Tyrannicide

Tyrannicide, similar to regicide, literally means the killing of a tyrant. Typically, the term is taken to mean the killing of tyrants for the common good. It is rarely applied when a tyrant is killed by a person acting for selfish reasons, such as to take power for themselves. Also, the term is more commonly used when the killing is undertaken by private citizens rather than by, for example, the military or intelligence agencies. Sometimes, the term is restricted to killings undertaken by people who are actually subject to the tyrant.

Naturally, the question of whether a particular killing is an instance of tyrannicide depends on whether one views the deceased ruler as a tyrant or not. Examples of deaths which are sometimes labeled tyrannicide are:

• The killing of Julius Caesar by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.
• The killing of King Louis XVI of France in the French Revolution
• The killing of deposed Tsar Nikolai II of Russia by communist revolutionaries.
• The killing of Italian fascist ruler Benito Mussolini by the Italian resistance movement after the collapse of his government.
• The killing of Romanian communist ruler Nicolae Ceausescu after the collapse of his government.

Not all overthrows of tyrants involve tyrannicide. Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic, widely regarded as tyrants, are being put on trial. Idi Amin, another person widely regarded as a tyrant, lived in exile following his overthrow. Perhaps the most famous tyrant, Adolf Hitler, killed himself to avoid capture and probable execution.