Can you name anyone who changed history by committing a crime?

Question

Such as Rosa Parks committing a crime that started the segregation movement.

Answer 1

Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary (and his pregnant wife) in Sarajevo. The result was World War One.

Answer 2

The first people were some Roman senators called Marcus Junnius Brutus, Cassius and Casca among others who on the 14th of March 44 B.C. murdered the Roman Dictator and Impropraetor: Gaius Julius Caesar. They surroundered him in the senate house and delivered 43 wounds to the body. It is said that the last one from Brutus was the fatal one.
If Caesar hadn't have been killed then he would have remained dictator and then possibly emperor and also most likely have conquered PARTHIA. This would have changed history as it would have given the Roman empire more of a power in the east and would have changed history there. Alternatively Caesar might have either retired or died naturally and there would not have been a civil war and hence not a principate of Augustus which was the empire. The history of Rome would have, and by this the world, been very very different indeed.

The second instance was the slave who killed Zenghi, the muslim warlord whoes capture of the christian kingdom of Edessa started the second crusade. One night this feared warlord who looked like defeating the crusader kingdoms of the Outremer(the middle east) came into his tent. He discovered a slave stealing a valueble cup of his. The slave knew very well what his fate would be. In desperation he jumped on Zenghi and strangled him. Had Zenghi lived he most likely would have either ended the crusader kingdoms or precipitated another crusade. The crusader kingdoms would have fallen or there would have been a lessining of them. They would have not lasted as long as they did and perhaps the east would have had more strength to face the Mongols and the west less influence from the east and less learning from it. The history of both continents would have been different.

The third example was the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1914, by a Serb nationalist-Gabriel Princeps. When Gabriel Princeps pulled the trigger he set of a serious of events that had a profound effect on the history of the twentieth century and of us. It gave Austria the excuse it had been looking for. This precipitated World War I which weakened the British Empire, brought America into the world as a great power, gave Hitler his first chances and the excuse for his rising and precipitated the history of the mid twentieth century with it's superpowers and cold war. Without World War I there probably wouldn't have been a World War II, a United Nations, Nuclear Weapons, The Superpowers, The Cold War and the fall of Communism. Without a World War I and II although we would have eventually landed on the moon, we wouldn't have done it so soon, as it was a result of the rivalry between America and Russia. The world we know would have been a very different place.

The fourth example was the ploughing of the two planes into the World Trade Centre on the orders and organised by Osmar Ben Laden. When this happened America overthrew the Taliban of Afganistan and Sadam Hussain of Iraq. The war on terror was proclaimed. The history of the world has already been changed because of this and in the future someone will be writting like me to explain why history then was changed by the events of 9/11.
The world may be a very different place in the future than it would have been without it.

These are just four examples. There probably many more. Also with Rosa Parks, she was already a member of an anti segregationist group and they were discussing for a long time to do something like this. She was chosen. However it is because of her courage that many people now enjoy the rights that they were denied before she refused to move from her seat. And I think that what she did, although it was a crime in the eyes of the state then, was not a crime but a noble act. A law can be tyranical. To act against it is a good act. It is that law that is a crime. Therefore you could say that the crime which changed things in this instance was the crime of tyranny. As in many other things. Like the American Revolution. In the eyes of the British crown these men, like Washington, Jefferson, and Revere were traitors guilty of the crime of treason. Yet justice prevailed and Britain became the better for it.

Of course you can make any laws which declare anything a crime. Just ask Hitler. Under his laws being a Gypsie or a Jew was a crime. These tyrants had better learn that they cannot supress people and get away with it. They didn't. And as for future tyrants-they should remember that those who do not learn from history are condemmed to relive it. They better be bloody careful- for HISTORY IS HALF A SECOND AND HALF AND INCH. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Violent or non-violent crime?

John Wilkes Booth murdered Abraham Lincoln. If Lincoln had not died, Reconstruction is very likely to have gone very differently.

The students who sat down at the segregated lunch counter in the South (a Woolworth's I think)and were arrested would be an example of a non-violent crime.

Answer 4

You can change the course of history by your interaction with one person. There are many people who have changed the course of history by their acts. Look at Hitler, look at any leader of any country who has done something wrong. Look at Japan. Oh, and Rosa Parks didn't commit a crime... she just refused to be shuffled to the back of the bus.

Answer 5

Gavrilo Princip shot the ArchDuke Ferdinand in 1914, a murder that began the events leading to the First World War.

Answer 6

Gavrilo Princip. The man who shot the Archduke Franz Ferdinand - and precipitated the First World War.

Answer 7

The founding fathers of the US committed the crime of treason when they revolted against the Monarchy of England. That crime changed history.

Answer 8

Assassins of almost any major political figure, including:

Gandhi
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Robert Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
Abraham Lincoln
Anwar Sadat

etc.

Answer 9

Al Capone
Hitler
Charlie Manson

Answer 10

President Andrew Jackson - Christopher Columbus - President U.S. Grant - George A. Custer - Aaron Burr