Op-Ed Final Draft: This is the Ottoman Empire, but it Looks Like Germany
Your skin is scorched, your tongue feels like charcoal in your mouth, and you haven’t eaten in days. You are a victim of the Armenian Genocide. Throughout the spring and summer of 1915, millions of bare feet plodded across the sand of the Syrian Desert in a state of despair. The deteriorating government of the Ottoman Empire, in a state of turmoil turned to the Germans for financial and organizational support. This mistake ultimately led to the German invasion of the Ottoman Empire and the death of nearly a million innocent Christian Armenians. The Armenian Genocide stole the lives of more than one million Christian Armenians through starvation and dehydration, but who was really responsible for this tragic event?
In need of support during WWI, the Ottoman Empire accepted Germany’s assistance and adopted Germany’s aggressive tactics towards minorities, sparking the Armenian Genocide. Many people would argue that the German tactics and assistance in the Ottoman Empire sparked the Armenian Genocide, classifying it as another German-initiated genocide.
In 1908, a nationalist group called the Young Turks overthrew the government of the Ottoman Empire. Their goal was to create a country of “equality of all citizens before the law, freedom of speech and of the press, and all the other essentials of a free, liberty-loving commonwealth.” (Morgenthau, 8). The Ottoman Empire, under the power of the Young Turks, quickly began to deteriorate. Powerless, smaller than ever before, and sliding into debt, the Ottoman Empire needed help.
Seeing the Ottoman Empire as vulnerable and desperate, Germany began to suggest that the Ottoman Empire and Germany become allies. Only months after the Ottoman Empire agreed to allow Germany to help, Germany had practically taken over the country: “A month before the Ottoman Empire had entered the war, Germany was really exercising the powers of sovereignty at Constantinople.” (Morgenthau, 29). German officials attained powerful positions in the Turkish army and navy, and German troops flooded the country. Taking advantage of the Ottoman Empire’s vulnerability, the Germans took whatever they wished from the Christian Armenians. This was one of the first major acts of discrimination against the Christians in the Ottoman Empire.
In 1914, the Ottoman Empire and Germany officially became allies. Acting out of fear, the foreign residents in the Ottoman Empire attempted to flee the country: “The station was a surging mass of excited and frightened people; the police were there in full force, pushing the crowds back; the scene was an indescribable mixture of soldiers, gendarmes, diplomats, baggage, and Turkish functionaries.” (Morgenthau, 57) The British and French were afraid of how the Turkish would act towards foreign residents. It was obvious to the public that the Germans were influencing the Turkish government; the public knew that it would only end badly, especially for the Armenians.
The Germans had recently revived a principle of medieval warfare. They were keeping people of influence hostage to ensure the good behavior of the public, “the Germans held noncombatants in Belgium as security for the ‘friendliness’ of the Belgians, and placed Belgian women and children at the head of their advancing armies.” (Morgenthau, 56). The Germans planned to hold the French and British residents of the Ottoman Empire hostage. The Germans were prepared to murder the innocent foreigners in the Ottoman Empire if the Allies attacked Germany or the Ottoman Empire.
During the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish held innocent Armenians hostage, demanding their weapons. The victims were brutally tortured: their fingernails and toenails were removed and flesh was peeled off. This torture was meant to influence all other Armenians to peacefully surrender their weapons. This was just one of many tactics that the Germans implemented into the Turkish culture.
The Germans established an overly aggressive war strategy in the Ottoman Empire in 1914. Germany planned to begin World War One: “In telling me about this conference, Wangehneim… admitted that Germany had precipitated the war,” (Morgenthau, 37). Germany’s main goal was to become the largest power in Europe. When the Arch Duke of Austria-Hungary was assassinated, Germany jumped at the chance to start a war, blaming it on the assassination.
Alike the initiation of the war, a German general threw the Ottoman Empire into the war by closing a strait called the Dardanelles. The Dardanelles was property of the Ottoman Empire and could only be closed at a time when the Ottoman Empire was actively engaged in war. If the Ottoman Empire wanted Germany’s financial and organizational support, she had to keep the Dardanelles closed. Through this simple action, the Germans pulled the Ottoman Empire into the war as their ally. This aggressive mindset combined with cruel treatments of foreigners both contributed to the Armenian Genocide.
With an aggressive mindset and a wicked nature, the Ottoman Empire began deporting Christian Armenians in the spring of 1915. Close to one million innocent Armenians died in this cruel hate crime. The children, women, and elderly were aggressively forced into groups and marched across the desert until they dropped dead of dehydration, starvation, or disease. Some men had been aggressively disarmed, removed from their armies, and put to work while others were brutally murdered. If anyone showed any resistance to deportation, they were cruelly tortured.
Even though this cruel genocide is accepted all over the world, in the modern Ottoman Empire, Turkey, it is illegal to speak of the Armenian Genocide. If you speak of the genocide, you are persecuted for being disloyal to the country of Turkey. In an attempt to bury the genocide, after the Armenian Genocide, The Ottoman Empire adopted a new alphabet, destroyed all records of the genocide, and refused to teach genocide in schools. The Ottoman Empire has forgotten about the genocide and about Germany’s involvement, but will you?
