Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

History

Date of Award

8-2001

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Stephen G Fritz

Committee Members

Dale J. Schmitt, Ronnie M. Day

Abstract

The Ottoman Empire was in serious decline by the late nineteenth century. Years of misrule, war, and oppression of its various nationalities had virtually driven the Turks from Europe, leaving the weakened Empire on the verge of collapse. By the 1870s the Armenians were the most troubling group, having gained international sympathy at the Congress of Berlin. As a result, violence against the Armenians had escalated dramatically by the turn of the century. They felt, however, that their fortune had changed when the liberal Young Turks seized power from the Sultan in 1908. Unfortunately, the Young Turks had a much more ominous plan for the Armenians. When they entered World War I as an ally of the Central Powers, they decided to use the cover of war to exterminate the Ottoman Armenians. Over one million Armenians were murdered, and the Turkish government's crimes went unpunished in the postwar world.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

Included in

History Commons

Share

COinS