Italian anarchists compiled a formidable record of political assassinations during the 1890s: President Marie François Sadi Carnot of France was killed by Santo Caserio in 1894; Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo of Spain by Michele Angiolillo in 1897; Empress Elizabeth of Austria by Luigi Luccheni in 1898; and King Umberto I of Italy by Gaetano Bresci in 1900. No less important were the unsuccessful assassination attempts committed during the same decade: Paolo Lega against Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi in 1894; and Pietro Acciarito against King Umberto in 1897. This book, ... More

Italian anarchists compiled a formidable record of political assassinations during the 1890s: President Marie François Sadi Carnot of France was killed by Santo Caserio in 1894; Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo of Spain by Michele Angiolillo in 1897; Empress Elizabeth of Austria by Luigi Luccheni in 1898; and King Umberto I of Italy by Gaetano Bresci in 1900. No less important were the unsuccessful assassination attempts committed during the same decade: Paolo Lega against Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi in 1894; and Pietro Acciarito against King Umberto in 1897. This book, through a specific focus on attentats along with attempted and successful acts of political assassination, provides a full-length study of the historical, economic, social, cultural and political conditions, the social conflicts and left-wing politics along with the transnational experiences in Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland and the United States that led to Italian anarchist violence at the end of the 19th century.