Uncovering the history of the Armenian Genocide
Uncovering the history of the Armenian Genocide
Overview of the history and controversy surrounding the Armenian Genocide.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
During World War I, under the Ottoman Empire, between 600,000 and 1,000,000 Armenian people died in a genocide - the deliberate killing of an ethnic or religious group - and the remaining Armenian population was permanently displaced. Yet, to this day, the Turkish government still denies that the genocide occurred.
Encyclopaedia Britannica presents the history of the Armenian genocide.
For hundreds of years during the Ottoman Empire, Armenians lived in Eastern Anatolia, what is now eastern Turkey. The Christian Armenians were often mistreated by the Muslim Kurds who dominated the area.
In the early 1900s, a group of revolutionaries known as the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization within the Young Turks movement, came to power. At first, Armenians were excited by the young revolutionaries, as they promised fair elections, but after the CUP took control of the government in 1913, they became increasingly suspicious of non-Turks.
After the Ottoman Empire suffered a crushing defeat in the First Balkan War, Christians within the empire were accused of treachery by the CUP, causing more contempt toward Christians in general. The loss of land in the war resulted in the migration of hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees into Eastern Anatolia, compounding the conflict between Muslims and Christians over land.
The beginning of the First World War only brought more trouble for the Armenians, as they were divided, some fighting on the side of the Ottoman Empire and some for Russia. When the Ottomans suffered a major defeat by the Russians in the battle of Sarkam, the Young Turk government tried to shift the blame from Ottoman commanders onto their own Armenian soldiers.
After blaming the loss on the Armenians, the Young Turks stripped non-Muslim soldiers of their weapons and transferred them to labour battalions. The disarmed Armenian soldiers were then systematically murdered by Ottoman troops. Simultaneously, irregular Ottoman forces began mass killings in Armenian villages along the Russian border. Government-approved deportations of Armenians from Eastern Anatolia soon followed. Armenian civilians were forcibly removed from their homes and marched toward desert concentration camps. Hundreds of thousands of the Armenians were slaughtered or died of mistreatment along the way. Of those who reached the camps, many eventually starved to death.
By the end of World War I, almost all traces of the Armenian people had been erased from what is now the Republic of Turkey. In 2014 the Turkish prime minister acknowledged that atrocities against Armenians had taken place, and he offered condolences to descendants of the victims. But Turkey still refuses to recognize those events as genocide.
Encyclopaedia Britannica presents the history of the Armenian genocide.
For hundreds of years during the Ottoman Empire, Armenians lived in Eastern Anatolia, what is now eastern Turkey. The Christian Armenians were often mistreated by the Muslim Kurds who dominated the area.
In the early 1900s, a group of revolutionaries known as the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization within the Young Turks movement, came to power. At first, Armenians were excited by the young revolutionaries, as they promised fair elections, but after the CUP took control of the government in 1913, they became increasingly suspicious of non-Turks.
After the Ottoman Empire suffered a crushing defeat in the First Balkan War, Christians within the empire were accused of treachery by the CUP, causing more contempt toward Christians in general. The loss of land in the war resulted in the migration of hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees into Eastern Anatolia, compounding the conflict between Muslims and Christians over land.
The beginning of the First World War only brought more trouble for the Armenians, as they were divided, some fighting on the side of the Ottoman Empire and some for Russia. When the Ottomans suffered a major defeat by the Russians in the battle of Sarkam, the Young Turk government tried to shift the blame from Ottoman commanders onto their own Armenian soldiers.
After blaming the loss on the Armenians, the Young Turks stripped non-Muslim soldiers of their weapons and transferred them to labour battalions. The disarmed Armenian soldiers were then systematically murdered by Ottoman troops. Simultaneously, irregular Ottoman forces began mass killings in Armenian villages along the Russian border. Government-approved deportations of Armenians from Eastern Anatolia soon followed. Armenian civilians were forcibly removed from their homes and marched toward desert concentration camps. Hundreds of thousands of the Armenians were slaughtered or died of mistreatment along the way. Of those who reached the camps, many eventually starved to death.
By the end of World War I, almost all traces of the Armenian people had been erased from what is now the Republic of Turkey. In 2014 the Turkish prime minister acknowledged that atrocities against Armenians had taken place, and he offered condolences to descendants of the victims. But Turkey still refuses to recognize those events as genocide.