Orsini bomb
Bomba Orsini
- Date
- 1858 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Felice Orsini (1858)
- Field
- Conflict
What it is
Percussion bomb (detonating on impact, with no fuse) designed by Felice Orsini and used in his failed attempt on Napoleon III's life on 14 January 1858; a conceptual precursor of modern impact-fused hand grenades.
What it led to
- spread of impact bombs among European anarchist groups
- use of surplus bombs in the American Civil War
- tougher anti-terrorism laws in Europe
- influence on 20th-century impact-fused grenade design