Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets September 11

The Roots of Terrorism September 11

---

The Roots of Terrorism
Print The Roots of Terrorism Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 9 to 12
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.87

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		butchery, mindset, quasi-military, anti-government, regimes, Murrah, anarchy, arson, disruption, trend, oppressive, sinister, terrorism, daycare, victimize, submit
	content words:		Middle East, French Revolution, Early Greek, Spanish Inquisition, Queen Isabella, Spanish Jews, Nazi Germany, Iraqi Kurds, American Civil War, Ku Klux Klan

---

The Roots of Terrorism By Toni Lee Robinson

---

¹     The events of 9/11 and daily news from the Middle East might make terrorism seem like a modern problem. Unfortunately, it has a long and bloody history. Terror as a weapon began almost with the history of man. The word terrorism was first used in France in the late eighteenth century.
 
²     Leaders of the French Revolution used terror to force people to submit to their authority. In what was called the "Reign of Terror," citizens were locked up, tortured, and guillotined. French scholars of the time defined terrorism as "the system or rule of terror."
 
³     The old French definition may seem simple and obvious. But what exactly is terrorism? Its basic element, of course, is terror, or extreme fear. Violence is its primary tool. Perhaps the most scary, baffling thing about terrorism is its lawlessness. Terrorists simply ignore the accepted rules against murder, injury, and destruction. Our systems of law and order strive to protect us from terrible things. Terrorists deliberately inflict them.
 
⁴     Terrorism began as a weapon of war. Early Greek writings tell of the use of fear to defeat an enemy. Rulers also used terrorism as a way of controlling or "cleansing" their populations. The Spanish Inquisition was a so-called religious cleansing, directed by Spain's Queen Isabella. Spanish Jews were the main victims of this 300-year stretch of torture and butchery.

Paragraphs 5 to 12:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Feedback on The Roots of Terrorism

Leave your feedback on The Roots of Terrorism   (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

September 11

September 11

---

More Lessons

High School Reading Comprehensions and High School Reading Lessons

Copyright © 2018 edHelper