During the French Revolution, in 1793 and 1794, the people in power massacred all those who didn’t share their ideas.

This dark period of French history is called the “Terror”. That’s where the word “terrorism” comes from.

Today, terrorism means all violent actions committed by an organisation in the name of an idea.

So why do terrorist organisations use violence?

Violent actions disrupt the daily lives of those people attacked and force countries to react.

These terrorist attacks can be carried out even if the terrorist organisation is not very rich.

They still provoke a huge reaction in newspapers, on the Internet and on television.

This allows terrorists to make their demands, their ideas and their claims known.

Since 1880, there have been several waves of terrorist attacks, each with different demands.

On 11 September 2001, 2 planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, in the USA.

That was one of the first attacks marking the start of the present wave of terrorism.

A so-called “religious” wave. The organisations behind these terrorist attacks claim to act on behalf of a religion.

This wave of terrorist attacks is also being talked about all around the world like never before.