This timeline details the most prominent assassinations from 48 BCE to Present Day
Please note: we have chosen to use the new format BCE (before common era) rather than the old BC (before Christ)
48 BCE (28th September)
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) Roman statesman
Stabbed in Alexandria, Egypt, by three assassins: Achillas, Septimius and Salvius.
44 BCE (15th March)
Gaius Julius Caesar Roman statesman
Stabbed in the Senate, Rome, Italy by multiple senators including Marcus Brutus.
41 CE (24th January)
Caligula Roman Emperor
Stabbed in Rome, Italy by members of the Praetorian Guard.
54 CE (13th Occtober)
Claudius Roman Emperor
Poisoned in Rome, Italy by his wife, Agrippina.
96 CE (18th September)
Domitian Roman Emperor
Stabbed in Rome, Italy by Stephanus.
275 (September)
Aurelian Roman Emperor
Stabbed in Caenophrurium, Greece by Mucapor.
644 (6th November)
Umar al-Farooq bin al-Khattab Caliph
Stabbed in Medina, Saudi Arabia by Pirouz Nahavandi.
661 (27th January)
Ali Ibn Abi Talib Caliph of Islam
Stabbed with a poisoned sword in Kufa, Iraq by Abd-al-Rahman ibn Mulijam.
1170 (29th December)
Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, England
Stabbed in Canterbury Cathedral, England by four knights: Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton.
1192 (28th April)
Conrad de Montferrat Crusader, King of Jerusalem
Stabbed in Acre, Jerusalem by hired assassins.
1478 (26th April)
Giuliano de Medici ruler of Florence, Italy
Stabbed in Florence, Italy by Bernardo Bandini dei Baroncelli and Francesco de Pazzi.
1570 (23rd January)
James Stewart Earl of Moray Scottish nobleman
Shot in Linlithgow, Scotland by James Hamilton.
1584 (10th July)
William, Prince of Orange
Shot in Delft, Netherlands by Balthasar Gerard.
1589 (2nd August)
Henry III of France
Stabbed in Saint Cloud, France by Jacques Clement.
1610 (14th May)
Henry IV of France
Stabbed in Paris, France by Francois Ravaillac.
1628 (23rd August)
George Villiers, English Duke of Buckingham
Stabbed in Portsmouth, England by John Felton.
1792 (16th March)
Gustav III of Sweden
Shot in Stockholm, Sweden by Jacob Anckarstrom. Initially survived but died on 29th March.
1793 (13th July)
Jean-Paul Marat French revolutionary
Stabbed in Paris, France by Charlotte Corday.
1812 (11th May)
Spencer Perceval Prime Minister of United Kingdom
Shot in London, England by John Bellingham.
1865 (14th April)
Abraham Lincoln President of the USA
Shot in Ford’s Theatre, Washington DC, United States by John Wilkes Booth.
1868 (7th April)
Thomas D’Arcy McGee Canadian politician
Shot in Ottawa, Canada by Patrick J Whelan.
1871 (23rd November)
Mariano Melgarejo overthrown President of Bolivia
Shot in Lima, Peru by Giovanni Passannante.
1881 (2nd July)
James Garfield President of the USA
Shot in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States by Charles J Guiteau.
1881 (13th March)
Blown up in Saint Petersburg, Russia by a bomb detonated by Ignacy Hryniewiecki.
1895 (24th June)
Marie Francois Sadi Carnot President of France
Stabbed in Lyon, France by Sante Geronimo Caserio.
1895 (8th October)
Empress Myeongseong of Korea
Stabbed and burned by Japanese assassins.
1896 (1st May)
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar of Iran
Shot in Rey, Iran by Mirza Reza Kermani.
1897 (8th August)
Antonio Canovas del Castillo Spanish Prime Minister
Shot in Mondragon, Spain by Michele Angiolillo.
1898 (10th September)
Elisabeth of Austria and Hungary
Stabbed in Geneva, Switzerland by Luigi Lucheni.
1900 (29th July)
Umberto I of Italy
Shot in Monza, Italy by Gaetano Bresci.
1901 (14th September)
William McKinley President of the USA
Shot in New York, United States by Leon Czolgosz.
1903 (11th June)
Alexander I of Serbia
Shot in Belgrade, Serbia by Dragutin Dimitrijevic.
1908 (1st February)
Carlos I of Portugal
Shot in Lisbon, Portugal by Manuel Buica and Alfredo Costa.
1913 (18th March)
George I of Greece
Shot in Thessalonika, Greece by Alexandros Schinas.
1914 (28th June)
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
Shot in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia by Gavrilo Princip.
1916 (21st October)
Count Karl von Sturgkh of Austria-Hungary
Shot in Vienna, Austria by Freidrich Adler.
1916 (30th December)
Grigory Rasputin Russian Holy man
Beaten, poisoned, shot and drowned in St Petersburg, Russia by Prince Felix Yusupov and Vladimir Purishkevich.
1919 (10th April)
Emiliano Zapata Mexican revolutionary
Shot in Mexico by Jesus Guajardo.
1922 (22nd August)
Michael Collins Irish revolutionary
Ambushed and shot in County Cork, Ireland by Sonny O’Neill.
1922 (16th December)
Gabriel Narutowicz President of Poland
Shot in Warsaw, Poland by Eligiusz Niewiadomski.
1932 (7th May)
Paul Doumer President of France
Shot in Paris, France by Paul Gorguloff.
1934 (25th July)
Englebert Dollfuss Chancellor of Austria
Shot in Vienna Austria by the Austrian Nazis.
