Mass Atrocities of the 20th Century

Introduction

• The 20th century saw unprecedented levels of human atrocities.
• Humans discovered more ways to kill each other than in any previous century.
• Major causes included world wars and new technologies.
• Extremist political ideologies led to the destruction of entire populations based on race or ethnicity.

World Wars

• Two World Wars led to approximately 120 million deaths (upper end estimates).
• About half of these deaths were civilians, resulting from bombings and famine.

New Technologies

• World War II saw the refinement of aerial warfare, including firebombing.
  • Firebombing: Setting entire urban areas on fire, killing hundreds of thousands.
• Atomic bombs caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Extremist Political Ideologies

• The most sinister cause of mass atrocities was the rise of extremist political ideologies.
• These ideologies aimed to destroy entire populations based on race or ethnicity. Three examples:
  • Armenian Genocide
  • The Holocaust
  • Cambodian Genocide

Armenian Genocide

• Occurred at the beginning of the 20th century.
• In 1915-1916, the Ottoman Empire, influenced by the Young Turks, sought to create a primarily Turkic state.
• The large Armenian Christian population was viewed with suspicion.
• Ottoman authorities feared Armenians might support enemy armies during World War I.
• A program of mass extermination was initiated:
  • Outright slaughter of Armenians.
  • Forcible relocation with malnourishment and brutalization.
• Approximately 600,000 to 1,000,000 Armenians were killed.

The Holocaust

• Took place during World War II under Nazi Germany.
• Hitler's extreme German nationalism aimed to create a purified German race.
• The Final Solution: A program to exterminate groups that