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This is a list of events for which one of the commonly accepted names includes the word "massacre". Massacre is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "the indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people or (less commonly) animals; carnage, butchery, slaughter in numbers". It also states that the term is used "in the names of certain massacres of history".[1]
The first recorded use in English of the word massacre in the name of an event is "Marlowe (c1600) (title) The massacre at Paris",[1] (a reference to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre). Massacre can also be used as a verb, as "To kill (people or, less commonly, animals) in numbers, esp. brutally and indiscriminately".[2] The first usage of which was "1588 J. PENRY Viewe Publ. Wants Wales 65 Men which make no conscience for gaine sake, to breake the law of the æternall, and massaker soules..are dangerous subjects",[2] and this usage is not recorded in this list.
Massacre is also used figuratively and idiomatically for events that do not involve any deaths, such as the Saturday Night Massacre, which refers to the firing and resignations of political appointees during the Watergate scandal. Such events are not listed in the table below.
Note: the location column will sort by the following sub regions: Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, Central America, Northern America, South America, Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, Southern Asia, Western Asia, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe, and Oceania
| Date | Location | Name | Deaths | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 61 | Anglesey, Britannia | Menai Massacre | unknown | Gaius Suetonius Paulinus ordered the Roman army to destroy the Celtic Druid stronghold on Anglesey in Britain, sacking Druidic colleges and sacred groves. The massacre helped impose Roman religion on the world and sent Druidism into a decline from which it never recovered.[3][4] |
| 390 | Thessaloniki, Macedonia | Massacre of Thessaloniki | 7,000 | Emperor Theodosius I of Rome ordered the executions after the citizens of Thessaloniki murdered a top-level military commander during a violent protest against the arrest of a popular charioteer.[5][6] |
| November 13, 1002 | various cities, England | St. Brice's Day massacre | unknown | King Ethelred II of England ordered all Danes living in England killed. The Danes were accused of aiding Viking raiders. The King of Denmark invaded England and deposed King Ethelred.[7][8][9] |
| December 30, 1066 | Granada, Al-Andalus | Granada massacre | 4,000 | A Muslim mob crucified Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and killed most of the Jewish population of the city, apparently angered by the prominence and wealth attained by Naghrela and his people.[10][11][12][13] |
| May 1182 | Constantinople, Byzantine Empire | Massacre of the Latins[14] | 60,000–80,000 | Wholesale massacre of all Latin (Western European) inhabitants of Constantinople by a mob. |
| 1325 | Crow Creek Site, South Dakota) | Crow Creek massacre[15][16] | 500[17] | Native Americans indigenous to South Dakota killed Central Plains villagers.[17][18] |
| November 8, 1520 | Stockholm, Sweden | Stockholm Massacre (Stockholm Bloodbath) |
80–90[19] | Days after his coronation in Stockholm, King Christian II of Denmark – trying to maintain the personal union between Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and thus keep up his claims to the Swedish throne – liquidated nobles and bishops who earlier had opposed him, or who might stir up fresh opposition.[20][21][22] |
| 1570 | Cyprus | Cyprus massacre | 30,000–50,000[23][24][25][26] | Ottoman forces capturing Cyprus killed mostly Greek and Armenian Christian inhabitants. |
| August 23, 1572 | Paris, France | St. Bartholomew's Day massacre[27][28] | 3,000[29] | A wave of Catholic mob violence against the Huguenots.[29][30][31] |
| 1615 | Westfjords, Iceland | Spanish Killings | 31 | Spanish whalers went on a whaling expedition to Iceland and were killed after conflict with the people of Iceland. |
| March 22, 1622 | Jamestown, Virginia | Jamestown Massacre[32][33] | 347 | The Powhatans killed 347 settlers, almost one-third of the English population of the Virginia colony. |
| May 28, 1644 | Bolton, England | Bolton Massacre | 200–1,600 | Royalist forces killed many of the town's defenders and citizens.[34][35][36] |
| February 13, 1692 | Scotland | Massacre of Glencoe[37] | 38[38] | Government soldiers, mainly from Clan Campbell, killed members of the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe.[38] |
| October 5, 1768 | Southwark in South London, England | Massacre of St George's Fields | 7[39] | British garrison troops fired at a mob that was protesting the imprisonment of John Wilkes, whose crime was criticizing King George III.[39] |
| March 5, 1770 | Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay | Boston Massacre | 5[40] | British troops fired at a mob of colonists. This helped spark the American Revolution even though an all-colonist jury found the soldiers innocent.[41][42] |
| July 17, 1771 | Kugluktuk, Nunavut | Bloody Falls Massacre | 20[43] | Chipewyan warriors attacked an Inuit camp, killing men, women and children.[44][45][46] |
