Hödel assassination attempt

The Hödel assassination attempt, or the assassination attempt on Wilhelm I of 11 May 1878, was an armed attack carried out by Max Hödel, a young German anarchist, against the Kaiser, Wilhelm I. Along with the Nobiling assassination attempt, less than a month later and aimed at the same target, it was one of the first acts of propaganda by the deed in history.

The anarchist movement, founded shortly before, faced significant repression in Western Europe. This pushed anarchists to develop new strategies, such as propaganda by the deed, aiming to transmit their ideas through actions rather than through writings or speeches. In parallel with these developments, Max Hödel, a poor young man initially in the Social Democratic Party, came into contact with several anarchists and became increasingly in agreement with their positions.

In April 1878, Hödel moved from Leipzig to Berlin, armed himself, and prepared to carry out his attack. On 11 May, he managed to target the Kaiser during one of his usual public appearances, fired at him three times, and missed, despite the fact that he was apparently a good marksman. Arrested and beaten, he was quickly tried and sentenced to death, without this appearing to bother him excessively. After his death sentence, he refused to appeal, closed his last letter with 'Long live the Commune!' and was then executed.

Hödel's attempt and trajectory lead to historiographical debates. While some historians maintain that it was an attack carried out by an isolated young man with little knowledge of the subtleties of anarchist thought, more recent historians challenge this reading and present, on the contrary, an attempt likely thought out and organized by the Anti-authoritarian International. According to these more recent readings, Hödel was fully anarchist and sought to avoid repression of the anarchist movement by presenting himself differently during the judicial proceedings.