In the 21st century, the thought of genocide seems absurd. Genocide, a premeditated and systematic campaign to exterminate an entire people, today? Some people wouldn’t even be able to comprehend that in 2015 but prior to what people know there have been many genocides besides the infamous holocaust. The holodomor in 1933 when the Soviet Union starved over a million Ukraine and Kazakhstan citizens to death, Native Americans getting killed out of their land by Christopher Columbus, and the Haiti Massacre in 1804, where Jean-Jacques Dessalines led a massacre resulting in the deaths of up to 5,000 French Creoles of all ages and genders, trying to remove all Caucasians from Haiti, are all examples of genocides and attempted genocides but the Armenia was brought about in 600 BC and its base at the time was Mount Ararat. It also became the first nation in the world to make Christianity its official religion. A time of peace followed which saw the invention of a distinct alphabet, a growing amount of literature, art, commerce, and a unique style of architecture. In the 10th century, Armenians had established a new capital at Ani, which was also known as “city of a thousand and one churches.” In time, the Armenian homeland was at times ruled by Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and Mongols. In the 11th century, the first Turkish invasion Armenia occurred. The effect of this invasion was history changing, as the invasion brought in several hundred years of rule by the Turks. By the sixteenth century, Armenia had been absorbed into the mighty Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was ruled by Turks who had conquered land in West Asia, North Africa, and parts of Europe. The Ottoman government was based in Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, and was led by the Sultan who had absolute power over the government. The Sultan during the time of the Armenian Genocide was Mehmed V, who was the Sultan of the empire from 1909-1918. The Turks were a muslim based people, under the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians were permitted some autonomy (the right or condition of self-government, especially in a particular sphere) but they were also viewed as “infidels” and were put through unjust treatment. An example of this is that Armenians that were religiously based in Christianity were subject to paying higher taxes than Muslims and they had very few political rights. By the 1800s the once Ottoman Empire was in serious decline. For centuries, the empire did not evolve technologically or economically while the European nations had become innovative and eventually became industrial giants. A once invincible and unstoppable Ottoman
They invaded the city over and over again taking the young children and turning them into slaves and humiliating them in front of the entire city. They wanted to get rid of Christianity completely in a short amount of time. The turks felt victorious every time that they captured a new group. This shows how this time period was at a constant war. There was never peace among cities.
A rise of Seljuk Turks who were a Muslim nomadic warrior group and asserted their political control. Seljuk Turks not only expanded their political control they also took half the Byzantine Empire with them. Byzantine Emperor named Alexius Comnena asked Pope Urban II for assistance to regain former territory the Byzantines had lost. During this time period Emperor Alexius had his daughter Anna
Between 1301 to 1922, in the region north of present day Syria, was known as the Ottoman empire. It was rooted in the belief that Islam as an ideology should be in power. One territory held by the Ottoman empire was their homeland of Turkey. In 1907, the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, wanted for the most part to have people who were educated outside of the country limited in what they could do, and if not then they were expunged, as he thought that they were the cause of his land’s plight and decline. This resulted in him becoming very unpopular with his people, thus having many secret societies created practically under his nose. The most important being The Young Turks.
When people hear genocide they normally think of the Holocaust which was the persecution of Jews by the Nazi’s. This took place under Adolf Hitler’s rule but there have been other genocides throughout history. The Armenian Genocide is one of the many that have taken place. It took place in the Ottoman Empire between the years of 1914 to 1918 (“Armenian” Armenian). It started when the “Young Turks” took control of the government (Beecroft).
The word “genocide” is a general term. It is vague and could be used to group together and refer to a number of very unique events in history. Defined as the systematic murder of a specific group of people, genocides have occurred since ancient times. America’s most famous genocide, and the longest genocide in history, was the Native American Genocide. Considered to have begun the day the Mayflower hit the shore of Massachusetts, and ended in 1924 when the Indian Citizenship Act was past, the Native American Genocide lasted for over four centuries. In the 15th century, over 10 million Native Americans lived on the land that is part of the modern day United States. By 1900, that number was a mere 300,000. Most Americans, however, hardly know
To start off with, what is genocide? Genocide is the killing of a massive number of people of in a group. Genocide has not only been practices in the present day, but it has been practiced for m...
Since Burundi’s independence in 1962, there have been two instances of genocide: the 1972 mass killings of Hutus by the Tutsi-dominated government, and the 1993 mass killings of the Tutsis by the Hutu populace. Both of these events in Burundi received different levels of attention by the international community and the western media due to a lack of foreign governmental interest, political distraction, and an unwillingness to acknowledge the severity of these atrocities in Burundi. Interestingly, events of genocide occurring at times without these distractions received more foreign attention than those ignored due to these factors. Because of this, much of the western world is unaware of the Burundian genocide and events similar to it.
