Genocide During the 20 th Century

Genocide During the 20th Century

Armenians in Turkey • 1915-1918 (after WWI broke out) • 1.5 million dead • The Young Turks supported an entirely Turkish nation, and show the Armenians as a roadblock to getting their own country (Turkey) • Drew up support for this using propaganda

In short… • First, Armenians were taken from their homes, briefly jailed and tortured, then hanged or shot. • Then mass arrests were made by Turkish police- the arrested were taken to the outskirts of town and then shot or beaten. • Armenian women, children, and elderly- who believed they were being relocated for their own safety- were actually taken on death marches. Many were raped. • The remaining children were converted from Christian to Muslim and given Turkish names

US & World Response • President Wilson called it a “civil war’ • Did not intervene (US trying to stay out of European affairs) • “The World” was busy with WWI & their own affairs • No laws on dealing with this type of crime existed at this point in history

In the end… • After WWI the representatives from the Republic of Armenia attended the Peace Conference to get back land seized by Turkey (Armenia) • The Armenian Republic briefly survived, but ended up collapsing and becoming part of the Soviet Union

Continued… • With Armenia gone the Turks destroyed any remnants of Armenian culture • Hitler used this as an example when he attacked Poland- “Thus for the time being I sent to the East only my ‘Death Head Units’ with the orders to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of the Polish race…. Who still talks nowadays about the Armenians?”

Nazi Holocaust • 1938-1945 • 11 million deaths (6 million Jews)

Pol Pot in Cambodia • 1975-1979 • 1.7 million deaths • An attempt to form a communist peasant farming society= 25% of pop dead from starvation, overwork, and execution

Brief Overview • Vietnam War- US bombs Cambodia- people flee to countryside-1975 US withdrawals- Pol Pot seizes control- started reforms (similar to Mao’s in China) • Deadly purges to eliminate “old society” (children taken from parents)

Cambodia • Govt used propaganda and food to entice starving people to turn on others • Execution by disembowelment, beatings, nails hammered into back of heads

US & World Response • World knew little of what was going on • Foreigners were expelled, and media sources were shut down. • US was focused on Vietnam War, the Cold War & containing communism

End of Pol Pot • When Vietnam invades in 1979 & overthrew the govt.

Bosnia- Herzegovina • 1992-1995 • 200,000 Deaths • Conflict between Serbs, Croats, and Muslims= genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims & Croats in Bosnia • Slobodan Milosevic rose to power- led belief in Serbian nationalism and superiority

Details… • Sarajevo (capital)- where Serb snipers continually shot the outgunned Bosnian Muslims- including over 3,500 children • Later Muslims were rounded up placed in make-shift concentration camps and/or killed • Labeled “ethnic cleansing” • At first, the UN proposed sanctions, but no troops

Continued… • A globally broadcast mortar shell attacked shifted the focus • Pres. Clinton and NATO help est. “safe havens’ guarded by UN peacekeepers • Serbs kill peacekeepers (& took hostage- human shields)

Worst Point… • In a safe haven took over by Serbs 8,000 men and boys were systematically slaughtered • Mass rapes of females occurred • Aug. 1995 the US aided in a bombing campaign • Peace treaty then signed- land was partitioned

Genocide During the 20 th Century