1934 (9th October)
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Shot in Marseilles, France by Vlado Chernozemski.
1934 (1st December)
Sergei Kirov Politburo member in Russia
Shot in Moscow, Soviet Union by Vania Zaporozhets.
1935 (8th September)
Huey Long Governor of Louisiana
Shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States by Dr Carl Weiss.
1938 (7th November)
Ernst vom Rath German diplomat
Shot in Paris, France by Jewish Herschel Grynszpan. Kristallnacht was a recrimination for the assassination.
1940 (20th August)
Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Leon Trotsky) Marxist revolutionary
Stabbed with an ice pick in Mexico City, Mexico by Ramon Mercader.
1942 (4th June)
Reinhard Heydrich Nazi SS Officer, architect of the Holocaust
Blown up in Prague, Czechoslovakia by Jan Kubis Jozef Gabcik.
1948 (30th January)
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi leader of India Independence Movement
Shot in New Dehi, India by Nathuram Godse.
1948 (17th September)
Folke Bernadotte Swedish Diplomat
Ambushed and shot in Katamon quarter, Jerusalem, Israel by members of the group Lehi.
1951 (16th October)
Liaquat Ali Khan Prime Minister of Pakistan
Shot in Rawalpindi, Pakistan by Saad Akbar Babrak.
1963 (22nd November)
John F Kennedy President of the United States
Shot in Dallas, Texas, United States by Lee Harvey Oswald.
1963 (24th November)
Lee Harvey Oswald on arrest for assassination of John F Kennedy
Shot in Dallas Police Headquarters, Texas, United States by Jack Ruby.
1965 (21st February)
Malcolm X United States Civil Rights Leader
Shot in Manhattan, United States by Norman Butler, Thomas Johnson and Talmadge Hayer, members of the Nation of Islam.
1966 (6th September)
Hendrik Verwoerd Prime Minister of South Africa
Stabbed in the House of Assembly, Cape Town, South Africa by Dimitri Tsafendas.
1968 (4th April)
Martin Luther King United States Civil Rights Leader
Shot in Memphis, Tennessee, United States by James Earl Ray.
1968 (5th June)
Robert F Kennedy Democratic politician, presidential candidate, brother of John F Kennedy
Shot in the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California, United States by Sirhan Sirhan.
1975 (25th March)
Faisal ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud (King Faisal) of Saudi Arabia
Shot in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by Faisal bin Musa’id.
1979 (27th August)
Lord Louis Mountbatten second cousin to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Blown up in Donegal Bay, Ireland by the IRA.
1980 (8th December)
John Lennon Singer, Songwriter
Shot in New York, United States by Mark Chapman.
1981 (6th October)
Anwar Sadat President of Egypt
Shot in Cairo, Egypt by unknown gunmen.
1984 (31st October)
Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India
Shot in New Delhi, India by Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.
1986 (28th February)
Olof Palme Prime Minister of Sweden
Shot in Stockholm, Sweden by an unknown assassin.
1990 (30th July)
Ian Gow MP for Eastbourne, United Kingdom
Blown up in Eastbourne, United Kingdom by the IRA.
1991 (21st May)
Rajiv Gandhi Former Prime Minister, son of Indira Gandhi
Blown up in Sriperumbudur, India by Tamil extremists.
1994 (6th April)
Juvenal Habyarimana President of Rwanda
His private plane was shot down by unknown assassins.
1995 (4th November)
Yitzhak Rabin Prime Minister of Israel
Shot in Tel Aviv, Israel by Yigal Amir.
2003 (12th March)
Zoran Dindic Prime Minister of Serbia
Shot in Belgrade by ZveZdan Jovanovic.
2003 (11th September)
Anna Lindh Swedish Politician
Stabbed in a store in Stockholm, Sweden by Mijailo Mijailovic.
2005 (14th February)
Rafic Baha El Deen Al-Hariri former Prime Minister of Lebanon
Blown up in Beirut, Labanon by unknown assassins.
2006 (7th October)
Anna Politkovskaya Russian journalist and human rights activist
Shot in Moscow Russia by unknown assassin.
2006 (23rd November)
Alexander Litvinenko former Russian Secret Service
Poisoned in London, United Kingdom by unknown assassin.
2007 (27th December)
Benazir Bhutto former Prime Minister of Pakistan
Blown up in Rawalpindi, Pakistan by unknown suicide bomber.
2011 (5th January)
Salman Taseer, Pakistani politician
Shot in Islamabad, Pakistan by bodyguard Malik Mumtaz Hussein Qadri.
2011 (21st September)
Burhanuddin Rabbani, former Afghan President
Blown up in Kabul, Afghanistan by an unknown suicide bomber.
2015 (28th February)
Boris Nemtsov Russian opposition politician
Shot in Moscow, Russia by unknown assassins.
2016 (16th June)
Jo Cox UK Member of Parliament
Shot and stabbed in Birstall, West Yorkshire by Tommy Mair.
2016 (20th December)
Andrei Karlov Russian ambassador to Turkey
Shot in Ankara, Turkey by Mevlut Mert Altintas.
2021 (7th July)
President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti
Shot at his home in Haiti by unknown assassins (believed to be Colombians possibly hired).
First published 2017; updated and republished Apr 05 2022 @ 7:38 pm – Updated – [last-modified]
Harvard Reference for this page:
Heather Y Wheeler. (2017 – 2022). Assassinations 48 BCE to Present Day. https://www.thetimelinegeek.com/assassinations-48-bce-present-day Last accessed [date]