RT Book, Section A1 Grey, Michael R. A1 Spaeth, Kenneth R. SR Print(0) ID 2740000 T1 Chapter 1. Introduction to Terrorism and Bioterrorism T2 The Bioterrorism Sourcebook YR 2006 FD 2006 PB The McGraw-Hill Companies PP New York, NY SN 9780071440868 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=2740000 RD 2022/05/26 AB The modern understanding of the word “terror” dates from the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution of 1789. One of the key figures in the Revolutionary Council—the governing body responsible for thousands of deaths by guillotine—was Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794). Robespierre’s observation that “Terror is nothing more than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is therefore an emanation of virtue” rings familiar to anyone who has read or listened to the righteous rhetoric of terrorist organizations, be they Islamic militant groups, the Protestant and Catholic factions in Northern Ireland’s civil strife, or even in the words of homegrown terrorists like Timothy McVeigh. There are numerous examples that fit this definition of terrorism throughout both modern and ancient history.