Gaetano Bresci
Gaetano Bresci was an Italian anarchist who assassinated King Umberto I in Monza on July 29, 1900.
Prato: Prato is a city in Tuscany, Italy, known historically for textile production. Bresci was born there in 1869.
Umberto I: Umberto I was king of Italy from 1878 until his assassination in 1900. Bresci killed him during a public visit to Monza.
Victor Emmanuel III: Victor Emmanuel III was king of Italy from 1900 until 1946. He succeeded his father, Umberto I, after the assassination.
Sofia Perovskaya: Sofia Perovskaya was a Russian revolutionary executed for her role in the 1881 assassination of Tsar Alexander II. Her participation in a regicide offers a contrasting case of revolutionary violence against a monarch.
Italian anarchism: Italian anarchism is the tradition of anarchist thought and activism that developed in Italy. It shaped the political movement Bresci joined.
Bava Beccaris massacre: The Bava Beccaris massacre was the 1898 killing of demonstrators in Milan by troops under General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris. Bresci cited the repression in Milan as a motive for killing the king who honored Bava Beccaris.
Italian monarchy: The Italian monarchy was the kingdom’s hereditary system of rule from unification in 1861 until 1946. Bresci’s attack exposed the vulnerability of the monarchy but did not end it.
Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris: Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris was an Italian general who ordered troops to fire on Milanese demonstrators in 1898. Bresci identified the general’s actions, and the king’s subsequent honor for him, as reasons for the assassination.
United States anarchism: United States anarchism is the history of anarchist ideas, organizations, and activism in the United States. Bresci emigrated to the United States and lived among Italian anarchists in Paterson, New Jersey.
Monza: Monza is a city in Lombardy, Italy, northeast of Milan. Bresci shot Umberto I there on July 29, 1900.