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See also:ARMENIA (old See also:Persian Armina, Armenian Hayasdan, or Hayq) , the popular See also:modern name of a See also:district See also:south of the See also:Caucasus and See also:Black See also:Sea, which formed See also:part of the See also:ancient Armenian See also:kingdom. The name, which first occurs in the ,See also:cuneiform See also:inscriptions of See also:Darius Hystaspis, supplanted the earlier Urardhu, or See also:Ararat, but its origin is unknown. In its widest extent Armenia stretched from 370 to 49° E. See also:long., and from 372° to 4110 N. See also:lat.; but this See also:area was never, or only for a brief See also:period, See also:united under one See also: The more important lakes are Van, 5100 ft., about twice the See also:size of the Lake of See also:Geneva, and See also:Urmia, 4000 ft., both See also:salt; See also:Gokcha or Sevan, 587o ft., discharging into the Aras; and Chaldir, into the See also:Kars Chai. The aspect of the plateau is dreary and monotonous. The valleys are wide expanses of arable See also:land, and the hills are for the most part grass-covered and treeless. But the gorges of the Euphrates and Tigris, and their tributaries, cannot be surpassed in wildness and grandeur. The See also:climate is varied. In the higher districts the See also:winter is long and the See also:cold severe; whilst the summer is See also:short, dry and hot. In Erzerum the temperature ranges from -22° to 84° F., and See also:snow sometimes falls in See also:June. In the valley of the Aras, and in the western and See also:southern districts; the climate is more moderate. Most of the towns See also:lie high, from 4000 to 6000 ft. The villages are usually built on See also:gentle slopes, in which the houses are partially excavated as a See also:protection against the severity of the See also:weather. Many of the See also:early towns were on or near the Araxes, and amongst their ruins are the remains of churches which throw See also:light on the See also:history of See also:Christian See also:architecture in the East. Armenia is See also:rich in See also:mineral See also:wealth, and there are many hot and cold mineral springs. The vegetation varies according to the locality. Cereals and See also:hardy fruits grow on the higher ground, whilst See also:rice is cultivated in the hot, well-watered valley of the Araxes. The summer is so hot that the See also:vine grows at much higher altitudes than it does in western See also:Europe, and the See also:cotton See also:tree and all southern See also:fruit trees are cultivated in the deeper valleys. On the See also:fine pasture lands which now support the flocks of the Kurds, the horses and mules, so celebrated in ancient times, were reared. See also:Trout are found in the rivers, and a small See also:herring in Lake Van. The See also:country abounds in romantic scenery; that of the district of Ararat especially has been celebrated by patriotic historians like See also:Moses of Chorene and See also:Lazarus of Pharb. See also:Population.—Accurate See also:statistics cannot be obtained; but it is estimated that in the nine vilayets, which include See also:Turkish Armenia, there are 925,000 Gregorian, See also:Roman See also:Catholic and See also:Protestant Armenians, 645,000 other Christians, roo,000 See also:Jews, Gypsies, &c., and 4,460,000 Moslems. The Armenians, taking the most favourable estimate, are in a See also:majority in nine kazas or sub-districts only (seven near Van, and two near See also:Mush) out of 159. In See also:Russian Armenia there are 960,000 Armenians, and in Persian Armenia 130,000. According to an estimate made by General Zelenyi for the Caucasus See also:Geographical Society (Zapiski, vol. xviii., See also:Tiflis, 1896, with See also:map), the population of the nine Turkishvilayets, Erzerum, Van, See also:Bitlis, See also:Kharput (Mamuret-el-Aziz). Diarbekr, See also:Sivas, See also:Aleppo, See also:Adana and See also:Trebizond, was 6,000,000 (Armenians, 913,875, or 15 o-/0; other Christians, 632,875, or I I %; and Moslems, 4,453,250, or 74 %). In the first five vilayets which contain most of the Armenians, the population was 2,642,000 (Armenians, 633,250, or 24 %; other Christians, 179,875, or 7 %; and Moslems, 1,828,875, or 69%); and in the seven Armenian kazas the population was 282,375 (Armenians, 184,875, or 65 %; other Christians, r000, or o.3 %; and Moslems, 96,500, or 34.7 %). In 1897 there were 970,656 Armenians in Russia, of whom 827,634 were in the provinces of See also:Erivan, See also:Elisavetpol and Tiflis. The See also:total number of Armenians is estimated at 2,900,000 (in Turkey, 1,500,000; Russia, 1,000,000; Persia, 150,000; Europe, See also:America and East Indies, 250,000). History.