Works Cited
Morgenthau, Henry. "Chapters 1- 12, 24." Ambassador Morgenthau's Story. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, 1918. 1-62, 123-131. Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story. Manybooks.net. Web.
In need of support during WWI, the Ottoman Empire accepted Germany’s assistance and adopted Germany’s aggressive tactics towards minorities, sparking the Armenian Genocide. Many people would argue that the German tactics and assistance in the Ottoman Empire sparked the Armenian Genocide, classifying it as another German-initiated genocide.
In 1908, a nationalist group called the Young Turks overthrew the government of the Ottoman Empire. Their goal was to create a country of “equality of all citizens before the law, freedom of speech and of the press, and all the other essentials of a free, liberty-loving commonwealth.” (Morgenthau, 8). The Ottoman Empire, under the power of the Young Turks, quickly began to deteriorate. Powerless, smaller than ever before, and sliding into debt, the Ottoman Empire needed help.
Seeing the Ottoman Empire as vulnerable and desperate, Germany began to suggest that the Ottoman Empire and Germany become allies. Only months after the Ottoman Empire agreed to allow Germany to help, Germany had practically taken over the country: “A month before the Ottoman Empire had entered the war, Germany was really exercising the powers of sovereignty at Constantinople.” (Morgenthau, 29). German officials attained powerful positions in the Turkish army and navy, and German troops flooded the country. Taking advantage of the Ottoman Empire’s vulnerability, the Germans took whatever they wished from the Christian Armenians. This was one of the first major acts of discrimination against the Christians in the Ottoman Empire.
In 1914, the Ottoman Empire and Germany officially became allies. Acting out of fear, the foreign residents in the Ottoman Empire attempted to flee the country: “The station was a surging mass of excited and frightened people; the police were there in full force, pushing the crowds back; the scene was an indescribable mixture of soldiers, gendarmes, diplomats, baggage, and Turkish functionaries.” (Morgenthau, 57) The British and French were afraid of how the Turkish would act towards foreign residents. It was obvious to the public that the Germans were influencing the Turkish government; the public knew that it would only end badly, especially for the Armenians.
The Germans had recently revived a principle of medieval warfare. They were keeping people of influence hostage to ensure the good behavior of the public, “the Germans held noncombatants in Belgium as security for the ‘friendliness’ of the Belgians, and placed Belgian women and children at the head of their advancing armies.” (Morgenthau, 56). The Germans planned to hold the French and British residents of the Ottoman Empire hostage. The Germans were prepared to murder the innocent foreigners in the Ottoman Empire if the Allies attacked Germany or the Ottoman Empire.
During the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish held innocent Armenians hostage, demanding their weapons. The victims were brutally tortured: their fingernails and toenails were removed and flesh was peeled off. This torture was meant to influence all other Armenians to peacefully surrender their weapons. This was just one of many tactics that the Germans implemented into the Turkish culture.
The Germans established an overly aggressive war strategy in the Ottoman Empire in 1914. Germany planned to begin World War One: “In telling me about this conference, Wangehneim… admitted that Germany had precipitated the war,” (Morgenthau, 37). Germany’s main goal was to become the largest power in Europe. When the Arch Duke of Austria-Hungary was assassinated, Germany jumped at the chance to start a war, blaming it on the assassination.
Alike the initiation of the war, a German general threw the Ottoman Empire into the war by closing a strait called the Dardanelles. The Dardanelles was property of the Ottoman Empire and could only be closed at a time when the Ottoman Empire was actively engaged in war. If the Ottoman Empire wanted Germany’s financial and organizational support, she had to keep the Dardanelles closed. Through this simple action, the Germans pulled the Ottoman Empire into the war as their ally. This aggressive mindset combined with cruel treatments of foreigners both contributed to the Armenian Genocide.
With an aggressive mindset and a wicked nature, the Ottoman Empire began deporting Christian Armenians in the spring of 1915. Close to one million innocent Armenians died in this cruel hate crime. The children, women, and elderly were aggressively forced into groups and marched across the desert until they dropped dead of dehydration, starvation, or disease. Some men had been aggressively disarmed, removed from their armies, and put to work while others were brutally murdered. If anyone showed any resistance to deportation, they were cruelly tortured.
Even though this cruel genocide is accepted all over the world, in the modern Ottoman Empire, Turkey, it is illegal to speak of the Armenian Genocide. If you speak of the genocide, you are persecuted for being disloyal to the country of Turkey. In an attempt to bury the genocide, after the Armenian Genocide, The Ottoman Empire adopted a new alphabet, destroyed all records of the genocide, and refused to teach genocide in schools. The Ottoman Empire has forgotten about the genocide and about Germany’s involvement, but will you?
Works Cited
Morgenthau, Henry. "Chapters 1- 12, 24." Ambassador Morgenthau's Story. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, 1918. 1-62, 123-131. Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story. Manybooks.net. Web.