On 12 February 1894, Émile Henry carried out an anarchist attack at the Café Terminus. Initially planning to assassinate Sadi Carnot, the president of the republic, who had just refused to pardon Auguste Vaillant, he decided against the attack upon noticing the large number of police officers stationed around the Élysée Palace. Instead, he redirected his efforts to the Café Terminus, where he detonated his bomb, killing one person and injuring 17 others. Émile Henry was arrested at the end of this episode, sentenced to death, and guillotined three months later. The attack was part of the period called the Era of Attacks (1892-1894).

This was one of the first attacks targeting indiscriminate civilians rather than specific individuals. Some scholars consider it a pivotal event in the emergence of modern terrorism.

This bombing, along with other attacks during the Era of Attacks, also marked an early shift in another point of terrorist strategy: instead of targeting specific individuals, it focused on symbolic locations—in this case, the Café Terminus as a stand-in for a precise human target. This shift became a hallmark of modern terrorism but was poorly understood by contemporaries.

Henry started his attacks in 1892, during the Carmaux-Bons Enfants bombing.^[1][2] The attacks were seen as part of a campaign of propaganda of the deed.^[3] After fleeing to the United Kingdom, Belgium, and then returning to France, Henry adopted an illegalist lifestyle.^[3] He committed several robberies before returning to Paris.^[3] The news of Ravachol's execution (1892), of the voting of the Lois scélérates (1893-1894), and the denial of a presidential pardon to Auguste Vaillant for his attack on the National Assembly (1894) drove Henry to act.^[4][5] He decided to assassinate Sadi Carnot.^[4]

After arriving near the Élysée Palace and noticing a heavy police presence, Henry decided not to carry out the attack there.^[4] He wandered through Paris for a while before heading to the Café Terminus, near the Gare Saint-Lazare.^[4][5] There, he chose to detonate the fuse bomb he had brought with him. The explosion injured 17 people and killed one.^[4][5] While attempting to flee, he was caught by one of the café's employees and quickly arrested by the police.^[4][5][6]

Henry was arrested and swiftly tried following the events. He was sentenced to death, his appeal was rejected, and within three months, in May 1894, he was guillotined.^[4][5] Sadi Carnot, for his part, was assassinated in June 1894 by Sante Geronimo Caserio, another anarchist.^[7][8]

The attack is considered significant in the evolution of terrorism, as it was one of the first to target civilians rather than specific, intended targets.^[5][9] It had a lasting impact on terrorist methods and practice.^[10]

The Café Terminus bombing, like other attacks during the Era of Attacks (1892-1894) marked the emergence of a terrorist symbolism tied to locations rather than individuals.^[11] Karine Salomé writes on this subject:^[11]

The ambiguity becomes even more pronounced with anarchist attacks, which were no longer exclusively linked to the presence of the head of state. Instead, they began targeting the homes of individuals from diverse backgrounds, such as magistrates Benoît and Bulot during the bombings on Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue de Clichy in 1892. They also struck symbolic sites, including the Lobau barracks, the Carmaux Mining Company (initially targeted by the bomb that exploded at the Bons Enfants police station), the Madeleine church, the National Assembly, and the Terminus café. From then on, with the exception of Sadi Carnot’s assassination, anarchist attacks signaled a transition from symbolism centered on individuals—specifically the head of state—to symbolism centered on locations, a shift that contemporaries did not always comprehend.

• Salomé, Karine (2011), L'Ouragan homicide : L'attentat politique en France au XIXe siècle [The homicidal Hurricane: political assassination in 19th century France], Paris: Champ Vallon / Epoque, ISBN 978-2-87673-538-5