In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “term which”. Today it says “term which describes the deliberate wrecking or "killing" of a city”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Violence against a city Not to be confused with Herbicide . The city of Ypres during World War I Urbicide is a term which describes the deliberate wrecking or "killing" of a city, by direct or indirect means. It literally translates as "city-killing" ( Latin urbs "city" + Latin occido "to kill"). The term was initially used by urban planners and architects to describe 20th century practices of urban restructuring in the United States. Writers like Ada Louise Huxtable and Marshall Berman highlighted the impacts of aggressive redevelopment on the urban social experience. Especially after the siege of Sarajevo , the term has increasingly been used to describe violence specifically directed to the destruction of an urban area. At the conclusion of the Yugoslav Wars , urbicide began to emerge as a distinct legal concept in international law. The exact constraints and definition of this term continues to be debated, and because the study of urbicide intersects with a number of disciplines including international politics , anthropology , and sociology , it has been difficult for scholars and policymakers to set a definition which satisfies all these fields. The term has come into being in an age of rapid globalization and urbanization , and although the scholarly focus on systematic violence and destruction in the context of the city is relatively new, the practice of urbicide is thousands of years old.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1297060267.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Urbicide is a term which literally translates (Latin: urbs: city + Latin: caedere to cut, kill) as "violence against the city." The term has beein coined by Marshall Berman , writing about the destruction of his native Bronx . The term has come into being in an age of rapid globalization and urbanization . This rapid globalization trend has led to the focus of violence and destruction in the context of the city rather than its surroundings. Especially after the events at Sarajevo , recognition has begun to be given to the cases of violence specifically directed to the destruction of an urban area. The exact constraints and definition of this term continu to be debated because the limits of this emerging concept make it extremely difficult to categorize events under the heading of urbicide. The question of intent also arises when discussing the limits of urbicide. This is just one example of the many constraints that the term urbicide presents. The ability of term to cross a variety of fields such as international politics , anthropology , and sociology makes it particularly difficult to set a finite definition of urbicide which satisfies all these fields.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 356326097.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Destroyed city Urbicide is a term which literally translates (Latin: urbs: city + Latin: caedere to cut, kill) as "violence against the city." The term was first coined by the author Michael Moorcock in 1963 and later used by critics of 1960s urban restructuring in the US.Both Ada Louise Huxtable in 1972 and Marshall Berman in 1996, write about urban restructuring (and destruction) in areas like the Bronx , and highlight the impacts of aggressive redevelopment on the urban social experience. The term has come into being in an age of rapid globalization and urbanization . This rapid globalization trend has led to the focus of violence and destruction in the context of the city rather than its surroundings. Especially after the events at Sarajevo , recognition has begun to be given to the cases of violence specifically directed to the destruction of an urban area. The exact constraints and definition of this term continue to be debated because the limits of this emerging concept make it extremely difficult to categorize events under the heading of urbicide. The question of intent also arises when discussing the limits of urbicide. This is just one example of the many constraints that the term urbicide presents. The ability of term to cross a variety of fields such as international politics , anthropology , and sociology makes it particularly difficult to set a finite definition of urbicide which satisfies all these fields.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 661554013.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Destroyed city Urbicide is a term which literally translates (Latin: urbs : city + Latin: caedere to cut, kill) as "violence against the city". The term was first coined by the author Michael Moorcock in 1963 and later used by critics of 1960s urban restructuring in the United States. Ada Louise Huxtable in 1972 and Marshall Berman in 1996 have written about urban restructuring (and destruction) in areas like the Bronx , and highlight the impacts of aggressive redevelopment on the urban social experience. The term has come into being in an age of rapid globalization and urbanization . This rapid globalization trend has led to the focus of violence and destruction in the context of the city rather than its surroundings. Especially after the events at Sarajevo , recognition has begun to be given to the cases of violence specifically directed to the destruction of an urban area. The exact constraints and definition of this term continue to be debated because the limits of this emerging concept make it extremely difficult to categorize events under the heading of urbicide. The question of intent also arises when discussing the limits of urbicide. The ability of term to cross a variety of fields such as international politics , anthropology , and sociology makes it particularly difficult to set a finite definition of urbicide which satisfies all these fields.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 954508562.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
The city of Ypres during World War I Urbicide is a term which literally translates ( Latin : urbs : city + Latin: occido : to kill) as "city-killing".The term was first coined by the author Michael Moorcock in 1963 and later used since the 1960s by urban planners and architects. Ada Louise Huxtable in 1968 and Marshall Berman in 1996 have written about urban restructuring (and destruction) in areas like the Bronx , and highlight the impacts of aggressive redevelopment on the urban social experience. The term has come into being in an age of rapid globalization and urbanization . This rapid globalization trend has led to the focus of violence and destruction in the context of the city rather than its surroundings. Especially after the siege of Sarajevo , recognition has begun to be given to the cases of violence specifically directed to the destruction of an urban area. The exact constraints and definition of this term continue to be debated because the limits of this emerging concept make it extremely difficult to categorize events under the heading of urbicide. The question of intent also arises when discussing the limits of urbicide. The ability of term to cross a variety of fields such as international politics , anthropology , and sociology makes it particularly difficult to set a finite definition of urbicide which satisfies all these fields.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1167297752.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “term which”. Today it says “term which describes the deliberate wrecking or "killing" of a city”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
term which
Now
term which describes the deliberate wrecking or "killing" of a city
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.