Tony Rocchi, Author at The CommentaTHOR

Tony Rocchi13.12.2023

The People’s Will [Народная Воля] occupies a special and even honorable place in the history of Russian, European, and world terrorism. A Legendary Terrorist Organization Even historians who usually condemn terrorism often make an exception for the People’s Will. For example, American specialist Walter Laqueur wrote <<Sofiya Perovskaya and Vera Figner are symbols of one […]

Tony Rocchi11.12.2023

Political terrorism in the Russian Empire foreshadowed many trends in European terrorism especially in the late 20th to early 21st centuries. However, Russian terrorism differed sharply from many tendencies in European terrorism particularly after 1918 right up to the present. Many of these differences reflect the conditions in which terrorism emerged during different historical periods. […]

Tony Rocchi10.12.2023

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Many trends in terrorism in the Russian Empire foreshadowed trends in European terrorism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Already during Europe’s <<Era of Dynamite>> from 1870-1914, terrorism in Russia between 1866-1911 was clearly different from terrorism in European countries. Russia and the European <<Era of Dynamite>> The massiveness of terrorism in Russia […]

Tony Rocchi08.12.2023

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Political terrorism was born in Europe in the 19th century and the Russian Empire was the birthplace of mass terrorism. Europe, Russia, and Political Terrorism However, the history of political terrorism in the Russian Empire is still badly integrated into the history of Europe just as it is poorly integrated into the history of world […]

Tony Rocchi06.12.2023

Defining terrorism and showing how terrorism is different from other types of political violence is becoming more different in our age of information overload. Information Overload about Terrorism in Today’s World Terrorism is part of everyday life in many parts of today’s world. Print and broadcast media keep us informed about terrorist attacks everywhere. Since […]

Tony Rocchi04.12.2023

Before writing the articles on political trials in the Russian Empire and use of administrative orders and extraordinary laws to crush opposition, I must explain my methodology—how I research and write about different subjects in history. Most important is how I define terrorism. In this series we are looking at the how the Russian Empire […]

Tony Rocchi03.12.2023

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Political trials in the Russian Empire turned into battlegrounds between the government and educated society as represented by the political parties and movements. Socialist defendants and their liberal defense lawyers joined combat with prosecutors determined to present the revolutionaries as monsters seeking to destroy Russia. Defendants accused the government of committing crimes against the people […]

Tony Rocchi01.12.2023

Although the Russian government had severe policies against its real and imagined political opponents, it was not a police state. The government did not have the resources or the political will to become a police state. The image of the Russian Empire as a police state was built up from the 1800s by socialists and […]

Tony Rocchi29.11.2023

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Part 5 see here. Any discussion about the Russian government’s police and repressive policies toward its real and imagined political opponents must look at these policies in a broad context. Simply describing the government structure in the Russian Empire as a police state does not give us the full picture of how the government faced […]

Tony Rocchi28.11.2023

Part 4 see here. Tsar Nicholas II has received many contradictory interpretations. Popular publications in Russia today often idealize him and regard him as a martyr betrayed and killed by his own people. Tsar Nicholas II and his family are considered saints by the Russian Orthodox Church. However, the last tsar of the Russian Empire […]

Tony Rocchi

The People’s Will — Myths and Realities

Differences Between Russian and European Terrorism

Russian Terrorism Foreshadows Terrorism in Europe

Terrorism, Revolutions, and Police Violence in Russia and Europe

Difficulties in Studying Terrorism

What is Terrorism?

Political Crimes in the Russian Empire

The Political Police of the Russian Empire

Terrorism and Other Types of Mass Violence in the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907: Part 6

Terrorism and Other Types of Mass Violence in the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907: Part 5

The French Revolution and its Legacy in France Today

British Conservatives are Hopeful that Trump is the Next US President

How to Defeat the Evil Dragon Within Yourself

Russian and European Revolutions: More Risky Comparisons