The following is a list of attacks on state or national legislatures.
Before 1900 AttackDateCountryDetailsGunpowder Plot5 November 1605Failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.Five Members5 November 1642Attempt to arrest members of the House of Commons by King Charles I, leading to the First English Civil War.Battle of York 27 April 1813 The U.S. Army temporarily occupied the Upper Canada capital of York (modern-day Toronto) during the War of 1812, plundering and burning many government buildings including the seat of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada. Burning of Washington24 August 1814 A British Army force under the command of General Robert Ross marched into Washington, D.C. after winning the Battle of Bladensburg in the Chesapeake Campaign and burnt numerous buildings—including the White House and the U.S. Capitol—in retaliation for the Battle of York and similar American raids in Upper Canada. The U.S. federal government, including President James Madison, was forced to evacuate to Montgomery County, Maryland. To date, the incident remains the only time the US capital was invaded or occupied by a foreign force. Storming of the Venezuelan National Congress24 January 1848Brawl at the headquarters of the Venezuelan Congress in Caracas between the Conservatives and Liberals, which had led almost two decades of continuous clashes.French demonstration of 15 May 184815 May 1848Intended to reverse the results of a Second-Republic election of deputies to the Constituent Assembly.Burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal25 April 1849 British CanadaPart of week-long rioting by Montreal Tories against the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill providing amnesties and indemnities following the Rebellions of 1837–1838Haitian Civil War of 1867–186914 October 1867During a standoff related to the Montas affair, a pro-Sylvain Salnave mob entered the chamber of deputies and expelled all its representatives. Chairs and tables were broken and portraits were damaged.Léger, Jacques Nicolas (1907). Haiti: Her History and Her Detractors. Neale Publishing Company. p. 213.J.-C. DORSAINVIL (1934). Manuel d'histoire d'Haiti. p. 291.French Chamber of Deputies bombing9 December 1893Auguste Vaillant, an anarchist, threw a homemade bomb inside the Chamber of Deputies of France and was immediately arrested after slightly injuring twenty deputies.The Anarchist Encyclopedia – Auguste Vaillant entry He was tried and guillotined in February the following year.
20th century