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Terror Through Time

Since September 11th 2001 the threat of terrorism has driven enormous political and legal change, violently impacting on the lives of millions of people around the world. But how did we get here, how did terrorism turn into such a powerful force in world affairs? One of the BBC’s most experienced foreign correspondents has studied the history of terrorism in a major BBC Radio Four series. Experts from the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University add the political and historical context to help us understand and combat the phenomenon of terrorism. Additionally, former terrorists, their victims and the security services that confront them reveal the personal experiences that give a fresh perspective on some of the most vicious conflicts in world history.

Starting in Paris with the involvement of the British government in a terror plot against Napoleon Fergal tells the story of the Irish bombing campaign in Victorian London and unveils the anarchists and nihilists who felled the crowned heads of Europe. A bomber and a victim debate the rights and wrongs of the liberation struggle in Algeria, Fergal explores the legacy of the Baader-Meinhof gang in Germany and ETA in Spain and goes in search of Carlos the Jackal. He discovers how Edward Heath’s government responded to Britain’s first experience of international hi-jacking, discusses the reputation of Mossad as the ruthless masters of counter-terrorism and spoke to Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s chief of staff about the resolution of terrorist conflict.

The series is available in full through the BBC iPlayer

A man infront of bushes and a building.