The Armenian Genocide

The First World War commenced in August, 1914 and concluded at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month in the year 1918. The war took place in various fronts in Europe alone; the western front, eastern front, Italian and Balkans front. The war spread to Asia and Africa, and continued to the seas with naval conflict; hence the name World War I. The First World War was initiated by Germany and involved all the great powers of Europe and their colonies. The war effected all of the citizens in the countries involved, this had an immense impact on the women. The worst of these impacts being the genocide of Armenian women. The traditional roles of women were altered and they were forced to work in harsh conditions. Women were used in propaganda campaigns and were encouraged to support soldiers on the war fronts. At the settlement of World War I women won the right to vote and had achieved change in their social status. These topics of discussion are relevant to the research question; “What impacts had the first world war had on women?

The Armenian genocide is recognised as the first of the century and it was carried out by Turks during World War I. The genocide was an act of revenge as selected Armenians volunteered to fight alongside the Russian army, against Turkey. The attack on Armenians of the Ottoman Empire began in March, 1915. It took an immense toll on the women; hundreds of thousands of women were murdered or died on the harsh march from Turkey, south to Syria. The genocide consisted of brutal deaths, including burning alive, drowning, being tossed off cliffs, starvation, dying of thirst and through the act of rape and evisceration. The majority of men were killed through the severing of the head. Khanum Palootzian was a surviv...

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...espicable” Germans. Siegfried Sassoon He was a British poet who spoke out against this message while at war in 1917, through the poem Glory of Women;

You love us when we’re heroes, home on leave,

Or wounded in a mentionable place.

You worship decorations; you believe

That chivalry redeems the wars disgrace.

You make us shells. You listen with delight,

By the tales of dirt and danger fondly thrilled.

You crown our distant ardours while we fight,

And mourn our laurelled memories when we’re killed.

You can’t believe that British troops ‘retire’

When hell’s last horror breaks them, and they run,

Trampling the terrible corpses-blind with blood.

O German mother dreaming by the fire,

While you are knitting socks to send to your son

His face is trodden deeper in the mud.

The message he conveys at the concluding of the poem addresses the propaganda as an unjust campaign.