What is Assassination?
[[File:Assassination of President Lincoln (color) - Currier and Ives - Original.jpg|right|thumb|350px|[[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln]] by [[John Wilkes Booth]]]] [[File:Leon trotsky.jpg|right|thumb|350px| [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Socialism|socialist]] [[revolution]]ary and political [[theoretician]] [[Leon Trotsky]] was stabbed to death with a [[ice axe]] by one of [[Josef Stalin]]’s spies, the [[Spain|Spaniard]] [[Ramón Mercarder]] in [[Coyoacán]], [[Mexico City]], 1940.]] '''Assassination''' is the [[murder]] of an important or popular person, usually, a [[politics|political]] leader, like the head of a [[country]] or of a [[political party]]. Assassinations are usually done for political reasons or [[contract killing|for payment]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thelawdictionary.org/assassination/ |title=What is Assassination? |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=The Law Dictionary |date=4 November 2011 |publisher=Black’s Law Dictionary Free 2nd Ed. |access-date=March 9, 2016 }}</ref> A person who '''assassinates''' someone is called an '''assassin'''. Throughout history, assassinations have happened for many different reasons. Sometimes, assassinations have been used to [[coup d'etat|take over governments]]. Other times, assassinations have been used to kill [[military]] leaders during [[war]]s, or for [[religious]] reasons. Some assassins want [[revenge]], or just want to be [[wikt:famous|famous]]. ==In ancient to medieval times== Assassinations have happened ever since people started living in group [[society|societies]].<ref name=westpt>{{cite web |url=https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-causes-and-impact-of-political-assassinations |title=The Causes and Impact of Political Assassinations |last1=Perliger |first1=Arie |date=January 20, 2015 |website=Combating Terrorism Center |publisher=United States Military Academy: West Point |access-date=March 9, 2016 |archive-date=August 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829051405/https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-causes-and-i