Orsini bomb
Encyclopedia
An Orsini bomb is a spherical bomb which instead of a fuse
Fuse (explosives)
In an explosive, pyrotechnic device or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately...

 or timing device, is surrounded by many small "horns" filled with mercury fulminate
Mercury(II) fulminate
Mercury fulminate, or Hg2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction and shock. It is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and blasting caps...

. On impact at any angle, these would ignite or detonate the main charge. The bomb was invented by the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

 Felice Orsini
Felice Orsini
Felice Orsini was an Italian revolutionary and leader of the Carbonari who tried to assassinate Napoleon III, Emperor of the French.-Early:Felice Orsini was born at Meldola in Romagna, then part of the Papal States....

, who, with accomplices, threw three at Napoleon III
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...

 in 1858. The attack failed to kill the Emperor, but killed eight others and wounded 142, including Orsini himself (see Felice Orsini#Assassination attempt on Louis Napoleon.) Orsini tested the bomb in Putney
Putney
Putney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....

, as well as quarries in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 and Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

. In 1893, in retaliation for the execution of the anarchist Paulí Pallás, who had thrown a bomb at General Arsenio Martínez Campos, the Spanish anarchist
Anarchism in Spain
Anarchism has historically gained more support and influence in Spain than anywhere else, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939....

 Santiago Salvador threw two Orsini bombs into the crowd at Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

's Liceu Theater
Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu , or simply Liceu in Catalan and Liceo in Spanish, is an opera house on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain...

. Only one of the bombs detonated, but it killed 22 people, and injured 35. The unexploded bomb was saved. It is believed that it's the Orsini bomb kept in the Museu d'Història de Barcelona (MUHBA) and temporarily displayed at the Van Gogh Museum in 2007, during an exhibit on Barcelona around 1900.

Antoni Gaudi
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect and figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.Much of Gaudí's work was...

 included a sculpture of a demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...

 handing an Orsini bomb to a working-class male in the exterior of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia
Sagrada Familia
The ' , commonly known as the Sagrada Família, is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí...

cathedral.

Sources

  • Anderson, Benedict Richard O'Gorman (2005). Under Three Flags: Anarchism And the Anti-colonial Imagination, Verso Books, ISBN 1844670376.
  • Larson, Susan; Woods, Eva (2005). Visualizing Spanish Modernity, Berg Publishers, ISBN 1859738060.

External links

  • http://www.nieuwsuitamsterdam.nl/English/2007/07/orsini_barcelona.htm
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