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Essay / Armenian Genocide: German Complicity and Impact
The Armenian Genocide is still a topic that provokes deep emotions as well as highly debated topics, one of the most provocative topics that has continued to be debated is that the role, if any, Germany, which was at the time the ally of the Ottomans, participated in the Armenian genocide; either with the deportations or with the massacres themselves. It's a question that continues to be raised: how is it that the genocide could have happened without Germany being involved or at least complicit in the genocide of millions of people, with Germany's influence on the Ottomans. Did Germany try to stop the Ottomans from killing millions of Armenians or did it do as many historians have begun to suggest and join forces with the Ottoman Empire to commit the first genocide of the 20th century? Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThese questions will not be answered until it is noted again that the multitude of civilians and military Germans witnessed the death marches, of which Their position in society was the sole determining factor in how they reacted and responded to the atrocities inflicted on the Armenians. As Turkish governments continue to deny the acts carried out by the Committee of Union and Progress on the Armenian people as subjects, this makes the task of historians almost impossible to gain the access necessary to be able to link Germany. or absolve them. For historians who have endured and strived to find and discover the facts have not been able to achieve mutual unanimity on the subject. The groups of Germans who witnessed the death marches and acts against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire can be divided into three groups: German military officers, the German diplomatic corps, and German civilians (mostly missionaries). German military officers make up the group that have traditionally been accused of connivance, as they were allowed to leave their German posts while under the Ottomans, as well as increase their rank. Both military officers and the German envoy who were stationed with the Ottomans are often denounced for being complacent during genocides. Many historians view them as German-sanctioned delegates and therefore should have been able to effect change in German foreign policy. policy. As Rouben Paul Adalian recounts in his chapter: “Chapter 2| The Armenian Genocide” in Century of Genocide, one of the main problems with this theory is that German military officials and German envoys often did not agree on what was best for the country. Some current research seems to link various members of the main German military officers, these military officers were part of the German military mission in the Ottoman Empire. There is evidence to suggest that it was these German military officers who first raised the idea of deporting Armenians after Turkey's defeat at Sarikamish. German military officers believed that local Armenians were working with the Russians. Towards the end of 1914, information about Turkish insecurity and anxiety was communicated to Germany in its diplomatic reports. The communication of November 17, 1914, from Trebizond, had not only given the idea that a Russian flotilla had attacked a port in the Black Sea, but that shortly after, the Armenians had begun to seek refuge at the German consulate . Adalian talks about the bodyGerman diplomatic in his chapter on the Armenian genocide, in the book Century of Genocide, they constitute the second group of the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian genocide. Armenian people, this is also the second group of German officials present during this period. The most notable and influential person in this group was Baron Han Freiherr von Wangenheim, German ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. It was Wangenheim who helped secure the secret alliance by negotiating and helping to involve the Ottomans in Germany's war. The German ambassador knew of the atrocities of the genocides first-hand and enjoyed influential influence with many key members of the Ottoman Committee. of Union and Progress, the new Minister of War Enver Pasha and Talaat Pasha the Minister of the Interior were two in particular. Wangenheim only intervened very late on behalf of the Armenians, and even then he is often seen as doing too little, as can be seen in Trumpener's Germany and the Ottoman Empire. Even though the ambassador had neither the wish nor the intention to lose the war, his number one concern was always going to be Germany, and in this case, Germany's reputation. Wangenheim hoped to avoid giving the Allies more than they could use against Germany and the acts of cruelty against the Armenians would help them bring in previously neutral countries, thus giving Germany and the Central Powers more of forces they would need to fight. The third and final group of Germans who witnessed the Ottoman Empire's attacks on Armenians and the subsequent death marches were German civilians, many of whom were German missionaries. It was after witnessing the atrocities committed by the Ottomans against the Armenians that they immediately began to overwhelm the German Ambassador