The Armenian Genocide

Any discussion about the end of the The Ottoman Empire is incomplete without mentioning the Armenian Genocide. Carried out in 1915, the Armenian Genocide was one of the first uses of the word genocide to describe an event of this scale. How does something like this happen?

One of the ways to understand the Armenian Genocide or any government sponsored mass killings of people is to see it as sort of the dark side of Nationalism. Nationalism itself is not inherently bad as evident in the fact that the world is comprised of nations, we live and represent nations and all of that, however, it can be taken too far. In the case of the Armenian Genocide, it most certainly is brought to a dark place.

This happens as a result of World War I and the kind of paranoia and fear the war struck within people. For hundreds of years, Armenians had lived within the Ottoman Empire and at this point were many generations removed from their homeland in Armenia. However, with reports of Armenians enlisting for service in the Russian army, the Turkish people called for something to be done about Armenians living within Turkish borders. What the Turks wanted done was to eliminate them.

Lead by the Young Turks, this was carried out in two phases. The first of which was a mass incarceration and murder of able bodied Armenians. In doing this, the Armenian people could never fully rally any kind of revolt seen in both Greece and the Balkan States. The second phase was a forced removal of Armenians from their homes in Turkey and sending them on death marches into the Syrian deserts with the army behind them. If you're familiar with the Trail of Tears in American History carried out by Andrew Jackson for native tribes like the Seminole, then the Armenian Genocide is a very similar event.

The death tolls for this genocide vary. They range from as little as 80,000 to 600,000 however, more modern counts estimate the death tolls to be from 1 million to 1.5 million. Every year April 24th, Armenians commemorate the genocide with gatherings and rallies. Today, only 28 countries recognize this event as a genocide and currently, the Turkish government refuse to acknowledge the event as a genocide and bare no responsibilities for it ever occurring.

Scenes of the Armenian Genocide:





Example of mass grave of Armenians found in Turkey



Sources:

Max Bergoholz, “Against Massacre: Humanitarian Interventions in the Ottoman Empire, 1815-1914.” The Historian 75.2 (2013): 410+. World History in Context. Web. November 2, 2015. 

Stephen Ryan “Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genoicde, 1915-1918.” The Historian 72.4 (2010): 965+. World History in Context. Web. November 2, 2015.Stephen, Ryan, “’The Young Turks’, Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire.” The Historian 76.1 (2014): 160+. World History in Context. Web. November 2, 2015.