The Near Misses and Bloody Successes That Rewrote History

Every generation has those dark moments when history teeters on the outcome of a pulled trigger. Some plots succeed and shift empires overnight; others fail by inches, undone by jammed pistols or the sheer absurdity of luck. There’s something chilling about how fragile our societies can be, and how a single twist of fate can shift the course of nations forever. Here are twenty assassination attempts that changed the course of the world.

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1. Archduke Franz Ferdinand

In June 1914, a young man named Gavrilo Princip stepped out with a pistol and shaking hands. His bullet found Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, setting off a chain reaction that tore continents apart and resulted in World War I and the deaths of millions.

Carl Pietzner on Wikimedia

2. Adolf Hitler

So many tried to bring an end to his empire; they used poisoned wine, suitcase bombs, and even exploding chocolate. Most failed by inches. The July 20 Plot came closest, with the blast killing four but leaving him unscathed. He staggered out, bruised and enraged. It’s unnerving how often evil gets lucky.

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3. Napoleon III

In Paris, 1858, three Italian nationalists hurled bombs at the emperor’s carriage. The explosions killed bystanders but missed their target entirely. The failed attempt ironically strengthened his power, giving him an air of invincibility.

Franz Xaver Winterhalter on Wikimedia

4. Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar entered the Senate thinking it was business as usual. Instead, he was met by the daggers of former friends and murmured the immortal line, “Et tu, Brute?” The Republic bled out with him on the marble floor, and within years, Rome had an emperor. Sometimes reform dies in the name of saving it.

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5. Fidel Castro

During the Cold War, the CIA got creative—and a little absurd. Their plans to kill Fidel Castro ranged from toxic cigars to shell bombs and poisoned wetsuits. None worked. The man outlasted ten U.S. presidents and seemed, for a while, immortal.

Redthoreau on Wikimedia

6. John F. Kennedy

It was November 22, 1963, when JFK was shot as his motorcade made its way through Dealey Plaza, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald’s bullets killed more than a president; they ended an era’s optimism. To this day, no one really agrees on who pulled all the strings.

U.S. Navy photo on Wikimedia

7. Franklin D. Roosevelt

In 1933, in Miami, a crowd gathered to hear the President-elect speak. Giuseppe Zangara fired five shots, missing FDR but killing the Chicago mayor instead. Had he been one inch to the left, history would have been entirely rewritten. The New Deal, World War II leadership—both gone in a heartbeat.

Leon Perskie on Wikimedia

8. Manuel Quezon

In 1944, Japanese pilot Kyuji Takigawa tried to assassinate Philippine leader Manuel Quezon. The grenade didn’t explode properly and rolled back, wounding Takigawa in the process. There’s a definite irony when these nefarious plots backfire so spectacularly.

Malacañang Palace on Wikimedia

9. Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was a paranoid man—and perhaps for good reason. There were at least a dozen plots to kill him, including one involving Nazi operatives during World War II. None succeeded. He died years later, not from poison or bullets, but from his own failing body.

Unknown, presumably by a government employee as part of official duties on Wikimedia

10. Pope John Paul II

In St. Peter’s Square, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and collapsed, his white robes stained red. Miraculously, he survived and later visited his would-be assassin in prison. They talked privately for twenty minutes, and it was alleged that the Pope forgave his attacker.

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11. Queen Victoria

She was targeted at least eight times over the course of her life but always managed to evade her assassins. Once, she even scolded a gunman afterward. There’s something almost cinematic about how unflappable she was as a monarch, enduring attempts on her life with a stoicism that most of us wouldn’t be able to emulate.

John Jabez Edwin Mayall on Wikimedia

12. Margaret Thatcher

In 1984, the IRA tried to kill Margaret Thatcher at a hotel in Brighton. The bomb missed her by mere minutes but killed five others. The next day, she gave her speech anyway, defying her attackers. There’s a reason why they called her the Iron Lady.

Unknown photographer on Wikimedia

13. Grigori Rasputin

Rasputin was poisoned, shot, stabbed, and drowned—allegedly all in one night. The mystic’s death became legend, a grotesque bedtime story of Russian aristocracy. Whether half of it’s true hardly matters, as the myth was enough to haunt an empire.

Karl Bulla on Wikimedia

14. Hendrik Verwoerd

In 1960, South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was shot in the face and somehow survived. Six years later, another man succeeded. It’s strange to think how history can hesitate, pause, then continue down the same violent path.

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15. Augusto Pinochet

Augusto Pinochet’s motorcade drove through a mountain road when rebels detonated explosives. The armored car absorbed the blast. While he survived, a handful of bodyguards didn’t. It was one of those rare moments where tyranny literally drove through fire and emerged unscathed.

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16. Charles de Gaulle

French President Charles de Gaulle’s car was famously built like a tank, which enabled him to survive multiple assassination attempts, including one that riddled his Citroën with bullets. He ducked, unflinching, and merely adjusted his hat afterward.

The National Archives UK on Wikimedia

17. Nepalese Royal Family

In June 1981, the Nepalese Crown Prince Dipendra, drunk and armed, massacred nearly his entire royal family, then finally himself. Officials later classified it as an accident. The dynamics of power and inheritance can often result in deadly consequences.

User:Nabin K. Sapkota on Wikimedia

18. Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. stepped out onto a motel balcony and a shot rang out. Even decades later, the echo hasn’t faded, and the push for civil rights continues.

Dick DeMarsico on Wikimedia

19. Ronald Reagan

John Hinckley Jr. was obsessed with Jodie Foster, and in an attempt to impress her, fired six shots at Ronald Reagan outside a Washington hotel in 1981. Reagan nearly died but joked later, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” The quip cemented his myth as the cowboy president who could take a bullet and smile.

Michael Evans on Wikimedia

20. Georgi Markov

In London, 1978, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov felt a sharp sting on his thigh while waiting for a bus. Hours later, he was dead. The weapon was a rigged umbrella that fired a tiny pellet of ricin.

Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia on Wikimedia