The mere declaration of "natural frontiers", however, did not imply that French arms would be confined within them. On the contrary, as long as they were threatened by coalitions of kings, or (as the propaganda decree now authorized) as long as they were summoned by peoples groaning under the yoke of despotism, the French would feel free to take the fight to the enemy, wherever he was. Nor did the means of this offensive have to remain orthodox. The ci-devant Marquis de Bry offered to found what was, in effect, the first organization of international terrorism, the Tyrannicides -- twelve hundred committed freedom fighters despatched [sic] to assassinate kings and commanders of foreign armies wherever they could be nailed down. It was, indeed, as Goethe warned, a new moment in the history of the world.

-- Simon Schama, Citizens.