The story of Jonestown begins with Jim Jones, a white minister, preacher, and faith healer, and

leader of cult called the Peoples Temple. Jones spread message that combined elements of

Christianity with communist and socialist ideology, with emphasis on racial equality.

At the height of its popularity during the 1970s, the Temple had a membership estimated in the

thousands. But by 1977, Jones had grown paranoid from the media scrutiny over the Temple’s

suspicious activities, so he and his numerous followers moved to an agricultural settlement

(a.k.a. Jonestown) in Guyana.

Concern over the welfare of Jones`s fallowers in the jungle encampment prompted U.S.

Congressman Leo Ryan to visit Jonestown in November 1978. After checking out the settlement,

Ryan was murdered along with four other people by Temple gunmen at an airstrip. Following

those murders, Jones commanded his followers to drink cyanide-laced punch, starting with the

children first. In all, there were over 900 people who died in Jonestown, including Jim Jones,

who was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head.

Branch Davidians was a religions sect led by David Koresh. Koresh identifies himself with

Jesus., a new mesial who have mission to prepare his fallowers fore leading Apocalypse. Also,

he convicted his followers that God wanted them to build an “Army of God”. As a result, they

began to stockpile large amounts of weapons, which caught the attention of US authorities.

The incident began when the ATF attempted to raid the ranch. An intense gun battle erupted,

resulting in the deaths of four government agents and six Branch Davidians. Upon the ATF's

failure to raid the compound, a siege lasting 51 days was initiated by the Federal Bureau of

Investigation (FBI). Eventually, the FBI launched an assault and initiated a tear gas attack in an

attempt to force the Branch Davidians out of the ranch. During the attack, a fire broke out which

is resulted in the deaths of 76 members of sect including David Koresh.