The Armenian Insurrection and the Great War

A Cautionary Tale of Betrayal

von

Walsh, Pat

BuchGebunden

437 Seiten

Englisch

Manzara Verlagerschienen am01.12.20172. Aufl., überarbeitet

The Great Calamity that engulfed the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire has been narrowed down to a single question: Was the Government in Istanbul guilty of Genocide?The tragedy of the deaths of great numbers of Armenians, Turks and Kurds is inexplicable if confined solely to such a narrow viewpoint. It obscures important historical questions around the issues of instigation and betrayal that should be raised around such events. A political and historical context is required to explain what really happened to produce such a catastrophe. That context is the Great War and the Armenian Insurrection which it sparked off. The Armenian Insurrection is described by a leading figure in it, the Dashnak revolutionary, Dr. Pasdermadjian (Armen Garo), in writings long since forgotten. These put a very different complexion on the events of 1915. They describe a vital moment of decision when the very existence of a people was gambled in the struggle for a Great Armenia, carved out of Ottoman territories, in which the Armenians constituted a small minority. Included in this book is a commentary on the origin and development of "the Armenian Question" and its culmination and final resolution in the catastrophic events in Anatolia brought about by the Great War. The central thread running through the tragedy is one that represents a cautionary tale of betrayals. The book reveals the instrumental part played by the Liberal Anglosphere in foisting dangerous notions of historic destiny on the Armenians and then a fraudulent War that encouraged them toward destruction. It is a lesson that is as of much relevance today, in the same general region, as it was a century ago. When remembering the Armenians, a centenary after the Great Calamity, what should be sought is not only the truth, but the whole truth.mehr

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KlappentextThe Great Calamity that engulfed the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire has been narrowed down to a single question: Was the Government in Istanbul guilty of Genocide?The tragedy of the deaths of great numbers of Armenians, Turks and Kurds is inexplicable if confined solely to such a narrow viewpoint. It obscures important historical questions around the issues of instigation and betrayal that should be raised around such events. A political and historical context is required to explain what really happened to produce such a catastrophe. That context is the Great War and the Armenian Insurrection which it sparked off. The Armenian Insurrection is described by a leading figure in it, the Dashnak revolutionary, Dr. Pasdermadjian (Armen Garo), in writings long since forgotten. These put a very different complexion on the events of 1915. They describe a vital moment of decision when the very existence of a people was gambled in the struggle for a Great Armenia, carved out of Ottoman territories, in which the Armenians constituted a small minority. Included in this book is a commentary on the origin and development of "the Armenian Question" and its culmination and final resolution in the catastrophic events in Anatolia brought about by the Great War. The central thread running through the tragedy is one that represents a cautionary tale of betrayals. The book reveals the instrumental part played by the Liberal Anglosphere in foisting dangerous notions of historic destiny on the Armenians and then a fraudulent War that encouraged them toward destruction. It is a lesson that is as of much relevance today, in the same general region, as it was a century ago. When remembering the Armenians, a centenary after the Great Calamity, what should be sought is not only the truth, but the whole truth.

Details

ISBN/GTIN978-3-939795-74-2

ProduktartBuch

EinbandartGebunden

FormatGenäht

Verlag

Manzara Verlag

ErscheinungsortOffenbach am Main

ErscheinungslandDeutschland

Erscheinungsjahr2017

Erscheinungsdatum01.12.2017

Auflage2. Aufl., überarbeitet

Seiten437 Seiten

SpracheEnglisch

Gewicht695 g

Illustrationen6 s/w Tabellen

Artikel-Nr.51164534

Rubriken

GenreGeschichte/Politik

Inhalt/Kritik

Vorwort

Introduction The 100th anniversary of the Armenian massacres in 1915 has come and gone, but its bitter memories and controversies remain. This book examines these specific events within the much larger context of world politics. Such an approach enables the reader to comprehend more accurately what occurred and why it did so. When this is done the reader still appreciates the Armenian tragedy, but is better able to place it within the much larger events and over-all milieu leading up to, including, and following World War I. For example, while not denying some of the atrocities chronicled in the famous Blue Book compiled by Lord Bryce and Arnold Toynbee, Toynbee in his final statement on the subject, declared: These . . . Armenian political aspirations had not been legitimate. . . . Their aspirations did not merely threaten to break up the Turkish Empire; they could not be fulfilled without doing grave injustice to the Turkish people itself. As for Lord Bryce s preconceptions on the subject of Armenians and Turks, his biographer, the famous historian H.A.L. Fisher, wrote that Bryce had been ever since he voyaged in Transcaucasia in 1876, unremitting in his exertions for the relief and protection of the Armenian race. Bryce became in fact the principal advocate of the Armenian nation in England, the founder and first President of the Anglo-Armenian Society, the member for Armenia in the British House of Commons. . . . He thought them the best race in Asia Minor, superior in tenacity of will and capacity for moral and intellectual progress to their neighbors, Turks or Kurds, Tartars or Russians. As for the Turks, Bryce s conclusion held with tenacity and passion through the whole course of his public life was the hopelessness of the Turk. He believed that wherever the Turk had ruled, he had spread desolation. The provinces of Asia Minor, once the scene of a brilliant civilization, had been emptied . . . by the lethargy, the incompetence, and the caprices of a barbarous master. Indeed, Bryce himself had written that when once the dying [Turkish] tyranny that has cursed it [the Armenian race] is dead, it may fairly hope, with its industry, frugality, and quick intelligence, to restore prosperity to countries which war and oppression have made almost a desert. Obviously Bryce was hardly a disinterested compiler of the events of 1915. Accordingly, when such background insights are revealed, the Ottomans no longer bear alone the burden of guilt, but share it with the British, Russians, Germans, French, and Armenians themselves, among others. Thus, this book enables the reader better to understand how such terms as genocide and crimes against humanity unfairly and inaccurately have been employed to include as victims only the Armenians while excluding the Muslims who also suffered grievously. All this is based on a wide range of sources and presented in a manner professionally satisfying to the historians, while still being accessible to the intelligent lay public. As such this study will prove a valuable contribution to all interested in fully understanding the Armenian tragedy within its much broader context. Michael M. GunterProfessor of Political ScienceTennessee Technological Universitymehr