I think you’ll be surprised by 2001; the number of fatalities is far outside of distribution
Good point. I think I had overstated the extent to which terrorism had been a frequent occurance. 9/11 is indeed the deadliest terrorist attack ever recorded (I didn’t realize that few other attacks even came close).
However, I do want to push back against the idea that this event was totally unprecedented. The comparison to other “terrorist attacks” is, as you hint at, a bit of a game of reference class tennis. When compared to other battles, air raids, and massacres, Wikipedia notes that there have been several dozen that compare in the context of war. But of course, the United States did not see itself in an active state of war at the time.
The closest comparison is probably the attack on Pearl Harbor, in which a comparable number of people died. But that attack was orchestrated by an industrializing state, not an insurgent terrorist group.
Good point. I think I had overstated the extent to which terrorism had been a frequent occurance. 9/11 is indeed the deadliest terrorist attack ever recorded (I didn’t realize that few other attacks even came close).
However, I do want to push back against the idea that this event was totally unprecedented. The comparison to other “terrorist attacks” is, as you hint at, a bit of a game of reference class tennis. When compared to other battles, air raids, and massacres, Wikipedia notes that there have been several dozen that compare in the context of war. But of course, the United States did not see itself in an active state of war at the time.
The closest comparison is probably the attack on Pearl Harbor, in which a comparable number of people died. But that attack was orchestrated by an industrializing state, not an insurgent terrorist group.