| September 28, 1778 | River Vale, New Jersey | Baylor Massacre | 15[47] | British infantry troops attacked sleeping Continental Light Dragoons using bayonets.[47] |
| May 29, 1780 | Lancaster, South Carolina | Waxhaw Massacre | 113[48] | Loyalist troops under the command of British Colonel Banastre Tarleton slashed and bayoneted fallen American troops during the late stages of the Battle of Waxhaws. Conflicting contemporary accounts claim violation of an American white flag by one or the other of the sides involved.[49] |
| March 8, 1782 | Gnadenhutten, Ohio | Gnadenhutten massacre[50] (Moravian massacre) |
96 | Pennsylvania militia men attacked a Moravian mission and killed 96 peaceful Christian American Indians there in retaliation for unrelated deaths of several white Pennsylvanians.[50][51] |
| 1792 | France | September Massacres[52][53] | ~1440 | Popular courts in the French Revolution sentenced prisoners to death, including around 240 priests.[54] |
| 1794 | Warsaw, Poland | Massacre of Praga | 20,000 | All inhabitants of the Warsaw district Praga were brutally tortured, raped and than violently murdered by the Russian troops. |
| December 1809 | Whangaroa, New Zealand | Boyd massacre | 66 | Whangaroa Maori killed and ate 66 crew and passengers on ship The Boyd.[55] |
| August 16, 1819 | Manchester, England | Peterloo Massacre | 11[55] | Armed cavalry charged a peaceful pro-democracy meeting of 60,000 people.[55] |
| April 1821 | Peloponnese, Greece | Tripolitsa Massacre | 35,000[56] | Up to 30,000 Turks were killed in Tripolitsa and the whole Jewish population was wiped out.[55] |
| January 1838 | Waterloo Creek, Australia | Waterloo Creek massacre[57] | 100–300 | Aboriginal Australians killed by a force of colonial mounted police.[58] |
| June 10, 1838 | Myall Creek, Australia | Myall Creek massacre[57] | 28 | A white posse killed Aboriginal Australians. The perpetrators were convicted and sentenced to death.[59] |
| October 30, 1838 | Caldwell County, Missouri, USA | Haun's Mill massacre[60] | 19 | About 240 Livingston County Missouri Regulators militiamen and volunteers killed 18 Mormons and one non-Mormon friend.[61][62] |
| 1840 | Gippsland, Australia | Gippsland massacres[63] | ~450[64] | A series of massacres spanning several years: 1840 – Nuntin, 1840 – Boney Point, 1841 – Butchers Creek – 30–35, 1841 – Maffra, 1842 – Skull Creek, 1842 – Bruthen Creek – "hundreds killed", 1843 – Warrigal Creek – between 60 and 180 shot, 1844 – Maffra, 1846 – South Gippsland – 14 killed, 1846 – Snowy River – 8 killed, 1846–47 – Central Gippsland – 50 or more shot, 1850 – East Gippsland – 15–20 killed, 1850 – Murrindal – 16 poisoned, 1850 – Brodribb River – 15–20 killed.[64]. See also Angus McMillan. |
| January 6, 1842 | Afghanistan | Massacre of Elphinstone's Army | 16,000 | Afghan tribes massacred Elphinstone's British army including some 12,000 civilians.[65][66][67] |
| August 20, 1854 | Oregon Territory, USA (near Caldwell, Idaho) | Ward massacre[68] | 19[68] | Shoshone tortured, killed and plundered Oregon emigrant wagon train members.[69] |
| September 11, 1857 | Mountain Meadows, Utah, USA | Mountain Meadows massacre | 120–140[70][71] | Mormon militia, some dressed as Indians, and Paiute tribesmen killed and plundered unarmed members of the Fancher–Baker emigrant wagon train.[72] |
| November 1857 | Utah Territory, USA | Aiken massacre | 6[73] | Six well-to-do Californians travelling through the territory during the so-called Mormon War, were arrested by Mormons as spies, released, then killed and robbed.[74] |
| July 27, 1859 | Washington Territory, USA near Holbrook, Idaho | Shepherd massacre | 5[75] | Bannock, Shoshone, and white men dressed as Indians killed and plundered California emigrant wagon train members.[76] |
| August 31, 1859 | Washington Territory, USA near Massacre Rocks, Idaho | Miltimore massacre | 8[75] | Bannock, Shoshone, and whites dressed as Indians tortured, killed and plundered Oregon emigrant wagon train members.[77] |
| September 9, 1860 | Washington Territory, USA near Castle Butte, Idaho & Farewell Bend, Oregon | Utter massacre | 28[78] | Bannock, Shoshone, tortured, killed and plundered Oregon emigrant wagon train members. Of four captured children, one was rescued in 1862 by California Volunteers.[79] |
| January 18, 1863 | Madison County, North Carolina, USA | Shelton Laurel Massacre | 13 | Thirteen boys and men, accused of being Union sympathizers and spies, were summarily executed by members of the 64th North Carolina Regiment of the Confederate Army.[80] |
| January 29, 1863 | Franklin County, Idaho, USA | Bear River massacre | ~225[81] | 3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry destroyed a village of Shoshone in southeastern Idaho.[82] |
| August 21, 1863 | Lawrence, Kansas, USA | Lawrence Massacre | ~150[83][84] | Pro-Confederate bushwhackers attacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas during the American Civil War in retaliation for the Union attack on Osceola, Missouri.[85][86] |
| November 29, 1864 | Kiowa County, Colorado, USA | Sand Creek massacre | ~200[87] | Colorado Territory 90-day militia destroyed a peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho on the eastern plains.[88][89] |
