Ottoman Empire : Facts

1. Ottoman Empire : Facts • Turks- nomads from Central Asia (flee Mongols) • Turks arrive in Middle East region 1250s / converted to Islam • 1453- Turks defeated Roman Empire at Constantinople • Christians in Europe mounted CRUSADES against the Ottomans in 1366, 1396, and 1444, but to no avail.

2. European Christians vs Islamic Ottomans HOLYLAND

3. The Ottomans continued to conquer new territories Europe Romania Bulgaria Balkans Greece Albania Montenegro Serbia Africa Middle East .

5. “Sick Man of Europe”

6. PROBLEM #1 1894-1920

7. The worst genocides of the 20th Century

10. Approximately 2 million Armenians lived in Ottoman Empire at turn of century Christian Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Jewish Armenians: treated as second class citizens, no business rights, pay high taxes, no vote UNTIL

11. Sultan Hamid II Killed approx 300,000 WHY? • Turks wanted to get rid of Christians in empire as almost everyone was Muslim • Armenians began to call for • independence • The Armenians were accused of betraying their nation and helping the Russians • Ottomans believed that the Christians were helping Balkans break away from Empire

12. YOUNG TURKS PROBLEM #2 Sultan Mehmed V and VI and Enver Pasha overthrow Sultan Hamid II “Committee for Union and Progress” 1908 • Young Turks were reform minded: • Establish parliament • Establish civil rights • Establish religious rights • Establish constitution • Supported by Armenians

14. Enver Pasha Young Turks Promised reforms never came! COMPLETE DICTATOR-- He masterminded the plan to completely destroy the Armenian race in a step towards fulfilling his Turkic- Islamic dream.

15. ARMENIAN GENOCIDE murder, rape, village burnings, mass barge drowning, death march 1.5 Million

17. STEP 1: The Armenians in the army were disarmed, placed into labor battalions, and then killed. Massacre

18. Armenian men massacred in the forest.

21. STEP 2: Armenian political and intellectual leaders were rounded up on April 24, 1915, and then killed. Massacre

29. STEP 3: The remaining Armenians were called from their homes, told they would be relocated, and then marched off to concentration camps. 25 concentration camps

34. Turkish executioners pose in front of their victims.

36. Step 4: THE DEATH MARCH The extermination begun April 24th, 1915 • They were denied food and water • Many were brutalized and killed by their "guards" • Loaded Armenians on barges and sank them out at sea • Women and children were killed, sexually harassed, and sold or abducted to be raised as Turks by Turks • Many died of exhaustion, starvation, malnutrition, and overwork. Many more were simply slaughtered. • Mass burnings and poisoning

37. Armenian Death March

41. Armenian clergymen forming the sign of the cross with the bones of their martyrs.

43. The Turkish government today denies that there was an Armenian genocide and claims that Armenians were only removed from the eastern "war zone." The Armenian Genocide was condemned at the time by representatives of the British, French, Russian, German, and Austrian governments—namely all the major Powers. The United States also condemned the Armenian Genocide and was the chief spokesman in behalf of the Armenians.

44. PROBLEM #3 Balkan vs. Balkan Balkan Peninsula: Montenegro / Serbia / Bulgaria Romania / Greece / Albania • Cultural differences • Boundary disputes • Serbia issue Powder Keg

46. Balkan vs OE PROBLEM #4 BALKAN WAR 1912 Balkan countries join league to fight for independence from Ottoman Empire

47. 1914 Decline Ottoman Empire

48. PROBLEM #5 Russia vs OE Warm Water Port

49. Dardenelles

50. “Sick Man of Europe”