Maybe, today, seeing state officials and other important people surrounded and heavily guarded by security forces might seem a bit unusual. Is it really a need for something like this? Surely, no one would be as foolish as to try to assassinate a president or a famous singer, right? That belief is as wrong as it gets, as proven by the situation of these great people in history whose public recognition only drew more ill intentions towards them.
#7 John Lennon
As a founder and member of one of the greatest bands of all time, John Lennon was the very definition of a superstar. What was even more admirable about him was that he used his fame as a way to promote peace. Naturally, there were people who disagreed with the mentality promoted by the artist, with one of them going as far as to shoot Lennon four times right in front of his hotel. Killer Mark David didn’t fight his arrest, and he’s still behind bars today, though his reasoning is still highly unclear.
#6 Mahatma Gandhi
There is no worse way to go for a peace activist than through the very thing he’s been fighting against. Gandhi was a beacon of hope in a world riddled by violence and dividing caused by religious differences. So, when he was gunned down by a student turned extreme activist, the whole world was in shock.
#5 John F. Kennedy
JFK wasn’t the first American president to have been assassinated, but none of the previous tragedies have been so exposed to the eye of the public. Surrounded by hundreds of supporters and projected on televisions all over the country, John F. Kennedy’s death left a deep mark on the hearts of American citizens, which has yet to be healed.
#4 Julius Caesar
Even though it sounds like an event that’s been taken right off the pages of a melodrama, the assassination of the Roman Emperor was a very real thing. Most importantly, it dramatically affected the entire empire, sending Rome into a spiral of chaos and betrayals that would knock the mighty city off its own axis. After all, if the Emperor wasn’t safe, being ultimately betrayed by his own son, then who was?
#3 Martin Luther King
Just like in the case of Gandhi, King’s death was a huge blow for a wider mass, respectively for all the black people who were fighting for their freedom and the abolishing of racial discrimination. The mind behind the American Civil Rights Movement, King was a believer of equality who tragically met his end because of a gunshot. At the other end of the gun was a white man who was opposed to the movement promoted by Martin Luther King.
#2 Abraham Lincoln
The American president’s famed assassination during his attendance at a theater play left a whole country, already ravaged by the aftermaths of the Civil War, mourning. He was fatally shot in the head by a Confederate spy, who turned against Lincoln because of his support towards the emancipation of African American people. Many believe that Lincoln’s death was the reason why the Civil War lasted for so long.
#1 Franz Ferdinand
The Archduke of Austria was assassinated during a visit to Sarajevo, part of a Serbia that was, at the time, under the rule of Austria-Hungary. His was almost certainly the catalyst for the second biggest conflict in history, as only two months after his assassination, World War I was erupting. Although it was initially a dispute between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, the conflict led to a domino effect which resulted in formed alliances that clashed and tore the world apart.