The Armenian Genocide In The Nineteenth Century

The Armenian population inhabited the region of the Middle East (Asia Minor) that bordered the Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean Seas for many years. The Armenian land was invaded multiple times but remained strong in their pride and identity as Armenians. Armenia also became the first nation to name Christianity as its state religion, and experienced an era of peace and prosperity. But the Armenian lifestyle changed when the Turkish attacked Armenia in the eleventh century and began the Turkish rule. By the sixteenth century, Armenia had become one of the many nations absorbed into the growing Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans established a large empire that spanned from Eastern Europe to Western Asia and North Africa, but to govern this vast nation …show more content…
The empire began to disintegrate as the Ottomans lost battle after battle, and the Serbs, Romanians, and Greeks gained their independence. The Arabs in the Middle East and Armenians were all that remained in the Ottoman Empire under the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid. Since the empire was in decline, young Armenian people gradually began to demand political reforms, a constitutional government, and an end to discriminatory taxes directed at Armenians because of their Christian beliefs. The Sultan ignored their pleas and the young Armenians were persecuted. Years later, an organization called the Young Turks eventually altered the future of the Armenian people because of their vicious acts against them in the form of a genocide. The ones mainly responsible for the Armenian genocide was the Committee of Union and Progress or the Young Turks. Some powerful members were Jemal, Minister of the Navy and military government of Syria, Enver, the Minister of War, and Talaat, the Minister of defense the Interior. These men formed a dictatorial triumvirate and were …show more content…
They were used as human pack animals or told to build bridges, and suffered high death rates because of vicious working conditions. Those who lived were murdered by gunfire and the time to exterminate the Armenians had finally arrived. The dictatorial triumvirate of the Young Turks gave the order to eradicated the Armenian population, and the message was sent to all governors in Turkey. After the message was sent there were many arrests of Armenian men across the country by Turkish soldiers, volunteers, and police agents. The men taken to the edges of their towns and shot dead or were stabbed to death by local Turks and Kurds. Yet, Armenian women, elderly, and children were taken from their homes, were told that they were being sent to a non-military zone for protection, but were actually walking to their deaths. The Armenian children, women, and elderly from Armenia and Anatolia embarked on their death march to the Syrian desert, but many of the people did not survive. Over a million Armenians marched miles and food supplies were exhausted quickly because the Ottoman government made no provisions to feed and house the marching Armenians. Armenians were robbed of their belongings, their loved one were held hostage, stripped of the clothes on their back, and Kurdish horsemen kidnapped