Who is the last head of state to be killed during an international conflict? This is specifically excluding internecine warfare or subversive outside intervention (like CIA killings). Any in the past century that I might be forgetting?
Bonus pondering: Who is the last head of state to be killed in battle? How about while leading their army on the field of battle?Anything in the past 200 years?
Hmmm…Well, King Charles XII of Sweden died in 1718 while besieging the fortress of Fredikssten in Norway.
Not sure if I can think of a more recent one who died in Europe.
Alaungapaya, founder of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma, died of wounds received while besieging Ayyuthia ( capital of Siam at the time ) in 1753, but he did so after the fight, during the retreat.
Charles was actually killed in the fighting by the way - He was the last of Sweden’s ‘warrior kings’.
The Diem brothers were murdered in 1963. That is the most recent assassination I can think of.
But Diem was killed by his own generals, and the Vietnam conflict was internecine. I should have specified also that I meant “assassinated by the other side.”
The heirs to the Mogul Dynasty were taken into custody by the British at the end of the Sepoy Mutiny, and were killed in transit within a few hours.
One of histories worst sons-of-bitches, Baron Roman Nikolaus von Ungern-Sternberg, kicked the Nationalist Chinese and the Bolshevik Russians out of Mongolia. After a brief but, even by Russian Civil War standards, incredibly horrific dictatorship, he rode out into the desert to die of his wounds. Even though they could see he was dead, his Mongolian enemies were afraid to approach his body.
And good riddance. I should point out that historians do not agree on how Charles XII died; some think his own troops killed him.
I’ll see if I can find info on this, but I think the Soviets have killed off a head of state or two in taking over. Didn’t this happen in Afghanistan around 1980? It was announced as an internal coup, with the Soviets coming in at the invitation of the new government, but the actual story supposedly involved some kind of spetsnaz direct actions, IIRC.
Since 1945 89 serving heads of state or heads of government have met violent deaths - sixty-two were assassinated, seven executed (though I suppose the line is sometimes hard to draw), eleven met with accidents (car crashes and things) and six committed suicide (or not as the case may be - put it this way, that includes Allende).
Nearly all are coups, lunatics or the result of civil war - I can’t find any who were assassinated by another country, but I’m going to have a dig around, some of them are, after all, pretty obscure.
A-ha, Boyo Jim is right.
Apparantly Hafizullah Amin, the second Communist President of Afghanistan, was shot by KGB agents on 27 December 1979.
What about the Romanovs?
Do Native American tribes count as “states”? If so:
Chief Black Fish (aka Chinugalla) was Principle Chief of the Shawnee and led an attack on Boonesbourgh in Kentucky in 1778, (he was also known because he adopted Daniel Boone). He died in Battle vs. whites in 1779.
Tecumseh (also of the Shawnee) was also killed in Batlle in 1814 vs. the USArmy. He wasn’t Principle Chief (was not even formally War Chief) but I’d allow that he could be stretched to head of state … maybe a “First Citzen” – with a ‘Parliment’ he answered to if you follow.
The Cheyenne camp of Chief Black Kettle, who the US Army recognized a head of the Cheyenne, died in the “Battle” of Wahsita 11/27/1868. But the Cheyenne were technically living in a land claimed by the U.S., unlike the Shawnee who were in a more nebulous position.
I’d be surprised if Black Kettle was the last Chief’s battle death … but this being the SDMB I know someone will correct me.
Sorry if the Native Americans aren’t seen as full “states” & this post was cheating
That would be internecine warfare.
How about Mussolini? True, he was killed by Italians, but it was by Italians that were allied with outside forces, not civil strife.
In 1973, Salvador Allende the democratically elected leader of Chile was most likely assassinated by the CIA, or someone acting on their behalf.
Olof Palme, Sweden’s Prime Minister was assassinated in 1986, by forces unknown.