When the murder of a relevant person occurs, this fact is known as an assassination. As for the term, the suffix cidium refers to the action of killing and the prefix magnus expresses the idea of something great.
Murders that changed the course of history
If an anonymous person is murdered, the consequences of the crime are limited to the suffering of their loved ones. However, the assassination of a president or leader has an obvious social impact and can influence the course of history.
Roman dictator Julius Caesar was stabbed outside the Senate by his friend Brutus and other conspirators. His death is considered the first political assassination in history.
As the American Civil War was nearing its end, President Abraham Lincoln was shot point-blank by an actor sympathetic to the Confederate cause. Lincoln was the first president of the United States to be assassinated during his term (the last president to be assassinated was John F. Kennedy in 1963).
At the end of January 1948, Gandhi was at home praying quietly and an opposition fanatic entered his home and shot him three times to the death.
Other assassinations are part of human history, as happened with the assassinations of John Lennon, Che Guevara, Trotsky, Tsar Nicholas II or Martin Luther King.
After the assassination the myth is born
Although each assassination has its own history, there is a phenomenon that repeats itself, the birth of the myth. When a celebrity is assassinated, his death produces a general convulsion and the figure of the character acquires an even greater dimension. If Che Guevara, Kennedy or Gandhi had not been assassinated, they would have gone down in history as relevant characters, but their violent death has turned them into authentic symbols.
Most assassinations have served as literary and film inspiration
We know the crime of Julius Caesar through Shakespeare and the death of Kennedy, Luther King or Trostsky has been recorded in several films.
From a historical point of view, the assassination becomes a suggestive subject. For some, it is a key aspect to explain a historical reality. For others, the assassination is perfect for introducing some conspiracy theory. In some cases, the death of a leader becomes a symbol of ideals.
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