The Armenian Genocide

            From April of 1915 to 1917, the Ottoman empire began a process of eliminating its Armenian population by a mass genocide or "ethnic cleansing." At the time, the first World War was already occurring, which turned out to be the original spark that would cause the carnage to flare. Thomas de Waal states in his article The G-Word that "the Ottoman Empire began a brutal campaign of deporting and destroying its ethnic Armenian community, whom it accused of supporting Russia, a World War I enemy. More than a million Armenians died." (Waal, The G-Word). He goes on to talk about how recognizing it as a "genocide" comes with much tension and opposition today. As a whole, much went into the start of the Armenian Genocide along with the events that occurred during it, the actions that were taken to stop it, and the effects it has caused in the world up to today.
             The Armenian Genocide was caused by a mixture of racism toward the Armenians, anger towards military losses, and the need for a scapegoat, or someone to blame. It started off in 1915, when The Ottoman Empire had a lot of internal struggles and issues and had no outlet to place blame onto. During the World War I years, when the Ottomans had much trouble with their numerous losses, they began to use the Armenian people as scapegoats to place blame on, similar to how hitler would do later with the Jews during the Holocaust. In her article on the Armenian Genocide, Alba Longoria is quoted saying, "The government of the Ottoman Empire confiscated Armenian property, deported Armenians to Syria and Anatolia, and massacred large numbers of Armenians, while many of those who were deported died of starvation, but those who survived the deportation witnessed unimaginable brutalities, like the systematic stabbing to death of numerous women and children." (Longoria, The Armenian Genocide). This exemplifies the horrors that had begun the carnage and that had eventually escalated to downright atrocities and purposeless murder.