| November 27, 1868 | Indian Territory, USA | Washita Massacre (Battle of Washita River) |
29–150 | Lt. Col. G.A.Custer's 7th cavalry attacked a village of sleeping Cheyenne led by Black Kettle. Custer reported 103 – later revised to 140 – warriors, "some" women and "few" children killed, and 53 women and children taken hostage. Other casualty estimates by cavalry members, scouts and Indians vary widely, with the number of men killed ranging as low as 11 and the numbers of women and children ranging as high as 75. Before returning to their base, the cavalry killed several hundred Indian ponies and burned the village.[90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100] |
| April 30, 1876 | Batak Ottoman Empire | Batak massacre[101][102][103] | 3,000–5,000 | Ottoman army irregulars killed Bulgarian civilians barricaded in Batak's church.[104] |
| April 2, 1885 | Frog Lake, North-West Territories, Canada | Frog Lake Massacre | 9 | Cree warriors, dissatisfied with the lack of support from the Canadian Government for Treaty Indians, and exacerbated by food shortages resulting from the near-extinction of bison, killed nine white settlers, including Indian agent Thomas Quinn.[105][106] |
| October 2, 1885 | Rock Springs, Wyoming, USA | Rock Springs massacre | 28 | Rioting white immigrant miners killed 28 Chinese miners, wounded 15, and 75 Chinese homes burned.[107][108][109] |
| December 29, 1890 | Wounded Knee, South Dakota, USA | Wounded Knee Massacre | 200–300[110] | The U.S. 7th Cavalry intercepted a band of Lakota Sioux people on their way to the Pine Ridge Reservation for shelter from the winter; as they were disarming them, a gun was fired, and the soldiers turned their artillery on the Lakota, killing men women and children.[111][112] |
| 1894–1896 | Anatolia, Ottoman Empire | Hamidian massacres | 100,000–300,000[113] |
Sultan Abdul Hamid II ordered Ottoman forces to kill Armenians across the empire.[113][114][115] |
| January 31, 1902 | Leliefontein, Northern Cape, South Africa | Leliefontein massacre[116] | 35 | During the Second Boer War, Boer forces under Manie Maritz massacred 35 Khoikhoi for being British sympathisers. |
| March 10, 1906 | Bud Dajo, Jolo Island, Philippines | Moro Crater massacre[117][118] | 800–1,000 | A U.S. Army force of 540 soldiers under the command of Major General Leonard Wood, accompanied by a naval detachment and with a detachment of native constabulary, armed with artillery and small firearms, attacked a village hidden in the crater of a dormant volcano.[119] |
| April–May 1909 | Adana Province, Anatolia, Ottoman Empire | Adana massacre | 15,000–30,000 | In April 1909, a religious-ethnic clash in the city of Adana, amidst governmental upheaval, resulted in a series of anti-Armenian pogroms throughout the district, resulting in an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 deaths.[120][121][122][123][124] |
| April 20, 1914 | Ludlow, Colorado, USA | Ludlow massacre | 20 | Twenty people, 11 of them children, died during an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado. The event led to wider conflict quelled only by Federal troops sent in by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.[125][126][127] |
| April 13, 1919 | Amritsar, India | Amritsar massacre | 379[128][129] | 90 British Indian Army soldiers, led by Brigadier Reginald Dyer, opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. The firing lasted for 10 to 15 minutes, till they ran out of ammunition.[128][129] |
| November 21, 1920 | Dublin, Ireland | Croke Park Massacre | 23[130] | British Auxiliary police and Black and Tans fired at Gaelic football spectators at Croke Park.[130][131] |
| January 1923 | Rosewood, Florida, USA | Rosewood Massacre | 8 | Several days of violence by white mobs, ranging in size up to 400 people, resulted in the deaths of six blacks and two whites and the destruction of the town of Rosewood, which was abandoned after the incident.[132] |
| February 14, 1929 | Chicago, Illinois, USA | Saint Valentine's Day massacre | 7[133] | Al Capone's gang shot rival gang members and their associates.[134] |
| August 1929 | Hebron, British Mandate for Palestine | 1929 Hebron massacre | 69[135] | Arabs kill 69 Jews after being incited by religious leaders. Survivors were relocated to Jerusalem, "leaving Hebron barren of Jews for the first time in hundreds of years." [135] |
| August 1929 | Safed, British Mandate for Palestine | 1929 Safed massacre | 18[136] | Arabs killed 18 Jews, wounded around 40, and some 200 houses were burned and looted.[137] |
| April 23, 1930 | Peshawar, British Raj | Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre | 200–250[138][139] | Soldiers of the British Raj fired on unarmed non-violent protestors of the Khudai Khidmatgar with machine guns during the Indian independence movement[138][139] |
| March 21, 1937 | Ponce, Puerto Rico | Ponce Massacre | 19[140] | The Insular Police fired on unarmed Nationalist demonstrators peacefully marching to commemorate the ending of slavery in Puerto Rico.[140] It was the biggest massacre in Puerto Rican history.[141] |
| 1937 | Nanjing, China | Nanking Massacre[142][143] (Rape of Nanking) |
42,000–400,000 (median 260,000)[144] |
The Imperial Japanese Army pillaged Nanking for six weeks[145] |