—The history of Armenia has been largely influenced by its See also:physical features. The See also:isolation of the valleys, especially in winter, encouraged a tendency to separation, which invariably showed itself when the central See also:power was weak. The rugged mountains have always been the See also:home of hardy mountaineers impatient of See also:control, and the See also:sanctuary to which the lowlanders fled for safety in times of invasion. The country stands as an open See also:doorway between the East and the West. Through its long valleys run the roads that connect the Iranian plateau with the fertile. lands and protected harbours of Asia Minor, and for its See also:possession nations have contended from the remotest past. The See also:original inhabitants of Armenia are unknown, but, about the See also:middle of the 9th See also:century s.c., the See also:mass of the See also:people belonged to that great See also:family of tribes which seems to have been See also:Ethnology. spread over western Asia and to have had a common non-See also:Aryan See also:language. Mixed with these proto-Armenians, there was an important Semitic See also:element of See also:Assyrian and See also:Hebrew origin. In the 7th century B.C., between 64o and 60o, the country was conquered by an Aryan people, who imposed their language, and possibly their name, upon the vanquished, and formed a military See also:aristocracy that was constantly recruited from Persia and See also:Parthia. Politically the two races soon amalgamated, but, except in the towns, there was apparently little intermarriage, for the peasants in certain districts closely resemble the proto-Armenians, as depicted on their monuments. After the Arab and Seljuk invasions, there was a large See also:emigration of Aryan and Semitic Armenians to See also:Constantinople and See also:Cilicia; and all that remained of the aristocracy was swept away by the See also:Mongols and See also:Tatars. This perhaps explains the' diversity of type and characteristics amongst the modern Armenians. In the recesses of See also:Mount See also:Taurus the peasants are tall, handsome, though somewhat See also:sharp-featured, agile and brave. In Armenia and Asia Minor they are robust, thick-set and coarse-featured, with straight black See also:hair and large hooked noses. They are See also:good cultivators. of the See also:soil, but are poor, superstitious, ignorant and unambitious, and they live in semi-subterranean houses as their ancestors did 800 years B.C. The townsmen, especially in the large towns, have more See also:regular features—often of the Persian type. They are skilled artisans, bankers and merchants, and are remarkable for their See also:industry, their See also:quick intelligence, their aptitude for business, and for that enterprising spirit which led their ancestors, in Roman times, to See also:trade with See also:Scythia, See also:China and See also:India. The upper classes are polished and well educated, and many have occupied high positions in the public service in Turkey, Russia, Persia and See also:Egypt. The Armenians are essentially an See also:Oriental people, possessing, like the Jews, whom they resemble in their exclusiveness and widespread See also:dispersion, a remarkable tenacity of See also:race and See also:faculty of See also:adaptation to circumstances. They are frugal, sober, industrious and intelligent, and their sturdiness of See also:character has enabled them to preserve their See also:nationality and See also:religion under the sorest trials. They are strongly attached to old See also:manners and customs, but have also a real See also:desire for progress which is full of promise. On the other See also:hand they are greedy of gain, quarrelsome in small matters, self-seeking and wanting in stability; and they are gifted.with a tendency to exaggeration and a love of intrigue which has had an unfortunate See also:influence on their history. They are deeply separated by religious See also:differences, and their mutual jealousies, their inordinate vanity C See also:Longitude East 42° of See also:Greenwich See also:Railways : r...-~- Capitals of Vilayets &c e D 44 A 33* their versatility and their See also:cosmopolitan character must always be an obstacle to the realization of the dreams of the nationalists. The want of courage and self-reliance, the deficiency in truth and honesty sometimes noticed in connexion with them, are doubtless due to long See also:servitude under an unsympathetic See also:government.
