Armenian Genocide (jan 1, 1915 – jan 1, 1917)

Description:

The Armenian genocide was a systematic attack on the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) led the attack, primarily through mass murder of around one million Armenians during death marches to the Syrian Desert and forced Islamization of others, primarily women and children. Armenians had a protected but subordinate place in Ottoman society before the war, with large-scale massacres in the 1890s and 1909. The Ottoman Empire suffered military defeats and territorial losses, leading to fear among CUP leaders that the Armenians would seek independence. In 1914, Ottoman paramilitaries massacred local Armenians, and mass deportation was intended to prevent any possibility of Armenian autonomy or independence.

In 1915, hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and leaders were arrested and deported, and an estimated 800,000 to 1.2 million Armenians were sent on death marches to the Syrian Desert in 1915 and 1916. The survivors were deprived of food, water, and subjected to robbery, rape, and massacres. Around 100,000 to 200,000 Armenian women and children were forcibly converted to Islam and integrated into Muslim households. The genocide ended over two thousand years of Armenian civilization in eastern Anatolia and enabled the creation of an ethnonationalist Turkish state, the Republic of Turkey.

Added to timeline:

Date:

Images: