1. Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of America from 1861-1865, was tragically assassinated by a man called John Wilkes Booth, a staunch supporter of the Southern cause at the time, and an advocate of slavery.

2. John Wilkes Booth It was the fateful morning of April 14, 1865, when John Wilkes Booth hatched his deadly plan. When he learned that Lincoln was due to attend an evening performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre. Booth assembled his goons and at 6pm the group attended the venue and booth shot his victim with a pistol in the back of the head.

3. Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the iconic leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, but was a pacifist and a lover of peace. He represented much hope for the Indian people at the time, and the last thing most people wanted was to see him dead, let alone assassinated.

4. Martin Luther King Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister and social activist, was an icon to African-Americans in the 60s, and was one of the main players in the March on Washington in 1963. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his lifetime work.

5. James Earl Ray James Earl Ray, the man who killed King. was a criminal, who robbed gas stations and had served some time behind bars. He escaped from jail in 1967, and avoided the police for nearly a year. On April 4, 1968, he assassinated King by shooting him via a window of a neighboring house, while he stood on the balcony of his motel room.

6. William McKinley William McKinley, the 25th President of America from 1897-1901, was a war leader, who took America to war against Spain in 1898, and winning countries like Puerto Rico and the Philippines. There were many “anti-imperialists” who opposed McKinley’s worldview and took issue wit him.

7. Archduke Franz Ferdinand Francis Ferdinand was the archduke of Austria and his untimely assassination was considered to be the catalyst for World War I. It’s no coincidence that World War I started just a month after Ferdinand was assassinated, in cold blood.

8. Gavrilo Princip Despite his name, Gavrilo Princip can hardly be described as a man of high principles. He was born to Bosnian Serb peasants, and Princip was trained as a terrorist by the Serbian secret society known as the Black Hand. Princip waited in ambush for his victim and shot him to death on June 28.

9. James Garfield James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, for only a few months in 1881, was shot to death on July 2, having only been in office for four months. He was on his way to visit his sick wife in hospital when he was shot in the back at the a railroad station in Washington D.C.

10. Charles J. Guiteau Charles J. Guiteau, who was known to be mentally ill, was a failed editor and lawyer and was more than a little disgruntled with his lot in life. He was a strong supporter of the Republican Party, and he calmly said after the assassination, “I am a Stalwart. [Chester A.] Arthur is now president of the United States.”