Armenian Genocide, essay

Armenia Genocide Genocide is the organized killing of a group of people for the express purpose of putting an end to their collective existence. The Armenian Genocide of 1915 was the most savage and barbaric episode in the history of the Armenian people. There were several main reasons the Turks carried out the genocide. Differences in the Armenian and Turkish culture, the continued conflict between the Armenians and the Turks, and the beginning of World War I led the Turks to kill over one and a half million Armenians. The history of the Armenians can be traced back to 6 B.C. They are descendants of the Proto-Indo-Europeans (Douglas 3). They lived in the land they called Haiasta. Armenia covered 100,000 square miles extending from Asia Minor to Persia. It also covered the plains of Mt. Ararat and stretched from the Caucasian mountain range in the east to the Euphrates River in the west. Historic Armenia was bordered by Turkey, Cilicia, Syria, Iran and Russia. Armenia formed an important trade and commerce highway between these countries (Douglas 7). The Armenians played an important part in the Ottoman Empire. They were involved in finance, commerce, and many traveled throughout the West. The Western influences showed in their education and it helped them to modernize earlier than the Turks (Stein 11). Most of the Armenians were peasants. The Armenians had a strong sense of nationalism and they had characteristics such as bravery, perseverance, and success through hard work (About Armenia-Historical Overview 1). They were known for their alphabet, language, architecture, literature, and poetry (Douglas 179). Christianity was first introduced into Armenia by Saint Bartholomew, an apostle, and

Thaddeus, one of the seventy disciples sent by Jesus to evangelize to the world (Douglas 89). The Armenians were one of the first to accept Christianity as their official national religion. They also were the first to develop a