The Causes Of The Armenian Genocide Between 1915 And 1918

A mass genocide for Armenians in Turkey occurred due to a variety of reasons between 1915 and 1918. World War 1 was a key factor leading to the genocide, yet there were others to be taken into consideration. There was a long-term factor of religion, and a short-term factor of the rise of a group by the name of the ‘Young Turks’. Lastly, there was the immediate factor of World War 1, which started in 1914, a year before the genocide. All of these reasons led to many Armenians in Turkey being deported and killed between 1915 and 1918.

One of the biggest causes of the genocide was the long-term factor of religion. The difference of religions between the Armenians and other people in the Ottoman Empire was great. In the past, the Armenians made
their home in the Caucasus region of Eurasia for 3000 years. The kingdom of Armenia was previously independent. At the beginning of the 4th century AD, 301 C.E it became the first nation to make Christianity its official religion.
This greatly influenced Armenia’s culture, setting it apart from most of its neighbouring nations, as they followed different religions (Freedman). During the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire conquered Armenia and absorbed them into their vast regime. The Armenians were Christians, while the Ottoman rulers were Muslim. The Armenians, who were viewed as ‘infidels’ since they did not follow Islam, were subject to unequal and unjust treatment. For the right to live in the Muslim Ottoman Empire, the Armenian Christians had to pay higher taxes than the Muslim citizens, and had much lesser political rights (Armenian Genocide). They were not allowed to testify in court or bear arms. They had to pay bribes to local Turkish officials to be allowed to live and work safely (Freedman). Hence religion was a source of conflict that eventually led to the genocide. However, what aggravated the genocide was the resentment by the Turkish. The Armenian community thrived under the Ottoman Empire, and they tended to be wealthier and educated in comparison to Turkey. The Turkish, who loathed their success, were suspicious that Christian Armenians would be more loyal and have a better relationship with other Christian nations such as
Russia, rather than the Ottoman rulers (Armenian Genocide). In 1877, Russia went to war with the Ottoman Empire, and stationed their troops in Armenia, as they claimed themselves to be the ‘protectors of Christian Armenians’. The newly elected sovereign in 1876, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, resented the Armenian support of Russia (Freedman). The suspicion and the difference in religions between the Armenians and the Ottoman Empire was a long-term key factor, to a great extent, in causing genocide for Armenians in Turkey, between 1915 and 1918.

Another reason for the cause of the genocide, to a certain extent, was the short-term factor of the rise of a nationalist reform group. Several reform minded Turkish groups had come back together in 1889, in response to the oppressive policies of the Sultan. They became known as the ‘Young Turks’. By 1906, the Young Turks formed a political party called the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (Freedman). In 1908, this political group overthrew the Ottoman Sultan, eager for a modern, westernized style of government, so that they could be as powerful as the biggest nations in the world, such as Britain and Germany (Armenia 1915). Both the Armenians and the Turks celebrated, hoping for increased economic prosperity and justice. The Armenians were especially hopeful that they would get an equal status in this new society, after previous conflicts due to their religions. However, they learnt that the Young Turks wanted to ‘Turkify’ the empire. The Young Turks goal was to unite all Turkish people and expand their land through the Caucasus region and into Central Asia. They wanted to create Turan, a new empire with one language and one religion (Islam). Due to this ambition, non-Turks and Christian non-Turks, especially the Armenians, were a grave threat and target to this new state (Armenian Genocide). The new political group, the ‘Young Turks’, were a short-term factor, in causing genocide for Armenians in Turkey, to a certain extent, due to the ambition of uniting all Turks and singling out others.

The outbreak of World War 1 in 1914 was another great factor in causing genocide for the Armenians.
When World War 1 began, the Ottoman Empire allied themselves with Austria-Hungary and Germany as part of the Central Powers. They attacked the East, hoping to capture the city of Baku, and lost the campaign against Russian forces in the Caucuses (Kifner). The Armenians were blamed for siding with the Russians due to both nations sharing the same religion of Christianity. Ottoman leaders began to argue that the Armenians were traitors; if they thought they could win independence, through the Allies winning the war, then the Armenians would be eager to fight the enemy (Central Powers and Ottoman Empire) (Armenian Genocide). The General Turkish suspicion led to their government to push for the ‘deportation and removal’ of the Armenians from Turkey. The Ottoman authorities created a propaganda campaign in which they claimed that the Armenians were a threat to the national security. Since most of the Turks were illiterate, anti-Armenian propaganda was spread throughout by the town criers who labelled the Armenians as spies, infidels and traitors. This lead to the Armenian genocide beginning on April 24, 1915. The Turkish government arrested and executed several hundred thousand Armenians. The 40,000 Armenians serving in the army had their weapons confiscated and were forced to do labour. They had been transferred into road labourers (Armenian Genocide). Army supplies were loaded
onto the Armenians’ backs and under the burden and driven by whips, they were forced to drag their weak bodies through the mountains of the Caucasus. They would have to plough their way through the waist high snow, and practically spent all of their time in the open, sleeping on the bare ground. They were given scraps of food and if they felt sick they were left where they were, with the Turkish masters robbing them of their possessions. Many died as a result of the brutal working conditions. The Armenians’ properties were confiscated, and Armenian men were arrested and executed in mass shootings outside their villages, in groups of 50 or 100 men every time (Jones). Ordinary Armenians including women, children and the elderly were forcibly removed from their homes and were made to march hundreds of miles without food or water through the Mesopotamian desert (modern-day Iraq), in the scorching sun until they dropped dead. Those who stopped to rest were shot. Hundreds of thousands Armenians died during these deportations, and those who survived were put into concentration camps in Turkey (Armenia 1915). The Turkish government also created the ‘Special Organization’ which comprised of criminals, whose jobs were to raid home, rape girls/women and kill villagers, by drowning them and throwing them of cliffs. Furthermore, Armenian children were kidnapped and were forcibly converted to Islam and then given to Turkish families (Armenian Genocide). All of these sufferings were due to the outbreak of WW1, and the suspicion of traitors placed on the Armenians, which was, to an immense extent, a huge factor in causing genocide towards Armenians in Turkey between 1915 and 1918.

In conclusion, there were many factors that caused the genocide for Armenians in Turkey between 1915 and 1918. The long term difference of religion between the Christian Armenians and the Muslim Ottoman Empire led to the hatred of Armenians for a long period of time. The short term cause of the rise of a political group called ‘Young Turks’, who overthrew the Sultan, was also a key factor of the genocide, as this reform group wanted to unite all Turkish and Muslims together, and ‘destroy’ others. Lastly, the immediate cause of outbreak of World War 1 in 1914 was another important factor that caused the genocide for Armenians in Turkey. The Armenians were labelled as traitors due to the suspicion of them siding with the Allies, leading to the deportation and execution of several hundred thousand Armenians. Based on the evidence, World War 1 was the key cause that started the genocide. The war lead to the sufferings and executions of many Armenians; more than the other two factors of religion and the rise of the Young Turks combined. The Armenian genocide happened over the duration World War 1, demonstrating that this was the main reason to the greatest extent of causing one of the biggest genocides in World history, killing one and a half million Armenians overall, between 1915 and 1918.