The early history of Armenia, more or less mythical, is partly based on traditions of the Biainian See also:kings (see ARARAT), and is Ancient interwoven with the See also:Bible narrative, of which a know-kingdom. ledge was possibly obtained from See also:captive Jews settled
in the country by Assyrian and Babylonian monarchs. The legendary kings are but faint echoes of the kings of Biainas; the See also:story of See also:Semiramis and Ara is but another See also:form of the myth of See also:Venus and See also:Adonis; and tradition has clothed See also:Tigranes, the reputed friend of See also:Cyrus, with the transient See also:glory of the opponent of See also:Lucullus. The fall of the Biainian kingdom, perhaps over-thrown by See also:Cyaxares, was apparently soon followed by an See also:immigration of Aryan (Medo-Persian) races, including the progenitors of the Armenians. But they spread slowly, for the "Ten Thousand," when See also:crossing the plateau to Trebizond, 401—400 B.C., met no Armenians after leaving the villages four days' See also: Pompey brought Rome into delicate relations with Parthia. Armenia, although politically dependent upon Rome, was corrnected with Parthia by geographical position, a common language and faith, Under
later
intermarriage and similarity of arms and See also:dress. It had See also:Empire. never been Hellenized, as the provinces of Asia Minor
had been; the Roman provincial See also:system was never applied to it; and the policy of Rome towards it was never consistent. The country became the See also: In 632 the victories of See also:Heraclius restored Armenia to the Byzantines; but the war that followed the Arab invasion, 636, See also:left the country in the hands of the caliphs, who set over it Arab and Armenian governors (ostikans). One of the governors, the Bagratid Ashod I., was crowned king of Armenia by the See also:caliph Motamid, 885, and founded a See also:dynasty which ended with Kagig II. in 1079. A little later the Ardzrunian Kagig, See also:governor of Vaspuragan or Van, was crowned king of that See also:province by the caliph Moktadir, 908, and his descendants ruled at Van and Sivas until 1080. The Bagratids founded dynasties at Kars, 962-1080, and in See also:Georgia, which they held until its absorption, 18or, by Russia. From 984 to 1085 the country from Diarbekr to Melasgerd was ruled under the See also:suzerainty first of See also:Arabs then of Byzantines and See also:Seljuks, by the Mervanid dynasty of Kurds, called princes of Abahuni ('Airaxovvfjs). The Arab invasion drove many Armenian noblemen to Constantinople, where they inter-married with the old Roman families or became soldiers of for-tune. Artavasdes, an Arsacid, usurped the Byzantine See also:throne for two years; See also:Leo V., an Ardzrunian, and See also: For more than three centuries after the See also:appearance of the Seljuks, Armenia was traversed by a long See also:Medieval See also:succession of See also:nomad tribes whose one aim was to secure partition. good pasturage for. their flocks on their way to the richer lands of Asia Minor. The cultivators were driven from the plains, See also:agriculture was destroyed, and the country was seriously impoverished when its ruin was completed by the ravages and wholesale butcheries of Timur. Many Armenians fled to the mountains, where they embraced See also:Islam, and inter-married with the Kurds, or See also:purchased See also:security by paying black-See also:mail to Kurdish chiefs. Others migrated to Cappadocia or to Cilicia, where the Bagratid Rhupen had founded, 1080, a small principality which, gradually extending its limits, became the kingdom of Lesser Armenia. This Christian kingdom in the midst of Moslem states, hostile to the Byzantines, giving valuable support to the leaders of the See also:crusades, and trading with the great commercial cities of See also:Italy, had a stormy existence of about 300 years. See also:Internal disorders, due to attempts by the later See also:Lusignan kings to make their subjects conform to the Roman Church, facilitated its See also:conquest by Egypt, 1375. The memory of Kiligia (Cilicia) is enshrined in a popular See also:song, and at Zeitun, in the recesses of Mount Taurus, a small Armenian community has hitherto maintained almost See also:complete See also:independence. After the See also:death of Timur, Armenia formed part of the territories of the See also:Turkoman dynasties of Ak- and Kara-Kuyunli, and under theirmilder rule the seat of the Catholicus, which, during the Seljuk invasion, had been moved first to Sivas, and then to Lesser Armenia, was re-established, 1441, at See also:Echmiadzin. In 1514, the Persian See also:campaign of See also:Selim I. gave Armenia to the Osmanli See also:Turks, and its reorganization was entrusted to Idris, the historian, who was a Kurd of Bitlis. Idris found the rich arable lands almost deserted, and the mountains ~naer urkey. bristling with the castles of independent chieftains, of Kurd, Arab and Armenian descent, between whom there were long-See also:standing feuds. He compelled the Kurds to See also:settle on the vacant lands, and divided the country into small sanjaks which in the plains were governed by Turkish officials, and in the mountains by See also:local chiefs. This policy gave See also:rest