and the German Foreign Ministry with their news and first-hand accounts. It was the actions of the Young Turks that upset them the most and However, the most vocal ones did not just use their voices, as they took great risks with their own lives trying to help the Armenians. The civil group protested against the German-Ottoman alliance and even tried to gain the support of the German people by informing them of the events in the Ottoman Empire. Adalian discusses foreign missionaries and civilians in the Ottoman Empire at the start of the Armenian Genocide and their reactions in “Chapter 2 | The Armenian Genocide” in the book Century of Genocide. In his memoirs, Talaat took the opportunity after the war to write that it was the Chief of Staff of the Ottoman General Staff, Fritz Bronsart von Schellendorff, who first raised the idea of the Young The Turks deport the Armenians; he claimed that Bronsart had had a secret meeting in December 1914 to inform them of this. Talaat and Enver attended this meeting, as well as Bronsart himself, military general Liman von Sanders and Field Marshal Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz. In the film "Genocide Refused", Halil Berktay and Matthew Carney both discuss the fact that it was Talaat and Enver's group who gave this order. This would fit with the theory that Bronsart had claimed that the German army had discovered the Armenians engaging in treasonous activities; with this information and Bronsart pushing for expulsion, the Turkish government should have done so, unless it destabilized its war efforts. Neither Talaat's nor Bronsart's claims and accusations are considered highly credible because they themselves are considered to be at the origin of the genocide and would therefore try to place the blame elsewhere,because for Bronsart, documents found with his signature dating from July 1915 ordering the deportation of Armenians had also been discovered. Bronsart continued to claim that in early 1915 the German army found evidence of Armenian membership. subterfuge with the Russians and that it was the Armenians who were planning great violence, not the Turks. His reasoning for justifying the deaths of so many Armenians during the marches was not due to violence or murder, but to the lack of basic necessities like shelter, transportation, food, water and medicines. In the film "Genocide Denied", Mathew Carney speaks with survivors and families of death march survivors who all have the same theme, and in a way Bronsart was right, many died for lack of property. basic necessity, but the majority were killed. . Bronsarta maintained that the Ottomans never intended to exterminate their entire Armenian population. Reports from more modern times take a more mixed look at the situation that occurred from 1914 to 1915. Many recall the beginning of the winter of 1914 with the Turkish party: the Ittihad and its Turkish Irregulars walking through the towns and Armenian villages, causing problems. The army and police led by regular Turks and on orders from higher authorities had started carrying out arrests and searches in the spring of 1915, these mainly targeted Armenians. In “Chapter 2 | The Armenian Genocide" in the book Century of Genocide, he interviews Helen Tatarian who was at the school when they started collecting the Armenians, her story like that of Genocide Denied tells of the violence that occurred and the death that surrounds them. After Wangenheim's retirement and death, he was replaced by Count Paul von Wolff-Metternich who had a very firm position on the Armenian question, this position quickly made him unfriendly to the Ottoman government. In the early winter of 1915, Metternich sent a report to Berlin highlighting the atrocities the Armenians were facing and how he had discussed them with Enver, Halil and Djemal Pasha, but that they had ignored him. Only by making them fear Germany's actions in the face of these atrocities could they stop them, but for military reasons Germany would never be able to do so after failing to achieve them. his objective with Enver, Foreign Minister Halil and Djemal - Metternich decided to try with Talaat who was known as the leader of the operation. To his surprise, Talaat showed up on board and even declared that the Armenians had suffered enough, but only five days later he received a letter of reprimand informing him that Germany and Turkey were military allies and that was all he had to keep away from the Turkeys. business. The new ambassador, however, continued to try to get the Ottoman government to publicly announce Germany's innocence in the Armenian genocide. In the spring of 1916, the Ottomans announced the Truth about the Armenian revolutionary movement and government measures, which, to the great surprise of the new ambassadors, happily declared that Germany did not approve of the Armenian deportation and did not participate in it . Although he succeeded in achieving Germany's goal, he failed in his goal of stopping the CUP's policy of deporting Armenians. The Young Turks demanded that Germany call him home due to his continued protests. With his recall, Germany's diplomatic stance and attempted blockade against the Armenian massacres ended, mainly because they obtained their/10381/83745.