| 1940 | Katyn, Soviet Union | Katyn massacre | 21,857–25,700[146][147][148] | Soviet NKVD executed Polish intelligentsia, POWs and reserve officers.[149][150] |
| 1941 | Soviet Union, Baltic states | NKVD prisoner massacres | 100,000[151] | The Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del, or NKVD) executed tens of thousands of political prisoners in the initial stages of Operation Barbarossa.[151][152] |
| September 29, 1941 | Ukraine | Babi Yar massacre | >30,000[153] | Nazi Einsatzgruppen killed the Jewish population of Kiev.[153][154][155][156][157] |
| October 8, 1941 | Serbia | Kragujevac massacre | >2,796-5,000 | Nazi soldiers massacred Serb and Roma hostages in retaliation for attacks on the occupying forces. |
| 1942 | Laha Airfield, Ambon Island | Laha massacre | ~300[158] | The Japanese killed surrendered Australian soldiers.[158][159] |
| March 26, 1942 | Lari near Nairobi, Kenya | Lari Massacre | ~150 | About 150 Kikuyu were killed by fellow tribesmen.[160][161] |
| June 10, 1942 | Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia | Lidice massacre | 340[162] | Nazis killed 192 men, and sent the women and children to Nazi concentration camps where many died.[162][163][164] |
| September 21, 1943 | Kefalonia, Greece | Massacre of the Acqui Division | 5,000 | Wehrmacht troops executed POWs from the Italian 33 Infantry Division Acqui |
| 1943 | Volhynia, Ukraine | Massacres of Poles in Volhynia | >50,000 | The brutal murders of Polish citizens of the Wołyń Voivodeship, orchestrated and conducted in most part by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in years 1943-1947. The peak of the massacres took place in July and August 1943 when a senior UPA commander, Dmytro Klyachkivsky, ordered the extermination of the entire Polish population between 16 and 60 years of age.[165][166][167]. |
| 1944 | Italy | Marzabotto massacre | 700–1,800[168] | The SS killed Italian civilians in reprisal for support given to the resistance movement.[168][169] |
| June 10, 1944 | Oradour-sur-Glane, France | Oradour-sur-Glane massacre | 642[170] | The Waffen-SS killed 642 men, women and children without giving any specific reasons for their actions.[170] |
| August 8, 1944 | Warsaw, Poland | Wola massacre | 40,000–100,000 | Special groups of SS and German soldiers of the Wehrmacht went from house to house in Warsaw district Wola, rounding-up and shooting all inhabitants. |
| August 12, 1944 | Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Italy | Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre | 560 | Retreating SS-men of the II Battallion of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 35 of 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, rounded up 560 villagers and refugees — mostly women, children and older men — shot them and then burned their bodies. |
| August 1944 | Warsaw, Poland | Ochota massacre | 10,000 | Mass murders of citizens of Warsaw district Ochota in August 1944, committed by Waffen-SS. |
| December 1944 | Malmedy, Belgium | Malmedy massacre | 88 | Nazi Waffen SS soldiers shot American POWs (43 escaped).[177][178] |
| January 1945 | Chenogne, Belgium | Chenogne massacre | 60 | German prisoners of war were shot by American soldiers in an unauthorized retaliation for the Malmedy Massacre. |
| May 1945 | Setif, Algeria | Sétif massacre | 6,000 | Muslim villages were bombed by French aircraft and the cruiser Duguay-Trouin standing off the coast, in the Gulf of Bougie, shelled Kerrata. Pied noir vigilantes lynched prisoners taken from local gaols or randomly shot Muslims [179][180][181] |
| February 28, 1947 | Taiwan | 228 Massacre | 10,000–30,000 | |
| April 3, 1948 | Jeju island, South Korea | Jeju massacre | 25,000[182]-60,000[183] | Communist sympathizer civilians were killed by South Korean troops. The victims were 25,000 to 60,000.[183] |
| April 9, 1948 | Deir Yassin, Palestine | Deir Yassin Massacre | 120 | The Deir Yassin massacre took place when the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, population of 750. 25 Palestinian men were taken to Jerusalem and shot. Around 120 Palestinian civilians were killed.[184] |
| October 31 – November 1, 1948 | Hula, Lebanon | Hula Massacre | 35 | The Hula massacre took place October 31 – November 1, 1948. Hula is a Lebanese Shi'a Muslim village near the Lebanese Litani River. It was captured by the Carmeli Brigade without any resistance. 35–58 captured men were reportedly shot down in a house which was later blown up on top of them. Two officers were responsible for the massacre; one served a one year prison sentence and later received presidential amnesty. Shmuel Lahis was later to become Director General of the Jewish Agency.[185][186] |
| December 12, 1948 | Batang Kali, Burma | Batang Kali massacre | 24 | Villagers were purportedly shot by British troops before the village was burnt.[187][188][189] |
| December 24, 1949 | Mungyeong, South Korea | Mungyeong massacre | 86-88[190][191] | Communist sympathizer civilians were killed by South Korean troops. |
| 1950 | South Korea | Bodo League massacre | 100,000[192]-1,200,000[193] | During the Korean War, communist sympathizer civilians or prisoners were killed by South Korean troops. The victims were 100,000 to 1,200,000.[192][193] |