to the country, but favoured the growth of Kurd influence and power, which by 1534 had spread westwards to See also:Angora. Armenia was invaded by the Persians in 1575, and again in 1604, when Shah Abbas transplanted many thousand Armenians from Julfa to his new capital See also:Isfahan. In 1639, the province of Erivan, which included Echmiadzin, was assigned by treaty to Persia, and it remained in her hands until it passed to Russia, 1828, under the treaty of Turkman-chai. The Turko-Russian War of 1828-29, which advanced the Russian frontier to the Arpa Chai, was followed by a large emigration of Armenians from Turkish to Russian territory, and a smaller See also:exodus took See also:place after the war of 1877-78, which gave See also:Batum, Ardahan and Kars to Russia. In 1834 the independent power of the Kurds in Armenia was greatly curtailed; and risings under Bedr See also:Khan See also:Bey in 1843, and Sheik Obeidullah in 1880, were firmly suppressed. After the capture of Constantinople, 1453, Mahommed II. organized his non-Moslem subjects in communities, or millets, under ecclesiastical chiefs to whom he gave See also:absolute authority in See also:civil and religious matters, and in criminal Arredan offences that did not come under the Moslem religious ans. law. Under this system the Armenian See also:bishop of See also:Brusa, who was appointed patriarch of Constantinople by the See also:sultan, became the civil, and practically the ecclesiastical See also:head of his community (Ermeni See also:millet), and a recognized officer of the imperial government with the See also:rank of See also:vizier. He was assisted by a council of bishops and See also:clergy, and was represented in each province by a bishop. This imperium in imperio secured to the Armenians a recognized position before the law, the See also:free enjoyment of their religion, the possession of their churches and monasteries, and the right to educate their See also:children and See also:manage their municipal affairs. It also encouraged the growth of a community See also:life, which eventually gave See also:birth to an intense longing for See also:national life. On the other hand it degraded the priesthood. The priests became See also:political leaders rather than spiritual guides, and sought promotion by See also:bribery and intrigue. See also:Education was neglected and discouraged, servility and treachery were See also:developed, and in less than a century the people had become depraved and degraded to an almost incredible extent. After the issue, 1839, of the haft-i-sherff of Gul-khaneh, the tradesmen and artisans of the capital freed themselves from clerical control. Under regulations, approved by the sultan in 1862, the patriarch remained the See also:official representative of the community, but all real power passed into the hands of clerical and See also:lay See also:councils elected by a representative See also:assembly of 140 members. The " community," which excluded Roman Catholics and Protestants, was soon called the " nation," " domestic " became " national " affairs, and the " representative " the " national " assembly. The connexion of "Lesser Armenia "with the Western See also:powers led to the formation, 1335, of an Armenian fraternity, " the Unionists," which adopted the dogmas of the Roman church, and at the council of See also:Florence, 1439, was Roman Ca¢tho/Ics. entitled the " United Armenian Church." Under the millet system the unionists were frequently persecuted by the patriarchs, but this ended in 1830, when, at the intervention of See also:France, they were made a community (Katoluk millet), with their own ecclesiastical head. The Roman Catholics, through the See also:works issued by the See also:Mechitharists at See also:Venice, have greatly promoted the progress of education and the development of Armenian literature. They are most numerous at Constantinople, Angora and See also:Smyrna. The Protestant See also:movement, initiated at Constantinople by See also:American missionaries in 1831, was opposed by the patriarchs rotes- and Russia. In 1846 the patriarch anathematized all tants. Armenians with Protestant sympathies, and this led to the formation of the " Evangelical Church of the Armenians," which was made, after much opposition from France and Russia, a community (Protestant millet), at the instance of the See also:British See also:ambassador. The missionaries afterwards founded colleges on the See also:Bosporus, at Kharput, See also:Marsivan and See also:Aintab, to See also:supply the needs of higher university education, and they opened good See also:schools for both sexes at all their stations. Everywhere they supplied the people with pure, wholesome literature, and represented progress and religious See also:liberty. When Abd-ul-Hamid came to the throne of Turkey in 1876, the See also:condition of the Armenians was better than it had ever been under the Osmanlis; but with the See also:close of the war of 1877—78 came the " Armenian Question." By the treaty of See also:San Stefano, Turkey engaged to Russia to carry out reforms " in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to See also:guarantee their security against the Kurds and Circassians." By the treaty of See also:Berlin, 13thof See also:July 1878, alike engagement to the six