TERRORISMUnderstanding Bombers’ Motivations: A Historical Study

By Kirk Yeager, Ph.D.

Published 11 March 2022

The saga of bombers and the driving forces behind their acts is never-ending. A historical study of bombings and bomb makers reveals reoccurring themes that underlie most of these events. This article will provide an analysis of the circumstances that compel bombers to attack, which can help explain what inspired notable bombings of the past.

After spending 25 years studying explosives and bombers, the author asks himself the same question after every explosion: What could have made someone commit such a heinous act? The saga of bombers and the driving forces behind their acts is never-ending.

Bomb making is far from a new human endeavor. Shortly after the invention of dynamite, anarchists were lighting its fuse to further their own ends. While current readers may have the 2020 attack in Nashville, Tennessee, in mind when thinking of a vehicle bomb, the first attack of this kind on U.S. soil occurred 100 years earlier with the detonation of 100 pounds of dynamite delivered to Wall Street in New York City via horse-drawn carriage.1 Resulting in 39 dead and hundreds injured, this incident stood as the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

A historical study of bombings and bomb makers reveals reoccurring themes that underlie most of these events. This article will provide an analysis of the circumstances that compel bombers to attack, which can help explain what inspired notable bombings of the past.

Motivating Factors
Three factors instigate most bombings: power disparity, malice (i.e., evil intent), and mental illness. The incentive to bomb is rarely limited to only one of these three factors; each can play a symbiotic role with the others.

A Venn diagram of the motivators and their interrelationships, with illustrations of historic case examples for each, is provided in the figure below.

Power Disparity
he most predominant motivation for high-profile bombings is power disparity. Many bombings occur when perpetrators feel something critical to their sense of being is under threat. The more integral the attribute under perceived threat is to a bomber’s sense of personal identity, the more likely it will instigate violent actions. Oppression of religious beliefs or ethnic identities is a prime example of an action that would trigger a bomb maker. A feeling of powerlessness coupled with no tangible hope of a better future for themselves or their progeny will induce bombers to act out as well.