| July 26–29, 1950 | No Gun Ri, South Korea | No Gun Ri Massacre | 100-400[194] | During the Korean War, groups of refugees fleeing a North Korean advance attempted to cross American lines. Between July 26 and July 29, 1950, U.S. soldiers, who suspected that such groups were infiltrated by North Korean soldiers, killed an undetermined number of South Korean refugees at No Gun Ri. |
| August 14, 1950 | Waegwan, South Korea | Hill 303 massacre | 41[195] | During the Korean War, American POW were massacred by North Korean Army on August 14, 1950.[195] |
| January 6, 1951January 06–09, 1951 | Ganghwa, South Korea | Ganghwa massacre | 212[196]-1,300[197] | During the Korean War, Communist collabolator civilians were massacred by South Korean forces, South Korean Police forces and pro-South Korea forces Militia. |
| February 7, 1951 | Sancheong and Hamyang, South Korea | Sancheong and Hamyang massacre | 705[198] | During the Korean War, Communist sympathizer civilians were massacred by South Korean Army on February 7, 1951.[198] |
| February 9–11, 1951 | Geochang, South Korea | Geochang massacre | 719[199] | During the Korean War, Communist sympathizer civilians were massacred by South Korean Army between February 9 and February 11, 1951.[199] |
| March 21, 1960 | Sharpeville, South Africa | Sharpeville massacre | 72–90[200] | South African police shot down black protesters.[201] |
| 1962 | Novocherkassk, Soviet Union | Novocherkassk massacre | 23–70[202][203] | The MVD open fire on a crowd of protesters demonstrating against inflation.[204] |
| January 18–21, 1964 | Zanzibar | Massacres during the Zanzibar Revolution | 8,000–17,000[205][206] | Following the overthrow of the Sultan, thousands of Arabs and Indians were massacred by John Okello's forces.[207][208][209] |
| August 1, 1966 | Austin, Texas, USA | University of Texas massacre | 16 | University of Texas was the site of a massacre by Charles Whitman, who killed his mother and wife at their homes before killing 14 and wounding 32 others at the University atop the university tower before the police killed him. |
| March 16, 1968 | South Vietnam | My Lai Massacre | 504[210] | US soldiers killed 504 unarmed South Vietnamese villagers ranging in ages from 1 to 81 years, mostly women and children.[210][211] |
| October 2, 1968 | Mexico City, Mexico | Tlatelolco massacre | 25–350[212][213] | Government troops massacred between 25 (officially) and 350 (according to human rights activists) students on the eve of the 1968 Summer Olympics taking place in Mexico City, and then tried to wash the blood away, along with evidence of the massacre.[213][214] |
| May 4, 1970 | Kent State University, Ohio, USA | Kent State massacre | 4[215] | 29 members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed students protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia on the Kent State University college campus, killing 4 and wounding 9, one of whom was permanently paralyzed.[215][216][217] |
| January 30, 1972 | Derry, Northern Ireland | Bogside Massacre (Bloody Sunday)[218] |
14[219] | British paratroopers fired on unarmed civil rights protesters, killing 14.[220]. The government sponsored Saville Report, released in June 2010, found all those killed were innocent civil rights demostrators, prompting an apology by UK Prime Minister David Cameron. As of that time, no one had been prosecuted for the killings.[221] |
| May 30, 1972 | Lod, Israel | Lod Airport massacre | 26[222] | Three members of the Japanese Red Army, on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, killed 26 people and injured 80 others at Tel Aviv's Lod airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport).[222][223][224][225][226] |
| September 5, 1972 | Munich, Germany | Munich Massacre[227] | 12[228] | Members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and killed by the Palestinian Black September group. Also killed was a West German police officer. |
| May 15, 1974 | Ma'alot, Israel | Ma'alot massacre[229][230] | 29[230] | Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine infiltrate Israel from Lebanon, shoot and kill a Christian Arab woman and a Jewish couple and their 4 year old son, and then take hostage and kill 22 high school students and three of their adult escorts.[230] |
| July 31, 1975 | Northern Ireland | Miami Showband massacre | 5 | Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) killed three members of pop group the Miami Showband in a gun and bomb attack. Two UVF members also died when the bomb exploded prematurely.[231][232][233][234][235] |
| January 5, 1976 | Northern Ireland | Kingsmill massacre | 10[236] | Irish republicans shot ten Protestant workers dead outside the village of Kingsmill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.[236][237] |
| 1976 | Lebanon | Damour massacre | 582[238] | Palestinian militia aligned with the Lebanese National Movement kill 582 civilians in the village of Damour during the Lebanese Civil War.[238][239] |
| March 11, 1978 | Israel | Coastal Road massacre | 35[240] | Palestinian Fatah members based in Lebanon land on a beach north of Tel Aviv, kill an American photographer, and hijack an inter-city bus driving along Israel's Coastal Highway. 35 civilians are killed and 80 wounded.[240][241][242][243] |
| 1979 | Mexico | Tula Massacre | 13 | 13 tortured bodies were found at Tula, Hidalgo,Mexico at the time of Arturo Durazo Moreno Administration |