signatory powers was substituted for that to Russia. By the See also:Cyprus See also:convention, 4th of June 1878, the sultan promised Great See also:Britain to introduce necessary reforms " for the protection of the Christians and other subjects of the See also:Porte " in the Turkish territories in Asia. The Berlin treaty encouraged the Armenians to look to the powers, and not to Russia for protection; and the convention, which did not mention the Armenians, was regarded as placing them under the See also:special protection of Great Britain. This impression was strengthened by the See also:action of See also:England at Berlin in insisting that Russia should evacuate the occupied territory before reforms were introduced, and so removing the only security for their introduction. The presentation of identic and collective notes to the Porte by the powers, in r88o, produced no result, and in 1882 it was apparent that Turkey would only yield to compulsion. In 1881 a circular See also:note from the British See also:ministry to the five powers was evasively answered, and in 1883 Prince See also:Bismarck intimated to the British government that See also:Germany cared nothing about Armenian reforms and that the See also:matter had better be allowed to drop. Russia had changed her policy towards the Armenians, and the other powers were indifferent. The so-called " See also:Concert of Europe " was at an end, but British ministries continued to See also:call the See also:attention of the sultan to his obligations under the treaty of Berlin. Russia began to See also:interest herself in the Armenians when she acquired Georgia in 18or; but it was not until 1828—1829 that any appreciable number of them became her subjects. Russian She found them necessary to the development of her new territories, and allowed them much freedom. They were permitted, within certain limits, to develop their national life; many became wealthy, and many See also:rose to high positions in the military and civil service of the state. After the war of 1877—78 the Russian consuls in Turkey encouraged the formation of patriotic committees in Armenia, and a project was formed to create a See also:separate state, under the supremacy of Russia, which was to include Russian, Persian and Turkish Armenia. The project was favoured by See also:Loris-Melikov, then all-powerful in Russia, but in 1881 Alexander II. was assassinated, and shortly afterwards a strongly See also:anti-Armenian policy was adopted. The schools were closed, the use of the Armenian language was discouraged, and attempts were made to Russify the Armenians and bring them within the See also:pale of the Russian Church. All See also:hope of See also:practical self-government under Russian protection now ceased, and the Armenians of Tiflis turned their attention to Turkish Armenia. They had seen the success of the Slav committees in treating disturbances in the Balkans, and became the moving spirit in the attempts to produce similar troubles in Armenia. Russia made no real effort to check the action of her Armenian subjects, and after 1884 she steadily opposed any active interference by Great Britain in favour of the Turkish Armenians. When Echmiadzin passed to Russia, in 1828, the Catholicus began to claim spiritual See also:jurisdiction over the whole Armenian Church,567 and the submission of the patriarch of Constantinople was obtained by Russia when she helped the sultan against Mehemet See also:Ali. Subsequently Russia secured the submission of the independent catholicus of See also:Sis, and thus acquired a power of interference in Armenian affairs in all parts of the See also:world. During 1900 Russia showed renewed interest in Turkish Armenia by securing the right to construct all railways in it, and in the Armenians by pressing the Porte to restore See also:order and introduce reforms. The Berlin treaty was a disappointment to the Gregorian Armenians, who had hoped that Armenia and Cilicia would have been formed into an autonomous province administered by Christians. But the formation of such a province was impossible. The Gregorians were scattered over the empire, and, except in a few small districts, were nowhere in a majority. Nor were they See also:bound together by any community of thought or sentiment. The Turkish-speaking Armenians of the south could scarcely converse with the Armenian-speaking people of the north; and the ignorant mountaineers of the east had nothing in common, except religion, with the highly educated townsmen of Constantinople and Smyrna. After the See also:change in Retionavol°ry-Russian policy and the failure of the powers to secure movement. reforms, the advanced party amongst the Armenians, some of whom had been educated in Europe and been deeply affected by the flee thought and Nihilistic tendencies of the See also:day, determined to secure their See also:object by the See also:production of disturbances such as those that had given birth to See also:Bulgaria. See also:Societies were formed at Tiflis and in several See also:European capitals for the circulation of See also:pamphlets and See also:newspapers, and See also:secret societies, such as the Huntchagist, were instituted for more revolutionary methods. An active propaganda was carried on in Turkish Armenia by emissaries, who tried to