In December 1795 , Edmund Burke used the word " Terrorists " in a description of the new French government called ' Directory ' : At length , after a terrible struggle , the Directory Troops prevailed over the Citizens ( … ) To secure them further , they have a strong corps of irregulars , ready armed . Thousands of those Hell-hounds called '' ' Terrorists ' '' , whom they had shut up in Prison on their last Revolution , as the Satellites of Tyranny , are let loose on the people . ( emphasis added ) The terms " terrorism " and " terrorist " gained renewed currency in the 1970s as a result of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict , the Northern Ireland conflict , the Basque conflict , and the operations of groups such as the Red Army Faction . Leila Khaled was described as a terrorist in a 1970 number of '' Life '' magazine . A number of books on terrorism were published in the 1970s . The topic came further to the fore after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings and again after the 2001 September 11 attacks and the 2002 Bali bombings
2002 Bali bombings
2002 Bali bombings
Terrorism