Assassination of Sadi Carnot

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Assassination of Sadi Carnot

An 1894 illustration by Le Petit Journal
Date	24 June 1894
Time	9:15 p.m. (CET)
Location	Place de la Bourse, Lyon, France
Perpetrator	Sante Geronimo Caserio
Deaths	Sadi Carnot

On 24 June 1894, in Lyon, France, French President Sadi Carnot was assassinated by Italian anarchist Sante Geronimo Caserio. Acting in retaliation for the execution of Ravachol and the subsequent ratification of the anti-anarchist lois scélérates ("villainous laws"), Caserio stabbed Carnot in his open carriage outside the Palais du Commerce at 9:15 p.m. Carnot died at 12:45 a.m. the next morning, and Caserio was executed on 6 August 1894. More lois scélérates were passed in response to the assassination.

In the 1890s, there was a large amount of anarchist violence in France. On 11 July 1892, anarchist Ravachol, who had committed a series of bombing attacks in Paris, was executed.^[1] On 9 December 1893, the French National Assembly in the Palais de Bourbon was the subject of a terrorist bombing by anarchist Auguste Vaillant, causing minor injuries among the representatives. The French government decided to retaliate against anarchist violence after years of incidents, passing parts of the lois scélérates ("villainous laws"): the association of individuals with intent to commit violence was banned. President Sadi Carnot received hundreds of threatening letters.^[2] Sante Geronimo Caserio assassinated Carnot in response to the laws, as well as Ravachol's execution. Caserio was 21 at the time.^[3][4]

Carnot had gone to Lyon in June 1894 to visit the Exhibition of Arts, Sciences, and Industries. He arrived on Sunday, the 23rd, and intended to stay until Tuesday, the 26th.^[5]

On the 24th, Carnot visited a banquet in his honor at the Lyon's Palais du Commerce. On his way out, at 9:15 p.m., he was traveling from the building to his carriage, which was drawn up outside. There was a large crowd, but he was surrounded by a military and police presence. When he was entering the carriage, Caserio emerged from the crowd and raised a roll of newspapers, as if he asking for a petition to be signed. Quickly moving towards Carnot, Caserio took a dagger out of the roll. Carnot's guard grabbed Caserio at this point, but he was still able to stab Carnot in the back, hitting his liver. Carnot fell in his seat, losing a large amount of blood. He was then driven to the prefecture across the Rhône, where he was treated by doctors.^[4][5]

Caserio was rushed away by Carnot's guard. There were ten policemen who worked to take control of him and keep him away from the crowd, but the crowd soon overpowered them. The police called for the Lyon Municipal Guards, who brought Caserio and the police to the police station on horseback.^[4]

Carnot eventually fell unconscious. Crowds gathered at the prefecture, and more people gathered at the scene of the attack. Soldiers and police worked to stop local Italian businesses and the Italian Consulate from being attacked. Most of these attacks were stopped, but an Italian restaurant was destroyed. Carnot could not be saved by the doctors.^[4] His wife and two sons left Paris at 11:57 p.m. to go to Lyon. However, he died at 12:45 a.m. the next morning.^[6]

Caserio was executed in Lyon on 6 August 1894.^[7] The assassination led the French government to passing another series of lois scélérates. Historians Wouter Klem and Niels Terpstra write:^[2]

Amendments soon restricted, among other things, the possession of anarchist literature and journals. Up to that point, lawmakers operationalized two individual attacks to limit an entire social movement’s freedom of speech and press. Their measures provoked fierce protest from socialist parliamentarians, who feared the legislation would soon be applied against all Leftist opposition. Around the turn of the century, some parliamentarians denounced the laws for being so controversial, they dubbed them les lois scélérates, or ‘villainous laws’.

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