introduce arms and See also:explosives, and represented the See also:ordinary incidents of Turkish See also:misrule to Europe as serious atrocities. The revolutionary movement was joined by some of the younger men, who formed local committees on the Nihilist See also:plan, but it was strongly opposed by the Armenian clergy and the American missionaries, who saw the impossibility of success; and its irreligious tendency and the self-seeking ambition of its leaders made it unacceptable to the mass of the people. Exasperated at their failure, the emissaries organized attacks on individuals, wrote threatening letters, and at last posted revolutionary placards, 5th of See also:January 1893, at See also:Yuzgat, and on the walls of the American See also:College at Marsivan. In the last See also:case the object of the Huntchagists was to See also:compromise the missionaries, and in this they succeeded. The Americans were accused of issuing the placards; two Armenian professors were imprisoned; and the girls' school was burned down. Outbreaks, easily suppressed, followed at Kaisarfeh and other places. One of the revolutionary dreams was to make the ancient Daron the centre of a new Armenia. But the movement met with no encouragement, either amongst the prosperous peasants on the rich See also:plain of Mush or in the See also:mountain villages of Sasun. In the summer of 1893, an emissary was captured near Mush, and the governor, hoping to secure others, ordered the Kurdish Irregular See also:Horse to See also:raid the mountain district. The Armenians drove off the Kurds,' and, when attacked in the See also:spring of 1894, again held their own. The vali now called up regular troops from See also:Erzingan; and the sultan issued a See also:firman calling upon all loyal subjects to aid in suppressing the revolt. A See also:massacre of a most brutal character, in which Turkish soldiers took part, followed; and aroused deep indignation in Europe. In See also:November 1894 a Turkish See also:commission of inquiry was sent to Armenia, and was accompanied by the consular delegates of Great Britain, France and Russia, who elicited the fact that there had been no See also:attempt ' The Armenians and Kurds have lived together from the earliest times. The See also:adoption of Islam by the latter, and by many Armenians, divided the people sharply into Christian and Moslem, and placed the Christian in a position of inferiority. But the relations between the two sects were not unfriendly previously. to the Russian campaigns in Persia and Turkey. After 1829 the relations became less friendly; and later, when the Armenians attracted the sympathies of the European powers after the war of 1877-78, they became bitterly hostile. Modern Armenian question. at revolt to justify the action of the authorities. Throughout 1894 the state of the country bordered upon anarchy, and during the winter of 1894—1895 the British government, with lukewarm support from France and Russia, pressed for administrative reforms in the vilayets of Erzerum, Van, Bitlis, Sivas, Memuret-el-Aziz (Kharput) and Diarbekr. The Porte, made See also:counter-proposals, and officials concerned in the Sasun massacres were decorated and rewarded. On the 11th of May 1895 the three powers presented to the sultan a complicated See also:scheme of reforms which was more calculated to increase than to lessen the difficulties connected with the government of Armenia; but it was the only one to which Russia would agree. The sultan delayed his See also:answer. Great Britain was iji favour of See also:coercion, but Russia, when sounded, replied that she " would certainly not join in any coercive See also:measures " and she was supported by France. At this moment, 21st of June 1895, See also:Lord See also:Rosebery's See also:cabinet resigned, and when Lord See also:Salisbury's government resumed the negotiations in See also:August, the sultan appealed to France and Russia against England. During the negotiations the secret societies had not been inactive. Disturbances occurred at See also:Tarsus; Armenians who did not espouse the " national " cause were murdered; the life of the patriarch was threatened; and a See also:report was circulated that the British ambassador wished some Armenians killed to give him an excuse for bringing the See also:fleet to Constantinople. On the 1st of See also:October 1895 a number of Armenians, some armed, went in procession with a See also:petition to the Porte and were ordered by the See also:police to disperse. Shots were. fired, and a See also:riot occurred in which many Armenian and some Moslem lives were lost. The British ambassador now pressed the scheme of reforms upon the sultan, who accepted it on the 17th of October. Meanwhile there had been a massacre at Trebizond (October 8), in which armed men from Constantinople took part, and it had become evident that no united action on the part of the powers was to be feared. The sultan refused to publish the scheme of reforms, and massacre followed massacre in Armenia in quick succession until the 1st of January 1896. Nothing was done. Russia refused to agree to any measure of coercion, and declared (See also:December 19) that she would take no action except such as was needed for the protection of foreigners. Great Britain was not prepared to