A total of 11 million people died during the Holocaust. The Holocaust was started by the Nazi’s in the 1930’s. It was were about six million Jews were killed. Misinformed individuals theorize that the Holocaust is not a form of genocide but they are misguided. The Holocaust should be considered an example of genocide based on the UN’s definition, the stages of genocide and the specific evidence provided in the memoir Night.
Das Recht hat kein Dasein für sich, sein Wesen vielmehr ist das Leben der Menschen selbst, von einer Seite angesehen. – Savigny
The Armenian genocide was the first genocide of Modern World History, but it was not the first time the world saw an ethnic and religious group angry with and persecuting another. The Armenian genocide is special because it was the first time the world saw mass slaughter being planned and executed by government officials. This deliberate slaughter of Armenians has been the focus of many because of its unique persecution of a single ethnic group and the fact that the Turkish government still denies its existence. Although the Armenian genocide took place in the Middle East, it has impacted the entire world. The Armenian genocide happened during World War I. Most known genocides have happened during times of war, because most of the world or the population of the country is so focused on the war, so they do not notice the mass killings going on in their country or in other countries.
At one time, the reforms made by the Young Turks worked well, but only for a short time. Overthrowing the tyranny of Hamid should have been enough to help establish a new government, but the triumvirate also became quite oppressive during their reign. Turkism established a new form of nationalism that left out various nationalities, races, and cultures, and this led to the decline of the empire. Following World War I, the empire was faced with so many conflicts, they were unable to remain strong. Even though the reformers set out to strengthen the empire, it is quite possible they are the reason for the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
The analysis of this empowering term is fairly self-explanatory when the time is taken to break it down. Linda Jacobs Altman author of Genocide The Systematic Killing of a People claims that in 1944 the Greek word genos, meaning “race” or “tribe” and the Latin cide, which means “killing” were combined to result in the title of genocide. Altman states that today’s definition recognizes genocide as “Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such”. A similar description has genocide as “A form of one-sided mass killing in which a state or other authority intends to destroy a group, as that group and membership in it are defined by the perpetrator”(Altman). Due to genocide being a worldwide issue, definitions have been known to cause controversy. Countries that represent perpetrators of past genocides often argue, on ridiculous terms, that their actions did not constitute a formal genocide. The breakdown of the word is helpful in the decision making process when determining if acts truly are those of genocide.
Located in the province of Xianjing, the Uyghurs are isolated by massive mountains, deserts, Communist China, and extreme poverty. The Uyghurs are of Turkic origin, and were one of the 9 original tribes. One of these tribes, the Ottomans, sacked Constantinople in 1459, starting the rein of the Sultans for 400 years. The superpower carved a massive empire, from its roots in Turkey, to spread from the Russian steppes to the Alps to India, and stamping their name on history in blood. European history in the 1400‘s, 1500‘s, and 1600‘s centered on the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire and the Arabic people carved two massive empires in an extremely short time. They crushed the medieval christian kingdoms around Jerusalem, and quickly started attacking Christian kingdoms in Spain, Greece, and the Balkans. These conflicts between Muslims and Christians have been the longest and bloodiest in the history of the world, and still persist today. These Ottomans are, understandably, the most wel...
On 4th century AD, Armenia became the first nation in the world to make Christianity as their official religion. Because of that Armenia known as an independent entity. During 15 centuries, Armenia was under Ottoman Empire control. Ottoman Empire was the leader of two different religion groups, Muslims and Christianity. Ottoman Empire treated the Armenians differently. They had to pay higher taxes than the Muslim people. They had very little political and legal rights. Beside their obstacles, they still lived wealthier than the Muslims. For instance, they tended to be better educated than the Turkish people. Because of this, Turkish neighbors tended to resent their success. They also lived peacefully because of their less population. In 1914, Turks entered the World War I by being the side of Germany and also Austria-Hungary Empire. At the same time Armenian was helping Russia to fight with the Turks. Because of this war, Turks tried to remove Armenians from Ottoman Empire.
For 3,000 years the Armenians lived in peace on their homeland. They became the first nation in the world to make Christianity its state religion. During the 11th century the Ottoman Turks were striving and invading many regions. Armenia was one of those regions invaded by the Ottomans. The main religion of the Ottomans was Islam, the leaders were muslim and therefore the people must be muslim as well. The Ottomans did, however, let the Armenians ...