| December 11, 1981 | El Salvador | El Mozote Massacre | >1,000 | The El Mozote Massacre took place in the village of El Mozote, in Morazán department, El Salvador, on December 11, 1981, when Salvadoran armed forces trained by the United States military killed at least 1000 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign.[244][245] |
| February 2, 1982 | Syria | Hama massacre | 7,000–35,000[246][dead link] | The Syrian Army killed an estimated 30,000 people in the city of Hama. Instances of mass execution and torture by the Syrian military were documented during the attacks.[247] |
| September 1982 | Lebanon | Sabra and Shatila massacre | 700–3,500 | Refugees are killed by the Christian Lebanese Forces militia in refugee camps surrounded by Israel Defense Forces. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the massacre and declared it to be an act of genocide.[248][249][250] |
| April 1983 | Peru | Lucanamarca massacre | 69 | Maoist Shining Path guerrillas massacre 69 men, women and children with axes, machetes and guns in and around the town of Lucanamarca, Peru.[251] |
| July 18, 1984 | San Diego, California, USA | San Ysidro McDonald's Massacre | 21 | Gunman James Oliver Huberty killed 21 people in a McDonald's restaurant before being fatally shot by a SWAT team sniper.[252][253][254] |
| March 23, 1985 | Iraq | Dujail Massacre | 148[255] | Dujail was the site of an unsuccessful assassination attempt against then Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, on July 8, 1982. Saddam Hussein ordered his special security and military forces to carry out a reprisal attack against the town, imprisoning hundreds of men, women and children. In March 1985, 148 of the town's men were executed.[255][256][257][258] |
| August 14, 1985 | Peru | Accomarca massacre | 47–74[259][260][261] | An army massacre of campesinos (including six children) in Accomarca, Ayacucho.[260] |
| August 19, 1987 | Hungerford, England | Hungerford massacre | 16[262] | A gunman armed with semi-automatic rifles and a handgun killed 16 people before committing suicide.[263] |
| November 8, 1987 | Enniskillen, Northern Ireland | Remembrance Day bombing (Poppy Day Massacre) |
12 | Provisional IRA bombing at the town's cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.[264] |
| March 16, 1988 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | Milltown massacre | 3 | Ulster Freedom Fighters member Michael Stone kills three people and injures 60 others in a gun and grenade attack at the funeral of three IRA members being held in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast.[265][266] |
| 1988 | Tehran, Iran | 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners | 4482-30000 | 1988 executions of political prisoners in Iran (Persian: ۱۳۶۷ اعدام زندانیان سیاسی در تابستان) refers to the systematic execution of "thousands" of political prisoners across Iran by the government of Iran, starting on 19 July 1988 and lasting about five months. The majority of the prisoners killed were supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, although thousands of supporters of other groups, including the Fedaian and the Tudeh Party of Iran (Communist Party), were also executed.[267][268]
The killings have been called "an act of violence unprecedented in Iranian history — unprecedented in form, content, and intensity."[269] The exact number of prisoners executed remains unclear. Amnesty International recorded the names of over 4,482 political prisoners reportedly killed during this time,[270] but Iranian opposition groups suggest that the number of prisoners executed was far higher, and as many as 30,000 prisoners may have been executed.[271][272] |
| June 4, 1989 | Tiananmen Square, Beijing | Tiananmen Square Massacre | 400–3,000[273] | Anti-corruption demonstrations escalated in a clash between the demonstrators and the authorities.[274][275] |
| December 6, 1989 | École Polytechnique, Montréal, Quebec, Canada | École Polytechnique massacre[276] | 14 | Marc Lépine, claiming to fight feminism, shot and killed 14 female students of the École Polytechnique de Montréal and wounded 14 other people before turning his gun on himself. The event led to stricter gun control laws[277] and changes in police tactical response to shootings in Canada.[278] |
| September 5, 1990 | Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka | Eastern University massacre, | 158[279] | Eastern University massacre is the massacre of 158 minority Sri Lankan Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan Army in the eastern Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka.[280][279][281] |
| September 9, 1990 | Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka | Sathurukondan massacre | 184[282][283] | Sathurukondan massacre, also known as the 1990 Batticaloa massacre is the massacre of 184 minority Sri Lankan Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan Army in the eastern Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka.[282][283][284][285][286] |
| November 13, 1990 | Aramoana, New Zealand | Aramoana massacre | 13 | The Aramoana massacre occurred on 13 November 1990 in the small seaside township of Aramoana in New Zealand. Lone gunman David Malcolm Gray began shooting indiscriminately at people, killing 13 people before being killed by police himself, allegedly after a dispute with his next door neighbor. It remains New Zealands deadliest criminal shooting.[287][288][289][290] |
