Summary Of A History Of The Armenian Genocide By Ronald Suny

Ronald Suny’s book “A History of the Armenian Genocide” attempts to explain the Young Turks reformist ideas to use massacres as a solution to the what they deemed as an Armenian threat. Suny explores the idea that the leaders of the genocide ( the Committee of Union and Progress and later the Young Turks) turned fear, resentment, and the issues of war into mass killings as a way to find a solution to the Armenian problem. I fully agree with Suny’s examination of this genocide because I believe that fear is one of the main components that cause genocides in the first place. Especially in war, fear can cause people to do many things, especially when looking for vengeance. When a government is in need of someone to blame, as the CUP blamed the Armenians, it becomes very easy for people to follow …show more content…
Within his book, Suny points out that the Hamidian Massacres were not the start of genocidal actions against the Armenians as many believe. “On closer examination the Hamidian Massacres we not genocidal but a kind of “exemplary repression,” demonstrating to the sultan's subjects what the consequences of resistance and rebellion would be” (131). The massacres showed no intent to eliminate the Armenians unlike the genocide of 1915, but only to show the power of the sultan and restore balance to his land. The genocidal intentions came later on in history from the CUP and the Young Turks. The Young Turks originally looked to help the Armenians however, as the CUP grew they began to manipulate the government in their own favor pushing for ideas of a Turkish land and a uniting of all Turkish people. From 1913, the CUP controlled most of the government, including censorship and elections. By pushing out Armenians