“Assassination has never changed the history of the world,” so insisted two-time British PM Benjamin Disraeli. Never let it be said that even the most intelligent among us do not, at times, make wildly absurd statements.
From Brutus and his co-conspirators’ daggers in 44 BC to the bullet that felled Japanese PM Shinzo Abe in 2022, political assassinations have ever been part and parcel of civilisations. Yet it remains tempting for many to dismiss such violence as aberrations—a glitch in what is an otherwise orderly civil society. But history suggests the opposite: assassination is a recurring feature, hardcoded into the very architecture of political life itself.
The Veneer of Civilisation
Indeed, assassinations have always been part of it—particularly when institutions fail or when the formal transfer of power is poorly institutionalised. In ancient Rome, no emperor could rest easy. Caligula was butchered by his own Praetorian Guard; Domitian was stabbed by court insiders. Murder was not treasonous; it was often seen as a corrective. Civilisation, in that era, did not mean peaceful bliss—it meant the contestation of power, often by any means necessary.
Likewise, in feudal Japan, employing ninja to perform hits on high-profile targets was a matter of pragmatism. While in the clear light of day the code of the Samurai ruled, when it came to realpolitik, poison and knifings in the shadows were often preferred. Even in early Islamic history, the feared hashashin—the etymological origin of the word ‘assassin’— systematised political killings into something close to doctrine. Their targets were not chosen at random; they were ideological obstacles to be cleared. The logic behind them might have been dark, but it was perfectly rational.