| October 16, 1991 | Killeen, Texas, USA | Luby's massacre | 22 | George Jo Hennard drove his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot and killed 22 people, wounded another 20 and then committed suicide by shooting himself.[291][292][293][294][295] |
| November 18–21, 1991 | Croatia | Vukovar massacre | 264 | Members of the Serb militias, aided by the Yugoslav People's Army, killed Croat civilians and POWs.[296][297][298][299] |
| February 26, 1992 | Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan | Khojaly Massacre | 613[300] | Armenian armed forces, reportedly with help of the Russian 366th Motor Rifle Regiment, raided the town of Khojaly and massacred its Muslim civilian population. The death toll according to the Government of Azerbaijan was 613 civilians, of whom 106 were women and 83 were children.[301][302][303] |
| April 10, 1992 | Maraghar, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan | Maraghar Massacre | 45[304] | Azerbaijani forces attacked the ethnic Armenian town of Maraghar. According to Caroline Cox, who observed the damage and interviewed eyewitnesses, the Azerbaijani forces decapitated about forty five villagers, burned and looted much of the town, and kidnapped about one hundred women and children[305]. The inhabitants of Maraghar who were driven out after the attack were unable to return to their village after the ceasefire of 1994, as the area was still under Azeri control. |
| June 17, 1992 | Boipatong, South Africa | Boipatong massacre | 45[306] | 45 African National Congress (ANC) supporters were killed by members of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). |
| September 7, 1992 | Bisho, Ciskei/South Africa | Bisho massacre | 29 | 28 African National Congress (ANC) supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march. |
| January 8, 1993 | Palatine, Illinois, USA | Brown's Chicken massacre | 7 | Seven people were murdered at the Brown's Chicken and Pasta in Palatine[307] |
| July 2, 1993 | Sivas, Turkey | Sivas massacre | 33 | 33 Alevi intellectuals were killed when a mob of radical Islamists set fire to the hotel where the group had assembled.[308][309][310] |
| July 25, 1993 | Cape Town, South Africa | St James Church massacre | 11 | 11 People were killed during a church service by Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) armed with assault rifles and grenades. |
| October 30, 1993 | Greysteel, Northern Ireland | Greysteel massacre | 8 | Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) opened fire in a crowded bar using an AK-47 and automatic pistol. Eight civilians were killed and thirteen wounded.[311][312][313][314][315][316][317][318] |
| 1993 | Brazil | Yanomami Massacre | 16–73[319][320] | Garimpeiros (illegal gold miners) killed Yanomami people. |
| 1994 | West Bank | Cave of the Patriarchs massacre[321][322] (Ibrahimi Mosque massacre)[323] |
29 | Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an assault rifle killing 29 Muslims and wounding 150 at prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque before being subdued and beaten to death.[324][325] |
| 1994 et seq. | Algeria | Algerian Village Massacres of the 1990s | >10,000[326][327] | During the 1990s, many large-scale massacres of villagers in Algeria were perpetrated by groups attacking villages at night and cutting the throats of the inhabitants. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) has avowed its responsibility for many of them. The massacres peaked in 1997 (with a smaller peak in 1994). There are allegations reported by the BBC that government infiltrators spurred the GIA to higher levels of violence in order to discredit them.[328] According to a few reports former Algerian army officer, Habib Souaidia testified to his government's involvement of the massacres. The differing accounts are not yet reconciled.[326][329][330][331] |
| March 28, 1994 | Johannesburg, South Africa | Shell House massacre | 19 | Security guards of the African National Congress (ANC) fired on 20,000 Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) marchers.[332][333][334] |
| June 18, 1994 | Loughinisland, Northern Ireland | Loughinisland massacre | 6 | Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) opened fire in a crowded bar using assault rifles, killing six civilians and wounding five.[335][336][337][338][339][340][341] |
| January 22, 1995 | Israel | Beit Lid massacre | 22[342] | First suicide attack by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killing 22 and wounding 69. Carried out by two bombers; the second waited until emergency crews arrived to assist the wounded and dying before detonating his bomb.[343][344][345][346] |
| July 1995 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Srebrenica massacre | 8,000[347] | Units of the Army of the Republika Srpska killed male Bosniaks[347][348] |
| March 13, 1996 | Scotland | Dunblane massacre | 17 [349] | A gunman opened fire in a primary school, killing sixteen children and one teacher before killing himself.[350][351][352] |
