ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the roots of terrorist violence in the Basque Country, which is that of ETA, and its history since the late 1950s to the Spanish transition to democracy. The phenomenon needs an explanation based on both external factors (the dictatorial context, the passive attitude of the PNV, the example of the anti-colonial movements, etc.) and on internal factors (the war rhetoric of the members of ETA, their ideological evolution, their emotional state, the organisational dynamics of the group, etc.). All these factors influenced the leaders of ETA, but they did not determine their acts. Following Martha Crenshaw’s works, this text stresses the rational and deliberate will of the members of ETA. When they started to kill in 1968 they were not fulfilling their destiny nor answering mechanically to a concrete context, but using their free will.
