Top 10 Assassinations in History

The man credited with inventing the political ideology of “divide and conquer,” Philip II was a successful ruler of Macedon. In the autumn of 336BC, Philip was left unprotected while attending his daughter’s wedding, and was killed by one of his bodyguards, Pausanias of Orestis. Though the assassin’s motives are unclear – some historians believe his wife and son Alexander III were involved, while others theorize Pausanias was a wronged lover of Philip’s – the murder allowed for Philip’s son Alexander the Great to ascend to the throne and create one of the largest empires in history.

As a militant voice of the Civil Rights Movement, Malcolm X had long been a target of violence and death threats. After Malcolm X’s very public break from the Nation of Islam religious movement, animosity between him and the organization grew. Tensions boiled over during an address in Manhattan on February 21st, 1965, when three men shot and killed the civil rights leader. The Nation took responsibility, and Talmadge Hayer admitted his guilt, but the other two maintained their innocence. And the Civil Rights Movement lost one of its most active leaders.

Though no longer Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was still a prominent political figure in 2007 as the first female leader of a Muslim country. On December 27 that year, she was on the campaign trail for the upcoming parliamentary elections. Though she was equipped with a bulletproof vehicle, Bhutto was killed while standing through the sunroof to greet fans when shots rang out and explosives were detonated near the car. Al-Qaeda commander Mustafa Abu al-Yazid took responsibility for Bhutto’s death, which sparked riots and quashed any chance of stability in the region.

If not for the events that followed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, his name might’ve been just a blip in history. The murder of Ferdinand and his wife on June 28th, 1914 set in motion a chain of events that resulted in the beginning of WWI just one month later. The motive of assassin Gavrilo Princip and his fellow Bosnian-Serb revolutionaries was to break away from Austria-Hungary and form their own republic. The result was a conflict involving all the world’s great economic powers, and one of the deadliest conflicts in history.

The cultural impact of the Beatles is difficult to overstate. The group inspired obsessed fans, including the dangerously infatuated Mark David Chapman. Chapman, once a diehard Beatles fan, had become a born-again Christian and considered Lennon’s comment that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” blasphemous. Inspired by the anti-phony sentiment in J.D. Salinger’s novel “The Catcher in the Rye” and his perception that Lennon was the ultimate hypocrite, Chapman visited The Dakota apartment building where Lennon and Yoko Ono lived on December 8th, 1980 and – after getting his autograph earlier in the day – shot and killed him.

Martin Luther King served as a star spokesman for the Civil Rights Movement in America, pushing for the equality of African Americans through nonviolent means, but he was silenced before he had the opportunity to see his efforts succeed. On April 4th, 1968, the civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner was shot and killed by James Earl Ray as he stood on the balcony of his hotel room. King’s death widened the gap between whites and blacks, caused riots and spurred the expansion of radical African American movements like the Black Panthers.

Tragedy has befallen many members of the Kennedy family; for example, JFK’s brother Bobby was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in 1968 while he campaigned for President. But, perhaps most famous was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963. Shot by a sniper’s bullet while riding through Dealey Plaza in Texas, JFK’s death is shrouded in conspiracy, with the official story placing the gun in the hands of former Marine Lee Harvey Oswald. But, since Oswald was shot just days later by Jack Ruby while in police custody, we may never know the truth for certain.

After guiding America through the most tumultuous time in its young history, Lincoln had locked in his legacy by 1865. But any other accomplishments he might’ve achieved were thwarted during a play at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14th, 1865. With the Civil War drawing to a close, actor and Confederate John Wilkes Booth snuck into the President’s box and shot him in the head. Booth then jumped to the stage with a knife and apparently uttered in Latin “thus always to tyrants,” a phrase attributed to Brutus during Caesar’s assassination. Lincoln died the next day.

Perhaps history’s most famous assassination thanks to its retelling by Shakespeare, the death of Julius Caesar is memorable as both drama and historical fact. After Caesar was named “Dictator for life” by the Senate, a plan to remove him was almost immediately devised by Senate members calling themselves Liberators, who feared Caesar threatened their power. Together, this group of roughly 60 of some of Caesar’s closest allies violently beat and stabbed him to death. Their later attempts to install a tyrannical government were met with protests from the lower-class Romans, and ultimately Caesar’s heir Octavian gained power.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
- Yitzhak Rabin
1922 - 1995
- Anwar Sadat
1918 - 1981
- Grigori Rasputin
1869 - 1916
- Caligula
12 - 41
- Leon Trotsky
1879 - 1940
- Harvey Milk
1930 - 1978

He spent his life as a symbol of peace, but died a victim of violence. In life, Mahatma Gandhi led India to independence from Great Britain using nonviolent tactics rather than revolution. Despite his success, some objected to his peaceful approach, including Nathuram Godse. The Hindu nationalist disagreed with Gandhi’s support of Pakistan and perceived preference toward Pakistani Muslims over Indian Hindus. This caused Godse to fire three fatal shots at Gandhi while he was in New Delhi on January 30th, 1948. Millions subsequently honored the fallen leader, and his policies of compassion are still praised today.

Do you agree with our list? Which historical assassinations do you think were the most impactful? For more informative top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.