A Brief History
On May 30, 1972, a British far left terrorist group went on trial for conducting 25 bombings over the previous two years. The soi-disant “Angry Brigade” saw eight of their members tried for the bombings, but only four of them were convicted. In any case, the trial was the end of the cleverly named group.
Digging Deeper
Targets of the Angry Brigade included banks, embassies, conservative politicians, and even a beauty contest. Luckily, no one was killed in the bombings, although one person was injured. At least two people were the subject of assassination attempts by the terrorists.
When a key member was arrested and tried in 1971, a British judge said the other members of the group “…were more like the Slightly Cross Brigade.”
A major cause of the anger of this “brigade” was the US involvement in the Vietnam War, a common complaint of the political left at the time.
Note: The currently recognized list of terror organizations has overwhelmingly Islamic type names, often citing their religion or religious war in those names. The use of “army,” “liberation,” “front,” and the names of members have also often been applied to naming groups, while the Tamil Tigers and the Shining Path terror groups have gone a slightly different route in naming their organizations.
The definition of “terrorist” and “terrorist group” is hotly debated, and of course whether or not the name of such a group is “lame” or “great” is highly subjective.
Question for students (and subscribers): What terror group has the most descriptive name? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Carr, Gordon. Angry Brigade: A History of Britain’s First Urban Guerilla Group. PM Press, 2008.
Steele, Phillip. Terrorism (Past & Present). Heinemann Library, 1992.
The featured image in this article, an illustration by Edurs34, is licensed under the Pixabay Content License.
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