The concept of a suicidal attack, whether conducted by individuals or groups working in tandem, that was meant to cause as much chaos, harm, confusion, sometimes even to buy time and/or distract, has been around for a long time.

The problem with discussing suicide attacks is that not every seemingly hopeless situation was necessarily an intentional suicide attack. A good example is bayonet charges by Japanese forces during World War II, which I wrote about in detail here. Long story short, not every bayonet charge was a banzai charge. Bayonet charges were tactical decisions made with victory in mind. Banzai charges were deliberately suicidal and there was no intention of seizing victory, only causing as much damage as possible before perishing.

When talking specifically about suicidal attacks, this distinction of intentions is certainly something to consider, especially with hindsight of knowing which attacks succeeded and which failed being potentially misleading.

Let's get to it shall we.

Modern conceptions of suicide attacks that involved explosives, vehicles, etc are heavily informed by the past successes, and indeed in some military traditions, the glorification of suicide attacks.

Pre-gunpowder suicide attacks were not limited to simply try to stab enemies or arrows. Fire, flood, sapping, poison, and even contagious disease were utilized by suicide attackers in history.

Suicidal assassinations were also a big thing but that doesn't seem to be what you're looking for so we'll ignore that.

Suicidal corps have certainly existed throughout military history before the introduction of gunpowder, giving precedent for suicide attacks in military doctrine, where it is an intentional strategy instead of a improvised or opportunistic, desperate one time tactic.

These suicide attacks in pre-gunpowder military history have certainly had their share of successes but the entrance of gunpowder and explosives really made suicidal attacks, particularly by lone individuals, a much more viable, accessible way to reliably harm enemy forces.

I would wager that suicidal explosive attacks by individuals have been around as long as the military application of explosives themselves. It doesn't take much of a leap in logic to see how it would be useful that way. It was also used simply as a way to commit suicide in general as well.

The very first suicide bomber is easy. It was a young Ignacy Hryniewiecki, 25 years old, radical member of the People's Will organization in late 19th century Russia. His target: Alexander II, Emperor of Russia. From his letters that he left behind, he very clearly intended to die as a result of the attack, writing the night before

"Alexander II must die...he will die, and with him, we, his enemies, his executioners, shall die too...It is my lot to die young, I shall not see our victory, I shall not live one day, one hour in the bright season of our triumph, but I believe that with my death I shall do all that it is my duty to do, and no one in the world can demand more of me"

But as an official military doctrine?

Some might think the Japanese kamikaze, banzai, and various other species of suicide corps but there is in fact an earlier example, and very close by indeed.

The first doctrine integrated suicide attacks by explosives come 30 years after the fateful assassination of Alexander II.

It is now 1911. China is in turmoil. The Qing Dynasty is in its final hours as what would come to be known as the 1911 Revolution sets the country ablaze.

Sun Yatsen, hailed as the founding father of the modern Chinese state(s), was one of many revolutionaries who promoted violent martyrdom for the cause of nationalism, republicanism, and revolution. This resulted in the creation of 敢死隊 which Wikipedia translates commonly as "dare to die corps". It can also be translated as "courageous death corps".

Either way, the intention was quite apparent. Sadly, or bravely, perhaps both, many of these suicide bombers were very young, many recruits being students. Young women were recruited with the same alacrity as men.

Suicidal attacks with explosives, both in military engagements as well as in guerilla warfare were parts of official revolutionary doctrine. Anything for the success of overthrowing the Qing.

This tradition carried on into the war against the Japanese some 20 years later. Suicide bombings of both military and colonial targets were widespread. As far as I know, there were no suicide bombings on the mainland of Japan itself. As for military application of suicide bombings, throwing themselves under tanks, suicide vests, laying wounded and detonating when surrounded by Japanese forces, etc were all used long before the Japanese began doing the same in the Pacific several years later.

As a side note, some people characterize the suicide attacks that the Japanese forces conducted in the Pacific against the Allies as a distinctly Japanese thing, whether by reasons of culture, tradition, history, race, etc.

But it is telling that the Japanese did not use suicidal attacks when they were fighting with great superiority in the Chinese theater. Indeed, they were the targets themselves of vigorous suicide attacks, which they later emulated near the end of World War II.

It was only when they were desperate and lacking the resources and manpower, particularly trained soldiers, pilots, and sailors, that the Japanese military resorted to using suicidal corps as a part of doctrine. They were indeed rationalized and ideologically backed by the IJA's modern inception of bushido, State Shinto, as well as an ancient military tradition of suicide, but they were not a given.

The Japanese of course adapted their suicide corps to the realities of the Pacific Theater, which involved a great deal of water and an enemy that primarily moved around via air and ship. This lead to the creation of kamikaze pilots, manned torpedoes and bombs, suicide subs or ships, etc. More mundane conceptions of suicide attacks, very much like the ones they faced in China, were used on the ground by dedicated suicide corps as well as desperate, inflexible field command.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Cheers

Do you draw a distinction between modern suicide attacks and ancient last stands like Thermopylae?