile Henry was arrested at the end of this episode, sentenced to death, and guillotined three months later.

This was one of the first attacks targeting indiscriminate civilians rather than specific individuals. Some scholars consider it a pivotal event in the emergence of modern terrorism.

History

Context

Henry started his attacks in 1892, during the Carmaux-Bons Enfants bombing.[1][2] The attacks were seen as part of a campaign of propaganda of the deed.[3] After fleeing to the United Kingdom, Belgium, and then returning to France, Henry adopted an illegalist lifestyle.[3] He committed several robberies before returning to Paris.[3] The news of Ravachol's execution (1892), of the voting of the Lois scélérates (1893-1894), and the denial of a presidential pardon to Auguste Vaillant for his attack on the National Assembly (1894) drove Henry to act.[4][5] He decided to assassinate Sadi Carnot.[4]

Events

After arriving near the Élysée Palace and noticing a heavy police presence, Henry decided not to carry out the attack there.[4] He wandered through Paris for a while before heading to the Café Terminus, near the Gare Saint-Lazare.[4][5] There, he chose to detonate the fuse bomb he had brought with him. The explosion injured 17 people and killed one.[4][5] While attempting to flee, he was caught by one of the café's employees and quickly arrested by the police.[4][5][6]

After

Henry was arrested and swiftly tried following the events. He was sentenced to death, his appeal was rejected, and within three months, in May 1894, he was guillotined.[4][5] Sadi Carnot, for his part, was assassinated in June 1894 by Sante Geronimo Caserio, another anarchist.[7][8]

Legacy

The attack is considered significant in the evolution of terrorism, as it was one of the first to target civilians rather than specific, intended targets.[5][9] It had a lasting impact on terrorist methods and practice.[10]

References

  1. ^ "1892 : l'attentat anarchiste du commissariat des Bons-Enfants". RetroNews (in French). 2018-11-19. Archived from the original on 2024-12-14. Retrieved 2024-12-13.
  2. ^ "Albi. L'histoire au coin de la rue : combat politique et violence". ladepeche.fr (in French). Retrieved 2024-12-14.
  3. ^ a b c Badier, Walter (2010-12-22). "Émile Henry, le « Saint-Just de l'Anarchie »". Parlement[s], Revue d'histoire politique (in French). 14 (2): 159–171. doi:10.3917/parl.014.0159. ISSN 1768-6520.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g PITTORESQUE, LA FRANCE (1999-11-29). "12 février 1894 : attentat au café Terminus de la gare Saint-Lazare". La France pittoresque. Histoire de France, Patrimoine, Tourisme, Gastronomie (in French). Retrieved 2024-12-14.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Ferragu, Gilles (2019-01-29). "L'écho des bombes : l'invention du terrorisme « à l'aveugle » (1893-1895)". Ethnologie française (in French). 49 (1): 21–31. doi:10.3917/ethn.191.0021. ISSN 0046-2616. Archived from the original on 2024-09-04. Retrieved 2024-12-14.
  6. ^ "This Day In History: An Anarchist Bombs Café Terminus In Paris". History Collection. Archived from the original on 2024-12-14. Retrieved 2024-12-14.
  7. ^ "Le 24 juin 1894 à Lyon : Caserio poignarde le président de la république française Sadi Carnot". rebellyon.info (in French). 2023-06-24. Archived from the original on 2024-09-07. Retrieved 2024-12-14.
  8. ^ "Plaidoyer - Non Fides - Base de données anarchistes". www.non-fides.fr. Archived from the original on 2024-12-15. Retrieved 2024-12-14.
  9. ^ Merriman, John (2019), Levy, Carl; Adams, Matthew S. (eds.), "The Spectre of the Commune and French Anarchism in the 1890s", The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 343–352, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_20, ISBN 978-3-319-75619-6, S2CID 165457738, retrieved 2022-01-11
  10. ^ Merriman, John M. (2016). The dynamite club: how a bombing in fin-de-siècle Paris ignited the age of modern terror. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-21792-6.