This article focuses on the development of counterterrorism strategies between 1960 and 2010 in three democratic European countries - France, Germany and the United Kingdom. What becomes clear is that the strategies used by these countries were predicated on each country's historical response to terrorism. For example, the demilitarization of Germany after 1945 and the poor showing at the Munich debacle; the UK reliance on internment from the Boer War through Malaya, Kenya, Palestine and the Irish troubles; and the French experience in Indo-China and North Africa. These strategies have been amplified by changes in the political environment of each country in the aftermath of World War Two and the post-colonial struggles that followed. Thus, this paper suggests that each country is tethered to its historical and political past.