See also:act alone. In the summer of 1896 (June 14—22) there were massacres at Van, See also:Egin, and Niksar; and on the 26th of August the Imperial See also:Ottoman See also:Bank at Constantinople was seized by revolutionists as a demonstration against the Christian powers who had left the Armenians to their See also:fate. The project was known to the Porte, and the See also:rabble, previously armed and instructed, were at once turned loose in the streets. Two days' massacre followed, during which from 6000 to 7000 Gregorian Armenians perished. The massacres were apparently organized and carried out in accordance with a well-considered plan. They occurred, except The mass in six places, in the vilayets to which the scheme of sscre,; reforms was to apply. At Trebizond they took place just before the sultan accepted that scheme, and after his See also:acceptance of it they spread rapidly. They were confined to Gregorian and Protestant Armenians. The Roman Catholics were protected by France, the Greek Christians by Russia. The massacre of Syrians, See also:Jacobites and Chaldees at Urfa and else-where formed no part of the original plan. Orders were given to protect foreigners, and in some cases See also:guards were placed over their houses. The damage to the American buildings at Kharput was due to See also:direct disobedience of orders. The attacks on the bazars were made without warning, during business See also:hours, when the men were in their shops and the See also:women in their houses. Explicit promises were given, in some instances, that there would be no danger to those who opened their shops, but they were deliberately broken. Nearly all those who, from their wealth, education and influence, would have had a See also:share in the government under the scheme of reforms, were killed and their families ruined by the destruction of their See also:property. Where any attempt at defence was made the slaughter was greatest. The only successful resistance was at Zeitun, where the people received See also:honourable terms after three months' fighting. In some townsthe troops and police took an active part in the massacres. At Kharput See also:artillery was used. In some the slaughter commenced and ended by See also:bugle-call, and in a few instances the Armenians were disarmed beforehand. Wherever a See also:superior official or See also:army officer intervened the massacre at once ceased, and wherever a governor stood See also:firm there was no disturbance. The actual perpetrators of the massacres were the local Moslems, aided by Lazis, Kurds and Circassians. A large majority of the Moslems disapproved of the massacres, and many Armenians were saved by Moslem See also:friends. But the lower orders were excited by reports that the Armenians, supported by the European powers, were plotting the overthrow of the sultan; and their cupidity was aroused by the prospect of wiping out their heavy debts to Armenian pedlars and merchants. No one was punished for the massacres, and many of those implicated in them were rewarded. In some districts, especially in the Kharput vilayet, the cry of " Islam or death " was raised. Gregorian priests and Protestant pastors were tortured, but preferred death to See also:apostasy. Men and women were killed in See also:prison and in churches in . cold blood. Churches, monasteries, schools and houses were plundered and destroyed. In some places there was See also:evidence of the previous activity of secret societies, in others none. The number of those who perished, excluding Constantinople, was 20,000 to 25,000.1 Many were forced to embrace Islam, and See also:numbers were reduced to poverty. The destruction of property was enormous, the hardest-working and best tax-paying element in the country was destroyed, or impoverished, and where the breadwinners were killed the women and children were left destitute. Efforts by Great Britain and the United States to alleviate the See also:distress were opposed by the authorities, but met with some success. After the massacres the number of students in the American schools and colleges increased, and many Gregorian Armenians became Roman Catholics in order to obtain the protection of France.
The Armenian revolutionary societies continued their propaganda down to the granting of the Turkish constitution in 1908; and meanwhile further massacres occurred here and there, notably at Mush (1904) and Van (1908).
See See also:Abich, Geologie d. armenischen Hochlandes (Wien, 188e); Bishop, Journeys in Persia and See also:Kurdistan (See also:Lund., 1891); See also:Bliss, Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities (Lend., 1896) ; See also:Bryce, See also:Transcaucasia and Ararat (4th ed., Lend., 1896) ; De Coursous, La See also:Rebellion armenienne (See also:Paris, 1895) ; See also:Lepsius, Armenia and Euro!,c (Lend., 189]); See also: (1895); Turkey, I., II. (1896); Supan, " See also:Die Verbreitung d. Armenier in der asiatischen Turkei, u. in Transkaukasien," in Pet. Mitt. vol. xlii. (1896); Tozer, Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor (Lend., 1880; See also:Cholet, Arme'nie, Kurdistan, et Mesopotamie (1892) ; See also:Lynch, Armenia (2 vols., 1901). (C. W. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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