| April 29, 1996 | Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia | Port Arthur massacre | 35[353] | The Port Arthur massacre of 28 April 1996 was a killing spree which claimed the lives of 35 people and wounded 21 others mainly at the historic tourist site Port Arthur in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia. The massacre remains Australia's deadliest mass killing spree and remains one of the deadliest such incidents worldwide in recent times.[354] |
| 1996 | Lebanon | Qana Massacre[355][356] | 106 | Israeli artillery struck the Unifil Headquarters in Qana which was providing shelter to approximately two hundred Lebanese civilians. The Israeli military said the strike was in error and that they were not targeting the U.N. shelter. [357][358][359][360][361] |
| February 5, 1997 | Ghulja, China | Ghulja Massacre | >9 | After two days of protests during which the protesters had marched shouting "God is great" and "independence for Xinjiang" the demonstrations were crushed by the People's Liberation Army. Official reports put the death toll at 9 while dissident reports estimated the number killed at more than 100.[362][363][364][365][366][367] |
| December 22, 1997 | Acteal, Mexico | Acteal Massacre | 45 | Massacre carried out by paramilitary forces of 45 people attending a prayer meeting of indigenous townspeople, who were members of the pacifist group Las Abejas ("The Bees"), in the village of Acteal, municipality of Chenalhó, in the Mexican state of Chiapas.[368][369][370] |
| April 20, 1999 | Littleton, Colorado, USA | Columbine High School massacre | 13[371] | Two teenagers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold open fire on their classmates on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School, killing 12 students and one teacher before committing suicide. |
| July 27, 2000 | West Bengal, India | Nanoor massacre | 11 | Killing of 11 landless labourers allegedly by activists of Communist Party of India (Marxist), a political party in India, in Suchpur, near Nanoor and under Nanoor police station, in Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal.[372][373][374] |
| March 27, 2002 | Netanya, Israel | Passover massacre | 30[375] | Killing of 30 guests at the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel, sitting down to the traditional Passover Seder meal. Another 143 were injured. Hamas claimed responsibility.[375][376][377][378][379] |
| February 28, 2002 | Ahmedabad, India | Gulbarg Society massacre | 69 | During the 2002 Gujarat riots, a mob attacked the Gulbarg Society, a lower middle-class Muslim neighbourhood in Chamanpura, Ahmedabad. Most of the houses were burnt, and at least 35 victims including a former Congress, Member of Parliament, Ehsan Jafri, were burnt alive, while 31 others went missing after the incident, later presumed dead, bringing the total of the dead to 69.[380][381][382] |
| September 1, 2004 | Beslan, Russian Federation | Beslan School Massacre | 334 | Armed Chechen separatists[383] took more than 1,200 people hostage at a school. 334 civilians were killed, including 186 school children, and hundreds wounded.[384][385][386] |
| May 13, 2005 | Andijan, Uzbekistan | Andijan massacre | 300–500 | Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops fired into a crowd of protesters.[387][388] |
| March 25, 2006 | Seattle, Washington, USA | Capitol Hill massacre | 6 | 28-year-old Kyle Aaron Huff entered a rave afterparty in the southeast part of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood and opened fire, killing six and wounding two, before committing suicide.[389][citation needed] |
| April 16, 2007 | Blacksburg, Virginia, USA | Virginia Tech Massacre | 32 | Gunman Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many others[390] before committing suicide. The massacre is the deadliest peacetime shooting incident by a single gunman in United States history, on or off a school campus.[391] |
| September 28, 2009 | Conakry, Guinea | 28 September Massacre | 157 | Guinean uniformed security forces opened fire on a political rally trapped in the 28 September Stadium.[392] |
| November 5, 2009 | Ft. Hood, Texas, United States | Fort Hood Massacre (Fort Hood shooting) |
13 | Gunman Malik Nadal Hasan, a Major in the US Army, allegedly killed 12 soldiers and one civilian, and wounded at least 30 on the base at Ft. Hood. Initial reports indicate Hassan was upset at being deployed to Iraq.[393][394][395][396][397][398] |
| November 23, 2009 | Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Philippines | Maguindanao massacre |
57 | A group of 100 armed men, alleged to include police and private militia led by Andal Ampatuan, Jr., stopped a convoy of five cars transporting Genalyn Tiamzon-Mangudadatu, the wife of Esmael Mangudadatu, who is running for provincial governor in the 2010 Philippine elections. She was en-route to the town of Shariff Aguak to file a certificate of candidacy for her husband, accompanied by his sisters, other supporters, and members of the press. The attackers kidnapped and later killed all members of the Mangudadatu group; reports state that women in the group were raped before being killed. Five other people not part of the group, in a car behind the convoy, were also kidnapped and killed.[399][400][401][402][403] |
| Look up massacre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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