ABSTRACT
Two contrasting types can be distinguished: transitional and iconoclastic breaks. Until recently, iconoclastic breaks have enjoyed less systematic attention than transitional breaks although their legacy of destruction usually leaves deeper wounds. Almost always, iconoclastic breaks accompany atrocity crimes with the intent to sweep away not only the detested heritage but also its creators, and to exorcize the doomed past once and for all. The French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and Nazi Germany's Third Reich of 1933–1945 are widely recognized as paradigmatic episodes in which new regimes unleashed iconoclastic breaks. Nationalist iconoclastic breaks with the past seem instruments of territorial ambition, ethnic cleansing, and religious fervor to advance homogeneity with arguments that fit the occasion. Three regimes with an iconoclastic approach to the past were Islamist: the Taliban in Afghanistan in 1996–2001, Ansar Dine in northern Mali in 2012–2013, and Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2014–2017.
